“Because there’s nothing here we can use,” he said bluntly. “No cars, no trucks, no telephone. Not even a radio.”
“You have a cell phone. And we found that GPS.”
He’d already tried the freaking cell phone in the desert, on the mountain, outside the palace a little while ago, right after he’d taken a reading with the GPS. One lonely transmission bar had appeared on the cell’s screen. He’d punched the speed dial button for his office, rattled off the coordinates from the GPS to the office voice mail, but the solitary bar had vanished before he’d finished.
Yes, but his Salome’s eyes were full of hope. Was a lie by omission really a lie?
“Sure. We can try them in the morning.”
“Good,” she said, and smiled at him.
Cam was lying. Leanna could hear the deceit in his too-cheerful tone, but she’d go along with it. He was lying to protect her. That was the kind of man he was.
He was the man she’d waited for, saved herself for, though she hadn’t known it.
It wasn’t as if she’d made a conscious effort to keep her virginity. It was just that between school and ballet, there hadn’t been much time for boys. Now there was even less. Rehearsals and performances took all her energy and time.
Plus, the men she’d met throughout her career were complete turnoffs.
In Vegas, where she’d danced to earn enough quick money to finance a move to New York, the men had mostly been sharpies, accustomed to buying whatever they wanted.
In Manhattan, she met men in love with their own images.
The city was what had won her heart. It was where classical ballet lived and breathed, where she’d failed an audition for the New York Ballet but won a coveted spot with Ballet Manhattan.
She was too busy for men anyway. Still, there’d been times she’d wondered if she were normal. If her hormones were okay because sex just didn’t seem a priority item.
Then she’d fallen into a nightmare, been rescued by a tough-talking stranger and discovered she not only wanted him to teach her about sex, but she wanted him to look into her eyes and say that he loved her.
Such foolishness.
She was too old to believe in miracles.
Cam didn’t love her. He wouldn’t love her…but that didn’t mean she couldn’t love him. Now. Tomorrow. Forever.
“Hey.”
She blinked and looked up at him.
“Such a long face, sweetheart.” He put his finger under her chin and tilted her face to his. “There’s nothing to worry about. Come morning, we’ll check things out.” He forced a smile. “You know that old saying. It’s always darkest before the dawn.”
“You don’t have to protect me from the truth, Cam. I know we’re in a tough spot.”
“We are, but I’ll come up with something.”
“You already did. You saved my life.”
“I told you, you’re the one who did the lifesaving. If you hadn’t let out that blood-curdling shriek, I’d still be standing in that bathroom.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” she said, smiling. “What I said before is the truth. You’d have escaped, but with a plan.”
“What I said is the truth, too. I wouldn’t have had you with me.”
“Meaning, your chances would be lots better.”
“Wrong. One hundred percent wrong. How’d you come up with that?”
“You’d have made better time alone.”