in love with him, that they could be together.
What a stupid fantasy.
As stupid and unreal as her sitting beside him right now with no idea where they were really headed.
She’d graduated from high school at sixteen, college at nineteen and received her doctorate in nanotechnology at twenty-three. She was no dummy, so why was she just sitting here, letting the miles go by? She couldn’t take her gaze away from Clay’s strong, tanned hands gripping the steering wheel. Focused and determined, he constantly swept their surroundings with the awareness of a wild animal ready to pounce on its prey. She could barely recognize in him the man she’d fallen in love with on Santorini.
Then he’d been gentle, funny, romantic. Everything she’d ever wanted.
Had she been completely wrong about him?
Could a man change so completely? Or be so completely deceptive? Had she ever known him, or had she only seen what she wanted to see?
Or what he’d wanted her to see?
She shifted in her seat. “Were you ever in computer security, Clay?”
His knuckles went white. “In a way. I’m pretty handy with zeroes and ones.”
“That means no. Who do you work for?”
“I can’t say.”
Her pulse pounded in her temple.. “I have a top-secret security clearance.”
“Not high enough.”
Erin nearly growled at him. “I’ve had enough of the cloak-and-dagger stuff. How do I know you didn’t blow up my house? That this hasn’t been some elaborate setup?”
Clay twisted in his seat. “Do you really think I would put my son in danger?”
“I don’t know, do I? Because I don’t know you. Where are you taking us? And why won’t you tell me anything?”
“You’ll understand soon.”
“Not good enough.” She snatched his phone and hit 9-1-1. He leaned toward her, but she unsnapped her seat belt and catapulted into the backseat.
“Erin...”
“No. I’ve given you all the chances you’re going to get.”
“Do you need a pickup?” a woman’s concerned voice filtered through the phone.
Something was terribly wrong. “You’re supposed to say ‘Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?’ Who is this?”
“Code!” the woman demanded.
“I ne...need help,” Erin stuttered. “I’ve been kidnapped.”
“Dr. Jamison?” The woman’s voice lowered. “Where’s...Clay?”
“Noooo.” Erin dropped the phone to the floor.
Clay pressed his earpiece. “Sorry, sweetheart. Didn’t mean to give you heart failure. Things aren’t going quite as smoothly as I’d like here.”
Clay met Erin’s gaze in the rearview mirror, and she glared. “You can’t hijack 9-1-1. It’s illegal.”
Brandon whimpered, but Clay ignored them both, obviously focusing on the woman’s voice on his headset. Someone he clearly cared for.
“Sorry, Leona, I’ll try not to let my equipment get out of my reach again.”
He disconnected and sent Erin an uncertain look.
“Please. Just let us go,” she whispered. “I won’t tell anyone about you. You can go do your covert ops stuff somewhere else, and no one has to know you were here.”
Clay didn’t respond at first. He maneuvered the vehicle onto a bridge over the water. Redfish Cove sparkled as the sun moved lower in the sky. Several kayakers paddled toward shore.
“Let me get you to safety first. I’ll show you the evidence. Then we’ll talk.”
“I can’t tell if you’re lying.”
His brown eyes darkened. “I know. I’m good at it.”
“That’s not something to be proud of.”
His lips tightened. “Probably not.”
Tense silence between them bathed the interior of the vehicle. A loud laugh erupted from the baby. Erin glanced at Brandon’s joyous glint when he triumphantly pulled out the blue train, but she couldn’t smile. Her world had spun out of control.
“Is Brandon okay?” Clay’s voice had grown even more tense.
“He’s fine,” she answered woodenly. “He found his train.”
Brandon jabbered as he rolled his hand against the wheels. A popping noise erupted from the toy, and he giggled.
She moved closer to her son. The moment Clay stopped the car, she had to escape. She had friends at Eglin Air Force Base. Surely someone there could help her.
Clay crossed a second bridge and finally pulled his Hummer into an out-of-the-way marina not too far from Pensacola Beach. He parked near a slip and tapped his phone.
“We’re here. I’ll be in touch when it’s clear.”
He opened the door and moved to the back, grabbing the duffel. Erin exited the vehicle and rounded the car to retrieve Brandon. She held him tight, glancing around, hoping to get someone’s attention.
But no one was around. The marina had obviously seen better business days. An old man struggled into a dinghy down the way. She saw a couple of Jet Skis and a few rinky-dink boats tied up at the dilapidated dock. Other than