NocC 003 - Mina Khan - The Djinn's Dilemma - Harlequin 2011-11 by Nocturne

getting dressed. Would she lash out at him? Would she finally believe only to be repulsed by the fact that he was a professional killer? Would she fight or run? Something told him, she’d fight.
    When he had her picture on-screen and the file open, Rukh called Sarah over. Once she saw her face staring back at her, Sarah didn’t argue but sat and read the screen. He sat on the bed and watched her, dread curdled in his stomach.
    After a while, a time that seemed unbearably long, she turned wide, incredulous eyes to him. Eyes shining with unshed tears. “You were serious….”
    He nodded.
    “I am your target,” she said.
    He nodded again.
    “You work for the government.” She scrunched her face in confusion. “Homeland Security? The CIA?”
    “Actually, I said that just to stop the questions,” he said. “I freelance.”
    She shot out of her chair and skittered away from him. “Damn!”
    They stared at each other for a long while. He sat between her and the door.
    A series of emotions played across Sarah’s face before her expression finally registered, hurt.
    “So our meeting, our date, our making love…all of that was a sham?” she asked. “All of it was a setup to the kill?”
    “The first time I saw you, yes.” He sighed, realizing she had no clue about the newsroom. No point confusing matters trying to explain that now. “Every time afterwards, it’s because I wanted to help. I wanted to keep you safe.”
    A bitter laugh escaped her. “Safe? Aren’t you the guy hired to kill me?”
    Honesty was overrated. He told her the truth, gave her a chance, and now honesty was biting his ass.
    “If I wanted you dead do you think I’d tell you, show you, all this?” he asked, his voice carefully controlled. “Why didn’t I kill you in your sleep?”
    She responded with an angry shrug. “Maybe you’re sick,” she said. “Maybe you like to toy with people before you kill them.”
    He flinched away from her. Silence lay between them like an invisible dying elephant. When she spoke again her voice was a broken half whisper. “I am such a fool,” she said. “Here you were playacting and I was falling in love.”
    Love. Rukh’s fists clenched at his side. “I wasn’t playacting.”
    She got right into his face. “How could you still go out with me, flirt and laugh with me, dance, make love with me, knowing about this death sentence?” Her voice broke, as she turned away. “How the hell could you do all that?”
    Her turning away snapped his control, lit the fuse to his fears. He reared out of his chair and spun her around. “What the hell was I supposed to do? Say hi, someone’s trying to kill you, and oh, would you like to first have dinner with me?”
    Fear that she was about to walk out the door and out of his life slammed into him, set his heart thundering. He couldn’t let that happen. Rukh pulled in deep breaths, forced himself to calm.
    “I wanted us to have a chance and so I decided to be honest because I thought you deserved at least that.”
    She stumbled toward the door and he turned away to face the picture hanging over the headboard. He couldn’t watch her walk out. Might as well play the sympathy card. Anything to keep her from leaving. “I shared a secret that could get me imprisoned, no, killed. Texas has a death penalty.”
    The sound of the door opening and closing, soft snicks, echoed in his head loud and long. Guess it didn’t work. Rukh squared his shoulders, stiffened his spine, to keep himself from crumbling. He stood for a long time staring at the picture. He remembered it was something pretty and soothing, but at that moment it was nothing but a blur of different colors. Pain crushed his every pore. So this is what being in love felt like. Heaven and hell.
    Rukh didn’t know how much time—seconds or hours—had passed, he didn’t know if she’d left or not, he didn’t even know who he was anymore.
    Footsteps approached him. Rukh didn’t turn or move, just stood