There was instant agreement. With both children in the playpen, happily gathering and scattering plastic blocks, Nathan quickly drew Sasha into the adjoining kitchenette. He slid his hands around her waist, drawing her close, but his mind was not on kissing her. His eyes searched hers with an intensity that set her heart aflutter.
‘There may be a way out of the contract. It’s extreme. It’s radical. And it involves you, Sasha.’
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
HESTER was right, Sasha thought, her mind leaping with elation. When Nathan really wanted something, he found a way. Matt was right. His daddy could do anything.
Sasha flung her arms around his neck, her eyes sparkling with a great burst of happiness. ‘You’re the most wonderful man I’ve ever met!’ As well as the sexiest. She went up on her toes to kiss him.
Nathan hesitated a moment, a brief conflict in his eyes. Desire won. His mouth took hers with passionate intensity. His arms pulled her into a fiercely possessive embrace. Arousal was so swift, Sasha broke away in alarm as she remembered the children.
‘Matt and Bonnie...’
‘I love you, Sasha.’
Her heart swelled anew. ‘I love you, too.’
He looked deeply and seriously into her eyes. ‘I need your help.’
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Give me Tyler’s address.’
Sasha was thunderstruck. ‘What’s Tyler got to do with you and me and Urszula Budna?’
‘He’s the linchpin to my present difficulties. Anyone who can bed Elizabeth and not feel unmanned has extraordinary powers, including tenacity of purpose. Tyler is the man I need for a desperate task. In military terms he’d be called “the forlorn hope”. Not much chance of survival.’
‘Radical’ and ‘extreme’ suddenly took on a terrible meaning. Sasha shook her head vehemently. ‘Not murder, Nathan. I’ve thought of that, too, but only figuratively, not literally. No, no, no, no, no! Not murder. And I don’t believe Tyler would be capable of it anyway. He’s irresponsible, occasionally violent, but definitely not a murderer.’
Nathan looked at her in amazement. ‘You actually thought of murdering Urszula Budna?’
‘Not really. It flashed through my mind. But I only wanted her to go away.’ She felt defensive.
‘You thought I’d contemplate murder?’ There was a certain amount of awe in his voice.
‘Not until this moment, no.’
‘Perish the thought. You’re never to think such a thing again.’
‘I won’t.’ She hadn’t really thought of it at all. She thought Nathan had. To distract his attention, she swivelled around to get a notebook and pen from the top kitchen drawer. ‘I’ll write down Tyler’s address for you.’
Having done that, she tore off the page and handed it to Nathan, who quickly pocketed it then produced some papers of his own.
‘I need you to sign these,’ he said, spreading them on the kitchen bench.
‘What are they?’
‘Sasha...’ He grasped her arms and turned her around to him. His riveting blue eyes bored into her heart again. ‘Will you marry me?’
She took a deep breath to clear the sudden obstruction in her throat. ‘I’d consider it if you weren’t married to someone else.’
‘I love you.’
‘I won’t commit bigamy.’
‘I love you passionately.’
‘We don’t need to marry. But if there’s a way...’