Free The Fifth Kingdom by Caridad Piñeiro Page A

ran a tight, but caring, ship. He had learned to be a man there and how to keep his emotions safe from others.
    Which was why he knew that Deanna would guard her heart from all of them, including her father. He had no doubt that learning that her father had been corresponding with her mother for so many years had created a rift between the two and damaged the trust they had once shared. Only time might allow her to come to understand his motives and forgive him, although it was clear that her love for her father had not been diminished by his actions.
    How nice it must be to have such unqualified love.
    When the meal was finished Deanna rose, picked up a plate, but Bill reached over and stayed her hand. “I’ll get them. Why don’t you and your dad—”
    “Actually, I’ll do the dishes. It’s better if you and Deanna work together,” her father said and reinforced his suggestion by immediately grabbing the plates nearest him and heading to the sink.
    Bill removed his hand from hers and met her gaze. “Does that work for you?”
     
    Deanna didn’t know what would work and what wouldn’t. Although the dinner had been relaxed and easygoing, she had spent most of it wondering about the parcel. Bill must have known that because he had gone out of his way to be solicitous, keeping the discussion free of pressure and involving her in the conversation around the table. The distraction had helped to some extent, but now the sword was hanging back over her head.
    “I just need a moment,” she said and rose from the table, went to the small bathroom at the end of the hall. She stood before the sink, staring at herself. Wondering how it was that the life she had built for herself had suddenly been turned on its head.
    Miranda , she thought. Her mother.
    Much as Miranda had taken away Deanna’s belief in family fourteen years earlier, she was now eroding the foundations of the only family she had left—her father. She had thought she could trust him with anything although he had not trusted her with the truth about his relationship with her mother. It would take time to repair the damage caused by keeping that secret.
    Turning on the cold-water tap, she splashed some water on her face to drive away the nauseous feeling that came with imagining what was in the parcel. Deanna had no doubt that the contents would do even more to disrupt her life, but she knew she couldn’t be selfish and think of only herself at that moment.
    Much as she might not like it, the parcel probably held the clue to not only saving Miranda’s life, but the lives of countless others if Bill and his people were right about her mother’s abduction and the group responsible for it.
    Bill, she thought with a sigh as she picked up a towel and dried her face.
    Bill was turning out to be nothing like what she had expected. She almost preferred that he had stayed the stern-faced and demanding man who had first stepped into her office. That was easier to handle than the understanding man with the boyish grin that caused her insides to somersault.
    Wringing the towel between her hands, she warned herself against putting too much trust in him either. As a CIA agent, Bill was a man whose entire life was likewise built around secrets. She’d already had enough surprises with her father’s revelations.
    A knock came at the door. “Are you okay?”
    Bill. “Just a second,” she called out and with a final pass of the towel across her face, opened the door.
    He stood there dressed in a black cashmere sweater that lovingly hugged each and every muscle on his torso much like his jeans were snug against the long powerful lines of his legs. If he had been dangerously attractive before, now it had escalated to deadly in his civilian clothes.
    He repeated his inquiry. “Are you okay? Are you up to reviewing whatever is in the box?”
    “I guess we should so that we can know what to do next,” she sighed as neutrally as she could because her mind was still a