“He’s made it clear he isn’t going to change his mind. The best thing for me to do is to leave with him tomorrow and readdress it back home. It was hard enough to convince him that I would be safe in the hotel instead of with him at the embassy.”

“Ahh. That explains all the Secret Service around.”

“Secret Service? He didn’t send Secret Service with me. Well, he had someone drive me. But they didn’t stick around.”

Rick chuckled. “Cynthia, there are Secret Service in the parking lot, down on the riverbank in full view of this balcony, and in the lobby. How did you not see them?”

Heat flooded her cheeks. “I guess I wasn’t looking for them.”

“They’ve been here since we got here.”

“Well, color me not surprised.” Her neck muscles tightened almost painfully. “Should I feel embarrassed about that?”

His eyebrows drew together. “Embarrassed? Why?”

“Because I am not their detail.”

He sat up straight and turned his body toward hers. “Not entirely true. He is their detail, and you were already picked as a pawn. Protecting you while he is secure inside the embassy behind Marine guards protects the interests of the country. I imagine if you had stayed at the embassy, your movements would be under much less scrutiny.”

Suspicion about why he’d come to her room tonight darkened her mood. “Are you part of that scrutiny?”

He looked at her for several moments with disappointment on his face before he said, “No.”

“So, you weren’t approached by my father or some member of his team to help keep an eye on me?” She could hear the edge of hysteria in her voice and wondered if he could too.

Again, he simply said, “No.”

She looked back out over the water. Did she believe him? Of course she did. He had never once given her reason not to. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Sorry.”

“Understandable.” He turned back around and propped his feet up again. “You were my mission, once. I completed that mission when I got you to the embassy safe and alive. Now, you are no longer my mission. You are just my problem.”

She grinned. “Your problem, huh?”

The sound of a woman’s laughter reached them. “I am here entirely of my own volition,” he said. “But you let me in, so maybe I’m your problem too.”

She held her hand out, and after a pause he took it. The feel of his strong grip chased away all the remaining fear and angst that had swirled in the back of her mind. “Thank you. I didn’t realize how much I needed you to be here.”

They sat like that until the sun started to break over the horizon. Maybe she dozed off here and there, but for the most part she simply enjoyed chatting with him and holding his hand.