to throw open the large front windows in hopes of catching a warm breeze. Morning sunlight spilled over the gleaming tables and dark panels as dust motes danced around Kat’s head. How different it was from last night when it had been filled with music and drunken Nazis.
The room stood empty except for a boy behind the long bar polishing mugs. A lively tune whistled from his lips as he focused on the glasses in front of him, but his eyes flicked up to watch her every few seconds. A lookout should she try to escape, no doubt.
Barrett strolled in through the back door. Dark-brown trousers, scuffed shoes, and a light-blue shirt with the sleeves rolled back had replaced last night’s formal appearance. His eyes were deep blue rather than dark, and his hair more chestnut than what she had first glimpsed that night on the balcony. In the clear light of day, without the distraction of cigarette haze, he was quite handsome. In a rumpled devil-may-care sort of way.
“You came.”
“You threatened.”
A rakish grin pulled at his mouth as he swiped at the sweat dotting his forehead. “Oh, aye. I did, didn’t I?”
“Most colorfully.” Following his ambush by the potted plant, he’d given her no choice but to meet him the next morning. Meet him or be kept hostage among his bottles of illicit drink until she agreed.
“Must you always do as they say?” Ellie’s words of liberation taunted her as she realized she’d been forced into another position with few given options. Not once had she been asked for consent nor even an opinion on this interloper to her already-made plans. Someone else had decided it was best.
“Now, may we attend to this business you insist upon so I may return to more important matters?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I admire a woman who can get down to brass tacks.” He gestured to the door he’d just come from. “Shall we?”
Kat shook her head as the alarm she’d desperately kept at bay all morning came rushing back in a tidal wave. “I prefer to hear whatever you have to say out here in the open.”
“What I have to say can’t be said out here in the open.” He dropped his hand and shoved it into his trouser pocket. Lean muscle rippled in his forearm. “You don’t trust me. Another admirable trait under most circumstances, but in this you’re wrong.”
When she didn’t budge, he moved toward her. The cordiality slipped from his tone. “I had a late night and two fights to break up, so don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be. I’ll toss you over my shoulder if I have to.”
“Charming.”
“I’m not here to charm you, merely keep you out of trouble.”
She hesitated for the briefest of seconds as she read the flat line of his mouth. She should have told Ellie where she was really going in case she was walking into a trap. Too late to change her mind now. She walked through the door he indicated.
“If you’re to have me swinging from balconies, then you should know my footwear is hardly adequate.”
He grabbed a bulging burlap sack and slung it over his shoulder. “Lucky for you, no swinging or physical exertion of any kind is required today. If there is a next time, I’ll give you warning to wear loafers, or whatever women wear for comfort, because I’m sure what you have on your feet now isn’t.”
Kat glanced down at her red peep toes with tiny bows at the buckles. “I can hardly wait.”
Skirting around dishwashers stacking clean glasses to dry and towers of wine bottles, they wedged themselves between two barrels of beer and to a small door tucked in the corner.
Barrett opened the door and stepped down. A light glowed over his head. “This way.”
This way to her death, by the look of those stairs.
Musty air filled her lungs as she took a deep breath and stepped behind him. And missed the stair. She pitched forward, and with lightning speed Barrett whirled. His arms scooped around her as if dipping her in a dance.
“Careful now, lass. Throwing yourself at a man in the dark, he might think you’re after something else.”
Her fingers curled like grappling hooks into his chest as the warmth of his solid body pressed against hers, folding around her like a cloak. Heated blood spun around her heart and rushed to her head. Slowly, she spread out her fingers and gently pushed out of his protective