Shades of Gray Read Free Page A

powerfully built. He was dressed casually in dark slacks and a white shirt unbuttoned at the throat beneath an open jacket, but the informal attire did nothing to conceal the physical strength of broad shoulders and powerful limbs, or the honed grace of his movements when he stepped toward her. He was dark, black-haired, and black-eyed, his lean face handsome and bearing none of the outward marks or scars of his reportedly difficult and violent life.
    Perhaps he was a shade leaner, the planes and angles of his face sharper, his eyes more deeply hooded. And there were, she saw with a curious pang, a few strands of silver among the ebony at his temples.
    And she knew then that she had forgotten nothing. Nothing at all.
    He was Andres Sereno, President of the island country of Kadeira, commander in chief of its army and navy, both titles earned by sweat and blood and viewed askance by an American government that had never been quite sure if he was enemy, friend, or merely neutral. He had been called a dictator—and worse.
    “Hello, Andres.” Her voice emerged cool and calm, and she thanked the fates for control.
    He took another step toward her, and the quiet, innately powerful voice that had moved the people of his country was a little rough, a little husky. “You’re as beautiful as I remembered.”
    Sara inclined her head politely.
    His face tightened a little. “Sara, I know you’re angry with me, but I—I had to bring you here.”
    “I’m here. I had no choice in the matter. But then, I should have known my wishes didn’t mean a damned thing to you. I made it clear two years ago that I never wanted to see you again, yet I’ve been on the run ever since in order to stay one jump ahead of your hounds.”
    He shoved his hands into his pockets suddenly, matching her stance as they confronted each other. “Am I allowed no defense? No opportunity to explain my actions? I needed to see you, Sara. I didn’t want to do this, but you gave me no choice.”
    Sara didn’t have to fake scorn. “Oh, it’s all my fault that I was kidnapped? Was I supposed tojust tamely submit to your paid goons and come along like a good little girl?”
    “They didn’t hurt you?” he asked swiftly.
    “No,” she said flatly.
    Andres relaxed almost imperceptibly. “Sara, I tried to respect your wishes. And I would have, if only you hadn’t vanished so completely. The letters I sent to your sister’s home were returned unopened. When I called, she refused to tell me where you were. What else could I do?”
    “You could have left me alone!” she said fiercely.
    “No, Sara, I couldn’t.” Softly he added, “Because I love you.”
    It shook her now as it had shaken her in the past, and Sara wondered wildly how a man so shut in and as remote as Andres could make that declaration so easily—and so convincingly. He was charming and charismatic, but there was a large room surrounding the core of himself marked KEEP OUT, and that was the part of him she was afraid of.
    She drew a deep breath. “I don’t care.” She did, but that was something he could neverknow. “Whatever I might have felt for you died the day I found out those terrorists were on Kadeira.”
    “They’re gone now,” he told her.
    “And that makes everything all right?” She could feel all her muscles tensing, and her stomach churning sickly when she thought of the terrorists. “Let me go, Andres.”
    “I can’t.”
    Sara was aware of an inner tremor, and knew that her control was right on the edge, faltering. She didn’t know how much more of this she could take. “Do you know what my life’s been like for the past two years?” she asked steadily.
    “Sara—”
    “It’s been hell. I’ve developed the instincts of a hunted animal. I can’t walk down a street without searching every face, tensing at every sound. I can’t have a home, because it’s a lot easier and quicker to run from a hotel or a lousy apartment. I can’t have friends, because I