Page 28 of The Hero
“Not in a palace in Liechtenstein? Will their kid be king or queen someday?”
Kendric laughed. “Not a chance in hell. Cal is like twentieth in line or something, and he wants nothing to do with ruling his country. But I suppose that, yes, their kids will be princes and princesses.”
“So if they’ll be your nieces and nephews, that makes you some sort of de facto royalty too, right?”
Kendric dug his fingers into her side, making Marlowe squirm and try to evade his touch as he tickled her.
“Not even close, woman!” he told her.
“Uncle! Uncle!” she cried through her laughter.
He stopped at once, smoothing his hand over her side where he’d tickled her. “Cal and June are truly something together. They got married when she was still in the hospital. I’ve never seen my friendso broken as when he wasn’t sure if she would survive or not. They had a whirlwind courtship, and he’d do literally anything for her. As would Chappy for Carlise. Come to think of it, they also came together extremely quickly. Like, in just days. I suppose living the kind of life we have ... when you know, you know.”
Marlowe thought about that. Then immediately wondered what he thought abouther. But she was too chicken to ask. She sighed and ended up yawning again.
“And now you really do need to rest,” Kendric insisted.
“They sound awesome,” she told him sleepily. “Your friends.”
“They are.”
“Kendric?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m worried about you.”
“Me? Why?”
“You aren’t sleeping enough. I want you to rest too. I’ll keep the bogeymen away. I promised to protect you too today, you know.” She was barely aware of what she was saying. The dark, the heat, and her full belly were finally catching up with her, and she was on the verge of falling into a deep slumber.
“I will,” he said.
“Promise?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. You know what?”
“What?”
He sounded amused, but Marlowe didn’t care. “I’m glad I was thrown in jail.”
“Glad?” he echoed, sounding shocked.
“Yeah. Because if I hadn’t been, I wouldn’t be right here, right now. Safe. Married to you. Good night, Kendric.”
She didn’t feel his arms tighten around her, or the kiss he placed on her forehead, because she’d already fallen into a deep, healing sleep.
Chapter Six
Bob wasn’t sure how long he and Marlowe had been in the “safe room” under the floor, but he was surprised to realize that he’d slept.Trulyslept, for the first time in years. He hadn’t woken up from a nightmare. Hadn’t tossed and turned. From what he could tell, he hadn’t moved throughout the last several hours.
Not that he could’ve moved much anyway, but he’d slept well, content to hold Marlowe in his arms. He knew he had her to thank. She was a minor miracle.Hismiracle ... and it would be excruciating to give her up once they reached the States.
Pushing that thought to the back of his mind to deal with later, once they were both home, he took a deep breath, trying to clear his mind. He was hot and sweating, and he could feel the dampness of his clothes where Marlowe was plastered against him. Her skin was dewy where his hand rested on her lower back, but they were safe. That was all that mattered.
Just as he was about to sit up and figure out what time it was, and wake Marlowe so they could head out to their next destination, he heard voices. The spot under the floor was well built and kept out the light from the room above, but apparently it didn’t completely keep out all sounds.
