by Myla Jackson
In order to find them, he needed Edie to wish him to their location and possibly time, otherwise he would have left in the middle of the night, slipped out while Edie slept. Much as he wanted to, he couldn’t take her with him. His mission was too dangerous to bring her along. So he had to do something he really despised doing— more than tying her to the bedposts with the silk pajamas that still hung there.
He had to convince her he didn’t love her and didn’t want her with him. This would be the hardest thing he’d done in his life because he had committed the ultimate folly. In just a few short days Harry, the incurable adventurer, had fallen deeply, madly and irrevocably in love with the intelligent and passionate Edie Ragsdale.
Her courage, tenacity and red-haired beauty fired longing in his soul. When he was with her, he never felt more alive. How ironic that the person who owned his body should also be the one to own his heart. Fate or God’s will had played him into Edie’s hands, dragging Harry across eight decades to find her. And now he had to leave her behind.
Angelic in sleep, her pale skin framed by auburn curls, Edie was stunning. The sheet fell below her bare breasts, her soft rosy areolas shone smooth and full.
Harry’s mouth watered and his jeans grew uncomfortably tight as his cock strained against the fabric. With a gentle touch, he smoothed his fingertips over the curve of one plump circle.
The velvety nipple puckered and hardened into a tight, round bead and Edie rolled to her back, a moan escaping her lips. “Ummm, Harry?” Her hand patted the empty bed beside her.
“I’m here, Edie, but I need to leave.”
Her eyes flew open. “Already?”
“I need to find Mitch and Will before something terrible happens to them.”
“Was what happened to you so terrible?” She pushed aside the sheet exposing the lush curve of her waist, the flare of her hips and finally the soft red curls at the juncture of her thighs.
With Edie lying naked before him, Harry almost lost his resolve. But the memory of Will and Mitch’s cries for help as they disappeared pushed Harry to do what he had to do. He concentrated on a spot just above Edie’s head and inhaled a fortifying breath. “No, what happened to me was a nice interlude.”
Her brows crinkled on her forehead. “Interlude? Is that all I am to you, Harry, an interlude?”
“I told you from the first, I work alone. Always have and always will.” He lifted his hands palm upward. “It’s the way I am.”
“Yes, you did tell me.” Edie’s eyelids drooped and she gathered the sheet back around her body. “I guess I thought we’d come to mean more to each other. Silly, huh?”
The hitch in her voice was almost Harry’s undoing. He wanted to gather Edie in his arms and hold her there forever. But he couldn’t stay and he couldn’t take her with him. “I’ll always think of you with fond memories, Edie.”
She snorted. “But you can’t love me? Is that it?” She tossed aside the sheet, and rose from the bed to stand beside him, curvaceous, beautiful and sexy as hell in her hurt and anger. “You can take my body but not my heart. I guess I should be thankful to you for taking my virginity. Now that I know how, I can go out and find a man who will love my body and me. Not some one-night stand, good for a roll in the sheets and gone.” She strode across the room and snatched her turquoise robe from the hook on the back of the door. “My father was right. Men only want one thing. Sex. I should have listened to him, he was probably right about everything else as well.”
Harry stood where she left him wanting to refute her words, to tell her that he loved her for her mind as well as her gorgeous body. If things had turned out differently, he’d have considered staying with her in New York City. He’d have found a job and built a house with a picket fence. But Will and Mitch needed him and he couldn’t turn his back on them.
Then why are you turning your back on Edie? The devil’s advocate in Harry’s conscience prodded him.
“If you’re going to go, you might as well leave. I don’t care much for long goodbyes.” Her back was to him as she tied the robe around her middle.
“I need you to make one last wish for me, Edie.”
“You mean you need me, Harry? But only for a little free sex and my ability to get you to different places in a hurry, is that it?” She spun to face him and flung an arm wide. “Name your place, Harry, and then get out of my life.”
“I need you to wish me to wherever Will and Mitch are.”
“Fine. I can do that.” Her words were strong, but her bottom lip trembled and tears welled in her eyes. “I can wish you out of here so fast your head will spin.” The tears tipped over the edge of her eyelids and trailed down her cheeks. “I’m only crying because I’m happy to be rid of you at last.”
Harry’s heart was breaking along with Edie’s. He couldn’t stand what he was doing to her, but he couldn’t live with himself if she were hurt because of him. He had to do this for her sake. Harry walked across the room and stood in front of Edie, tipping her chin upward. One last kiss. That’s all he wanted to remember her by.
But when his lips joined hers, he couldn’t hold back. His tongue delved between her teeth to tangle with hers, his hands strafed the length of her body, cupping her ass, fitting her against him in a tight hold, her heat warming him from breast to hip.
Edie’s arms circled his neck and dug into his hair, tugging him closer. The salt of her tears made the kiss even more bittersweet and difficult to end.
Harry’s cock strained for release from the tight confines of denim, but he knew he couldn’t unleash his lust. Not now. Not when he must leave. With all the willpower he possessed, he shoved Edie away from him, unable to hide his own ragged breathing. With a forced smile and a crumbling wall around his heart, he said, “Thanks for a good time, Edie. Now be a good girl and wish me to Will and Mitch.”
She stepped back as if he’d slapped her in the face. The tears stopped instantly and she flung back her shoulders. “If that’s the way you want it.” She closed her eyes and said. “I wish you were where Mitch and Will are.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, her eyes flew open.
Tingling began in the tips of his fingers and spread across his nerve-endings. “Goodbye, Edie.”
The last thing he saw was Edie reaching out to him, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. “I love you, Harry,” she said, her voice wavering as her shimmering, precious face disappeared.
Finally, Harry’s world went blessedly black.
* * * * *
Edie collapsed on her bed and buried her face in her hands, her heart shattering into a thousand pieces. “He’s gone. Harry’s gone.” She crawled across the mattress and buried her face in the pillow Harry had used. It still smelled of Harry, the scent knocking another hole in Edie’s gut. Tears flowed until Edie fell into a troubled sleep where Danorah and her hired thugs chased her around the desert, threatening to kill Harry if she didn’t give them the stone.
A sharp rapping on her door, coincided with the shrill beeping of her alarm clock, jerking her from her grief. Could he already be back? Edie forgot how to breathe as she slammed the off button on her alarm, leapt from the bed and raced across her living room to yank open the door.
Her heart plummeted into her stomach. Her father held out a bag of donuts and a cardboard holder with two cups of coffee. “I wasn’t sure you’d be here, but I risked dropping by anyway.” He peered closer at her, a frown knitting his brows together. “What’s wrong, Edie? You’ve been crying.”
She turned away and strode into the kitchen. “You should be happy. Harry’s gone.” Her voice was dull and flat like her life without Harry. Edie reached into a cabinet and removed two plates setting them on the table. She wasn’t hungry but she needed something to do with her hands.
“I’m not happy, if you’re not happy. And by the red, puffy eyes I take it you’re not ecstatic about him leaving.” Her father set the bag and coffee on the table and pulled Edie into his arms. “You love him, don’t you?”<
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“Oh, Daddy.” She fell against her father and wept into his jacket, the tears falling in torrents for the next ten minutes.
When she slowed, her father handed her a tissue. “Blow,” he said, just like he had when Edie was a little girl.
After a good blow and several more tissues to wipe her eyes, Edie sank into the chair across from her father.
“I know I don’t deserve your confidence, but if you feel up to it, maybe you could tell me what happened.”
Tell her father about all her wishing, shooting and lovemaking? She’d just got her father back, she didn’t want to scare him away again. But she found the whole wonderful, sordid story pouring out of her in a soggy torrent. “He said I was just an interlude, that he didn’t want me with him anymore.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” Her father pulled her hand into his and patted it gently. “Sometimes things don’t turn out the way we planned or hoped. I didn’t want to lose your mother when I did and for a long time I let it get me down, pushing away the only family I had left, my sweet and beautiful daughter.”
“Why, Daddy?” Edie wanted to feel empathy for her father, but anger rose more quickly. “Why did you push me away? I needed to know someone loved me after Mamma died. But you weren’t there for me. Why?”
“I think I didn’t want to love you. I loved your mother so much and I thought my love jinxed her. After I lost your mother, I was afraid to love you because I didn’t want to lose you too. We men have a funny habit of doing stupid things to protect the ones we love and to protect our hearts from breaking.”
Edie digested her father’s words. Men did stupid things to protect the ones they loved. Like Harry tying her to the bedposts to keep her from following him. Her blood heated as she recalled how excited she was when he’d made love to her while she was tied and gagged, the frustration she’d felt because she couldn’t touch him.
Tying her to the bedpost had been a pretty stupid thing to do. On a scale of one to ten, Edie gave it an eight. Had Harry tied her up out of love? Did he care enough about her to want her to stay out of harm’s way, or was he more concerned about her interfering with his plans?
“All these years,” her father went on. “I pushed you away when all I really wanted was to be with you. But I was afraid.” He squeezed her hands, a tear slipping down the side of his face. “I was wrong to push you away. I see that now. I wish I could go back and undo all the awful things I said. But wishing won’t change the past or the way I feel about you.” He stared up at her, his face aged and haggard. “Can you forgive me?”
“Yes, Daddy, I forgive you.” Could she forgive Harry if all he was trying to do was to protect her? Hell, yes! “Daddy, I love you very much, and I’m glad we had this little talk. It’s really helped me see what I have to do.” Wishing might not change the past, but it sure as hell could change her future. If she didn’t try one last time, she’d never know how Harry really felt about her. “Daddy, I have to go.”
“So soon? I’d hoped we could spend the day together.” Surely you don’t have to go back to work so soon. I’d expected the police to continue through today in their investigation.”
Edie was already up out of her chair and halfway to her bedroom. “I’m not going to work, and I can’t talk now, I have to see a man about his stupidity.” She’d need clothing, her credit cards, and sturdy shoes. What else? Maybe the 9mm she kept loaded in her nightstand. Just in case. As her fashion model mother would say, a girl could never have too many accessories.
Chapter Fourteen
Harry crouched in the dark behind the burned-out hull of a heavy metal vehicle painted in desert drab colors, waiting for his chance to steal closer to the building. Across the street, inside the bullet-pocked walls of the compound were Will and Mitch. They had to have gone in with the truck that went by about the time Harry arrived in Iraq, care of Edie’s wish. He’d quietly searched the surrounding streets for any other possible location of the men or the bottles they might be trapped in, all the while feeling like he was searching for a needle in a bombed-out haystack. But this was where Edie’s wish had landed him. The men and their bottles had to be close by.
Other than the crumbled walls of former Iraqi homes, the only remaining semi-intact structure was the walled compound. Somehow he had to get inside and find them. But how? He’d been watching for the past hour as men with rifles and machine guns drove in and out through the guarded gates. Hell, how was one man, an American at that, supposed to penetrate such an impregnable fortress of hostile Iraqis to free his friends?
“American!” A shout sounded behind Harry. He jumped and rolled to the side as bullets sprayed the position he’d just vacated. Keeping low to the ground, he dove for the side of a building and hunkered down in the shadows, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He held his breath and listened for approaching footsteps but the only sound he heard was a low rumble of thunder.
“Harry?” A familiar feminine voice called out from the darkness behind him. His heart lurched in his chest and rose to block his throat. “Edie?”
A hand crept into his and Edie’s pale face appeared beside him. “Hey, Harry. I thought you could use a little company.” Her smile was tentative and hopeful.
“Jesus, Edie!” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Someone just tried to kill me and still is, as far as I know.” He pulled her into his arms for a quick hug, and then set her away again. “You couldn’t have picked a more dangerous time to show up. What the hell are you doing here?”
Her teeth glowed in the darkness as she smiled. “I had to ask you a question.”
Harry leaned around the corner to see if the guy who’d shot at him was still there. Movement around the gate and the growl of heavy truck engines firing up could be heart behind the thick walls. But he didn’t see his attacker. “Can’t it wait?”
“No, Harry, it can’t.” Edie pulled him back into the shadows. “Why did you tie me to the bedpost, Harry?”
“What?” They were in the middle of hostile territory, surrounded by bloodthirsty murderers totally unsympathetic to Americans, and Edie was asking him why he’d tied her to the bedpost?
“Why?” Edie repeated. “And why did you tell me I was just an interlude?”
“Edie, now isn’t the time to go into it.”
“Why, Harry?” she insisted. “I need to know.”
“Because,” he answered. “All right? Now go home.”
“That’s not a reason, Harry.”
“I told you already. What the hell do you want from me?” He’d tried to shut her out, push her away, yet here she was. “Can’t you just go back to your apartment and your nice, safe little world?”
“No, Harry.” She placed a hand on his sleeve. “I can’t because I love you.”
Her words sank into his heart and warmed him in the cool night air. “Oh Edie.” He hauled her into his arms. “It’s not safe here. Will you please go home? Please?”
“No.” She kissed his lips and stared into his eyes. “You can’t keep me from following you. Now, I want an answer. Why did you push me away?”
Harry ran a hand through his hair and glanced worriedly toward the corner of the building. “Edie, I did all those things because I don’t want you hurt. I want to know you’re safe at home, out of harm’s way.”
“Because you love me?” Edie looked up at him from beneath her lashes, light from the half-moon shining in her eyes. “Do you love me, Harry?”
“Oh God, Edie.” He crushed her to his chest and held tight. “I’ve loved you from the first time you poked that jagged board into my chest. You were so determined, sassy and altogether too sexy, even with your hair pulled back and wearing those dowdy clothes. I love you, Edie, and I need to know you’re safe. Being here with me will only distract me from what I need to accomplish.”
“Bullshit.” She cocked her head to the side, her lips pressing together in a thin line. “You and my father have to quit thinking I’m fragile and let me make my own decision
s. I’m here because I love you and I want to help. So, get over it.”
“Edie, we can’t discuss this here.” Was she crazy? What could a girl do in the male-oriented society of Iraq? “I told you a man just tried to shoot me.”
“That one?” Edie stared over Harry’s shoulder, her eyes widening in the moonlight.
Harry spun around on his heels to look up into the barrel of a rifle. A rifle pointed directly in the middle of his forehead. “Uh, yes, that would be the one.”
The dusky-skinned Iraqi on the other end of the trigger motioned for Harry to move away from the wall by jerking his weapon to the side. He spoke in sharp tones. Although Harry didn’t understand Farsi, he knew he’d better move if he didn’t want to be shot. But what about Edie? If she were captured, what horrible things would they do to her? “If ever there was a time for you to wish us out of here, now would be good.”
The Iraqi clipped Harry in the face with his elbow and shouted.
His cheek stinging from the blow, Harry reluctantly climbed to his feet and moved in the direction the man indicated, all the while his heart alternated between singing and cringing. Edie loved him enough to chase after him into the desert, a place no normal woman would want to be. And now she was in the line of fire because of him. How was he going to save her and carry on with his mission to save his two friends? Sweet, courageous, stupid Edie. God, he loved her!
Edie stood as well, moving close to Harry, nudging him in the side. “Can you use this?” Cold steel slipped between his fingers. She’d brought a gun. Edie Ragsdale had brought a gun. Of all the—
