Still Mine (13 page)

“Be careful what you succeed at, Jo. It could change the rules of the game mighty fast.”

She scowled at him but bit her lower lip before saying anything else. Paul was dangerous. Along with her more mature outlook on sexual confidence went a new understanding of the opposite gender. There were boys, guys, men and males like Paul. Even six years ago, he hadn’t been tame or remotely controllable. He pressed against every soft spot she had, testing her lines of defense until he’d mapped her out completely before attacking. He was doing it again now.

“Durant now.” His eyes flashed. “Us, later.”

It was a warning, hard and fired right into her eyes. Reaching out, he wrapped his hand around her upper arm, giving her support whether she wanted it or not.

They turned into the building that sat directly across from the medical building. Jo recognized it as the same place she had first seen Paul. It felt like a year ago. In the space of one day, her entire definition of her life had altered. One week ago, she’d been firmly set on her career goals, and tonight, she was facing the blunt fact that she wasn’t in control. Casting Durant and Paul into the role of the enemy wasn’t the wisest choice she might make. After all, the people trying to get their hands on her seemed a lot more vicious. Before she made a break for it, she needed to have a safe haven to go to.

Tonight she was led through the waiting area and to the door that had remained closed. Paul opened it and preceded her to the other side. Not sure just what to expect, Jo followed. The function of the area they stepped into was clear. Large screens displayed every section of the base, from the landing pads to inside all the hangars. Uniformed personnel sat with their attention directed to the information being fed into the room.

Her husband walked her down the center of the room at perfect ease. No one took the slightest notice of the man. Yet several people stopped to sharply assess her. She knew she was the outsider here; it was just unnerving to have it pointed out so clearly.

“They’ll get used to you.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That’s what I’m afraid of.” Anger slowly burned through her mind. Years of work to achieve her goals and now she was reduced to needing her husband to traverse a security headquarters.

She heard the distinct rumbling of her husband’s amusement. Glaring at him, all she received in return was a smug look of male enjoyment. He leaned down, keeping his voice between them.

“What’s on your mind, Jo? Worried you’ll run out of temper to fend off liking it here?”

“I’ve still got plenty of that.”

The fingers on her upper arm gently massaged her skin, sending little prickles of sensation along her skin. Beneath her shirt, her nipples drew tight, longing for the same skin-to-skin connection.

“You always had a lot of passion, baby. That’s the thing that made it so much fun.”

She hissed and jerked against his hold but his hand tightened, maintaining his grip. Just a momentary taste of his strength, but it was one of those details that hinted at the man he was deep inside. Hard. In both muscle and mind. She’d met a few like him, among the FBI and CIA. They really were a breed apart. She’d missed it when they had first met. Paul had bent her like a paper clip, with the help of her naïve youth. He’d done it with a skill that left her blissfully ignorant at the time.

Tonight, he was letting her feel it, see the power and authority around him.

Pride burned through her anger. She just couldn’t help but enjoy the fact that she measured up as worthy enough to be shown into his covert world. That nagging little voice inside her head warned her to look away but she was too fascinated by the view.

Curiosity was the mother of all evils.

She passed through the door and collapsed onto a sofa, grateful for its support. At least investigations were something she understood. Besides, the idea of having a little meeting with the powers-that-be was delightfully rich with the possibility of having a chance to demand what she wanted. But Paul didn’t follow her. He remained outside, watching her through the clear glass wall. She frowned at his stealth attitude. The silent man wielding all the power wasn’t endearing to her.

He hadn’t been so hardened when they’d met. That only made her angrier as she looked at the expressionless mask his face was set in. Six years ago, they’d laughed. He’d been like a bubble of happiness. Once she joined him inside its shimmering walls, nothing could douse their enjoyment of each other and everything they did together. A wave of pity washed through her as she studied the cold dark eyes. She wanted to rip into whoever had taught him to behave so…so…
detached.

Sure, she’d encountered men who lived like Paul. FBI, CIA and a smattering of other “special assignment” agents she ran into while hunting fugitives. But there was something different hiding behind the expressionless face watching her. It actually hurt to witness such a lack of trust in him. It shouldn’t bother her. She should be able to take solace in the fact Paul was so different from the man she’d loved.

But all she wanted to do was scream at fate for stealing the joy out of his life. Her gaze shifted to the floor as she recognized the impulse rising up inside her to save him. She wanted to be his rescuer. That idea shot a huge hole in her plan to leave.

A huge, gaping one.

“I think you just might be on the menu tonight.”

Paul slid a glance over to Nolan as the man stepped up behind him. From inside the office Jo watched him with razor-sharp eyes. With the glass door shut, it was soundproof.

“Maybe I’m luckier than I thought. She can nibble on me any time.”

Nolan rolled his eyes. He reached behind his back and pulled a handgun from his waistband. The small nine-millimeter weapon looked ridiculous in his palm. “You know, I’m not going to be able to put off returning this to her forever. If she shoots you, I won’t shed any tears. Personally, I’m betting that she won’t kill you. Just put a slug into some place that will spoil your day.”

Paul considered the gun. Pride snaked through him as he recognized the work that had gone into molding his young bride into a woman who carried a sidearm every day. Somewhere along the line, she’d straightened her spine and taken life by the horns. He was sorry he’d missed it. At least personally. But sometimes, you needed to be hungry before you poured yourself into the work necessary for growth. That was something he understood. Without him to lean on, she’d planted her feet beneath her and endured. Every kid liked to think they were mature, but you didn’t grow up until life kicked you in the gut a few times.

“I want her quarters reassigned.” Nolan lifted an eyebrow in response. “Next to mine. Do me a favor and hold onto her sidearm for a couple of days. We still have a deadline to make. I didn’t factor in a hospital stay when I built the timetable.”

A hint of humor entered his voice as Paul considered facing Jonnie’s wrath. It was going to be a firestorm too, he was sure of it. He’d delivered some of the pain that had motivated her into charging forward. But he wasn’t sorry. No one could force him to give her up now. She’d proven herself. Heat surged through him as he recognized that he was anticipating challenging her on a far more private level. Maybe it was unfair, but he wanted to shove her past her boundaries until she made an error and gave him an opening. His cock hardened as he looked through the window at her. The bright new bandages blared out a weakness in the base defenses. Their personal battle would have to wait until Nolan questioned her.

His cock didn’t like that idea.

His bride had grown into a woman while his back was turned. Jonnie had always let him lead in their lovemaking. The woman who sat in that office dared him to even try. There was nothing he liked better then a dare. In this case, it was more of a promise.

Waiting tested her limits. There wasn’t a single part of her body that didn’t hurt. The only good thing about never getting to eat her supper was she hadn’t had anything to throw up when her body became a conductor of electricity again.

Paul and Nolan were discussing her. She felt it in her gut and it made her mad. But there was another underlying emotion working through her too. Fear was there, trying to sprout up, using her new injuries to feed it.

That didn’t mean she was frightened. Far from it, but she wasn’t stupid either. If the man behind her kidnappings was so well organized as to infiltrate a high-security base, she didn’t need to be at his mercy either. Because she doubted he had any. That left her with Locke as her only sanctuary.

Paul followed Nolan into the office. Five minutes into the interrogation, her frustration grew to an unbearable pitch. She wasn’t going to be grilled like a raw recruit.

“Just what was I expected to notice about those men? You showed up and hauled me off without a shred of identification as well. I also haven’t seen any IDs on anyone under your command here.” Nolan narrowed his eyes, her tone irritating him but Jo wasn’t going to back down. “It did cross my mind to question their presence. Now if there just happened to be a phone in my room, or if you had returned my cell phone, I might have had the option to investigate that bright idea before leaving with them. Mind you, that would also entail you giving me a few phone numbers. I didn’t snatch me out of my life, buddy, you did. If you expect me to understand your world, you’d better get around to giving me the tour, instead of telling me that everything is classified.”

Nolan leaned back in his seat and contemplated her. The lack of response from the man told her that he understood her, possibly even agreed with her, but she’d never hear those words spoken out loud. At least not in front of Paul. It was an unspoken male rule. No guy helped any girl get the jump on another guy. They clammed up in a show of solidarity every time. Especially these sort of cloak-and-dagger men. The FBI would let their entire team sink before one director admitted dropping the ball.

“Nolan’s not your target, Jo. I am.”

Jo’s hot blue eyes narrowed as they focused on him. She had masked her emotions again. Her face betrayed nothing but those eyes were aflame with displeasure. Paul had to fight the urge to shift under her scrutiny. Abruptly, she returned her attention to Nolan.

Her dismissal of him sparked an answering flame of anger. Having her turn to another man for satisfaction of any kind was unacceptable.

“Nolan, get lost.”

The pure venom with which Paul issued that command almost broke Jo’s control over her emotions. The look that crossed Nolan’s face was smoldering. Nolan stood and pegged Paul with a pointed glare that promised retribution before he made a sharp turn and left.

“Did you just throw the man out of his own office?” Jo watched her husband as that question sank in. His black eyes were full of rage and she found it amusing. It was about time someone else had their day darkened by this whole mess.

“I know where I am, Jo.”

Jo latched onto that piece of information. It was just the opening she had needed.

“Then why are you waiting to enlighten me? Hate to break it to you, Paul, but I’m not going to sit around on your whim. Out there is something I like to call my life. I carved it out of the remains you left me with.”

Releasing a sigh of frustration, Paul sat back in his chair. Jo had set him up for that one. As much as he firmly believed the logic of his actions, he still couldn’t stop the emotional hesitation that kept him from speaking immediately.

He straightened his back and sat forward. He had done what he felt was necessary for her safety. Both now and six years ago. The girl she had been was incapable of dealing with the risks his life had been about to undertake.

Now, it had simply been a case of who would get to her first. A man like Andraluph would tear her apart, bit by bit. The very fact that his men had made it onto the base intensified Paul’s need to protect her. Jolene would just have to learn to live with the current situation. But it meant she would be alive.

His work might be worth sacrificing for, but it wasn’t a complete substitution for Jo. He’d been dumb enough once to think it was. Tonight, he was positive he’d made one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

“Your current problem is a man named Andraluph. He wants several of the projects that I’m currently designing. It’s worth a lot of money on the world market if he gets to me. I cut you loose because I knew this could happen. I’m really not sure just how he found the link between us.”

“A marriage license isn’t hard to track, Paul. We were married by a Catholic priest. The information is transferred to the Vatican. It stays there to prevent the remarriage of any members of the congregation. I sent them a copy of your death certificate too.”

Her husband looked stunned. “I wasn’t raised Catholic.” And he didn’t sound like he enjoyed discovering not knowing the details of Catholic policy.

“It’s the computer age, Paul. What did you think? That the information was going to remain buried in a parish book and never get recorded? You know priests don’t marry; that leaves them time to attend to details.” She shrugged. “I’m surprised you thought the information was buried.” She flipped her hand around to indicate the rows of computers in the outer room. “Aren’t these people supposed to be on top of stuff? I’ve got clerks working for my warrant team who wouldn’t have missed that. When you marry in most faiths there’s a computer trail these days.”

Paul looked dangerous. Anger flashed across his eyes and she stared at it in fascination. But it didn’t make her back down. Nope, it was her butt on the line and she was going to be a part of the team protecting herself. He didn’t have to like it. In fact, a part of her enjoyed knowing it rubbed him the wrong way. She wasn’t helpless. It was time he was introduced to that.

“So just how intelligent are you?” A gleam of smugness entered his eyes as she asked the question. It was all the confirmation she needed.

She’d been too naïve the last time they were together to ask some of the questions that had chewed at her. Paul had always picked out the tiniest detail that didn’t fit in any conversation. He had an annoying habit of fingering errors in manuals as he read them. Like he did it without thinking about it. An error simply snared his attention instantly because it glared at him.