by Cindy Dees
Then her hands were on him, her tight, soft fist sending him out of his mind like it always did. She murmured to him all of the things she wanted to do with him, all the things she wanted to try, all the things she’d never dared tell anyone about before. And as she poured out her most private and personal secrets for him, he died a little inside. What he wouldn’t give to be there for her, to make all her most treasured dreams come true. He already hated with a passion the man who got to do that for her.
But he had tonight. And he damn well planned to make as many of her dreams come true as he could before it was time for him to leave and break her heart. At least he hoped his leaving would break her heart a little.
He pulled her up against him, fitting their bodies together and then rolling over to plunge into all her glorious heat and uninhibited passion. He reached between them to tease her to a fever pitch and she danced upon his fingers, keening out her pleasure and need. He drank in all her cries, kissing her as if she was the air he breathed.
They took off like a rocket into the night, all roaring fire and blasting smoke and sparks, and he rode the rumbling explosion of their love up and out of the atmosphere into forever. Nothing existed but the two of them, fused into one heart, one soul. One explorer seeking and finding the farthest reaches of the universe. Love expanded in his heart to fill the entire void until he was bursting with it. Like the big bang, it exploded free of him, bursting over the two of them with all the apocalyptic glory of creation.
Carter collapsed, stunned, vaguely registering something wet on his face. He reached up and wiped away the tear tracks running down his cheeks. He’d cried over the deaths of those children. Had cried for their lost innocence, their lost childhoods. And he’d cried for the women they’d murdered. Women who’d loved and lost little boys to man’s brutality.
But this grief went so deep into his soul that he couldn’t give words to it. Having Lily was perfection almost too much for his soul to comprehend—and losing her was unlike any agony he’d ever suffered. It went so far beyond pain he almost couldn’t grasp it.
“Whew,” she murmured, wiping perspiration off her forehead. “Is this room hot, or am I having a hot flash?”
“It’s possible we actually expended a fair bit of physical energy,” he replied roughly, praying she’d mistake any remaining wetness on his face as merely perspiration left over from their passionate sex.
“Mmm. My kind of aerobics,” she murmured, sounding sleepy.
He gathered her close to his side, cradling her in his arms one last time. She snuggled against him sleepily and drifted off, her breathing light and even. He held her for a long time—until he had no more hot, silent tears left in him. And then, as dawn crept around the edges of the curtains, he eased out from under her, pressed one last gentle kiss upon her forehead, got dressed quietly and slipped out of her life.
Chapter 14
Lily woke up nested deep within a down comforter in a comfortable bed. Where was she? Her mind swam slowly toward consciousness. What time was it? She rolled over and squinted at the alarm clock on the nightstand until the numbers came into focus. Ten twenty-two. The faintest trace of light crept around the window shades. It was morning, then.
Where was Carter?
The blankets on his side of the bed were pulled up neatly, but the down pillow still held an impression of his head. She reached out to touch the spot and was surprised to feel dampness there. He’d made love to her so tenderly, so sweetly last night that he’d nearly brought her to tears. They’d both been so relieved that the crisis had been solved she figured her emotion was partly because of that.
Except something had been different in the way he held her. In the way he never took his eyes off her. As if he was trying to memorize everything about her. The way she looked, the way she felt and smelled and tasted.
She sat up in bed and gazed around in the gloom. His clothes were gone. He must have decided to let her sleep and gotten up to get a bite to eat. But a vibration of alarm started low in her gut.
She got up and dressed quickly. She was getting really tired of Washington lawyer power suits—one of the female staffers had lent her this one to brief the president in last night. A Secret Service man at the end of the hallway greeted her when she emerged from the bedroom. Maybe she’d get to tell her grandkids someday about sleeping in Camp David, too.
“Excuse me,” she asked the agent, “do you know where I can find Captain Baigneaux?”
“I believe he left the compound several hours ago, ma’am.”
The vibration became a louder hum of alarm in her gut. “I need to get in touch with him. Can you tell me how I might do that?”
“Let me take you to the comm center, ma’am.”
She followed the big man down a hallway to a smallish room crammed with computers and telephones and gear whose purpose she didn’t have the faintest idea of.
“I need to get in touch with Captain Baigneaux,” she said tightly.
Those were definitely sympathetic looks the technicians were sending her way. Did everyone know something she didn’t? Okay, now she was starting to freak out. One of the techs held out a headset for her. She donned it nervously.
“H.O.T. Watch headquarters is coming on the line now, ma’am.”
Why H.O.T. Watch? She’d asked for Carter. A male voice spoke in her ear. Not the one she wanted to hear, though. “Lily?”
“Brady?” Her heart climbed into her throat while her soul plummeted to the floor. “Where’s Carter?”
“He had to go to ground for a while. Till he cools off a bit.”
“What the hell does that mean?” she snapped. “I’m a civilian, remember? I don’t speak your lingo.”
“Right. Sorry. Some folks may try to harm him and he’s lying low—staying out of sight. Hiding, if you will—for a while.”
“How are you planning to get me to him, then?” she asked matter-of-factly. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. If you think I’m letting him go through that alone, you’re sadly mistaken, Commander.”
“Lily, you can’t be with him.”
She spoke patiently. “Have I not done absolutely everything you asked of me ever since Carter picked me up at my campus?”
“Yes,” Brady answered cautiously.
Her voice rose a little. “Have I not put my life on the line more than once to help you people solve your crisis?”
“Yes.” Outright nervousness resonated in his voice now.
“Did I or did I not directly help to save the world last night?”
“That is correct.” Brady was starting to sound desperate.
She said forcefully, “Then do you or do you not owe me a gigantic favor?”
“Of course, but—”
She cut him off. “No buts. You know what I want. I expect you to make it happen.”
“I would if I could, but it’s impossible—”
“Brady Hathaway,” she declared reproachfully, “H.O.T. Watch’s specialty is the impossible. Am I right?”
“You’re killing me here, Lily.”
“Then shut up and deliver, buster. I’ll be waiting for your call when you’ve made the arrangements.”
As she disconnected the call, she caught the grins the Camp David comm techs were hiding as they turned away from her quickly.
She shook her head and muttered, “You just have to know how to handle these military men. A woman has to be firm with them or they think they can get away with murder. I’m expecting a call back from Commander Hathaway in a little while. You’ll let me know when it comes in?”
“Yes, ma’am,” one of the techs managed to get out past his choked laughter.
Lily marched out of the comm center, and the Secret Service agent outside the door was grinning. “Are you hungry, ma’am?” he asked.
“Yes, I am.”
If Carter Baigneaux thought he was just going to up and run away to be all heroic and tortured by himself, he could think again. He was her
man and there was no way on God’s green Earth she was letting him get away from her that easily.
She ate brunch, and it was probably very tasty, but she didn’t notice. A staff member took her plate away, but no call had come yet. She occupied herself having a little chat with one of the female aides, who was more than happy to provide whatever Lily needed for the next leg of her journey.
She was surprised, though, when the beautiful suitcase and its contents arrived in her room an hour later. They were presented to her along with a handwritten thank-you note from Henry Stanforth personally. The president’s note did not refer to any specifics of the crisis, but merely thanked her in the warmest possible terms on behalf of a grateful nation for her service to her country. She guessed that would shut up the grandkids in fifty years or so. She tucked the note away carefully among her new clothes, including several very short miniskirts.
A knock sounded on her door. “Ma’am, you’ve got a call. Commander Hathaway—”
Lily was already out the door.
“Hi, Lily. It’s Brady.”
“What’s the plan?”
“I’m going to meet you in Washington, D.C., tonight—”
“And then you’ll take me to him?”
“And then we’ll talk,” he said firmly.
She scowled. Apparently, Carter’s boss could be as stubborn as he. But she was no amateur at handling difficult men who wouldn’t give her what she wanted.
“Brady, I have an idea.”
“Uh-oh.”
“What would happen if we let the Russians kill Carter?”
“Excuse me?” Brady exclaimed incredulously.
“Well, more precisely, what if we let them think they’d succeeded in killing Carter? Would they back off and go home?”
“Of course. If they thought their mission was accomplished, they’d leave.”
“So, then, let’s let them think that.”
“Easier said than done. They’ll want to confirm their kill.”
“Then we’ll have to stage an explosion or something to make them think Carter’s body was destroyed.”
“This isn’t a television show, Lily. These guys are thorough.”
“And so are you. You can do the impossible, remember?”
Brady sighed.
She continued, “If you were the Russians right now, and you were trying to find Carter, how would you do it?”
He paused for several moments, thinking. “I’d stake out Camp David and either wait to follow him, or barring spotting Carter, I’d follow you.”
“Exactly! So use me as bait. Take me to Carter and I’ll bring the Russians with me. You set up your fake trap with Carter, and I’ll join him when it’s ready. We let the Russians ambush him, we let them think they’ve shot him or whatever. Then we blow up the site, Carter and I slip away, and the Russians go home all happy.”
“It’s not a bad plan in theory, but it’s dangerous, Lily. The Russians might just succeed in killing not only him but you, too.”
“Do you seriously think I want to live out my life without Carter?” she demanded.
The line went silent. At length, Brady finally said, “Are you sure?”
A female voice cut onto the line, startling Lily. “Of course she’s sure, Brady. The woman’s in love.”
“Thanks, Jennifer,” Lily said drily.
“No problem. I say we green-light the plan,” Jennifer declared.
“I’m feeling ganged up on here,” Brady grumbled. “I won’t be bullied into a bad decision. I won’t risk one of my best men because you two are all caught up in the romance of the thing.”
Jennifer’s voice was cold when she replied, “Are you questioning my judgment, Commander?”
He sighed audibly. “I’m just suggesting that we think this through with our heads, not our hearts.”
Lily said carefully, “I’m a scientist. I deal in facts. And the fact is, I will do whatever it takes, face whatever risk is necessary, to be with Carter.”
“All right, then,” he replied heavily. “I’ll set it up.”
“Oh, and Brady?” Lily added.
“Now what?”
“Don’t tell Carter. You know he’ll flatly refuse to go along with this.”
“Smart man,” Brady grumbled.
“Don’t make me come down there and kick you in the shins,” Lily threatened. “I am going to be with him one way or another.”
Brady laughed. “All right, already. Far be it from me to stand in the way of true love. I’ve already learned not to mess with that with some of my other guys. I give up. We’ll do it your way.”
“Thank you, Commander,” Lily said with heartfelt gratitude.
“Don’t thank me. It’s your neck on the line.”
The asteroid-watching party in the Camp David tele-conference room—images supplied courtesy of H.O.T. Watch’s finest—was anticlimactic. One second Lily was staring at an expanse of white snow, the next there was a puff of smoke, and when it cleared, a big hole in the ground.
The good news was no alarms went off in the conference room. No DefCon 1 alerts, no racing the president down into some nuclear-proof bunker. All in all, it was a quiet afternoon at the lodge retreat.
And Lily was a mess. With every minute that passed, Carter got farther away from her, both physically and emotionally. She knew him. He’d be talking himself into how he’d done the right thing to leave her behind. How it was the best thing for her. How his sacrifice was all noble and virtuous. She was going to have to smack him around when she caught up with him. Explain to him that true love meant never having to be apart. That she would stick by him through thick and thin, good and bad, safe times and dangerous times. End of discussion. Really, it was that simple.
It was the next morning before Lily left Camp David in a ridiculously conspicuous motorcade complete with police escort cars flashing their lights all the way back to Andrews Air Force Base in the Washington suburbs. If the Russians didn’t know where she was after that circus, then they were so incompetent that Carter had nothing to worry about anyway.
She boarded a military business jet in broad daylight, being sure to stand around the ramp for a while first so any observing Russians would have no trouble spotting her. The plane flew her to New Orleans Naval Air Station in time for her to land before sunset.
When she deplaned, muggy heat stole her breath away and curled tendrils of her hair around her face in moments. Carter had grown up in this oppressive climate? No wonder the guy was so laid-back most of the time. Who could do anything fast in this steam bath? It sapped the starch right out of her.
What was Carter doing right now? Did he have any inkling that she was coming after him? Or did he seriously think she would just pack up and go back to her regularly scheduled life without him? A tiny piece of her heart worried that he wouldn’t be happy to see her. Or more precisely, that he didn’t want to see her again. She had faith he wouldn’t be happy when she joined him. Particularly when he found out about the part where she’d led Russian hit men straight to him.
A tall man strode across the tarmac as she headed for the passenger terminal. “Welcome to N’Awlins, Lily.”
“Thanks for doing all this for me, Brady. I know I’m being a pain in the butt.”
He smiled ruefully. “I can’t disagree with you on that score. But Carter’s earned it. You both have.”
“So, do we know if the Russians have picked me up?”
“Oh, yeah. There was a hack-in of the FAA computers as soon as your airplane took off from Andrews. They know where your plane was headed.”
She looked around reflexively.
“They probably don’t have a man on this base directly. But they’ll be waiting for us as soon as we leave the Naval Air Station,” Brady commented.
“When are we going?”
“As soon as it gets dark. We’ll be easier to follow then.”
She laughed at the strange expression that crossed his face. “Not used to saying
that, are you?”
“This is a rather strange operation. I don’t usually go out of my way to be followed, no. But then, I don’t usually blow up one of my men either.”
“It’s all for a good cause.”
He smiled back wryly. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve managed to avoid romantic entanglements over the course of my career.”
“There’s a first time for everything, Commander.” She added slyly, “And you do realize you’ve just jinxed yourself, right?”
He scowled. “Nope, not me. I’m not a relationship kind of guy.”
Laughing, she retorted, “Yup, you’re definitely jinxed now.”
“C’mon.” He grabbed her suitcase and headed for an open-roofed Jeep at the edge of the parking ramp.
“You’re taking me?” she asked, surprised. “Aren’t you the supervisor?”
“I didn’t get that position by sitting on my…behind. I’m as qualified to operate in the field as my men. And this one is too important to risk anybody else screwing it up. The timing’s going to be delicate if we’re to avoid blowing the two of you to smithereens.”
She winced at the notion, and Brady was quick to leap on her reaction. “You sure you want to go through with this? It’s not too late to back out.”
“I’m not chickening out on Carter. He put his life on the line for me. It’s the least I can do for him in return.”
“He’s a soldier. You’re not.”
“He’s the man I love,” she replied simply.
“All right, then. Let’s go.”
Chapter 15
Despite her bravado with Brady, Lily was tense. It wasn’t every day a girl intentionally came as close to dying as possible without actually croaking. The way Brady explained it, his men had surrounded the cabin Carter was staying in. Without Carter’s knowledge, they’d wired the place to blow up. Brady grumbled a little bit about that part of the plan. Apparently, his guys had had a difficult time sneaking up on Carter undetected. He was very good at what he did.
