right back here where you belong with nothing to show for it except embarrassment. Don’t embarrass yourself or me, Eleanor.”
Ellie’s shoulders sagged as her head dropped forward. She fought to throw him off, but his shackles refused to break. Fury whirled inside Kat’s chest like a thunderstorm. “Can’t you hear a word she’s saying? She doesn’t want to be here, and she certainly doesn’t want anything to do with the sickening deal you and your wife have schemed up. Find another desperate vessel to spawn your seed.”
Eric’s dark expression crackled to hatred as his gaze rolled to Kat. “You’ve put this pathetic idea into her head from the start.”
“Nonsense. You’re the one driving her away. I’m only too happy to escort her.”
“To Switzerland? Do you think for one minute I believe that trope? Or that you came here for merely a sisterly visit?”
“Of course she did, Eric. There’s no way—”
“Silence, Eleanor!” Eric’s eyes didn’t leave Kat. “She has plenty of ways. Don’t you, as the daughter of Sir Alfred Whitford? There’s no end to the number of strings you could pull to get into occupied Paris unnoticed and then slip back out with your acquired treasure.”
Like a wobbly top, Ellie hovered at Kat’s elbow. “What’s he talking about? What treasure?”
“You, schatz. You are the grand prize we are both fighting for. Unfortunately for your sister, I’m going to win.”
Kat stepped in front of Ellie, blocking her from view. Her fingers stretched back, grasping the handle of the club she had hidden up her sleeve. “Arguing isn’t polite for a lady, but in this instance I’ll make a concession.”
Surprise sharpened the ice in his eyes to icicles. “You think to shield her from me, as if I would harm her?”
“I’ll do what’s necessary.”
His lip curled. “You? By yourself. I have guards standing just on the other side of that door plus more on the sidewalk to come at the snap of my fingers. Oh, no, lest I forget, you, too, have assistance. Mr. Anderson and his swinging musicians. Do they propose to bludgeon me with their trumpets? As if they could from where they’re bound.”
Fear shook through Kat. Barrett. “What have you done?”
“Precisely what I said I would do to all the rats scampering about underfoot. I have uncovered their filthy lair and flushed them out. Or rather my men will within the hour if they have not already. Their rat leader, in particular, will answer for his crimes. Such a shame, as I was growing accustomed to Mr. Anderson’s rough ways.”
“You are the vilest form of evil.”
“I’ve done what I had to. Those people are a threat to everything we are. Every pure thing we are trying to create.” Flattening his lips, he peered around her to Ellie. The icicles warmed. “Is this what you want, liebling? To have the two people who love you most fight over you until one is declared the loser? All I wanted was to give you everything. Furs, jewels, beautiful apartments and cars, Paris itself on a silver platter. One day soon, London, and eventually the world. Don’t you want to share these things with me?”
Behind her, Ellie shook her head. She grasped Kat’s arm and the hidden club beneath her sleeve. “I wanted love, Eric.”
“That’s what I’m offering you.”
“No, you’re offering a life of servitude in giving you beautiful Aryan babies because your wife can’t.”
“But we’ll be together. Unlike your sister, who only wishes to drag you back to England in chains to the misery you escaped from.”
Ellie’s fingers squeezed Kat’s arm, bruising the skin. She turned and looked at Kat, her forehead creasing. “You mean to take me back?”
“I mean to take you away from him.”
“And back to England. The only place on earth I have no wish to ever return to.” Her face shifting from uncertainty to anger, Ellie’s hand fell away as she dropped the suitcase to the ground. Slowly, she edged away from Kat and turned to Eric. “Do you promise we’ll always be together?”
Eric nodded, hope springing to his eyes. “Always.”
Ellie smoothed her hands up the front of his tunic to circle around his neck. “And I’ll have the finest furs and diamonds? Even the world?”
Like petrol poured onto a wilting flame, desire crackled in his voice as he drew Ellie closer. “With the might of the German army behind me and the powerful Whitford name behind you, no one will dare to stop us.”
Kat’s mouth dropped open as shock rippled down her body. After all that had