Waiting... On You (Force Recon Marines) (47 page)

Hanna was mortified that this
discussion was being conducted in front of strangers. And Nick’s anger had
definitely fueled her own. The least he could do was look at her! And Lance!
The rat had told her that his brother was expecting both of them!

“I wanted to surprise you,” Lance said
at last when Nick didn’t respond.

Hanna finally found her voice. “It
appears Lance failed to tell you that I was coming, or why we were coming.”
Pausing, she sent Nick’s brother a look of reproach. “I’m sorry that my arrival
was a surprise. He wanted to clear up a few things, and he thought that we
needed to talk.” Yanking off her sunglasses, she glared hotly at Nick, which
was no small thing since now he was just a fuzzy image. “But I’m not sure I
want to talk to you now. You could have at least said hello and been pleasant.”

The man standing next to Nick chuckled.
“
Pleasant?
Hell, he hasn’t been even remotely
pleasant
for the
past two months!”

Nick’s mouth curled into sneer.
“Hanna, this is Lieutenant Commander Ty Sharp. He used to be a friend. Ty, this
is Doctor Hanna Wallace. You already know my mouthy brother.”

“Screw you, too, bro. See when I do
you a favor next.”

Lt. Commander Sharp extended a hand to
Hanna. “Nice to meet you, finally.”

She smiled and shook his hand,
bemused. “Finally?”

He explained how he knew about her.
“Nick and I have been friends since our days at the Naval Academy. I’m with the
SEALs, but we’ve served together frequently over the years. I know you’re the
lady friend from home he writes to all the time.” Tanned, tall, and fine looking,
Nick’s friend grinned and gave her a wink. “I hear you saved his sorry butt two
months ago. I also heard you almost lost your life doing it.”

Hanna blushed crimson. Luckily, the
sun probably hid the profusion of color. “He told me that his life was never
really in danger, though, and that my taking a couple of bullets for him was
unnecessary.”

“Ungrateful bastard,” Ty chuckled. “He
never thinks he’s in danger.” The wet-suited naval officer gave his friend a
good-natured slap on the back. “Must be that super hero cap he wears.”

Nick shook his head and finally gave
vent to a smile. “Why don’t I go change, then we’ll go somewhere more private
to talk?” He was looking at her at last, and the look in his eyes had finally
changed from anger to warmth.

“You don’t really need me there for
that,” Lance advised. “Maybe Corporal Vincent could take me to a hotel
somewhere close to the airport.”

“Let me get into some civvies, and
I’ll be happy to show you around,” Ty Sharp offered. “Corporal Vincent says
he’s given you the Chamber of Commerce tour of San Diego. The R rated tour is a
hell of a lot more interesting!” Laughing, he motioned to Nick’s aide. “You can
come, too, Corporal. We’ll educate you on the finer points of sightseeing
tonight.” On his way to the long building behind them, the one closest to the
piers, he looked back over his shoulder at Nick. “Don’t expect little brother
back before the end of the weekend. I’ll make sure he’s rewarded for being such
a good brother.” Then he gave Hanna a wink before looking once again at Nick.
“I expect to see you a lot happier on Monday, Colonel.”

“How long are you staying?” The
question was directed at his brother, but Nick was looking at Hanna.

“We have reservations for a red-eye
flight back late Sunday night,” Lance answered.

Nick nodded at his brother. “Be sure
to check in, at least by phone— so Hanna won’t worry.” To her unexpected
pleasure, he leaned down and spoke softly into her ear. “Guess you’re mine
tonight.” His wink and insinuating grin left her thoroughly unsettled. “I’ll go
shower and change as fast as I can. Corporal Vincent can wait with you. Get her
something to drink, will you, Vincent. Lance, come with me.”

“Corporal Vincent has devoted enough
time to us today. He’d probably like to change into civilian clothes, too. I’ll
be fine here on the patio.” Besides, she really wanted a few minutes alone to
collect herself.

“I won’t be long, then.”

Nick’s trademark smile made her as
light-headed as his “
Guess you’re mine tonight”.

After the men disappeared, Hanna walked
back to the patio table she’d sat at before. Under the shade of the overhead
umbrella, she rested her elbows on the metal tabletop and her head in her hands.
In the space of a half hour, she’d gone from terrified to deeply wounded to
furious to bewildered to expectant. She felt like she was on an emotional
roller coaster. When Nick returned, what would he finally say to her? What
would she say to him? She was on her own now, apparently. Lance had other
plans, and he was probably making his confession to his brother right now. What
was the old expression?
Your ears burned when someone was talking about you?
Yeah, that was what she felt for sure, right along with scared and anxious and
hopeful.

She made a choked sound somewhere
between laughter and agony. She had gathered her courage and stood before Nick,
and here she was, waiting yet again, still uncertain about what he wanted.
Nothing in his brooding sexy gray eyes had told her what he felt about her
being down here.

She was such an ordinary woman, and he
was such an extraordinary man. How could she truly believe a man like that
would want to put aside his freedom and his lifestyle to marry her? In her starkest
moments of honesty, she’d never really believed Nick could love her enough to
want her permanently in his life, in his world. Nice dreams. Unrealistic
fantasies.

Long distance friendship and
convenient sex when he was home on leave were probably all she could really
hope for. It seemed to her that if he wanted to marry her, like Lance had informed
her, he would have been happier to see her. She was determined not to get her
hopes up too much. Whatever came of this meeting, she was going to retain some
remnant of her pride and self-respect.

What would she say to him first?
I
love you
.
I’ve been miserable without you. You made me cry too damn
much. To hell with you. I’m going home!
Guess it depended on what he said
and did. She wanted desperately to tell him that she loved him, but she was
also prepared to walk away and fly home without him; to put away her longing
for him once and for all.

THAT WAS HOW NICK FOUND HER, her
forehead resting on her fingers, so deep in thought that she didn’t hear him
approach. He stopped a few feet away and just stared at her.

Even before Corporal Vincent told him
he thought Lance and Hanna had come down to tell him that they were getting
married, he’d thought that himself. He’d been gone long enough for his little
brother to have snatched up Hanna.

The likelihood that the two of them
had come to see him to tell him that they were getting married had torn a hole
in his heart as sure as if he’d been shot there. His mood had been so foul by
the time he had walked up to them, he was ashamed now of how he had greeted
them.

He had been short-tempered with Lance
for the past two months, and he’d hated the resentment he’d felt for him— the
jealousy and the anger. He loved his brother. He didn’t want things to be that
way between them. But he’d been afraid Hanna would turn to Lance.

Good God! He could have ended up being
his brother’s best man, forced to watch the woman he loved marry his brother.
He could have become her brother-in-law! The possibility had been twisting like
a knife in his gut for weeks. It had nearly killed him when he’d thought that
was what Lance had flown down to tell him.

And Hanna had looked so beautiful
standing there beside Lance, holding his hand like a lifeline, damn it— her
skirt billowing above her knees in the wind, her honey blonde hair glinting in
the sunlight. All he’d wanted to do was sweep her off her high heels and wrap
her in his arms. He’d been absolutely miserable these past weeks without her.

He’d driven his teams and himself
twelve hours a day, six days a week in a futile attempt to dispel her from his
thoughts. But it hadn’t come close to working. The love he felt for her had
resisted all his efforts to bury it under a mountain of reasons she wouldn’t be
happy married to him. Finally, he had even talked to his commander about
retiring! He wanted her in his life and had been willing, at last, to do
whatever it took to get her there. His vow to walk away and not look back had
become a joke. Hell, he’d called home so often just to hear how she was, they
were ready to take away his SAT phone privileges.

So now she was here. She wasn’t
marrying his brother, although he knew if he failed to keep her this time,
Lance would show no further mercy where she was concerned. His brother had told
him all about his talk with their mother, and how he had come to understand his
error in interfering. He’d also told Nick that he had brought Hanna to San
Diego in an attempt to fix the damage he’d caused. Lance wasn’t sure what
Hanna’s response might be, but he advised Nick to ask her to marry him straight
away. Nick himself wasn’t at all sure what her response would be, either. He
did know, though, that he had hurt her pretty badly by leaving so abruptly,
with no explanations or even a decent goodbye. Maybe he should just plunge
right in and fearlessly tell her what was in his heart; ask her to marry him
right off the bat, like his brother had advised.

He walked over to the table. When she
at last lifted her head and turned to look at him, neither one of them said a
thing. They just stared at one another. Finally, Nick reached down and took her
hand, pulling her to her feet to stand in front of him.

Hanna was close enough to breathe in
his delicious scent. It was a heady mixture. He’d obviously just taken a
shower, then splashed on some exotic aftershave.

He was dressed in jeans and a lemon
yellow knit polo shirt. His nearly black hair was still wet and touched his
collar at the back of his neck. She looked down at the hand that enfolded hers.
Not for the first time, she noticed how broad his knuckles were, and how long
and finely shaped his fingers were. Their clean blunt nailed tips rubbed little
circles over the back of her hand. He had such nice big hands; capable hands;
hands that moved over her body so very, very well.

“Hanna....” His baritone voice
caressed her name, the gentleness in it making her anxiety recede slightly.
“How are you feeling?” He reached for and captured her second hand. She knew he
must surely feel how clammy both were. “I know it’s been over two months since
you got out of the hospital, but you look....”

“I’m fine,” she reassured him before
he told her she looked less than she wanted to look for him. “I’m just a little
light headed at the moment. I haven’t eaten anything since early this morning.”
As if on cue, her stomach chose that moment to growl.

He sent her one of his lazy half
grins. “That’s easy to fix. I’m hungry, too. Let’s go get some dinner. But
first....”

Without forewarning, he hauled her
into his arms. His head descended to hers. In her four inch heels, his mouth
didn’t have far to go. His lips settled over hers, moving against hers tenderly,
waiting for her response. She did not deny it.

The instant her mouth opened to him,
he claimed her with an exultant growl and a fiercely hungry kiss. His hands
rose to her bare shoulders, then slowly stroked downward to slide around her
fitted waistline, holding her tightly against his length.

He kissed her long and hard and
thoroughly. His tongue greedily explored every sweet inch of her mouth, stroking
and coaxing her tongue until she melted completely in his arms. He heard her
little moan of surrender and felt the thrill of it all the way to the soles of
his boots.

She wanted him. He could feel it in
her reaction. She’d missed him as much as he had missed her. It was
intoxicating. The sheer joy of her response made him grin with relief and
pleasure when he finally ended the kiss and took a step away from her.

“Maybe I’m not that hungry,” she
laughed breathlessly. “A candy bar might do.”

He laughed in response as he lifted
his hand and stroked her incredibly soft cheek with his knuckles.

His teams were beginning to come out
of the locker room. Nick didn’t want them intruding. He took Hanna by the hand
and followed Lance, Ty, and Corporal Vincent to the dark green military sedan.
“Guess we better get your bags.”

“I only have one.” He slanted her a
look. “I only took the weekend off,” Hanna stopped to explain while they were
still alone. “I wasn’t sure whether you’d want me to stay longer.”

A smile of lament played at the
corners of his mouth. “I did leave you with that impression, didn’t I?”

“The card on your roses did,” she
answered, unable to hide the pain he had caused her. “Unless I misread it.
Get
well and Live well
sound like a final goodbye to me.”

He winced. “We do need to talk.”

“Yes, we do.” She lifted her hand and
reached up to brush a wayward strand of black hair off his wrinkled brow.

He slipped two fingers under the
halter strap of her sundress. “You look so fine in this, I’d rather take you to
my quarters to slip it off of you. But I need to feed you, then talk to you,”
he told her resolutely.