The Bride's Protector
Page 24
“No,” she said.
“I didn’t think so.”
“But ... guess we could take a look at that wall before you go to the store.”
“The one in the bedroom?” Hawk asked.
“That’s the one,” she acknowledged. “Ulterior motives,” she added softly. “I guess I should warn you. Mine may fall into the category of... using you.”
He nodded this time. “You still have that wedding thing?”
“The bridal gown?”
“That’s the one,” he said, deliberately mimicking her comment about the wall.
“I hocked it,” she said.
He laughed, and she decided she really liked hearing that.
“The last of the romantics,” he suggested.
“The last of the dreamers,” she corrected. “Why did you ask about the dress?”
“I thought the hardware store might know about churches, too,” he said. “And about preachers.”
“Are you proposing to me, Lucas Hawkins?”
“I think that’s exactly what I’m doing,” Hawk said.
“Then do it right,” she demanded. “I want it done right.”
He laughed again and closed the space between them. He took her in his arms and kissed her on the mouth. Not particularly passionate or possessive, but just...right, she thought. Just exactly right.
“Tommy Sue Prator,” he said, his mouth moving against her cheek, “will you marry me?”
“Just as soon as you fix that wall,” she whispered.
“Then I guess we better go take a look at it,” Hawk said. He bent, slipping his right arm under her knees. He carried her through the door with the bullet-scarred frame and into the bedroom. Just, of course, to look at the wall.
Epilogue
“You do know what this means?” Carl Steiner asked, his finger tapping the grainy black-and-white photograph at the top of the stack of newspapers on his desk.
Jordan Cross glanced down at the picture, then wondered why he had bothered. It wasn’t any different from the others he would find in that stack. Jordan was in almost all of then, of course. Along with scenes of the carnage at the airport.
What had happened there was the most exciting thing the locals had seen in a long time. Amir had deliberately gathered as much of the media as he could round up on such short notice, so there were a lot of cameras in that crowd. Apparently they were all snapping when Jordan and airport security stepped through the door to the staircase that led down from the roof.
At least none of them had gotten a good shot of Hawk, Jordan thought philosophically. He was sorry that hadn’t been the case with him, but he had known exactly what he was doing when he had taken that rifle out of Hawk’s hands. And he hadn’t hesitated.
Griff Cabot had been his friend. Hawk had taken the heat for what they all had wanted to do to that bastard in Iraq. And Jordan was more than willing to take the blame for what Hawk had done yesterday.
“I suppose this means my services here are no longer needed,” Jordan said, lifting his eyes from the photograph to meet Steiner’s.
“I’m afraid that’s the least of it,” Steiner replied, leaning back in his chair and tenting his fingers.
“The least of it?”
Maybe Steiner really didn’t understand what the team had meant to them. If that was true, it was pretty damned ironic that he was the one who was now in charge.
Missing Griff had eaten at Jordan’s gut the last six months, of course, but that had been more about personal friendship than any kind of professional anxiety. They had all known things would change with Griff’s death, but for someone like Steiner to come in here—
“I’m afraid that as a result of what you did yesterday you’ve acquired a whole lot of enemies,” Steiner said, interrupting that train of thought. “All of Hawk’s. Al-Ahmad’s followers. And the agency’s enemies, as well. You’ve become our...public face, so to speak, and you’ll probably spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder to see which of those is after you.”
Steiner lifted his hands, tapping the tips of his steepled fingers in front of his mouth as if he were thinking. Jordan waited, not sure where he was headed with this. Other than to try to frighten him.
If that was what the assistant deputy director was attempting, it wasn’t having much effect. Nothing Steiner. was saying was news to Jordan. He had recognized all these things yesterday. Before he’d made his offer to Hawk.
“Of course, there is a way to keep you safe,” Steiner said. “Something we’ve certainly done before.”
“And what is that?” Jordan asked, interested to hear what his new boss was proposing.
“A new face,” Steiner said, looking down again at the stack of papers. “A new identity to go with it.”
“I’m not sure I’m all that tired of the old one.” Jordan said carefully, controlling his inclination to laugh.
They’d gotten rid of the problem Hawk represented by destroying his identity. Apparently, they intended to do the same thing to Jordan. Give him a new face, a new ID. And a new life to go with it. All outside the agency.
There wasn’t much doubt now where Steiner was heading. Of course, they had all understood that the team, as they knew it, was doomed. But this...
“And I’m not sure you really have much choice,” Steiner said softly. “After yesterday, you’ll be a marked man, Cross. Hunted for the rest of your life. I’m simply offering you an out. My best advice is to take it. With the skills you’ve learned here, you won’t have any trouble starting over.”
Starting over. That was an opportunity a lot of people would love to have, he supposed. Jordan Cross wasn’t sure he was one of them. But from the look in Steiner’s eyes, he also wasn’t sure he had much option. They would cut him loose with all the enemies Steiner had warned him about on his tail, or they’d do exactly what they’d offered. Give him a new face and a new name.
With all that had taken place recently within the agency, so much had changed already about his life. Griff’s death. The dissolution of the team. Hawk’s “disappearance.”
Jordan wasn’t sure what there was left here to hold on to. Except an identity that would be, he knew, just as dangerous as Steiner had promised. At least what they were offering gave him a chance.
“Okay,” he said softly.
“I don’t think you’ll ever be sorry,” Steiner said.
And of course, Steiner would be wrong about that, as well.
Now that you’ve read the first book of
Gayle Wilson’s exciting new series,
look for her next MEN OF MYSTERY,
THE STRANGER SHE KNEW,
coming May 1999 from Harlequin Intrigue.
ISBN : 978-1-4592-5120-5
THE BRIDE’S PROTECTOR
Copyright © 1999 by Mona Gay Thomas
All rights reserved. Except tor use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario. Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
She wanted him still
Letter to Reader
Dedication
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Prologue
>
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Copyright