As Sure as the Dawn(46)

Annoyed at the way his heart jumped at the sight of her, he was terse. “You’re late!”

She gave a soft laugh of surprise as he strode toward her. “I wasn’t exactly greeted at the gate. I had to sneak in.”

Atretes resented the rush of strong emotions he felt. She was flushed, her eyes bright. Worse, she seemed perfectly at peace, while the last two days of his life had been filled with torment. “Silus said he turned you away. How’d you manage to get in?”

He sounded as though he wished she hadn’t come back. “Someone left the back gate door open.” She unwrapped the shawl sling as she crossed the room. “You?”

“An oversight.” He hadn’t thought about it when he had come in from the hills this morning.

She smiled up at him as she placed Caleb on his big bed. “If it hadn’t been left open, I’d have climbed the wall.” His son gave a gurgling laugh and kicked his legs, obviously happy to be loosed.

“I was about to come looking for you,” Atretes said, putting his hand on her hip and nudging her aside so he could pick up his son.

Rizpah noted the dagger tucked into his belt. “Were you planning to slit my throat when you found us?”

“I was considering it,” he said and grinned into Caleb’s face as the babe tried to grab his hair. He nuzzled the child’s warm neck, relieved to have his son back in his possession.

“You can trust me, Atretes.”

“Maybe,” he said without looking at her. “You kept your word. This time.” He put Caleb back on the bed again. Drawing the sheathed dagger from his belt, he dropped it beside his son. Caleb rolled onto his side and reached for it.

“What are you doing?” Rizpah gasped, moving quickly to take it away.

Atretes grasped her wrist. “Leave it.”

“I will not!” She tried to jerk free.

He was amazed at how fragile her bones felt and was careful not to hurt her. “He’s not strong enough to pull the dagger free.”

“It’s what it represents,” she said and tried to reach for the weapon with her other hand. Atretes yanked her back. She glanced up at him and went still. His blue eyes stared into hers. She couldn’t fathom what he was thinking, nor was she sure she wanted to know. His gaze drifted, causing worse upheaval within her.

“He’s the son of a warrior,” he said, looking at the curve of her mouth, “and will be a warrior himself one day.”

“He needn’t start training at seven months.”

His mouth curved wryly as he ran his thumb lightly across the smooth, soft skin of her wrist. He allowed her to jerk free. She turned from him abruptly, took the dagger from Caleb and set it firmly on the table beside the bed. Caleb, stripped of the new and intriguing toy, rolled onto his back and cried petulantly. Rizpah quickly took a wooden rattle from a fold in her belt and shook it over him. The sound distracted him briefly, but when she put the toy in his hand, he shook it once and sent it sailing past her head.

Atretes smirked. “He’s my son.”

“He certainly is,” Rizpah said dryly, watching Caleb’s face turn red as he wailed louder.

Atretes’ mouth tightened. He took the sheathed dagger from the table and held it in front of her face. “It’s looped,” he said. “Do you see?” He flicked the leather strap with his index finger and tossed the dagger onto the bed beside Caleb. When she started to reach for it again, he caught her arm and spun her around. “Leave him be. He can’t hurt himself with it. Now, tell me what you’ve learned over the last two days.”

She let out her breath sharply, but made no further effort to take the weapon from her son. Atretes would only give it back to him. “We can sail for Rome tomorrow morning at dawn. All we have to do is make it to the ship.”

“Good,” he said, a surge of excitement spilling through his blood. He was going home! “I take it the money I gave you was enough.”

“Enough to take us part way, but you needn’t worry. John and the others have seen to the rest of the expense.”

He frowned, a muscle tightening in his jaw. “The others? What others?” His eyes darkened. “How many people did you tell about these plans?”

“There are twenty—”

“Twenty!”

“. . . going along with us.” She raised her hands at the look on his face. “Before you explode and lose all reason, listen.” She told him of the others’ plights as quickly as she could. When she finished counting off the various members of the party, all except one best left unmentioned until unavoidable, Atretes uttered one word in Greek that made her cringe and then blush.