All he had to do was convince her to leave with him. Not an easy task considering she’d taken it upon herself to save the country single-handedly. Damn stubborn woman.
He could do it, Robert told himself as he climbed the stone steps and crossed to the pub’s entrance. Damn it, he loved her. And she loved him. She may not have said those words, but he could see it in her eyes. When she smiled at him. When she touched him. When they made love. Just because she’d refused to leave with him that morning didn’t mean she would again now that she’d had time to think about it. Now that the bombs had started falling. Lily Scott might be on a crusade to save the people of Rebelia, but she wasn’t a fool.
He shoved open the heavy wooden door. A German polka played merrily from the ancient jukebox. The impact of a mortar striking the earth nearby rattled the windows and the glasses hanging above the bar. Hans Pavlar, the old bartender, looked up from his miniature television when Robert walked in and grinned. “Hey, American, I thought you would be on your way home by now.”
Robert grinned back. “I’ve got one more thing to do, old man.”
Hans looked toward the stairs leading to the rented rooms above. “She’s a stubborn one, our Miss Lily.”
“Yeah, well, so am I.”
“She will not go with you, my American friend.”
Aware that his heart was pounding hard against his ribs, Robert started for the stairs. “We’ll see about that.”
He took the stairs two at a time to the second level. Yellow light slanted from beneath her door. He crossed to it and rapped hard with his fist. “Lily, it’s Robert.”
He closed his eyes, refusing to acknowledge that he was shaken. That he was terrified because deep down inside he knew she was going to refuse.
The door swung open. The world shook a little beneath his feet at the sight of her. Iridescent hazel eyes. A complexion as fine as German porcelain. Wavy strawberry-blond hair pulled into an unruly ponytail.
She blinked once as if his presence surprised her, then a slow smile pulled at her full mouth. “I thought you would already be on the plane.”
He wanted to devour her in a single bite. “I can’t leave without you.” He closed the distance between them, backed her into the room and slammed the door behind him. “I want you to come with me.”
He saw the answer in her eyes before she uttered a word and he heard the message as loud and clear as the bombs dropping outside.
No.
Feeling desperate and scared and a little out of control, he leaned close to her, slid his hands through her hair and kissed her. He wasn’t sure why he did it. Maybe because he felt so goddamn helpless. Maybe because he was scared. Maybe because his entire world revolved around this woman, and he couldn’t bear the thought of walking away without her.
She kissed him back. Heat mingled with desperation and fused into something volatile and unstable. Fear and desire and a hundred other emotions pounded through him with every beat of his heart. He poured all of those emotions into the kiss. Mewling, she opened to him. Dizzy for the taste of her, he used his tongue, wanting her with an urgency that was insane at a time like this. They’d made love just that morning, but he was already hard and pulsing and wanting her all over again. He knew it was crazy, but that’s the way things had become between them, and he was helpless to stop. He could never stop when it came to Lily.
He slipped his hands beneath her blouse and cupped her breasts, brushing his thumbs over the erect peaks of her nipples. Gasping, she arched into him, her hands going to the waistband of his jeans where his erection strained uncomfortably against denim. He groaned when her fingers closed around his shaft.
Realizing belatedly that the moment was going to get out of hand if he didn’t stop now, he grasped her wrists, then broke the kiss. “Don’t tell me no,” he growled. “Come with me.”
She pulled back slightly. Her pupils were dilated. Her nostrils flaring. He glanced at her mouth. Her lips were kiss-bruised and wet, and it took every ounce of discipline he could muster not to kiss her again.
“I can’t,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not going to take no for an answer.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Damn it, Lily.” He glanced at the clock next to the bed. “The last plane is leaving for London in less than an hour. We’ve got to go. Now.”
“The soldiers won’t hurt me.”
“The tanks are coming. They’ll kill you without even seeing your face.”
“No. I talked to DeBruzkya less than an hour ago.”
Anger stormed through him. “I told you to stay away from that son of a bitch.”
“He promised to spare the orphanage,” she said quickly.
“Then you’ve done your work.”
“My work is just beginning. I’m sorry if that hurts you, Robert. But I can’t leave. If I hadn’t been here to contact him, the soldiers would have… All of those beautiful children—”