Susan Kearney - Hidden Hearts

She dropped her hands to her lap, squared her shoulders and lifted her head until their eyes met. Usually she was good at reading people, but he stood so still, so composed, letting his gorgeous face do his persuading for him. And his blue, blue eyes gave away nothing.

“I’m not leaving the country.”

“Then we go to plan B.”

He surprised her by adapting to her refusal so easily. “Plan B?”

“We find a place to hide here. I’ll find someone to keep you safe while I figure out who wants to hurt you. And why.”

Alexandra shook her head. “I can’t go into hiding.” She’d already lost most of the afternoon, a good part of her work day. Her construction schedule demanded that she keep to it or cost overruns would occur. She needed to complete her first building on time, within budget. “I should have gone back to my office this afternoon. But I must be on the job site tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. sharp.”

Roarke let out a long sigh and glanced at her sideways, no doubt checking to see if she noticed his extraordinary patience with her. “I don’t like plan C. It’s risky. It means hiding you someplace different every night. It means you wear a bullet-proof vest. It means protecting you—”

“I don’t think anyone is after me.” Alexandra stood, turned toward her bed and kneeled. She pulled a small suitcase out from under her mattress.

She could feel his eyes drilling into her back searchingly. When she glanced up at him, his plastic expression changed to one of feigned interest in her opinion. “Why?”

“Because as that man chased me through my house, he said he only wanted the stuff my brother sent me.”

He shot her a conspiratorial smile as if they shared a joke. “And you believe him?”

“I’m not sure what I believe.” She shrugged and unzipped the carry-on bag. She kept travel-size toiletries ready to go, so she just needed to pack a few changes of clothes. “But I don’t intend to spend another night here where I can be easily found.” She glared at him defiantly. “I’m going to a friend’s house.”

She tossed the envelope Jake had sent her onto the bed along with clothes, a second pair of shoes and a long T-shirt to sleep in. She expected Roarke to protest. Instead he walked over to her bed; she ignored him. Without a doubt, a man like him didn’t get ignored often. He shifted from foot to foot, and she gave him six seconds to try to change her mind.

“You’d be safer if you stayed with me.”

He’d lasted two and a half. But she remained silent, knowing if she gave him reasons, he’d argue and wear her down.

When she said nothing, he eyed the envelope with curiosity. “Did that come from your brother?”

She saw no point in denying it when he need merely flip it over and read the return address. “Yes.”

“May I look?”

He was sweetly asking her permission? She didn’t understand the man. He’d ordered her to take a shower, threatened to do it himself if she didn’t, then when she’d boldly said no to his plan A and plan B, he hadn’t argued. Much. Hadn’t insisted on doing everything his way.

And now he was asking permission to look at her personal papers? He seemed capable of adapting faster than she could take her next breath.

Maybe he would see something important in the papers that she had missed. “Sure, go ahead and take a look. I have no idea what the fuss is all about. Maybe I should just have given the intruder what he wanted.”

“That wouldn’t have been a good idea.”

“Why not? Then he’d leave me alone.”

He picked up the envelope. “Jake thinks your mother gave her life to protect this information.”

She frowned at his serious expression. Once again he’d surprised her by directing the topic of conversation in a brand-new direction. “My mother?”

“Your biological mother.”

“Oh.” Alexandra had no memories of the woman who’d given birth to her and thought of her adopted mother as her Mom. Although she’d never been told how her biological mother had died, Roarke spoke as if she’d been involved in some kind of crusade. Alexandra had gone through the pictures and read some of the papers that Jake had sent, but she’d seen no obvious cause that her mother might have been caught up in.

To think that the woman who’d given her birth had felt so passionately about something that she’d risked her own life gave Alexandra a measure of pain and pride. Pain that she and her siblings meant less to her mother than a cause. Pain that the family had been split up. Pride that her mother believed in something so strongly she would risk her life.

Roarke removed the documents and looked at the old black-and-white photographs first. He studied each one for a long time, as if memorizing details before moving on to the next. Eventually he put them aside and perused the birth certificates. Finally, he turned to the pages from her mother’s diary.

Alexandra finished packing as he skimmed, wondering if he’d find them more interesting than she had. The pages seemed dull to her, full of chitchat about people she didn’t know. None of the material seemed terribly important, nothing controversial or political.

Roarke looked up suddenly but his thoughts seemed far away. He carefully placed all the items back into the envelope and handed them to her. “On the surface, the information seems innocent enough.”

“What do you mean by ‘on the surface?”’

“The diary pages seem stilted. Either your mother was a poor writer or she might have been using a code. It’s also possible that a microdot might be imbedded in the paper.”

She looked up sharply. “What?”

“It’s a decades-old technique used to send covert information.”

How did he know this stuff? Suddenly she wondered just why her brother had picked this man to protect her. What kind of life had he led? Where had he come from?

Obviously, he was well educated. And just as obviously he knew about guns and electronic microphones. She suspected he used that face and body to hide his keen intelligence.

She focused on the new details, thinking hard. “Who would care about old information after so many years? And besides, my brother said these papers are copies.”

“Just because they’re copies doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be carefully guarded.”

“I don’t understand. Why can’t we make copies, keep one set, give the other set to the bad guys and hope they leave me alone?”

“Look, suppose the papers include the directions to make some kind of weapon? Would we want our enemies or terrorists to have a copy?”

Weapons? Terrorists? She swallowed hard. “I see what you mean.”

“Eventually we may have to take these papers to a friend of mine who is good with codes, but meanwhile, I suggest we make a duplicate set and put them in a very safe place. We have to make sure neither copy falls into the wrong hands.”

He’d said we, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to know where she was going to conceal the documents. But then again, if he’d come for the papers, he could have taken them. While his verbal attempts to convince her to trust him had failed, his actions spoke louder. For the first time she really thought he might be telling her the truth. Her brother might indeed have hired him. And that meant her brother really did think she might be in danger.

As she thought over the implications and considered several hiding places, she lifted her packed bag onto the bed and then picked up her phone. “I need to phone my friend and tell her I’m spending the night.”

Again he plucked the phone from her fingertips. “Not from here.”

Just when she almost believed his story, he did something suspicious. She didn’t want to ride in a car with him until she’d told at least one person where she was and who was with her. “Why not from here?”