"You should have told me, Amelia," he whispered, though the statement lacked anger or resentment. "I would have helped you protect her. It shouldn't have fallen to you alone to make the decisions you've had to make."

Laying her hand against his chest as she stared down at him, she knew she, too, had done the only thing she could.

"It would have tortured you," she whispered. "You were out of the country, doing whatever you did in the military that had every woman's instinct inside me terrified for you. The knowledge that Kimmy was there, protected only by the fact that the Slasher didn't know about her yet, would have killed you, Crowe. I knew that, even when I went to Clyde to try to contact you."

He shook his head. "You were too young to have to do it alone, Amelia."

"But I wasn't alone," she reminded him. "You may hate it, I may regret every moment it was necessary, but even you and your cousins couldn't have done more than Dad and Uncle Jack did to ensure no one followed me when I went to see her. Just as they made certain no one learned she existed. I knew the day would come when you'd be back. That one day the Slasher would be gone forever. I made sure Kimmy knew that the only reason you weren't with us was because there was a very bad man trying to hurt you, one who would have hurt me and her as well, if he'd known about her. She accepted that, and she's awaited the day she'd know you. But." She stopped him when regret flashed in his gaze and he would have spoken. "Don't think Kimmy isn't enjoying the h.e.l.l out of the little confrontations the two of you are having. She loves to argue. She loves to push her boundaries. She's a feminine replica of you, Crowe, and she terrifies me with her courage. Just as you've always terrified me with yours."

CHAPTER 28.

Pride snapped in his gaze so fast Amelia couldn't help but smile.

"Does it please you, knowing your daughter is so much like you that it's d.a.m.ned scary?"

"She's already giving me gray hairs," he sighed. "Logan actually started playing with her this afternoon to keep her off that d.a.m.ned stair banister. The little minx would have broken something if I hadn't made it to the bottom in time when she came flying down it."

Amelia laid her head against his chest, groaning. "She's already broken her arm climbing a tree on the estate that Dad's group owns in France. She's fearless, Crowe."

"She's beautiful," he whispered.

Lifting her head, she gazed down at him, seeing a man aching for the years he had lost with his child.

"Do you realize," she whispered. "We were together over three months that summer. And nearly as long now. You've killed a man to protect me, you've watched over me when you could, but you've never told me you loved me?"

His expression softened, not a lot, but a bit. The gold in his eyes gleamed brighter, though.

"I told you I loved you every night we were apart," he whispered then. "Every time I've touched you, I've told you with every cell in my body how much I love you, Amelia. I'm only surprised Wayne never realized it over the years. That each time I was within sight of you, every part of me that mattered was screaming out how much I loved you."

Tears filled her eyes, her lips trembling at the emotion that thickened his voice.

"I always loved you," she whispered. "So much that sometimes I swore my soul was bleeding with the wound punched into it when you left me."

His hand cupped her cheek, his thumb whispering over her lips. "I know you did," he told her gently. "You didn't have to say the words, Amelia. Your eyes, your touch, they said it."

A tear slid slowly down her cheek and touched his thumb, binding them further together.

"I want more kids," he surprised her by saying. "As many as you want to have, but at least one more little girl. Maybe a boy, too."

"At least two more," she agreed, wondering what he would think if he knew she wanted at least three more children. Enough children that if, G.o.d forbid, their parents be taken from them, they would always have someone to hold on to. Another part of their parents that would ensure they always knew they were loved.

"Whenever you're ready," she promised. "You know, I conceived that first night, Crowe."

His eyes widened. "We were together three months."

She nodded. "The night you left, I'd just taken one of the home pregnancy tests. I'd only realized then that as irregular as my periods were, they weren't that irregular. So I doubt it will take long to ensure Kimmy has a little brother or sister."

Before she could guess his intention he grabbed her, pulling her atop him as he rolled over and pinned her to the bed. Staring down at her, his gaze heated with arousal again, his expression now filled with so much love that the wound she'd carried eased and began healing.

"As soon as Wayne's dealt with," he demanded.

Amelia sobered, nodded. "As soon as he's dealt with."

His head lowered, his forehead touching hers as his hand cupped her cheek again. "I love you, Amelia. Every day, every hour, every minute we've been apart, I've loved you until I wondered if I would survive another second away from you."

His lips touched hers, gently. It wasn't a s.e.xual kiss. It was an intimate kiss. The kiss of a man who knew and understood so much more than he ever spoke of, so much more than he ever explained. A man who knew the woman in his arms and the fears that often held her.

He grimaced at the sound of his cell phone pinging. "h.e.l.l," he groaned, rolling from her and grabbing the phone from the bedside table. "What is it?"

As Crowe listened, he sighed heavily. "Those f.u.c.king computers in the security room." The call didn't sound like an emergency or hold any hint of danger if his voice was anything to go by. When he rose from the bed, Amelia realized he'd been totally naked beneath those blankets.

d.a.m.n. Her thighs instantly softened, her inner flesh melting and preparing for him.

"One of the monitors is acting up again," he explained to her after he disconnected, moving to the clothes he'd laid out on the chair next to the bedside table.

Amelia remained in the bed, covering a yawn. "I'll wait for you."

She would always wait for him, she realized.

He dressed quickly, then sat on the bed and pulled on his boots before lacing them quickly. "I won't be long," he promised, leaning to her, his lips moving over hers.

Taking hers.

He parted them, his tongue tasting her as he took deep, heated kisses that rocked her to the tips of her toes. Lifting her hands she buried them in his hair, holding him close, letting him pull her into the dizzying heat that surrounded her each time he touched her.

When he pulled back, she realized he was breathing just as hard as she was, the touch of just their lips enough to bring them both to full, blazing arousal.

"Rain check?" he whispered.

"Rain check," she agreed, staring up at him, praying the team she'd learned was out searching for Wayne found him soon.

Watching him leave she smiled at the look in his eyes as he left the room. She'd seen it often, she realized, just as she realized that her heart had heard the words her ears had missed.

They were there in his eyes, pouring from his soul.

I love you.

He had whispered the words the only way he could, the only way he knew would keep her safe from the danger that stalked him and any lover he was suspected to have.

Exhaling deeply to calm her breathing and the arousal that had begun building in her, Amelia moved from the bed and straightened the loose shirt she wore. While Crowe checked his monitors, she wanted to check on Kimmy. She could spend hours just watching her daughter sleep.

She'd been forced to spend so much time away from her that now Amelia found it hard to allow her baby out of her sight.

Leaving the bedroom she glanced along the hall, her lips twitching. Ivan's cousin, the hall guard, was dozing where he'd been sitting in the large wingback chair, the newspaper he was reading still in his hand.

Ivan would have his head for that, just after Crowe finished kicking his a.s.s. She'd wake him when she returned to her room.

Gripping the doork.n.o.b she opened the door, stepped inside- She entered h.e.l.l.

"Close the door, sweetheart," Wayne ordered, his voice soft, almost gentle as he held a knife to her daughter's throat.

Amelia was dying inside.

She felt the ice forming in her soul, the silent screams of pain and denial unlike anything she'd ever felt in her life as her entire world crashed in on her soul.

Closing the door softly, she stared at her daughter's innocent face, the long lashes that lay against her sleep-flushed face, the tangled waves of her hair that her daughter refused to bind when she slept.

Crowe's daughter. And she was so much like him. Courageous and daring, without fear, without hesitation when she decided on something.

Amelia had wanted nothing more than to ensure that the evil she knew existed on the edges of her life never touched her daughter. She'd sent her baby away to France when she was just an infant, with her own mother and father. She'd stayed away from her as much as possible. She'd died inside over and over again without the man she loved, and the daughter they had created together.

Only to become so desperate to give Crowe the gift she had saved for him that she had convinced herself the evil couldn't get to her as long as she stayed in the house. As long as Kimmy was surrounded by Crowe's and Ivan's security agents, not mention her father's team, then she would be safe.

Her gaze was held by the glint of steel against her daughter's throat. She knew Wayne meant to take her baby, Crowe's baby, away from them.

"You won't get out of here with her," she whispered, desperate to make certain Kimmy remained asleep. "Just leave, Wayne. I won't let anyone know you're here. I swear."

He chuckled, a low, demented sound of amus.e.m.e.nt. "You'd do anything to keep this child, wouldn't you, Amelia? No matter what."

"I always have," she a.s.sured him.

"Tell me, how did you hide this precious little treasure from me?" He stroked Kimmy's neck with the blade. Amelia felt her heart burst in her chest.

Her breath hitched on a sob as his smile widened. "Come on, Amelia, tell me how you did it."

"She was premature." Her voice was strangled. "I wasn't showing much, and I would have left had I begun showing more. But she came early."

He nodded. "I've been doing the research I should have done years ago." He shook his head, staring back at her with a gleam of anger in his eyes. "You shouldn't have kept this from me, Amelia."

"You threatened to kill me," she whispered. "I didn't know you were the Slasher and you kept threatening to make certain everyone knew the information you found in Cami's journal. I didn't want to die."

She didn't want to leave her baby to be raised without either parent and she hadn't wanted her death on Crowe's conscience. Something had told her he couldn't have survived it.

"Ah yes," he nodded. "I did do that. But what has me thinking that the only reason you stayed in Sweetrock was to protect your lover?" Then he sneered. "And your wh.o.r.e mother."

She shook her head desperately. "I didn't know about Mom until after Crowe left. She wanted me to leave with her, and I wouldn't. I stayed..."

"To protect Crowe?" he snapped.

"What does it matter why?" she begged desperately. "I stayed." Tears fell from her eyes as she clenched her hands in her robe. "Oh G.o.d, please move the knife. Please. She's asleep."

She was dying. Sobs were trapped in her throat; screams were strangled inside her as her knees threatened to collapse beneath her.

He only smiled back at her.

"Wayne, Crowe won't let you out of here alive, you know that. If you just go, I'll help you. I'll go with you," she sobbed, fighting to keep her voice low. "The guard is sleeping outside. He won't know..."

"He's actually dead."

She froze. "What?"

"Dearest, you couldn't wake that Russian moron if you tried. He's dead. I killed him."

Dead?

She hadn't even asked his name when Ivan brought him in earlier. All she knew was that he was Ivan's cousin, and Kimmy had teased him about his accent.

And he had seemed to be charmed by her.

Ivan would never forgive her. He would never forgive any of them for his cousin's death.

"Do you think no one else is here?" she asked him, fighting back her screams as another m.u.f.fled sob escaped. She felt strangled by her own breaths, her heart so tight, filled with such agony she didn't know if she would survive if he actually managed to get away with her baby.

From the corner of her eye she saw Kimmy's lashes twitch and she began to pray harder. Desperately.

Please G.o.d, don't let her wake. Don't let her memories be touched by the monster standing over her.

"What made you believe I'd let you keep his child once I did find out?" Wayne sighed as he stared down at her daughter. "Of all the Callahans, Crowe is the one you had to choose. What made you think I'd actually allow it, Amelia?"

Reaching out, he caused a low whimper of terror to leave her lips as he ran his fingers down the back of her daughter's hair before looking up at her again.

"Really, Amelia? Did you believe I wouldn't punish you for this?"

She shook her head jerkily. "I thought you would focus on Mom," she admitted. "Not on my daughter."

She had never imagined Wayne would get past a house filled with trained agents. She had never imagined she was risking her precious daughter.

"I heard what you said about me after you were rescued," he told her quietly. "That you loved me once?"

She had told a journalist she had loved him as a child who believed all fathers loved their daughters. When she was very young. Before her mother was taken from her.

As he stared at her, his gaze turned heavy as he seemed to regret the past.

Amelia watched him, tracking the knife as it lifted marginally from her daughter's neck.

"I was a child," she whispered, fighting to breathe past her tears.

"And I was cruel to you." He nodded, smiling back at her again. "I promise to try to be nicer to this little darling, though." He stared down at Kimmy again as Amelia found herself sobbing silently, desperately. He whispered, "Pretty little Callahan. Crowe's precious little daughter."

A ragged cry tore from her as Wayne touched her baby's cheek with that blade again.

"Let her go, Wayne. There's no way you'll get her out of here alive. You know you won't," she begged.