The Bride Wore A Forty-Four by MAGGIE SHAYNE

you—"
    His jaw went tight and his hand fell from her
face. "No."
    She blinked and shook her head quickly. "I'm
not saying I did. I mean I'm pretty sure I didn't. I never,
but—"
    "I know you didn't" He pushed his good hand
through his hair, shaking his head. "Look, that was too much to
ask, even for your health's sake. I couldn't risk you letting, that
guy touch you. Do you know how furious you would have been later
on, when you remembered that he was just a suspect? That it was all
a cover? No, Kira, I wasn't willing to risk that I've had
you...under surveillance this whole time."
    A heat sizzled through her veins. An anger
that made no sense to the new Kira, but fit perfectly with the old
one. "You had someone watching me?"
    "Not someone. Me," he said. "Your phones are
bugged, your bedroom's miked, your car is wired, there are cameras
all over the freaking place. You've barely been out of my sight
since you left the hospital, Kira. And yeah, I knew it would piss
you off. But not as much as my letting you sleep with a criminal
would have."
    She closed her eyes. "You...you were watching
my most private moments."
    "Come on, Kira. I'm your husband. I was
trying to protect you."
    She heard his sigh and opened her eyes
    "I know, I know," he said, "there's nothing
you hate more than being dependent on a man for anything, but
Jesus, I didn't see that I had any other choice."
    He looked truly torn. She reached out a hand
to cover his. "No, I don't see that you did either."
    He blinked, maybe shocked by that.
    "What made me so determined never to be
dependent on anyone? Any man?'
    He looked away, shrugged.
    "Was I always that way?"
    "No. Not always."
    She gripped the oars, returning them to the
water, giving a few strokes to get them moving faster again. "I
keep getting...that it's something to do with my father. But the
only glimpses of memory I've had of him feel as if we were—close.
Really, really close."
    He nodded. "You were. You and your dad were
almost inseparable."
    "There's something else," she said.
"Something changed that, came between us, didn't it?"
    Facing her squarely, Michael nodded.
    "What was it, Michael?"
    He hesitated, and she dropped the oars,
gripped his shoulders. "Come on, the memories are returning. This
is important, and it's not going to be too much for me to take.
What came between my father and me?"
    Without blinking or flinching away, he
replied, "I did."
    Kira frowned. "He...didn't approve of
us?"
    "He forbade you to marry me. Told me to stay
away. He didn't want you working for the DEA in the first place,
much less married to it." He shook his head. "It was only out of
concern for you, Kira."
    "But I married you anyway."
    "In secret. We planned to tell your family
after we returned from Africa."
    She nodded slowly.
    "Your father told you he'd disown you if you
married me. You considered it a betrayal. After that, you
just...you changed. He hurt you badly, Kira, and, I don't know, for
a while there, it seemed like you expected me to do the same."
    She nodded slowly. "I put up shields. Told
myself not to love you too much, not to become too dependent, not
to let myself need you."
    "Is that a memory or a guess?" he asked.
    She lowered her head, pressed her fingers to
her forehead. "I'm not sure. Maybe a little of both." She drew a
deep breath. "He...he was in Africa with us. He was killed. In the
same explosion that nearly killed me."
    "Yeah. Do you remember that?"
    "I know it happened. But the event...it's
still hazy. I can see parts. I remember pain, I remember trying to
walk through this smoke and dust, calling for you, calling for
Dad..." She frowned, because no more would come. Then she narrowed
her eyes. "Dad worked for the DEA, too, didn't he? That's why we
were all in Africa together. We were gathering evidence. Peter had
drug connections there."
    Michael nodded. "Your father trained me. For
a long time, he and I were almost as close as you and he were.
Or...I thought so." He pointed past her.