Bestselling Authors Collection 2012(301)
Efraim sensed Russ move past him, slip an arm around his younger brother, offer comfort, usher him through the utility room and out of the barn. He didn’t move. Couldn’t move. For the first time in his life, he had no idea what to do next.
“Efraim.”
Her voice moved over his skin as light as a caress. He swallowed into a parched throat. “Did you hear?”
“Yes.” She stepped into the aisle.
He didn’t look up. Couldn’t look up. “Did you know?”
“That it was Timmy? That he was protecting me?”
He didn’t know why it was so important to him, but he needed her answer. “Did you know when you came to my suite?”
“No.” Her voice hitched, and he could hear she was crying. “I just knew Russ was hiding something. I had no idea it was Timmy he was protecting. I should have. Looking back, I should have figured it out. I think I probably just didn’t want to know.”
He looked up and met her eyes.
They were still the color of the sea, still swirled with emotion and hope and optimism. Still saw things he was only beginning to see. “I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you, that I didn’t wait.”
She nodded. She took a step toward him. Then another. Then she was in his arms, the length of her body pressed against him, her head resting on his chest.
He pulled in a deep breath of her. She still smelled of jasmine. “I love you, Callie.” As soon as the words left his lips, he knew they were true. It was impossible. Ridiculous. They’d known each other only a couple of weeks. Had only really spoken about more than policy issues for a little over a day. Yet it felt as if he’d known her for much longer.
He felt as if he understood her heart.
“I love you, too, Efraim.”
Her words were muffled against his chest, but they were the most beautiful he’d ever heard.
She looked up at him, her eyes wet, her lips slightly parted.
He brought his mouth down on hers and she opened to him, took him in, honest and true. And when their kiss ended, he could feel tears wet his own cheeks, and he didn’t brush them away. “I want to start over with your family, if they’ll let me.”
Her lips curved upward in a smile. “I’d like that.”
“And America. I want you to show me your country. The places, the customs, the people. I want to see it through your eyes. I want to see the world through your eyes.”
“And I want to see it through yours.”
He smiled. He felt as if he was beaming.
“What about Nadar? I want to see more of your country, too.”
“And you will.”
“Do you think your people… Will they accept me?”
He hadn’t thought about his country’s reaction to seeing their prince in love with an American. He’d been more focused on her country’s reaction to him. “I don’t know. But I have a feeling they’ll come around. In time. I’ll see to it. They’ll come to love you as much as I do.”
She hugged him again.
He could hardly believe he’d found this woman. And now that he had, the world seemed to stretch before him with endless promise and possibility. But before he could claim it, there was much to handle. “Go, talk to your brother. He needs you now.”
Callie’s eyes welled with tears. “Thank you.”
And before he let her go, they kissed again, long and deep. And Efraim knew that no matter what happened from here on out, they would figure things out.
Together.
CALLIE WAS STILL coming to terms with all that had happened. Her heart ached for Timmy, for her family, for herself. And although she’d be grateful forever to her youngest brother for saving her life, she was heartbroken that his act had to cost him so dearly.
Jake Wolf had arrived at the ranch about the time Brent and her dad had returned from stringing fence. They had all gone to Dumont, following Jake’s sheriff SUV. They had sat at the jail and waited while Tim was booked. And the moment bail was set, they’d taken him home. She wasn’t sure what would happen to her brother, but Jake confided that all the evidence he’d found so far suggested Timmy’s story was true, and that he would probably do no time.
Efraim had his own family tragedy to come to terms with. Fahad had been closer to him than his own brother. It was a horrible shock for him to learn Fahad was working with the forces responsible for the car bomb that was designed to kill all the royals, and might have succeeded in killing Amir. She’d felt horrible when she’d shown Efraim the text message about the car bomb and plan B. But Efraim had faced the betrayal head-on. He had done a little more digging and now was displaying what he’d found on an internet file-sharing website and explaining how it all fit together to the COIN leaders ringing the long conference table.