She wiggled her right side, not that it did much of anything. "From the cast on my arm and leg, I'd say I'm not going anywhere anytime soonanyhow."
"That's not what I mean." He squeezed her hand alittle.
No. He needed to understand. She needed to tell him. She swallowed. "I kept praying you'd come for me and youdid."
He shook his head, dejected. "I wasn't fastenough."
The last thing he should do was blame himself—she’d invited Suzie to the wedding. She stared into his warm gaze that made her feel soft. "Lucio... I don't think our wedding can go off in that church your mother had planned fortomorrow."
A small smile hovered on his mouth. "We can wait. As long as I know you're safe—but now we'll have to endure a full royal wedding rather than the quick alternative. Please tell me, whathappened?"
A full royal wedding sounded like a lot of work, but she'd be with him. She'd be happy as long as she stayed forever with Lucio, but first he had to know that she’d fallen in love. He’d said he hadn’t wantedlove.
She sighed and answered his questions. "I woke up in an ice truck that drove away from the palace. I could see through the frozen windows when I woke up and my teeth chattered. Then I was delivered to ahotel."
He nodded and leaned back in his chair that he’d pulled as close to the bed as possible. "We raided the hotel and arrested a few men. I'll need you to identify them—when you areready."
"I was knocked out at first but when they dragged me out, I saw them." Her heart beat faster. She'd have to do the best she could to change this conversation, but Lucio cared about justice. In high school, she remembered Marco complaining about the teacher and Lucio always tried to take the middle ground and be fair. It was part of the adult version of him. "I remember the four who kidnappedme."
He briefly rubbed his chin. "We arrestedfive."
Her mind raced to last night, if it was last night. Time wasn't her friend right now, but she recounted everyone she saw. She pursed her lips. "I only saw four. The two who drove the truck and the two who interviewed me. I broke the window and used the fireescape."
She tried to sit so she could tell him aboutSuzie.
He adjusted his chair to see her better. "We gathered that by the broken glass. You were lucky not to cut yourself! How did you get thrown from acar?"
Now her face felt hot. If she was Lucio, she'd have thought of a better way out. She hadn’t known what else to do when Suzie sped in the wrong direction, but even now, she had no other solution. She closed her eyes to avoid his judgment. "I didn't. Ijumped."
"You jumped?" His hand pulled back slightly. She opened her eyes and saw he sat further back in hisseat.
She tightened her grip on his fingers. "Suzie was there outside the hotel when I’d escaped the men. Of course, I hopped in her car! She’s my friend—shewasmy friend. When I got scared, she refused to pull over. Said she was helping them, for money rather than power. Anarchists generally don't have money to pay likethat."
"Suzie?" His eyes widened, then he traced her face with a very gentle finger and kissed her cheek. "We'll figure it out, together. Right now, you need to focus onhealing."
"You understand that I had no choice?" It was time she told him everything. He had to know. "There is more though. I need to tellyou-"
"Relax." He smiled and took her hand. "Amy, don't strain yourself. I'll take care of Suzie. You need to staycalm."
Whatever happened to her kidnappers or Suzie wasn't what she wanted to know about. "Suzie said you spent an hour in Evie's room. Just the two ofyou."
His gaze filled with concern. "I went there looking for you but it took no more than five minutes. Then I saw Evie in the hospital waiting area. She's worried aboutyou."
She nodded and ignored her stiff casts. She needed his kiss, but she stayed focused on the conversation and not the shape of his lips. "That was my sense too when I confronted her. She said the same man who came to my office went to her and threatened her if she didn't turn over the pictures. I believedher."
He stood. “Drat,” and he let her handgo.
He then listened to her breathing closer. ”You sound on the mend, sweetheart. I should go tell your parents you'reawake."
She held out her hand in the air for him to take it back. He didn’t want love, but he had hers. "No. Wait." She knew this was her chance. She swallowed and met hisgaze.
"First, I want to tell you that I jumped out of that speeding car because I love you and want to spend my life with you—I didn’t want to die. When I said yes to you, it was to satisfy my parents and their dreams of social climbing. Now I want to marry you because I love you, but I need to know if this is a problem foryou."
His expression lightened and he gently kissed her lips. "It's not a problem. Amy, when I saw you in the field unconscious I almost lost my own reason for living. I can't lose you. Not now. Notever."
"Why?" His kiss was perfect, but she didn’t understand his words. "We hardly know each other. You can't possibly loveme."
"Wait? What?" He stared at herdumbfounded.
