He stared straight into her eyes and it took all her resolve not to look away, scared of the way he looked at her now that they were alone. It was so much deeper than innocent flirting in a hospital full of people.

“We should have made for the beach, shouldn’t we?” he asked. “I think I led us the wrong way.”

Cate just smiled, not wanting him to worry. The truth was, if the evacuation had been successful then they should have made for the beach, but she hadn’t known what to do, and without Jack, she’d probably have been captured or killed.

“We’re here and we’re safe,” she said. “And you’re alive. There’s no point wondering what if.”

She set the glass down and sat back on the bed, propping pillows up behind Jack’s head to make him comfortable and then drawing her knees up to her chin once she’d shuffled down to the other end.

Jack was looking around the room, seeing it properly for the first time, and she only wished it were daytime so she could let some light in. They both needed fresh air and sunshine; she was starting to go mad without it.

“What are they like?” he asked. “The people who own this house?”

That was at least something she didn’t have to lie to him about. “They’re lovely,” she replied. “Elise and Adelaide live here alone, their brother and parents have both passed away, and Harry seems to be a good man, too. I like them all.”

“You trust them?” he asked, his face drawn, as if he didn’t believe her.

“I do,” she said. “They took us in when they didn’t have to, lied for us, and came back to help me bring you to safety. If we can’t trust them, we can’t trust anyone.”

He was silent for a bit, his breathing more labored, before he spoke again. “Where are the Germans? Are we in the middle of it all?”

She sighed. There was no point hiding it from him. “They’re all around us. It’s a miracle we even made it here from the clearance hospital, and from what Elise has told me, there are Nazis everywhere. They’ve taken over some houses nearby, and she’s heard they’ve taken nearby St. Venant, too. Nowhere is safe, not this part of France and certainly not Belgium either.”

“So we’re stuck here?” he asked.

“I’m afraid so.”

Cate’s hands started to shake then, and a lump rose in her throat that was impossible to swallow away. She turned, angling her body away from Jack, but there was no fooling him.

“Hey,” he said, reaching out his hand. “Cate, it’s all right, everything’s going to be all right.”