Free Charades by Ann Logan

off, longing to call her back, wishing he could change the inevitable. Part of his heart went with her, leaving a great, gaping wound inside. Hopes and dreams shattered before his eyes. His life would be nothing after she knew the truth about him. He headed up to Hazel’s office like a man going to his hanging.
         “We leave tomorrow,” Wulf said, sitting on the hard wingback chair in her office, wishing it were more uncomfortable.
         “This is wonderful, even better than I’d hoped,” Hazel said, her face glowing with excitement.
         He stared at her, furious and bitter, but at himself, not at her. He’d agreed to this, and she’d kept her part of the bargain—the deal with Ryder in Ecuador. Now it was his turn to produce. For the first time he wondered just why he needed Jacob’s approval and acceptance so damned much.
         Wulf threw himself out of the chair and stalked to the window. Just one more step. Once he accomplished that, Mercy would probably never speak to him again, much less marry him.
         He turned to Hazel. “Well, your plans are working. In fact, everything is working so well that old British spy, Hartring, could’ve been your father.”
         “She didn’t recognize you as Joseph Steinberg?” Hazel frowned.
         She was a hard one, he thought, not at all like her sister, his mother, Juliette.
         “I didn’t think she’d recognize you. After all, you hardly look anything like you did back then. Who’d remember that far back, anyway?”
         “I do,” Wulf glared at her. “That was when my father found out that Juliette lied about me, that I was adopted.”
         “It’s not fair to take your anger out on Juliette. She did her best. Can you really blame her if she wanted you so badly, she’d have done anything to have a child, even lie.”
         “Maybe, but I’ll never forget how I felt when I found out.”
         “I wouldn’t expect you to,” she murmured.
    * * *
         Mercy watched with fascination as Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport disappeared from the window of the Boeing 757. They were on their way to Germany to meet Wulf’s family, and they were flying first class. Everything was wonderful. Sometimes she’d have an inkling of doubt about her actions, but then she’d turn to Wulf and her heart would leap. How could she have any doubts about him? Smart, handsome, loving, attentive—the list went on and on.
         It was time for her to spread her wings and fly! She’d used her education as a cocoon, but going to Germany signaled her coming out of that cocoon.
         Wulf had warned her about jet lag and suggested she sleep on the flight, so Mercy put on her eye mask, snuggled down in her seat, leaned her head on his shoulder, and let out a sigh. The last twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind and she’d barely slept last night.
         The excitement still bubbled. She’d only been out of the state of Texas a few times, and never across an ocean to another continent. Hazel’s insistence that she get a passport in case she wanted to travel after completing her dissertation was a godsend.
         Germany! After having studied German literature for so long, she longed to visit all those places she’d read about in books. Her mother’s parents came from Germany, but she knew nothing about them. Her mother had never really talked about her parents, and she hadn’t been the most inquisitive of children. Her parents had not been interested in the past, only the future.
         Wulf’s family lived in Germany, though, and they’d be her family now. Mercy delighted in that, having missed the feeling of family since her parents’ deaths. Who would she meet? His father and mother, of course. But did he have any sisters or brothers? She’d ask him, but she was feeling wonderfully drowsy, warm, and secure sitting next to her future husband.
         Wulf watched Mercy sleep, his heart crumbling in his chest at the way