"I'll be here." He held her hand as they faced the cameras. "Be kind to her. She deserves it." He lifted Ronnie's hand to his lips and kissed it.
The old-world gesture should have looked phony coming from such a contemporary powerhouse as Gabe Falkner. It didn't appear anything but graceful and caring and just right. He was just right. She couldn't stand here and stare at him. Cripes, she must look a complete dunce.
She straightened her shoulders and turned to face the audience. "Okay, I'm here. I don't want to be here. I'd much rather be out there with you. So fire away and let me blow this joint."
The room erupted and Gabe stepped forward. "Three questions."
"How did you manage to secure Falkner's release when the other attempts were unsuccess-ful?"
"I had the help of my father."
"You'll find several references to Ronnie's father in the dossier." Gabe pointed to another reporter. "Next."
"We've never heard of you in connection with Falkner. How long has this relationship been going on?"
"Years."
She pointed to James Ketrick. "You, Jim."
Ketrick was smiling cynically. "You're trying to tell us you rescued Gabe Falkner because you love him, Ronnie?"
Cripes, there were going to be soppy headlines from New York to Bangkok. She looked at Gabe in panic. He was smiling ruefully at her, giving her support, strength, and warmth, making everything all right again.
Shock rippled through her and she inhaled sharply.
"Ronnie," Gabe prompted softly.
She tore her gaze away and faced the reporters. "Yes," she said shakily. "What else could I do? I love him."
She stepped back and Gabe's arm immediately went around her. "That's all." He nodded to Dan, who immediately began distributing the news releases. The distraction allowed them to reach the door without interference, and the guards had been given orders to let no one leave the room for five minutes after they had made their getaway.
"You did very well," he said as he swept her down the hall toward her suite. "Just the right amount of professionalism and sentiment. For a minute I thought that honesty of yours was going to get us into trouble."
"Soppy." She didn't look at him. "They'd be nuts to believe us."
"You were very credible."
Credible. She almost laughed hysterically. She had felt stripped, naked. "You should have told me you were going to lay everything out on the table."
"I wanted to go public with the whole package. If we're perfectly open at the outset, there won't be any scandal stories dribbling in over the next few weeks to undermine us." He added, "Besides, you were nervous enough as it was. Now it's over."
"It's just begun. Now there's no place to hide."
"You won't need a place to hide."
"And you shouldn't have told them you wouldn't go home without me. You're going to look like an ass when you have to do it."
"I decided to up the ante. If they want to get the captive home, they have to take you too."
"Look, even if Immigration goes along with us, it will take a long time."
"Then we'll wait."
Commitment. She should have known he would go all the way once he had decided to help her. She walked faster. "And what's this about the marriage ceremony?"
"Strike while the iron is hot. Today they write about a heroine who fulfills their imaginations."
"Who is incidentally a criminal," she added grimly.
He ignored the qualification. "And tomorrow we give them pictures of the bride to stir their hearts." Gabe stopped before the door of her suite. "You'll need a wedding gown. What size? Eight?"
"Six. Where are you going to get a wedding gown?"
"Dan will find something appropriate. It may not be haute couture, but no one will expect that on such short notice."
It was going too fast for her. Wedding gowns and revelations she had kept secret all her life. "Axe you sure you want to do this?"
"I'm sure." He stopped before her door. "I've never been more sure of anything. It's going to be fine, Ronnie."
She was not nearly as confident. She had thought she was going to be the only one to pay if this gamble didn't succeed, but Gabe was making vows, involving himself too deeply. "You could back out now. It would be okay with me."
He brushed a kiss on the tip of her nose. "It wouldn't be okay with me. I'll join you in your suite for dinner at seven if that's all right."
"Sounds fine."
She watched him as he turned and walked away from her. It was the first time he had kissed her, and it was a caress he could have given to a sister or a maiden aunt… or Orphan Annie.
He looked over his shoulder and saw her still standing there. "Okay?"
She smiled with effort. "Sure."
She quickly entered the room and shut the door.
It wasn't okay. Until that moment when she had been forced to answer Jim's question, she had deliberately blocked the truth from her mind.
Now she knew. And Lord help her, she did love Gabe Falkner.
Dan arrived at her suite later that afternoon carrying a large glossy-white cardboard box and several smaller ones of various sizes piled on top of it.
"Good heavens, you look like the delivery boy for one of those 1930s movies," Ronnie said as she stepped aside to let him inside.
"You mean the ones where Ginger Rogers goes shopping while Fred Astaire is busy dancing on the ceiling?" He grinned. "I would have had them delivered, but I wanted to make sure you got them. Gabe wouldn't be pleased if anything went wrong."
"Gabe said he'd buy a dress, not an entire wardrobe."
"I admit I got a little carried away." Dan dumped the boxes on the bed. "But the woman at the department store said you'll need all of it." He waved a hand. "You know, stockings and garters and slips and shoes…" He frowned.
"I wasn't sure about the shoes. I had to guess. Seven?"
"Pretty good. Six and a half, but I can stuff the toes with cotton."
He gave a huge sigh of relief. "Then I won't have to go back. I felt like a bull in a china shop surrounded by all those veils and gowns and whatnots."
"Gabe shouldn't have imposed on you. I could have taken care of it myself. I've been going crazy with nothing to do."
"Gabe was afraid you'd be followed by reporters. He thought you'd had enough of being the center of attention for a time."
"For all time," she said fervently. "Do you often do these little odd jobs for Gabe?"
"Everything from making appointments with the president to arranging an intimate weekend with Mora Renord. I do it all." He immediately looked a little uneasy. "I guess I shouldn't have mentioned Mora."
She tried to hide the sharp twinge she had received at the thought of Gabe's former mistress. "Why not? You must know why Gabe is marrying me. It's all a farce."
"Is it?" His gaze searched her face. "Gabe's behaving very strangely about all this."
She looked down at the boxes on the bed. "I wouldn't know. I haven't known him long enough to judge."
"Well, I have and it's not like Gabe to…" He shrugged. "But it's not my business. He wouldn't thank me for analyzing his moves."
She lifted her chin. "I suppose you don't approve of Gabe marrying me."
"I didn't say that," he said. "Look, it was my job to set up the exchange of Gabe for those two journalists. How do you think I felt all these months when I could have heard any day that Gabe had been executed? You got him out. You deserve any payback we can give you. Heck, if marriage will help you get what you want, I'll marry you myself."
His earnestness caught her off guard. "Good grief, the suitors are standing in line," she said awkwardly, then hurriedly changed the subject. "How long have you known Gabe?"
"Over ten years. We were reporters together in Beirut, and when Gabe went on to greater things, I went with him. I couldn't have found better coattails to ride on."
"I don't think you like free rides. Gabe said you were a good man to have around in tight corners."
"We've been in a few." He smiled. "And so have you. That mess in Said Ababa must have been a little dicey."
"You could say that." She asked with a pretense of casualness, "If you've been together that long, then you must know his family."
"His parents are dead. He has only one sister, Carrie, and her daughter, Daisy."
"What is she like?"
"Like Gabe. Brilliant, absolutely self-sufficient. She married an oilman from Houston and promptly took over the company. She's vice-president and practically runs both the firm and the social scene in Houston."
"Are she and Gabe close?"
"Fairly. But they don't see much of each other."
"Because she's too busy running Houston and he's too busy running the rest of the world," Ronnie guessed.
"Probably. Gabe's a born leader. He gets a kick out of holding the reins."
"And leaders who do their job right have no time to devote to a family." He was only confirming what she had surmised about Gabe.
Dan frowned. "It's not as if he isn't always there when he's needed."
"I'm sure he is." She had known that about him too. She knew many things about Gabe, and yet there were gaps she had never been able to fill in over the years.
Dan turned and moved toward the door. "I'd better hustle. I've got to fly the helicopter over to the airport and pick up John Grant and bring him to the palace."
"You're flying yourself? I thought David Carroll was the pilot."
"Dave does most of the general business flying, but I usually pilot Gabe. I only brought Dave when we did the pickup in Said Ababa in case there was trouble. I wasn't sure what we'd find when we got there." He smiled. "But you had the situation well in hand."
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