ral was

didn't

f cash, the kind of expensive flowers

chen sink, watching the faces

pers I'd scrawled on a cocktail napkin. It was the onl

slammed open, s

ng off his jacket, tossin

d on the napki

irreversible crease into it as he read

" he snarled, tossing th

missed your brother's funeral? Camilla's been unwell, sh

ntrum," I said

ing anywhere.

on slipped out bef

ck of heels on marb

of my silk robes, a

r collarbone and chest. She had one hand dramatically

e a carefully controlled tremor. "The baby... I

his whole posture softening ins

placing his bro

," he murmured to her, lo

said, my voice sha

s hand on the counter

e. She needs the big bath for her ba

your mistress

ted, the veins in his neck standing out

I wouldn't have needed someone else! Don't be so self

they passed right through, leav

why I couldn't

e I'd taken shrapnel

hrapnel that tore

u," I said quietly, the memo

n an ambush. I shielded him, took several shots, one of them

ds, so I tried to c

ithout a sec

more to him than an

was callin

e victim. You were born for this life. Camill

you could totally think of me and Camilla's kid as

, decisive. "I

Serra, don't think I'll endlessly tolerat

e my wife. You have to l

oom until the baby comes. You m

ck and followed

time, frozen in the dea

dry, I went to th

there, leaning against the

w me, her lips parting

nconcerned. "Too bad about your brother. But maybe i

in my brain

moved,

appe

a

acked throug

heek. Shock flickered in her ey

er gaze

es peeking from my waistband, th

jammed her fingers d

nd my eyes, turnin

ring pull as the

ungs refusing to work, my mou

y welling up and spilling down her face. "

rmed into

ing, playing the v

e floor, fetal, clutch

t my wound. He d

was a stain on the floor

ed, holding Camilla. "If you touch her

tallic taste fl

d on the prist

dy have,"