enough to make me feel better when I’m no longer fit for a decent man to want me?”
Eric swallowed hard. “I want you.”
Ellie’s hands fisted on her hips. “Well, I don’t want you. Not anymore. Not now that I know what you truly are.”
“I’m sorry to hear you say that, but in time you’ll feel differently.”
Shouldering past Barrett from the other side, Kat stood next to Ellie. “Get it through that dense skullcap of yours: my sister wants nothing more to do with you. Nothing in this whole forsaken world is going to change that.”
“Least of all you, her dear sister.” Hatred burned like blue fire in Eric’s eyes. “If you’d never shown up, everything would have been perfect. You’ve tainted her mind with your poisonous words.”
“You did that all on your own, Sturmbannführer.”
The hatred flared in his eyes, burning Kat to the spot. “I honestly do not understand what you see in her, Anderson. Sir Alfred must be paying you a shiny coin to keep you around her for so long.”
Kat’s back went rigid. “What about my father?”
“You didn’t actually believe this man would pant after you if not for your father bankrolling him, did you?” He sneered. “Oh, dear. You actually did believe that.”
“That’s enough, Eric.”
Ellie’s reprimand crackled with animosity as Eric tore his stare from Kat back to her. “I’ll forgive your sister’s mouth for your sake, but stop this nonsense at once, Eleanor. Come back with me.”
Ellie shook her head hard enough to loosen her hair from the ribbon tying it back. “Are you crazy? Do you realize what I’ve done to get away from you?”
Eric smoothed down the front of his tunic with a trembling hand. “Something I’m willing to forgive if you return with me now.”
“Your compassion is your undoing, husband.”
A shadow moved away from the doorway to stand next to Eric. His wife.
Leveling a silver pistol at Ellie’s head, Hildegarde’s blood-red lips parted in a smile. “The time for negotiations is over.”
Barrett groaned. This party kept getting better and better. The hard edge of his knife pressed against his hip. Little good it did him in the moment. One move to that, and he’d have two beads trained on him with no way left to protect the women.
Eric’s spine straightened, his tunic creaking stiffly. “I told you to wait in the car, Hildegarde.”
“How long does it take to grab one simpleton girl?” Scoffing, Hildegarde fluffed her fur collar with one gloved hand while the other remained trained on her target. “I should have known you couldn’t come by yourself to complete the task. Sure enough, I come to find you pleading like a dog with your Englisch hure.”
Hardness twisted Eric’s face as he shifted to stand between her and Ellie. “She is not a whore.”
“Mistress, lover, paramour. Different names for the same performance in your bed.” Hildegarde shouldered past him and held the gun at arm’s length from Ellie’s temple. Bitterness burned in her dark eyes. “I didn’t drive to this godforsaken place to stand around in a barn and have my expensive clothes mauled with the stench of pigs. Get in the car. Or better yet, the trunk. You reek of filth.”
With a violent shake of her head, Ellie scooted back, bumping into Kat’s shoulder. “You are out of your kraut mind, lady, if you think I’m going anywhere with you.”
“Hildegarde, I told you to let me handle this quietly with no fuss. Now, put the gun down. What good is she to you and our legacy if she’s dead?”
Hildegarde laughed, a cold, high-pitched noise like metal grating over gravel. “Her or some other girl, it makes no difference. It’s not too difficult to find a vessel. But you have to have this one. How many times have I told you your sentimentality will be your undoing?”
“I’m warning you, Hilde.” Eric’s hand dropped to the Luger at his side, the sleek black metal sharpening the whiteness of his fingers.
“Fine. Have it your way.” The woman’s dark orbs rolled in disgust. She swung her aim to Kat. “This one shouldn’t matter as much to you, and it will give me great pleasure to shoot that mouth off for good.”
“If there’s anyone whose shooting will be for the good, it’s you.” Ellie leaped forward and grabbed for the gun, but Hildegarde twisted and smashed the butt into Ellie’s mouth.
Ellie fell back with blood dripping from her lip.
Dark victory surged in Hildegarde’s eyes as she took aim once more at Ellie. “No matter what Eric