Not now? No! Agonizing regret poured acid over her relief. Followed by stark reality and reason. He was giving her hope rather than making her wait in ignorance. She needed to be grateful for that. He trusted her with information about a possible escape when she hadn't even been willing to share with her dearest friends her pregnancy and plans to run.
Oh, Blake. Her eyes blinked against the pitch dark, the side of his face a near indiscernible blur.
"Hang on just a little longer, not more than a couple of days. Hopefully this will go fast and easy. But there's a chance we may have to set explosives and mouse-hole in. If you hear the whippoorwill call I used to make when we went hiking, I want you all to flatten against the south wall. Okay? The south wall. Hang in there. Help is on the way."
Big help. Serious help. Wipe-these-bastards-off-the-face-of-the-earth help.
"Thank you," she mouthed, the words a mere brush of air.
"Are you really okay?"
No. Hell, no, she wanted to cry and vent and finally let down and grieve over what had happened to her. Except she couldn't. If he knew, he would scoop her up now and ruin the plan. The temptation to leave immediately was agonizingly strong, but not strong enough to risk his life.
"I'm all right," she dared to whisper, prayed she was convincing.
A shudder ripped through him just before he pulled her close. Fast. Too fast for her to think or react to hide the telling bulge. And then her torso was flush against his.
Would he guess? She was only three months along, and he was a bachelor with no experience about pregnant women. Maybe he wouldn't notice. Maybe he would have forgotten what she felt like before. Maybe she could will him not to know if she just kept quiet.
He stilled against her.
His heart pounded so hard she could feel it against her own, so loud she feared its echoing bounce through the cell would wake the others. A shudder that could only be realization raced through him.
"Oh, God, Sydney." His hoarse whisper stroked her ear into her hair. "Is there any possibility it could be..." Mine.
The lone word stayed unspoken but easily understood.
He had to know the chances were next to nil given she wasn't showing much and they hadn't been together in four months. Four long months ago—their last time together followed by a fight in bed about her decision to leave for Rubistan when he wanted her to quit, to get married and start a family with him. He wanted a baby of his own so damned much.
She couldn't lie to him. "No."
The truth burned her throat. She couldn't even allow herself to dream what it would be like to carry his child instead.
She heard the catch in his throat. A quiet primal groan from his soul sounded as he accepted what had happened to her in this place.
His arms slid under her.
"Blake? Wait."
"Shut up," he growled low.
"But—"
"You're out of here. Now."
"What about Kayla and Phillip? I can't leave them behind." Hope mingled with fear, panic.
He hesitated. "All right. We'll take them, too."
"Are the rest of your guys outside?"
No answer, just the slow lift as he hefted her from the cot.
Of course they weren't. Why would they have sent a whole group to give an advance warning when one person could slide in more easily?
A sneaking suspicion niggled. Did they even know he was here at all? Had he gone commando to check on her?
Her vision adjusted until she could see determination glint in Blake's hazel eyes peering from his painted face. The strength of his will almost persuaded her to let him try. His training could haul her as well as her friends out. He had military survival skills beyond her imagination. He'd told her before that whatever a SEAL wanted for weapons or training, a SEAL got.