liability. You may be able to operate a radio, but I’ve yet to see evidence that you can act. If you’re arrested as a spy and I’m associated with you, I’ll have a very difficult time not joining you in front of the firing squad.”
“I can act. And I’ll stop playing with my dress since that has you so worried.”
Ley huffed. “Fiddling with that dress is the least of your problems. Everything about you screams wholesome religious American. Have you even been kissed before?”
Gracie ran her left thumb along the inside of her ring finger. There wasn’t a ring there, not anymore. “Yes, I’ve been kissed before, Captain Ley. But I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
Ley stood and walked over to her, holding a hand out. She took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. “Let me guess. Something like this?” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers for a few brief moments.
When he pulled away, she could still feel the imprint of his mouth. Surprised but remembering his question, she nodded. Ley’s kiss had been a lot like Michael’s: soft, sweet, and affectionate.
“In Italy, if you’re pretending to be my girlfriend, I’ll be kissing you often but not like that. Like this.”
He slipped one hand to the back of her neck, the other to her waist, and pulled her close for another kiss. She was startled at first but soon realized she didn’t want to resist. His lips were insistent and inviting, making her heart race. She was glad when Ley’s hand moved from her waist to the center of her back, because her legs were starting to feel unstable. She wanted to fall into him, into his kiss. The way he maneuvered his mouth over hers was making her lose all sense of place and time, and she found herself wishing he’d never stop. When he began to pull away, she wanted to lean her head on his chest and catch her breath, but then she remembered she’d just met Ley and wasn’t even sure she liked him.
She took a step back, staring at him, wondering what had just happened.
“You see, that won’t do at all,” Ley said. “The Gestapo will be all over you. You’re acting like you’ve never been kissed before.”
Gracie sat on the sofa, her eyes still fixed on Ley. She hadn’t ever been kissed like that.
“I thought it was convincing,” Ambrose said. “You have your orders, Captain Ley. As long as Agent Begni is willing to go, you are required to take her.”
Chapter Three
Bastien paced the floor of his room in the cabin. It was over Captain Vaughn-Harris’s, so he didn’t bother avoiding the squeaky board in the center as he analyzed the day’s events.
He wished he had thought up an excuse to postpone the meeting and stay in Italy. I could refuse to go back. There had been that SD man tailing him—sufficient reason to assume his cover was shaky. Two and a half months was a good enough run, wasn’t it?
Bastien thought of his little brother. Lukas would finish high school in a few months, and after graduation, he wanted to join the Air Corps and become a pilot. More than anything, Bastien wanted the war to end before Lukas finished his training, and there were few ways Bastien could contribute more usefully to the war effort than by going back to his life as Hauptmann Dietrich. Bastien was just one man, and he had no illusions that his work would dramatically turn the course of the war, but the military intelligence he gathered and the tips he passed to the partisans were significant. He was more effective and influential as Hauptmann Dietrich than he could ever be as Captain Ley. Bastien had said countless prayers pleading for a way to help his brother. He couldn’t very well walk away now that God had given him this chance.
He didn’t want to take Miss Begni with him. He trusted Ambrose’s assessment of her intellect and radio skills. He’d tested her Italian that evening, and she sounded like a native, but even if she managed to play a convincing Italian