Rio didn’t look away from her, but let out a singsong note that sounded to her exactly like the birds calling to one another just outside the walls of his home. She tucked his wild, shaggy hair behind his ear, allowing her fingertips to trail over his jaw, rub over his mouth. “I’m afraid.”

“I know. I can hear your heart beating.” He circled her wrist, his thumb sliding over her pulse. “There’s no need to be.”

“It’s a great deal of money he’ll pay to get me back.”

“Your husband?”

She shook her head. “My brother.”

His hand went to his heart, as if she’d stabbed him. Almost at once his face closed down. He drew air into his lungs, let it out. There was a watchfulness in his eyes, a suspicion that hadn’t been there before. “Your brother.”

“You don’t have to believe me.” Rachael pulled away from him, leaned back in the chair and pulled the cover closer around her. The humidity was high, even with the wind blowing. Where Rio had pulled the covering away from the window, she could see thick mist curling around the foliage and creepers surrounding the house. “I shouldn’t have told you.”

“Why would your brother want to have you killed, Rachael?”

“You make me tired. It does happen, Rio. Maybe not in your world, but certainly in mine.”

Rio studied her averted face, trying to see past the mask she wore to what was going on her mind, his brain racing with the possibilities. Had she found his home by accident, or had she been sent to assassinate him? She’d had a couple of opportunities. He’d given her a gun. It was still there, beneath her pillow. Maybe she hadn’t taken care of it because she needed him while her leg was healing.

He straightened slowly and walked over to the stash of weapons hanging on the wall. He strapped a sheath to his leg and pulled the leg of his pants over it. A second knife was positioned between his shoulder blades. He pulled his shirt on and tucked a gun into his waistband.

“Are you expecting trouble? I thought you said Kim Pang was your friend.”

“It’s always better to be prepared. I don’t like surprises.”

“I noticed,” she answered dryly, prepared to be angry with him over his boorish reaction to her admission. He may as well have slapped her. She had revealed something to him she had never admitted to another soul and he didn’t believe her. She could tell by his immediate withdrawal.