Challenging Gabriel (Knight Security 2)

by Carole Mortimer

  “No, to the former, and yes to the latter.” Gabriel gave Daniel a pointed glance in the rearview mirror. “I’m taking you to a safe house,” he told Angel. “And you know why.” He was taking them somewhere Sinclair wouldn’t be able to find them.

  Just because they had escaped Sinclair in Majorca didn’t mean he wouldn’t come after them. In fact, Gabriel was sure he would. He had Angel and Daniel, after all.

  “Taking us,” she repeated slowly. “Does that mean you don’t intend staying there with us?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then who will be staying with us?”

  “Initially, Jonas.” He shrugged. “Ash knows what to do if any change is necessary.”

  “And where are you going to be, Gabriel? I don’t want—”

  “What you want, what I want, isn’t of paramount importance right now,” Gabriel bit out. “I need to know that you and Daniel are safe.”

  “And then what?”

  “Then I intend to finish this,” he stated with certainty. One way or another, he intended Sinclair would never be able to bother Angel or Daniel ever again.

  Alarm jolted through Angel’s body at the grim determination she heard in Gabriel’s tone. “Clive?”

  “Yes. Cut off the head of the snake,” he continued as she gasped softly, “and the rest of the body will die too. We’ll dismantle his illegal empire piece by piece if we have to.”

  Likening Clive to a reptile was more than apt, but he had proven himself to be of the deadly variety, and Angel couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to Gabriel. Not because she believed there was any sort of future for the two of them, but because, having seen him again, made love with him again, she couldn’t bear the thought of not knowing Gabriel was alive in the world, even if it wasn’t with her.

  “We can hand the evidence over to the police now we have Daniel back safely,” she reasoned.

  “What about Lena? And all the other girls the bastard has kidnapped and made disappear? Don’t you think they deserve to have their lives back?”

  “Of course they do! I didn’t mean— What if something happens to you? You have a son now,” she reminded him softly, knowing it wasn’t only Daniel she was thinking of. Gabriel might not want her, but she didn’t want anything happening to him, knew his death would leave a void in her life that could never be filled.

  His hands tightened about the steering wheel until the knuckles showed stark white beneath his skin. “He has you. He’s always had you.”

  “Gabriel—”

  “I’m going to kill the bastard! Wipe his illegal empire off the face of the earth!” He glanced at her, eyes glittering. “Can you deny that needs doing?”

  “No…” she groaned. “But that doesn’t mean you have to be the one to do it.”

  “Yes, it does.”

  Angel looked at his profile as he concentrated on the road ahead—steely eyes, starkly etched cheekbones, tensed jaw—and knew there was nothing she could do or say to dissuade him. Gabriel was going after Clive.

  “You aren’t going to do this alone?” she prompted worriedly.

  “Caleb is coming with me.”

  “Only Caleb?”

  Gabriel’s smile was rueful. “He’s become slightly obsessed with finding Lena.”

  Angel’s eyes widened. “He doesn’t even know her.”

  “He doesn’t need to know her.” Gabriel shrugged. “It’s the code, Angel, no one gets left behind.”

  “Are you sure Caleb is the right… Isn’t he slightly…”

  “Intense and focused,” Gabriel stated firmly. “I trust him with my life. And anyone else’s.” He had, several times, and he didn’t hesitate to do so again.

  There was no denying that Caleb had been badly affected by his experience eight years ago, but Gabriel would still rather have Caleb at his back than anyone else. As he had no doubts that Caleb would find Lena, no matter how long it took him to do it. Lena might not know it yet, but she had a warrior who was coming to her rescue.

  “I didn’t mean to imply—” Angel shook her head. “I like Caleb, I really do. He’s been nothing but kind to me. But I would hate for any of you to get hurt because of my mistake.”

  Gabriel’s expression softened as he glanced at her. “Sinclair made the mistake when he tried to mess with a member of the Knight family.”

  It warmed Angel to know that Daniel had been accepted by the Knight brothers so wholeheartedly. Not a single one of them had questioned that loyalty when they went to rescue Daniel. They had simply acted to protect one of their own. Gabriel said their sister, Jonas’s wife, felt exactly the same way. They were an incredibly united family, and Daniel was lucky to have them.

  She swallowed. “How long do you think it will take Clive to follow us to England?”

  Gabriel’s jaw tensed. “Not long. My men will let us know when he makes a move. He’ll already have his own men in England watching Knight Security, assessing the enemy. Which is why you’ll be with Jonas. He’s a consultant to the company, not an employee, so on the surface, it will look as if only Caleb and I are missing. Sinclair will assume we’re with you and Daniel.”

  “You hope.”

  “I’ve worked against greater odds.”

  She knew Gabriel’s body was covered in scars from the wounds he had received while working against those greater odds. One day, his luck—and fighting skills—weren’t going to be enough.

  That would be the day Angel’s heart broke completely.

  She loved this man. Had never stopped loving him. Would never stop loving him.

  She placed a hand on his forearm. “You’ll be careful?”

  He gave a hard grin. “I always am.”

  Not if those scars were an indication. “Gabriel—”

  “Angel, I’ll do what needs to be done.” He glanced in the rearview mirror again. “Besides, I have something to live for now.”

  Thank God for Daniel.

  “You aren’t at all what I thought you would be.” Lily Grayfeather laughed softly.

  Angel gave the other woman a quizzical glance. “What did you think I would be?”

  To her surprise, Gabriel’s safe house turned out to be the Grayfeathers’ home set in the midst of private and secluded woods an hour’s drive outside London. It wasn’t even accessible by road. The three of them had to walk the final half mile to where the house had been built in such a way that there were dense, high trees all around that prevented the house being seen from above. Gabriel had carried Daniel piggyback style most of the way, much to her son’s delight.

  Gabriel had introduced them to his sister, Lily, and then disappeared outside with Jonas for several minutes, which was when Angel had realized Gabriel’s sister was the actress, Lily Knight, darling of the London stage. It was often rumored Hollywood was trying to lure this beautiful young woman to the States to star in a movie over there. A lure she had consistently resisted, having publicly stated that her husband and baby daughter always came first with her.

  Angel glanced across to where Daniel was now sitting on the floor playing with the Grayfeather’s six-month-old daughter, Amelia. The baby was adorable, with the blue-black hair of her Native American father, and the green eyes which most of the Knight family seemed to have in one shade or another. “It’s very kind of you to let us stay here.”

  “We’re family.” Lily smiled reassuringly.

  “Daniel—”

  “You’re the mother of Gabriel’s son, so of course you’re family too.” Lily spoke over Angel’s protest. “And to answer your question, I actually have no idea what I expected. Jonas said you were elegant. Ethan said you were gorgeous. Asher called you sexy. Caleb described you as a devoted mother. You try to make sense of that! Men!” She laughed, a woman completely secure in the love of her husband and brothers. “Didn’t really matter who or what you are, Angel.” She sobered. “You and Daniel are Gabriel’s. That’s all any of us needs to know.”

  Tears stung Angel’s eyes a
s the other woman gathered her into her arms for a hug.

  God, how Angel wished it was true, wished she truly did belong to Gabriel. That his family was her own. But she had given up the right to any of that eight years ago.

  She blinked back those tears as Lily released her. “I really hope our being here hasn’t brought any danger to you and your family.”

  Lily smiled confidently. “Did you see my husband?”

  She nodded. “I met him in Majorca.” Jonas Grayfeather was at least as tall as Gabriel, and powerfully muscled. But that height and those muscles would be no protection against a bullet.

  “Jonas is a security freak,” Lily confided. “Very few people even know about this place, and no one steps onto Jonas’s land without him knowing about it. For instance, he tracked every step of your arrival a few minutes ago. Don’t worry, Angel, you and Daniel will be perfectly safe here with us.”

  Angel wasn’t worried for herself. She was worried for Daniel and the Grayfeathers.

  And Gabriel.

  “My big brother can take care of himself,” Lily assured her as she seemed to read Angel’s thoughts. “Besides, he has Caleb with him.” Her expression softened as Angel frowned. “Caleb is…different since he came back from Afghanistan,” she allowed. “But never doubt he’s a trained killing machine. They both are.”

  And, if it came to it, Angel had no doubt Gabriel and Caleb would kill Clive.

  How did she feel about that?

  She had never loved Clive, but she had trusted him as a friend of her father’s. She wouldn’t have married him if she hadn’t.

  She had trusted him up to the point she had discovered what sort of man he truly was.

  Until he took Daniel and used him as a way of trying to control her.

  She knew Clive would continue to be that danger, a dark shadow over her own life as well as her son’s, if he wasn’t stopped.

  A shudder ran the length of her spine. “Clive is a monster who has to be stopped.”

  Lily gave her arm another squeeze. “We all make mistakes, Angel.”

  She gave a watery smile. “But mine was huge.”

  “Can you believe I tried to resist Jonas initially?” Lily confided as she moved into the kitchen area and began to make a pot of coffee. “All gorgeous six and a half feet of him. He annoyed me intensely, reminded me too much of my overbearing brothers. I made his life hell for several weeks.”

  “Ah, but I very quickly wore you down with my lethal charm,” Jonas drawled as he and Gabriel came back into the house and through to the kitchen area.

  “Don’t kid yourself, big guy.” Lily snuggled against him. “It was this gorgeous body that seduced me into surrender.”

  Gabriel winced as Jonas chuckled. “I’m really not sure I want to hear about Jonas seducing you.”

  “We didn’t find Amelia under a gooseberry bush!” his sister teased.

  Gabriel had barely glanced at Angel when he came back into the house. He was almost afraid to, when he knew the moment had come for them to say good-bye. Again. But this time, he had every intention of coming back. “Would you take a walk outside with me for a few minutes?” he invited softly.

  Angel looked momentarily startled by his request, that uncertainty darkening her eyes as she glanced at Daniel playing on the floor with Amelia.

  “Daniel will be fine,” Lily assured her.

  Her nod was abrupt as she answered Gabriel reluctantly. “Okay.”

  Not exactly an auspicious beginning to their conversation, but Gabriel would take what he could get after the way he had spoken to her on the plane. There was no excuse for how he had behaved and the things he had said to her. “I owe you an apology for how I was on the plane earlier,” he said as soon as they were far enough away from the house.

  Angel glanced up at him quickly and then away again. “I deserved it.”

  Anger surged through Gabriel. “No, you fucking well didn’t!” He clasped her chin and lifted her face up to his, forcing her to look at him. “Angel, you have done nothing to deserve any of this. Do you understand?”

  “If I hadn’t married Clive…”

  “You did what you had to do.”

  She shook her head. “He wasn’t like this when I married him. Arrogant and powerful, yes, but I truly believe he’s now insane.”

  Gabriel grimaced. “It’s usually the way with megalomaniacs. More wants more, until eventually they believe their own distorted view of the world. Make no mistake, I will stop him, Angel.” He gazed deeply into her eyes. “By whatever means are necessary.”

  Angel knew that, had known it before she had her conversation with Lily.

  “Are you going to be okay with that?”

  Her eyes widened incredulously. “Am I okay with you removing the threat to Daniel’s future, possibly his life?”

  “And your own.” Gabriel’s hand moved to curl about her nape. “Sinclair made it clear in Majorca that he still considers you his property.”

  She gave a shiver, and the warmth burned her cheeks as she remembered what else Clive had told Gabriel in Majorca. “I’m no one’s property.”

  “No,” he acknowledged tautly. “Angel—” He broke off at the sound of a call coming in on his cell phone. “I have to answer this…” He released his hold on her nape as he took his cell phone from his jeans pocket before turning away to take the call.

  Angel couldn’t hear the conversation, but she guessed from the tension in Gabriel’s back and shoulders that it wasn’t good news.

  “That was Caleb,” Gabriel told her as soon as he had ended the call. “My two men followed Sinclair to London.”

  “He’s at the apartment?”

  His eyes narrowed. “Yes.”

  “Is Caleb there now?”

  “On the roof of the building opposite.”

  “How many men does Clive have with him?”

  He grimaced . “To quote Caleb, ‘a shit load.’”

  Angel pictured Clive’s fortress of a penthouse apartment in her mind. Situated on the sixtieth floor of the building, with its own private lift, it was the easiest thing in the world for Clive’s bodyguards to prevent anyone from entering the apartment of five en-suite bedrooms, Clive’s study, the dining room, the kitchen, the three sitting rooms, and the gym.

  However, the same couldn’t be said for the suite of rooms used by the housekeeper and her husband, who was Clive’s chauffeur.

  She focused on Gabriel. “There’s another small private lift at the back of the building. It’s used by the staff of the people occupying the apartments. I used it a couple of times myself when I felt the need to get away from my own bodyguards for a while,” she admitted ruefully. “The security code for the lift is 1234. I know it’s a long shot, but Clive might not have thought to safeguard that way into the apartment.”

  “Good to know.” Gabriel nodded. “You and Daniel will be safe here.”

  “I know.”

  “I have to go now.”

  She knew that too. She also knew there was a chance Gabriel might not come back this time. Tears blurred her vision at the thought of never seeing him again.

  “The files on the memory stick have been decoded,” Gabriel said. “But the past few weeks are obviously missing.”

  “Lena?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do what you have to do, Gabriel.” She nodded. “When you come back, we’ll tell Daniel the truth. He already hero-worships you and will no doubt be thrilled to know you’re his daddy.”

  “And you?” He grimaced. “What do you now think of the man I really am?”

  She gave a puzzled shake of her head. “You’re Gabriel. You’ve always been Gabriel.”

  His jaw was tight. “I’ve killed people. Lots of people. Until it sickened me.”

  She wasn’t about to deny that side of Gabriel made her a little uneasy, but it didn’t change the love she felt for him. “Isn’t that the reason you left the army and chose to sit behind a desk instead?”

&nbs
p; “Yes.”

  She nodded. “I’m sure the people you’ve killed were all bad people the world is better off without.”

  “I thought so at the time… Angel, you have to know, I will kill Sinclair if I have to.”

  She knew that, had seen Clive’s death sentence in the coldness of Gabriel’s eyes. “Which proves my point.”

  “Does it?” he muttered self-disgustedly.

  Angel stepped forward and placed her hand against the side of his cheek. “You’re still the man I fell in love with eight years ago.”

  Gabriel flinched beneath the touch of her hand. “Are you going to be waiting for me this time?”

  Her heart surged as the hope she hadn’t dared to feel flared into life. “Yes,” she assured him huskily.

  His hand curved about her nape as he pulled her into his body and his mouth took possession of hers. They kissed long and deeply, Gabriel eventually breaking the kiss to rest his forehead against hers. “If I don’t come back—”

  “You’re coming back!” A sob caught in her throat as she kissed him this time. Hard. Possessively. Hands gripping the front of his T-shirt as she ended the kiss. “You’re coming back, Gabriel.”

  “Take good care of our son.” He stepped away from her. “Tell Lily and Jonas I said good-bye.”

  Angel didn’t move, couldn’t move as Gabriel strode to the shadows of the tree line before stepping into those shadows and disappearing completely.

  Chapter 11

  “I want details of what you did with Lena and any other women these past three weeks.”

  “Go to hell!”

  “Been there, done that, not going back again,” Caleb assured him grimly.

  Getting into Sinclair’s apartment had proved easy with Angel’s knowledge of the servants’ lift. It was doubtful Sinclair had even bothered to know where or how his housekeeper and chauffeur entered the building, as long as they did their job. His mistake.

  The housekeeper and chauffeur had something of a surprise when Gabriel and Caleb stepped out of their lift. Gabriel left Caleb to speak with them, his brother giving a grim nod at a doorway down the hallway when he joined Gabriel a few seconds later.