"Both."
As much as he'd hurt her, he'd always been fair, and oh how that made it difficult to fight with him. "I apologize for not telling you about the diabetes. That was shortsighted of me. I'm used to downplaying it to keep Ramon from becoming more protective and taking away what little freedoms I had."
She breathed past the insidious smothering sensation. "I was also afraid you would insist on carrying the backpack as well as Lucia and reopen the wound on your arm. I worry about you, too."
His eyes shut tight, his head hanging again. "I shouldn't have said what I did about Lucia, and I shouldn't be barking at you now."
She deserved the apology, and she knew he was honorable enough to deliver it, but something about his stillness bothered her. "You were only saying what you thought, which I wish you'd done in the first place."
"Why?" A dark smile tugged the corner of his mouth. "You would have been just as pissed off then."
She rose and skirted around the bed to kneel in front of him so she could read his eyes, what little he would let her see. "It's not about me being angry. It's about Lucia. I wouldn't have told her you're her father if I'd thought for a second you were having doubts about taking responsibility for—"
His head snapped up. "I never said I wouldn't take responsibility, damn it. I'll support her and y—"
She pressed a finger to his mouth. "That's not what I meant and you know it. I meant taking responsibility for her heart."
He gripped her wrist. "Help me believe it."
A part of her wanted to list the explanations again. Maybe he would hear and listen this time. But she knew better. There were no new details to relay. He never forgot a thing, he just wasn't ready.
This was about more than wanting a man full of romance. This was about trust. "I can't do that for you, Lucas. You can't take responsibility for someone else's heart when you're not even ready to admit you have one of your own."
He didn't answer, much less look at her. He was as closed up as she'd ever seen him.
She rocked back onto her heels with a sigh and shoved to her feet. "I believe I'll take you up on your offer to sit with Lucia while I shower."
She backed from the room, her eyes pinned on Lucas's hunched back. She had reason to be angry with him, every right.
So why was it so hard to keep from wrapping her arms around him to take on burdens she knew he would never share?
No heart?
Lucas wished that was true, because then he wouldn't be sitting here by Lucia's bed feeling as if somebody had detonated a bomb right in the middle of his chest.
Lucia would be fine. Relief threatened to knock him on his butt, this kid somehow immeasurably important to him when last week he hadn't known she existed.
Except in the middle of that relief, he'd still hit rock bottom. He'd almost lost Lucia. Sara had been shielding him. And one of his pilots, Nola Seabrook, was missing.>But damn, telling Keagan's then fiancee, Darcy, about the crash, their prisoner status, had been one of the toughest things he'd ever done. He knew the hell of losing someone and those front-door visits to all the families of the downed crew had catapulted him back to losing Sara.
Just remembering had his feet itching to see her again. Watch her breathe. Hold her.
Not thoughts conducive to keeping his mind on business.
Keagan forked his fingers through his spiked hair. "Your people were pretty freaked out when you left and didn't return."
Now that surprised him. He knew he wasn't a popular leader.
"You are respected."
"Do you read minds on the side?"
"Only at carny shows."
Lucas laughed, soft, hoarse, but damn welcome. Tension unkinked in his shoulders. "Update me. What the hell happened that everything blew up so fast?"
"Padilla launched an attack on Chavez's compound hours ahead of our planned insertion time. While they battled it out, the Delta boys moved in and of course didn't find the target for the smash and grab. So they exited, let the two factions kill each other off, then moved in to clear up the mess at the end. We found enough evidence of drug and arms trafficking for the Cartinian government to lock Chavez away for the rest of his life."
"So we can all breathe easier." Sara and Lucia especially. Tio Ramon could go straight to hell as far as Lucas was concerned.