Kane: An Assassin's Love Story by Kit Tunstall, R.E. Saxton Page B

but I never imagined why he might want daughters. Anyway, I ordered birth control pills off the Internet from overseas. I guess I got a bad batch.” With another deep breath, she said, “I was going to abort. I went for the appointment, spoke with the doctor, and lay on the table, waiting for them to scrape the life out of me. I just couldn’t do it.”
    Danika breathed in the male scent of him, taking comfort from his embrace and presence, gearing up for the last part of her confession. She was now certain he wouldn’t judge her, but what she had to say made her stomach churn with nausea. Even thinking about it made her want to vomit, so she knew it would be difficult to get through the telling. She touched her nose without thought, finding the crooked place where the bone had healed without being set properly. “The beatings he had taken to giving me stopped when I told him I was pregnant again. Edmond was thrilled to find out it was a girl, discovered by the chorionic villi sample he insisted the doctor take. I thought that maybe things would be all right with this baby, since she is a girl. For a while, I tried to convince myself she would be safe, and he would be happy. I even tried to improve my relationship with him, which had foundered after he murdered our son.”
    Her eyes blinked against the flood of tears trying to escape, and she forced them back. “Stephanie had just graduated and was coming home from boarding school, where he had sent her just before our wedding, and I thought they might both like a scrapbook of her earlier years, to remind them of the relationship they’d had. I searched for pictures everywhere, finding a few in his office, but wanting more. At the back of his closet, I found a photo box with ballerinas on it, marked ages five to eight. It was perfect, so I took it to my room and spilled the pictures on the bed, expecting to find all kinds of adorable photos of his daughter.”
    Her head spun, and the bile rushed up her throat, holding tenuous position at the back of her throat. “Instead, there were hundreds of pictures of little girls in the box, all engaged in sex acts with men. Some of the men’s faces weren’t visible, but of the few I could stand to look through, I saw Edmond in several. I knew then why he wanted a little girl, and I almost killed him that very night.”
    Finally, she raised her head, finding only compassion in Kane’s gaze. “I would have done it, but I was afraid of what would happen to my baby if I was arrested. I couldn’t go to prison, so I began looking into how to solve my problem. Of all places, I found the answer on the Internet.”
    A small grin flashed across his mouth. “I get a surprising number of contracts from there. Even hired killers have embraced technology.”
    She nodded. “I followed the instructions, sold some of my jewelry, and made the drop where indicated. I didn’t know if I would get any results, but I took a chance. When the weeks passed, I was certain it had been a fraud, until an unidentified motorcyclist murdered him in his limousine on the freeway. I knew then my faith had been well-placed, but that I had to maintain the front of grieving, frightened widow.”
    His palms were solid, soothing warmth on her back as he rubbed in a circular motion. “It takes time to complete a contract. I had to become familiar with his habits.”
    “In retrospect, I figured as much.” She closed her eyes, sinking against him. It was so good to have someone to lean on, someone who understood everything she had gone through and didn’t think less of her. When his lips skimmed her neck, she didn’t protest. After sharing the intimate secrets of her life, how could she object to an intimate touch? Why would she want to, when his mouth sent shivers arcing down her spine and beaded her nipples into hard points of need?
    She wrapped her arms around Kane, drawing him closer. In the process, his mouth left her neck to seek out her lips, as she