SEALs of Honor: Shadow (8 page)

“True enough. Same for me.”

“You have a special relationship with him.”

The sentence was delivered as a statement and not a question, but she couldn’t help but feel that there was a question in there anyway. “He’s alone a lot. So I try to step in.”

“Your parents travel?

“No,” she said shortly. “They are busy.”

“Right.” And he fell silent.

She hadn’t meant to shut the conversation down but what was she to do when the questions arose about how broken the relationship was between her brother and parents.

She sighed. “Linda is father’s third wife. I’m a product of his second and my mother died of an overdose when I was little. I was raised by governesses until Father remarried. He chose another non–maternal type of woman, and I could see how Kevin was suffering. I’d moved out and he had a really hard time after that. So I stepped in to make his world a little happier when I could.” She grinned as she glanced back to see him chattering nonstop behind her to the two men. “He’s become remarkably normal in the meantime.”

“You’ve done a good job raising him,” Shadow said quietly.

“They raised him, I just helped to balance out the cold emptiness of living in that household. I remember it well.”

“Your mother, was it deliberate?”

She didn’t try to misunderstand. “I don’t know. We’ll never likely know. I was Kevin’s age. And the cold front between my parents was already nasty. If she hadn’t died, a divorce was in the immediate offing.”

“Children are the real victims in a situation like that. It’s not easy for anyone.”

She studied his chiseled profile, detecting something long ago that had hurt him a lot. “Did your parents’ divorce?”

“No.” He gave her a smile completely devoid of any humor. “My father killed my mother instead.”

*

Shit, he hadn’t
meant to say that. In fact, he wasn’t sure the last time he told anyone. It wasn’t exactly ice breaker conversation.

And the last thing he needed was sympathy. If she showed him any pity, he’d dump her on the ground so she’d have to walk the rest of the way. Although he couldn’t, it wasn’t in him to do something like that. But…he held his breath and waited for her response.

When it came it blew him away.

“You know, I often wondered if that didn’t cross my father’s mind a time or two. I knew he didn’t kill her as in he didn’t force feed the pills down her throat, but I’m sure he was hoping she’d do it herself sooner than later.” By the end of her sentence, she’d lowered her voice to a husky whisper as she glanced behind them to make sure her father couldn’t hear her.

“What happened to his first wife?” he asked curiously. If that woman had died then maybe someone should be taking a look at the senator.

“Nothing so gruesome. They divorced and she has since remarried. I’ve met her at a couple of functions, but she’s so similar to Linda that I’m wondering if he hasn’t been searching for his first wife all over again. According to her, she’s the one that left him.”

Shadow nodded. “It happens.”

“Yeah.” She looked behind at Kevin, who given the circumstances, appeared to be in his element talking to Swede and Cooper. “Your friends are very nice.”

Shadow stiffened.

“Kevin is really enjoying being around them,” she said. “It’s really good for him.”

“What is?”

“Acceptance,” she said simply. “If you saw his relationship to Dad and Linda, you’d see Kevin can’t do anything right for my father who has such high expectations that
no one
can reach them and his mother who coddles him because she wants to protect him from such a big bad world. All because he’s different.”

“And you, did your father have the same high expectations for you?”

“Sure, but I was a disappointment from the outset so the expectations were lowered immediately.”

He glanced at her. “In what way?”

“He only wanted a son.”

Several hard clicks split the air.

Shadow froze, his arms tightening around her, his throat closing up as six men, assault rifles pointed their way, quickly surrounded them.

“Arianna,” Kevin cried and ran toward her.

And a gun fired.

A
rianna cried out.
But she couldn’t see if anyone had been hit. Shadow had shoved her behind a tree and covered her with his big body. A volley of shots fired. Then more shots. Hidden behind the big man and worried about her family, she stayed pinned in place, shuddering. Her injury had changed something for her. Instead of being strong and capable she felt weak, in need of help. And hated that. Sure she did need the help, but she wasn’t a victim. If she didn’t get out of that mentality she’d become a liability. She didn’t know where her brother was, nor the men who’d carried their parents. Surely they’d have been better off going back into the cabin. Especially given her father’s condition.

She leaned her head back, eyes closed and waited.
Please stop the gunshots.
Her ears were ringing and she couldn’t hear any voices over the loud noises. Surely everyone had to be dead by now. She shuddered.

Shadow twisted to look and his gruff voice, low and harsh, asked, “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“Hurt? No, just my leg.” She stared at him fearfully. “Did they shoot Kevin?”

“They tried and missed.” He shifted position so she could see around him. “He’s with Swede.”

And sure enough she could see her brother. He clung to Swede’s back as the big man still carried her father. Jesus.

“Shouldn’t we try to go back to the cabin?” she cried out, her heart hurting at the look of her father.

Shadow shook his head. “No. Reinforcements are coming. And an air ambulance will land on the lake in less than an hour.”

She stared at him in hope. “Really?”

He nodded.

“Oh thank God.”

“It’s only been a few hours since you escaped the bedroom,” he muttered. “It takes a little time to get some things done.”

She wanted to laugh. Hell she really wanted to cry. Neither was an option. Their voices were so low she didn’t think they’d carry, but they were taking a chance.

Thunder clapped overhead yet again. She jumped in surprise. Normally she loved storms, but if that heavy rain came back to soak them she’d be more than miserable and that was without taking her injured leg into account. An air ambulance sounded so normal and lovely she knew she was losing it. Several single shots sounded from across the way but not far enough away to make her happy. “You’ve got him pinned down,” she whispered. “Finish him off.”

“Can’t until he shows himself.”

“Then go get him,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Neither am I.”

Of course he’d refuse to listen to reason. She leaned against the tree and closed her eyes. He could leave her and be back before she got to her feet. And she slowly slid down the damn trunk. It was dark, wet, cold and all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and forget that his night had happened.

“Go,” she ordered. “Then come back.” She sensed his surprise, felt his doubt. She waved her hand to send him away. “I’m fine.”

“Back in a moment,” Shadow whispered, but before she understood what he meant, he was gone. She closed her eyes again. In this weather, no one was going to find her. It was too dark and ugly to bother looking.

Only she didn’t have a moment to rest before he was there hauling her up onto her feet again. She shook off his help and stepped on her own. And shuddered. Damn it. She needed to be able to stand or he couldn’t do what he needed to do. He gave her an arm for support. Yet again, she didn’t protest. She kept walking and hung on. Stupid system. Why couldn’t the good guys have nice vehicles to ride in? Instead they had no cabin and no wheels.

She was ready to round on him and tear a strip off him for not having the right equipment when a boom split the night sky. She cried out, instinctively crouching down as the night sky lit up all around them. Shadow slid an arm across her shoulders, tugging her up close. Then his voice, a harsh but reassuring whisper in her ear, said, “That’s why we didn’t go back to the cabin. If they were prepared to blow up the truck with your parents in it, likely they weren’t going to leave much else behind either.”

“My grandfather’s cabin?” she asked, her voice cracking. She’d spent many happy weeks up here. But even thinking about those holidays it was hard to feel anything but shock at the moment as she watched the smoke curl in the sky.

It was gone.

“Could it have been the truck?” She barely got the words out when the second small boom sounded and she assumed that was the truck.

“They don’t want us using their truck to escape either, I gather.”

“No. They think we’ll be handicapped by the terrain.”

She looked around. “I have to admit it would be a lot easier to handle if my leg wasn’t killing me.”

“Not an issue. It’s less than a mile to the lake, but we’ve been moving steady.”

She shot him a look as if to say,
hell, no,
then realized that was really nothing of a distance and if they wanted to catch that plane…there wasn’t much choice.

Except…as they slowly continued, the lack of light impeded their progress. How was the plane going to be able to land in this dark? When she asked Shadow, he said, “Dawn is only twenty minutes away. Bush pilot’s don’t live by the same rules that we live by.”

“You? Rules? I don’t think you follow any.” She’d been trying to limp her way forward since starting again and now her leg was killing her, her breath coming out in harsh pants.

“Ready for some help?” he asked in a neutral voice, letting her know he’d noticed her struggle.

Shamefaced, she nodded. “Yes, please.”

He swung her up in his arms and marched forward, his steps strong and sure in the dark.

She had to love that ability right now. Tired and sore and feeling very emotional for some reason, she gasped when she caught sight of the water twinkling through the trees.

“It’s beautiful.” Moonlight shone down on the ripples moving gently in the wind. She glanced back to see the progress the others had made. They were all close behind.

For all that he was tired and worn out, her brother was handling this adventure wonderfully. She was proud of him. “Kevin is doing really well.”

“You both are.”

She glanced at Shadow, her arms looped around his neck and shook her head. “No, we aren’t. It’s been a tough day for all my family.”

He nodded but his scrutiny never strayed as he made his way to the water’s edge. She loved that about him. Such focus. She could imagine he was the man to choose if you were alone on a desert island. He oozed competence. And that power that each of the SEALs exhibited was damn sexy.

But Shadow more so.

Knowing she shouldn’t but unable to stop herself, she stroked his neck then leaned over and kissed his cheek again. She felt his start of surprise and had to wonder if he had much relationship experience. He always seemed so shocked at signs of affection. Every time she touched him, he seemed startled. As if not used to touch. Then again, this was a rescue mission, not a midnight tryst.

“What was that for?” he growled in low tones.

“Because I wanted to,” she whispered. “Because it seemed like the right thing to do.”

He gave her a slant-eyed look that said he didn’t believe her. And just to be perverse, because she was being carried in a man’s arms and probably not for much longer, and the experience was so new and different and, she admitted, quite surprisingly wonderful – she did it again. This time she kissed his jaw. Then dropped a kiss on his cheekbone. And one close to his ear.

A muscle in that beautiful chiseled jaw twitched.

And she realized something else. They’d been out long enough that he had a dark shadow growing along his neck and jawline adding to his dangerous look. It looked deadly good on him. How had she not noticed?

Shadow stopped and looked down at her. She smiled. “I know. You don’t know what to do with someone like me. I’m different from other women. That’s okay. Being different is allowed.”

He shook his head. “And you talk too much.” He slowly lowered her and pointed to the lake. Though she’d seen it peeking through the trees already, now the vista was open in front of her.