Ultimate Weapon (McClouds & Friends #6)(50)

Rachel resolved his dilemma by holding up her other doll and pressing it, chest to chest, against the one he held. She adjusted its stiff, hard little plastic arms until it embraced his.

“Hug,” she explained solemnly.

A hot sensation swelled in his chest, tight and uncomfortable. He breathed the strange feeling down and adjusted the arms of his doll until it returned the other’s embrace. As best it could, of course, hampered by unyielding plastic and stiff mechanical ball joints. “Hug,” he echoed obediently.

Rachel rewarded him with a smile that startled him with its beauty. She pressed the dolls face-to-face. “Kiss?” she inquired.

He laughed at her earnest request. “Let’s not rush things,” he said. “I am shy. And we barely know each other.”

Rachel frowned and knocked the dolls’ plastic faces together. “Kiss,” she insisted.

“Rachel, don’t bother Mr. Janos,” Steele said, in a warning tone.

“She is not a bother,” Val said, realizing with surprise that it was true. He held up the doll to face hers. “Kiss,” he said, resigned.

Rachel rewarded him with another radiant smile. Her doll kissed his with enough intensity for him to start feeling a little strange about it. And Steele was giving him a distinctly unfriendly look.

“What?” he demanded. “I did nothing except get my doll kissed. Passively. My doll did not even kiss back.”

Steele shook her head, looking uneasy. “It’s strange. How she goes for you. Usually she screams bloody murder around strange men.”

“Maybe her instincts are better than yours,” he offered.

Tam made a derisive sound. “No, she just has a lot to learn. Learning to watch out for men with handsome faces and big guns comes after basic language skills, how to use a fork, and potty training. Come on, baby, come play with your dolls with Mommy.”

Rachel ignored her and held up another small doll to be admired. “Sveti give dollies,” she informed Val with great gravity.

“Oh, sì?” he responded politely. “Who is Sveti?”

“We see Sveti wedding!” She jumped. “Red dress! For me! Pretty!”

“Wedding?” He glanced at Steele. “You’re going to a wedding?”

“Today wedding! Today wedding! See Sveti! Mommy promise,” Rachel said, glancing fiercely at Steele for corroboration. “Promise!”

A frown marred Steele’s pale brow. “Honey, don’t babble,” she said tightly.

“Want red dress! Want Sveti! Promise!”

Steele massaged her forehead with her fingertips. “I don’t have your red dress now, baby,” she said wearily. “I left it at home. And Sveti’s not here. I’m sorry.”

Rachel’s face crumpled. Val braced himself for her ambulance siren imitation. Today wedding. He didn’t place much weight in a three-year-old’s sense of time, but Steele’s discomfort with Rachel’s revelation suggested that there had been plans to go to some event today, before he maneuvered her into running away.

“Is one of your McCloud friends getting married?” he asked.

“None of your damn business, and how did you know about the McClouds anyhow?”

“Want Sveti!” Rachel wailed. “Want wedding!”

“Is there someone at this wedding who you could trust to keep Rachel safe for you for a while?”

“That’s none of your damn business either.” She got up. “And it’s time for us to go. Thanks again for the—”

“Sit down.” He put all his force behind the words. “I am trying to save your child’s life.”

His tone made even Rachel’s wails trail off in uncertain whimpers. Steele sat slowly on the edge of the bed again, her full mouth pinched.

“The wedding is today?” he asked. “In Seattle?”

A sullen shrug was her response.

“You were planning to go?” he persisted.

“Before I tried to flee the country, yes,” she said bitterly. “Last night’s events put a crimp in my social calendar. This morning’s adventure didn’t help much either.”

“We should go,” he informed her. “It’s the perfect timing.”

Her eyes widened. “What’s this ‘we’ crap? We’re not going anywhere with you, Janos. I’m not exposing my friends to you and your weirdo homicidal pals. And besides, we have nothing to wear.”

“So order something online,” he said. “Have it delivered.”

She shook her head. “Listen to me, Val Janos, or whoever the hell you are. You haven’t even told me yet what the hell is going on. Until you explain to my satisfaction—”

“I can’t.” He shot a significant look at Rachel.

Rachel’s doll was hugging his doll once again. She tilted her head, and peeked up with a flirtatious smile.

“Honey baby, it’s time for you to have a bath,” Steele said briskly. “I’ll go run it for you.” She squinted at him. “And you will talk. Quietly, outside the bathroom door, while she bathes.”

A few minutes of preparation got Rachel paddling happily in a shallow bath with an assortment of floating rubber toys, produced from the miraculous black bag. Steele sat in the bathroom doorway where she could keep an eye on the child, and gestured for Val to sit opposite her on the floor.