Vistaria Has Fallen (The Vistaria Affair/Vistaria Has Fallen #1)(50)

“What is it?” she asked.

“Shhh.”

The tap-tap-tap sounded again.

Nick stood and picked up the jacket slung over the back of the chair next to him and put it on. “Stay there,” he instructed, as he might a child. He left the room, using the archway to the front door. The one he had carried her through only a few hours earlier.

Her body tingled at the memory.

Calli wanted to eat more of the casserole, for her hunger was still not satisfied. It felt like she had not eaten for a month. Only, Nick had taken his jacket with him and she knew it was because there was a gun in it. The knowledge slowed her movements, made the worry return. She listened, trying to hear Nick. As she scooped up another spoonful of the casserole, she heard what she assumed must be the front door open and close. Then nothing.

Several minutes later, the door opened and closed again. Nick returned. He sat and picked up his fork again. “I apologize for the interruption.”

A small chill touched her spine. “What’s wrong? What has happened?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“You haven’t taken off your jacket.”

He paused, looking at her as though he weighed his answer, then continued to tear into a bun. “It is cool outside. I want to be warm again before I remove it.”

He wore the same expression when she had seen him in the cell. The cool, assessing look that missed nothing and gave nothing away. His voice was the same rough burr she remembered from the first time they had met. The low, controlled voice of one used to command.

“Bullshit,” she said. “You’re not Nick. You’re...el leopardo. Whoever it is at the door has made you think of Vistaria, your affairs.”

He put down the bun and slid his hand into his pocket. She had seen him make that habitual motion dozens of times and realized he was reaching for the St. Christopher medallion. It was an instinctive and secret reach for comfort, for reassurance. El rojo leopardo could not afford to reveal weakness or hesitancy.

Yet he had placed the medallion around her neck. He had given it to reassure her.

Yes, Nick was thinking of his country now. The reach for the medal told her that.

Nick withdrew his hand. “You’re very perceptive.”

“Tell me.”

“I would not burden you with my petty concerns.”

“When they trouble you so much, they’re my concerns too.”

He reached out and lay his hand over hers. It felt cool. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought that here we would be insulated from such things.”

“We are, mostly. I don’t pretend to know what your day-to-day life must be like, Nick, but it must be a good deal busier and carry far more interruptions than the six hours I’ve experienced so far.”

“That is true.”

“If this is a petty concern, then share it with me and let me help it go away for a while.”

He shook his head. “I would not sully your thoughts with even a petty Vistarian concern. I would prefer you remain aloof from it all. Untouched.”

“That’s impossible, Nick. I got involved when some asshole blew up a party full of young army officers.”

“Is that your oblique way of reminding me what Vistaria owes you?”

“Hell, no. I just want to help.”

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “A local farmer came here a while ago. He said there are signs of soldiers in the area. Footprints in muddy fields, flocks of birds disturbed. Small things.”

“Isn’t the rebel camp somewhere around here?”

“No one knows. Besides, they stay on the move. The area where we think they are is miles south of us. On the other side of Pascuallita.”

“So who are the soldiers?”

“It may not be soldiers. Or rebels. It could be someone wearing army issue boots. There’s a healthy trade in used and surplus army equipment in Vistaria.”

“Only, someone is hanging around, right?”

“The signs stopped appearing two days ago.”

“You’re still worried.”

“The worry is passing,” he assured her.

“You’re also a liar,” she reminded him, softly.





Chapter Eleven


They did not make love that night. The farmer’s visit popped the bubble of isolation. Calli sensed the demands of Nick’s world reaching for him, calling for his attention. She did not intrude on his thoughts. She took care not to give any hint of her need for him, although she badly wanted him to take her in his arms. She needed him to assure her it would all go away, that he would be hers for just a little longer.

When the moon hung high and small, he picked up her hand and helped her to her feet. “I’m sorry, Calli. This is not what I intended.”

“I’d be a stupid fool to think it could stay away for as long as I wanted.”

“I shared that wish. Let’s see what we can do to preserve what we can, hmm? A night of sleep, that might be free of dreams now I have tasted the reality, could be enough to push the ghouls away. I will make it up to you tomorrow, I promise.”

Nick held her beneath the green quilt and kissed her cheek, yet his mind was elsewhere. He was preoccupied.

Sometime later Callie woke to a soft growling by her head. She jerked awake, trying to orient herself. She lay on one side, her back up against Nick. He had his arm over her waist.