Acquiring Trouble (34 page)

Miles’ ankle
throbbed as he kept a tight grip on both Mariah and the reigns. She had grown very pale the last couple of miles. They were so close now, but the rebels had to be expecting them to be heading toward the border, unless they
thought they were dead. B
ut
Miles
doubted that. He was sure they
would’ve
found the car by now and followed the very clear trail that was left when he was dragging Mariah and
Cade.

Up ahead he saw the marker for the border. He urged the horses into a gallop and kept an eye on the sky. The helicopter should be here any minute. He looked at his watch and felt a rush of adrenaline come over him. Four minutes until Bravo team arrived. He had never felt such relief as when he crossed over the border and into Tajikistan. His destination point was one mile in and he would be there right as the helicopter arrived. 

Miles pushed the horses into a gallop as he heard the sound of the helicopter blades off in the distance. But his excitement died in an instant.
He heard rebels
yelling
behind him.
He turned and
saw at least twenty men on horseback ch
arging at him and closing fast.

Gunfire rang out as they fired
at
them. Mariah started praying as she held on for dear life. Miles unholstered his gun from his thigh and returned fire blindly over his shoulder as he urged their mounts forward.

Suddenly his horse screamed out and stumbled. He tried to urge the horse on, but
it was useless, the horse was going to collapse and they’d be trapped when the animal fell on them. Pulling the hors
e to an immediate stop he
jumped
off, momen
tarily going blind as the white-
hot pain shot through his leg
when
he hit the ground. He caught
Mariah as the horse went down.

“Get on Cade’s horse and ride as fast as you can while I hold them off!” He heaved her up and then handed her the rope used to guide the horse. He smacked the horse’
s flank and turned to lay down
cover for them. As he took aim at the rebels he turned to see the helicopter approach. Cade and Mariah would make it.

Miles laid some more
cover and when
t
he clip emptied he turned and ran as fast as he could. His vision became blurry with the pain, but he managed to reload his gun and take a couple more shots as the helicopter came into firing position. Loud gunfire erupted from the helicopter as the pilot shot at the group of rebels.

“Captain!” Mariah
shouted. “Look out!” She kicked
her horse
with her good leg
and he knew she was coming toward him.

“Stay back!”
h
e shouted.

Miles saw th
e group had split. Three men had
gone wide and out of
the helicopter’s
range
as
it
tackled the larger group. The men raised their guns and Miles fired off every round he had. He took two of
the men down
by the time he ran out of bullets.

“Captain! Hop on!” Mariah yelled as she galloped toward him. The last man raised his gun and fired.

“No!” Miles roared as he leaped to protect Mariah, but it was too late. Mariah fell from the horse
and
lay
motionless on the ground. Blood blossomed from under her and Miles knew he had failed her and himself.

Rage like he had never known overtook him. He was going to rip that bastard from limb to limb.
H
e slid the magazine into his gun and turned to attack whe
n
a
bullet slammed into his chest. He fell to the ground beside Mariah’s body. His vision began to fade as he raised the gun and emptied his clip into the rebel.

*
    
*
    
*

“Miles!
Miles,
please wake up!”
Morgan shook Miles as
best as she could and cried
into his ear. He had
been flailing
and mumbling in his sleep. She had woken up and found him drenched in sweat. She tried to wake him
gently
, but in a sudden movement he pushed her into the bed a
nd threw himself on top of her.

“Miles. Please, you’re getting heavy. I need you to wake up,” Morgan pleaded, but he didn’t move. He was still mumbling in his sleep and kept her pinned to the mattress. In her best boardroom voice she tried again. “Mil
es! Wake up now. Do you hear me?
That’s an order. Wake up right now!”

His
head snapped up, “Mariah?”

“No, honey. It’s me, Morgan. Are you okay?” Morgan gently cupped his face with her hands. His normally hard face was covered in sweat
and so pale
. When Morgan looked into his eyes she felt like crying at the pain she saw behind them.

Miles sat back on his
knees and shook his head quickly trying to regain his composure. Bill whined and nudged Miles’
s
arm before lying down beside him and resting his head on
Miles’
s
leg.  Morgan watched as
Miles
ran his hand over his face and through his hair. She could tell that he wasn’t quite sure what to do
next.

“Miles, do you want to tell me what that was about?”
s
he asked softly as she pulled t
he sheet up to cover her chest.

“Nothing. Just something that happened when I was overseas,” Miles answered as he stared out the open hotel window.

“Miles? Who is Mariah?
”

Miles snapped his head back to her, his eyes wide in surprise, “How do y
ou know that name?” he accused.

“Calm down. You said her name in your sleep before and after you
threw yourself
on top of me.”

“No one. Not anymore. Did I hurt you?”

“Of course not! But, don’t chang
e the subject, Miles. Who is Mariah?” Morgan watched as Miles battled his demons. She could tell that he couldn’t decide whe
ther or not
to
say anything more.

“She’s the girl
I killed,” Miles said simply, yet the shimmer
in his eyes told her the truth.

“I don’t believe that for one second. Miles,” Morgan took his hand in his and squeezed
gently, “
there’s
nothing that will stop me from loving you.
I’ve
been waiting a lifetime to be with you and someone as special as you
deserve
s
to be loved unconditionally. I need you to know that Miles.
You’re
safe with me.
You’ll
always be safe with me. Safe to tell me my cooking is bad, that I really do look fat in a dress, and that at night when you close your eyes you
r
dreams are overtaken by
darkness. Let me be your anchor. L
et me be your lig
ht to chase away that darkness.”

Miles got up from the bed and
strode naked to the window to look out at the city lights
illuminating the
night sky. His muscles bunched under the invisible weight on his shoulders. Morgan worried about him and longed to go to him, but knew that this was something he had to do himself. She just needed to be there for him no matter what he said.

“I might not have pulled the trigger, but I killed her nonetheless and ever since
then
I’ve
been paying the price for my failure,” Miles spoke to the night.
Morgan waited patiently for the reluctant story. “It was a rescue that went wrong. Cade was captured and beaten into a coma for three days. My target was Mariah Brown.”

Morgan’s eyes went wide. She knew the
story of Mariah
—e
veryone did. She was t
he college daughter of the former Secretary of State who was brutally murde
red in Afghanistan after bein
g kidnapped. It wa
s such a powerful moment that
led to the leveling of a whole mountain region known for harboring terrorists in a part of Afg
hanistan that bordered Pakistan and Tajikistan.
But, in all the news coverage there was never an
y mention of a rescue.

“Cade and I took out a lot of the rebels before he was caught. I lost it. I allowed the rage to take me when I saw the gun to his head and I took them all out. That’s when I found Mariah bloodied in the trunk of a car. We were tracked and attacked on a mountain pass close to the Tajikistan border. There were injuries to everyone, but I managed
to get us to the border.

“
A res
cue copter was there and she was
almost to safety when she turned back to try to save me from the last rebel. He killed her. She died in my arms and now she returns every night to my dreams to remind me I let an innocent kid die. I’ll never forget her face.” Miles paused and Morgan heard
him swallow hard. “She smiled up at me and said, ‘thank you
.’
And then she was gone.”

Morgan stared at
his
wide back as it silently shook in the moonlig
ht. The wounds
from the knife were only physical and had healed
long ago
.
His
unhealed wounds
were hidden. Hidden from the world and even hidden from him. “Miles, I don’t think you’ll believe what
I’m
going to say, but I don’t think Mariah felt as if you failed her. She knew that and now it’s time for you to know that.
”

“I can’t do it. She reminded me so much of Paige. The whole time I kept thinking I had killed someone’s little sister.”

“But you didn’t kill her. You have to learn to accept that. I can’t make it better, but what I can do is tell you that I think what you did was heroic and I love you all the more because you’re man enough to feel responsible for her. You did everything in your power to save her and for that, she was grateful.
I’ll
also tell you that I think you need to channel these feelings into something besides guilt. Le
t me help you find a way. Miles…”

She held out her hand and waited for him to
accept help.
Morgan felt her arm trembling. She could onl
y pray that he’d turn around to
accept her help and
all the love she could give him. Miles slowly
circled
and looked at her. Her breath caught as she waited for him to decide if he wanted to stay in the past or
move with her into the future.

Miles raised his eyes and looked into the
amethyst
depths
that were watching him. He had never told anyone what happened that night. He didn’t know what had compelled him to tell her other than the overwhelming feeling of love
they shared
. He almost laughed as he thought how much his life had changed since this
raven-haired
vixen reentered
it
.

“Morgan, there’s something I want you to do.”

“Anything.” She was so sincere. All he wanted to do was lose himself in her
body for the rest of his life.

“Remind me to call Cade in the morning.” Miles chuckled as her eyebrows shot up and her eyes widened. It
wasn’t
what she had been expecting. But then she scrunched her nose and narrowed those gorgeous eyes at him for laughing at her. 
“To get the name of the PTSD
specialis
t he saw.”

“Oh Miles!” Morgan dropped the sheet and scrambled out of
bed and straight into his arms.

“This is where I want
you. You’re my best medicine, sweetheart.”

Miles raised her chin and placed his lips on hers. He gently rubbed his lips against hers teasing them bo
th before
sliding his tongue along the sea
m of her lips. He drew in her lower lip and nipped it gently as Morgan writhed against him trying to urge him for more.

“Patience, sweetheart
. We have all the time in the world.” He trailed his lips down her neck, over her collarbone
,
and to the hollow of her throat.

The throaty purrs that Morgan made just urged him on as she moved beneath his lips. Miles smiled against her breast as he teased her
until she was panting with
a
need to match his own.