his irritation sparked and slowly burned out to smoke. “I will get you out of here. You and your sister. And the more you cooperate the sooner I can do it, which means the sooner I can get out of here. Think you can keep yourself out of trouble long enough to accomplish that?”
Indecision warred in her eyes. “Think you can stop patronizing me long enough to make a plan?”
“Deal.” He stuck out his hand.
“Deal.” She clasped it and shook. “We certainly make a lot of deals. Think we’ll keep this one?”
She’d forgotten her gloves. Most likely too frazzled from the row with her sister, she’d walked out into public improperly attired. Or so she would say. He, on the other hand, liked this unbound side of her. The warmth of her bare fingers wrapping around his swam down his palm. “With our track record . . .” He shrugged and let go of her hand before his thoughts crashed in on one another. “Time will tell.”
Skirting away from the Les Invalides, they turned onto Rue de l’Université. He counted down to the sixth building on the left and up to the top flat, where the braw fight between the sisters had taken place. Hopefully, Ellie had cooled down by now to no longer endanger the crystal vases.
The familiar yet not quite right smell of bread from the corner bakery drifted down the street. Barrett wrinkled his nose. Rice? If nothing else, wartime rationing gave bakers the chance to stretch their limits for product creativity. War brought out the oddity in every situation. Like the woman next to him. Rigid and stubborn, yet daring without thought to herself.
She stopped before they reached Ellie’s building. “Thank you for walking with me, but I’ll find the remaining few yards by myself. I’d hate for you to get clocked by a hurtling flowerpot that’s meant for me.”
“Still that angry, eh?”
“I’d rather not take any chances.”
“Appreciate the concern.”
A smile flitted across her face. Her body started to move, but her feet stayed rooted to the spot. His pulse quickened at the hesitation.
“Thank you for not giving up on us. I know it’s your assignment, and a less than desirable one at that, but it’s been nice to have an ally for once. I truly wish to do everything I can to help you.”
“I’m not so bad to have around after all, eh?”
“Of late, there are more places you prove a danger to.” She briefly touched a hand to her chest, just over her heart, then straightened her lapel and walked away.
It was the closest she’d come to admitting the connection binding them together more than the mission. And it was close to driving him mad. Her gratitude would die a quick death as soon as she found out she was only a paycheck to him. Or so he kept telling himself.
* * *
Kat hurried down the street before her mouth ran away with more than she wished to admit. She should never have gone to the Stag in the first place, but not going there meant she had to deal with her frustration alone. And she was tired of being alone. Alone without Barrett.
She’d all but declared the place he’d claimed in her heart, what with that indication of her hand that had moved of its own accord. Of late, too many brave little audacities had sneaked out before she could stop them. Speaking to strangers without proper introductions, walking down the footpath without an escort—an inebriated Ellie not counting—flinging herself at a man not her betrothed. All improprieties forbidden in a lady of good breeding, yet Barrett had swerved his way around the rules, taking her right along with him. Dare she admit to the rush of liberation or the bravado it gave her? Had it been inside her all along waiting for the right person to unlock it?
As she crossed the last block before Ellie’s flat, a car door slammed across the street. A sleek black auto with chrome finishes lurked between the closed florist shop and a newspaper stand. A uniformed German stood erect next to the driver’s side door while a dark-haired woman draped in green crepe and brown fur trim reapplied her lipstick in the back seat. The woman turned, catching Kat’s eye. Her red lips twisted, slicing a knife straight into Kat’s gut. Eric’s wife. Snapping closed the lid of her compact, the woman fluffed the fur on her shoulders and settled back into the seat with a