Denae bit back a wince as she had to twist to get both legs onto the bed. “I have a high tolerance for pain.”
“You mean you doona trust what’s in the medicine.”
“Something like that. I’m sure you understand.”
To her surprise, there was a softening of his lips as if he had almost smiled. “Aye. It could be you’re just obstinate.”
“I don’t enjoy pain,” she said and pulled the covers over her bare legs. The shorts she wore had ridden up, exposing almost everything.
She might have left off the covers had she thought Kellan was interested, but his aloofness said it all. If only she could convince her own body that he wasn’t worth the time, she might feel more in control of things.
“If you doona enjoy pain then take the medicine.”
“Fine. I’ll take the damn meds.”
One caramel brow lifted. “You’re easily riled. No’ something I expected from an MI5 agent.”
“Yeah, well, you seem to bring it out in me.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Denae wanted them back. “Look, I’m tired, hurting, and angry over the betrayal of an organization and country that I’ve been protecting. I’m not myself.”
“Actually, you’re more yourself now than at any other time.”
“Which is why you want to interrogate me now.” She leaned her head against the headboard and got comfortable. “Shoot.”
For a split second, she saw the confusion on his face before her word registered. “Can we no’ just sit and talk?”
“You’ve not been talking. You’ve been antagonizing me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I came in to see how you were doing.”
Denae sighed. It was draining trying to talk to Kellan. It was almost as if they were dueling, except with words instead of swords. And she was losing badly.
“Why not send Cassie? I know you don’t want to be in here with me.”
“Cassie is busy tending to her husband.”
Denae smiled then, feeling as if she had gained a small victory. “Ah, but you don’t deny not wanting to be here.”
“I doona deny it.”
“I’m sorry.” And she meant it. “It’s never fun to be stuck with a job you don’t want.”
He didn’t respond, and Denae found she couldn’t keep her eyes open as the minutes ticked by.
She was drifting off to sleep when he said, “What is MI5 looking for on Dreagan?”
“I wasn’t told,” she repeated and yawned while her eyes remained shut. “I thought I was coming to do reconnaissance. It wasn’t until Matt told me I was bait that I knew there was another mission. Why was I bait though? And why did I need to be wounded? Did they think some animal was going to attack me?”
“There could’ve been something in the cave with you.”
Denae cracked open her eyes. “It’s your cave. You said so. What was in there?”
“Me.”
“You?” She couldn’t get her sleepy mind around what he was saying. “You were there? You saw me and Matt fight?”
He gave a single nod of his head.
That brought Denae instantly awake. “How long did you let me bleed?”
“You’re alive, are you no’?”
“That’s not what I asked.” She swallowed past the dismay in her throat. “You actually had to decide to save me or not. What kind of person are you?”
“No’ like anyone you know.”
“Obviously,” she said, not bothering to hide her anger. “You’re as bad as Matt. He used me, and I almost wasn’t worth saving in your eyes. What has this world come to?”
He stretched out his legs and crossed his feet at the ankles. “I’ve been asking myself that for years. Aye, I admit to debating whether to help you. The fact is, I did.”
“Do you regret it?” She waited tensely for him to answer, wondering why she put herself in such positions to continually get hurt.
“That depends on what you can tell us about MI5.”
“Are you asking me now?”
“Nay.”
Denae slid down on the bed until she was flat. “Do you plan to remain here all night then?”
“We wouldna want you thinking you could escape, now would we?”
Denae looked up at the ceiling. “Where would I go? For the moment, Dreagan is the safest place for me.”
“As long as you cooperate and we doona believe you’re lying, then you will be protected here.”
“Can you really get me out of the country?”
“There is much we can do.”
She grunted. “Maybe that’s why MI5 is interested in you. I saw the file on Dreagan. It holds just a few slips of paper. So thin it didn’t make sense for us to be sent in.”
“How big are the files you normally see?”
She held up a hand and spaced her index finger and thumb apart. “About three inches or so. Before any mission is set, information is gathered on everyone and everything connected to whatever is being watched. From there, the mission is determined and several teams are sent in.”
“I thought you said it was just you and Matt?”
Denae put a hand beneath her head to see Kellan. “It was just the two of us. That was another red flag for me, but then I thought other teams might have been sent in that we didn’t know about.”