Sabine stopped in her tracks and gaped at the reporter who’d asked the last question. A tall, slender woman with dark hair and observant blue eyes stood with a ready pen. How had she learned that? Had someone recognized her in Kárpathos? Or had someone close to the mission talked?
The woman smiled. “Were you alone with your rescuer there?”
Her mother tugged her arm and she moved toward the car.
“We have no comment,” Noah said. “Surely you understand my daughter needs rest.”
Sabine looked back at the throng one last time. Cameras pinged and clicked.
“Get inside, baby girl.”
Sabine did as her mother said. Mae followed and Noah shut the door. Tinted windows hid them from view.
Noah lowered himself into the passenger seat, and the driver, doing his best to appear unaffected by all the ruckus, maneuvered the car away from the crowd.
Noah twisted around to send Sabine an ominous look. “You left a few important details out, I see.” He pointed at the copy of the Washington Daily in Sabine’s lap. “What the hell is that?”
Sabine looked down at the picture, at Cullen’s closed eyes, the line of his jaw and those full lips pressed to hers in a hungry kiss. She felt it all over again. The warm breath from his nose. His tongue reaching as desperately as hers. A tingle coursed through her just as it had then.
Oh, God, it was worse than she thought. How could it matter so much? They hadn’t been together long enough.
“This could be damaging for him, you know. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“I didn’t call the press, so stop blaming me.” She jabbed the paper with her forefinger, venting her frustration, wishing she could turn off the emotions the photo wrung from her. “This isn’t my fault!”
Beside her, her mother sucked an audible lungful of air. “So it’s true?”
Feeling blood creep into her face, Sabine looked at her mother.
Mae’s eyes widened. Then she looked crestfallen. “You were alone with the man Noah hired to rescue you...on a Greek island?”
“We...” Sabine faltered to hang on to her willpower and swallowed hard. Had her father only hired Cullen to rescue her? Who was he? She struggled with the hope that generated. What if he wasn’t a mercenary?
Stop, she told her inner voice. He still had chosen to let her go, to never see her again.
“What happened?” her mother pressed.
In the rearview mirror, Sabine caught the driver’s riveted glance.
“We...had trouble flying out of Afghanistan,” she found the aplomb to say.
“The rescue helicopter was shot down, and they had to fly on low fuel to Athens,” her father took over for her. “The plane crashed on Kárpathos. They were there for three days but only because Sabine wasn’t well enough to travel commercially.”
Sabine stared at her father. “When did Cullen tell you all that?”
Her father looked taken aback. “He told you his name?”
Fighting a flush with the memory of when he’d told her, Sabine stammered, “O-only his first name.”
Noah cursed a line of swear words, glancing down at the photo with disgust. She couldn’t tell whether it was aimed at her or Cullen.
Her mother gripped her hand and looked meaningfully into her eyes. “Did something happen between the two of you while you were on the island?”
Sabine pulled her hand away, sent her father a wary glance, saw his tightly held anger, then turned to look out the window.
“Oh, Mother Mary,” Mae wailed. “Something did!”
“She’s alive, damn it. Who else could have gotten her out of there?” Noah’s fist pounded the dash. “I wouldn’t have sent him if I hadn’t known he was capable of pulling it off!”
“Are you going to see him again?” her mother asked on the heels of her father’s outburst.
“No,” Sabine answered shortly. Too shortly.
“Oh, baby girl...”
“The publicity will kill him,” Noah said.
“She’s coming home to Roaring Creek. Eventually the public interest will fade,” Mae said shakily.
Noah ran his hand down his face, a clear indication of his agitation, and turned to look at Sabine. “Will you do that? Will you stay with your mother until the publicity dies down?”
Nothing appealed to her more than moving back to Roaring Creek. She belonged there. Never should have left. Maybe the woman underneath the pride-driven achievements would blossom again. All the As in physics and chemistry and calculus, all the daredevil contracting jobs, even the recognition as a distinguished hydrogeologist—none of that mattered in Roaring Creek. It was easy to agree with her father this one time.
She nodded.
“All right. Good. If anyone asks about the man in the photo, just tell them he was someone you knew from London but you ended your relationship because of your ordeal.”
“I don’t know if that’ll wash.” Mae tapped the newspaper with her finger. “Look at that. Neither one of them looks ready to give each other up.”
Sabine did not want to see that picture ever again. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’m never going to see him again and I’m okay with that.” She looked at her father. “Trust me. I’m more than okay with that.”
* * *
Cullen didn’t straighten in the leather chair as Noah Page leaned over the conference room table and dropped a copy of the Washington Daily in front of him. It was a day old.
“What the hell is the matter with you?”
Looking at the front-page photo, reading the headline, Cullen had to cover his alarm.
“Current Events wants to interview my daughter on national television. What do you suppose they’ll want to talk about?”
Cullen’s mind raced. Where had the photographer been? It must have been a tourist or someone passing through the airport who recognized Sabine. The media couldn’t have known they’d be there. Noah hadn’t told a soul and neither had he. Not when someone close to the mission had leaked information about the rescue.
But how had he missed someone shooting pictures of him? Details in the photo came into sharper focus and he got his answer. Kissing Sabine had sapped his usual awareness. All he’d felt and thought while his tongue was in her mouth was how much he wished he’d spent more time with her in Kárpathos.
He raised his eyes. With his hands braced on the gleaming mahogany table, Noah’s brow creased above his nose like the face of a hawk while he waited for some kind of reaction from Cullen.
Cullen hid it from him. He was too thrown by how easily Sabine had distracted him. In Kárpathos, when she’d kissed him, he’d been taken off guard by the strength of his passion. Kissing her in London had brought it all back. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, make the stretch and call it love, but sex with her had been equal to nothing he’d ever experienced. How was he supposed to explain that to Noah, a man who’d trusted him to save his daughter’s life? A man he owed, at the very least, respect.
He looked down at the photograph again. Sabine’s face had taken the brunt of the camera’s lens, but it was where their lips joined that snared his attention. He could feel what it did to him. Even now. It could be the very thing that destroyed him.
If his commander learned of his mission, there would be no way to explain himself. If his contacts in the government learned of it... He swore inside his head. They were few but went all the way up to a senator. He had to protect them all. No matter what happened to him personally.
“Has anyone recognized me?” he finally asked.
“Not that I’m aware.”
Cullen let go of his held breath. Maybe he’d gotten lucky and no one had seen enough detail to make a connection. The photographer hadn’t been able to get a clear shot of him. At least he’d been careful about
where he chose to part ways with Sabine. Good thing he was never going to see her again. Being with her consumed him to an unnerving degree.
“It’s not like you to risk your career this way,” Noah said.
Cullen kept his hearty agreement to himself. To think how close he’d come to losing himself in her….
“Judging from the looks of that picture, I can hardly believe you’re the same man I sent to rescue my daughter.”
Hearing the leashed anger in Noah’s voice, Cullen knew what really bothered him. “Nothing happened that she didn’t want, Mr. Page.”
Noah lifted one of his hands from the table and pointed a finger in front of Cullen’s face. “Don’t ‘Mr. Page’ me. This is my daughter we’re talking about. I asked you to get her out of Afghanistan, not screw her on a Greek island!”
Cullen looked unflinchingly into Noah’s raging eyes. “I wouldn’t have touched her if I didn’t think it was mutual.”
“She might have been vulnerable from being held captive by terrorists,” Noah said caustically. “Did you ever think of that?”
Cullen pressed his mouth tight, unable to argue. Noah’s daughter was a beautiful woman, and that beauty had muddled his brain. He wasn’t accustomed to that kind of weakness.
Once Sabine started kissing him, he’d been lost in her. All thoughts of resisting had fled right along with the consequences. His career had no room for a woman like her. She needed a man who could invest the time to devote himself wholly and completely to her. He’d gleaned enough from her relationship with her father to know that much. Cullen didn’t want that kind of love.
“Was she upset about never seeing you again?” Noah sounded like a worried father and made Cullen feel like a teenager in trouble for corrupting his little girl.
He faltered for words. Sabine had been upset, but not because she didn’t understand the situation between them. Noah saw his hesitation, and his expression tightened with renewed rage.
“She knew I wouldn’t be able to see her once we returned to the States,” Cullen said quickly. But inside he wondered if she had. Before they’d made love, had she known? Even so, he doubted she’d considered the consequences until the next morning. He sure as hell hadn’t.
Noah straightened and turned his back, moving to the window at one end of the conference room, where sunlight streamed through tinted glass and a view of the Miami skyline sprawled. “You shouldn’t have let it happen.”
Cullen lowered his gaze to the newspaper on the conference room table, studying the photograph that was sure to stir imaginations everywhere. He didn’t think he could have resisted her even if he’d tried harder. The strength of it crept from nowhere and threatened to smother him.
“I’m sorry, Noah. If I hurt her, I never meant to.”
Noah moved back toward the conference room table, stopping opposite from where Cullen sat.
“I owe you my life. The last thing I want to do is dishonor you or your daughter.”
The rest of Noah’s anger left his eyes. “You don’t owe me your life. I’m more grateful to you for bringing Sabine home than you can possibly imagine.”
Cullen pushed his chair back and stood, tucking his hands into the pockets of his white cotton shorts.
“What are you going to do about that?” Noah gestured to the newspaper on the table.
Knowing Noah was referring to the media, Cullen answered with his only option. “Wait until the curiosity dies down.”
Noah smiled wryly. “That might take a while. Reporters are romanticizing Sabine’s rescue to the hilt. It’s on every channel. Everyone’s wondering who the big, tall, dark-haired man is in the photo. It’s you they’re curious about, Cullen. More than her.”
Cullen slid his hands from his pockets and lifted the newspaper to skim the article. Noah was right. In all, the article and photograph did a fine job of stirring interest in the identity of Sabine’s rescuer. Sighing, he rubbed his eyes and ran his hand down his face. Kissing Sabine in the middle of an airport had to be one of the stupidest things he’d ever done.
“Well, look on the bright side,” Noah said. “Even if you wanted to see her again, she wouldn’t have anything to do with you anymore.”
He lowered his hand. “Why not?”
“You’re lower than dirt by association,” Noah said, trying to sound flippant but failing.
“To you?”
“She thinks I’m a mercenary who prefers traveling the world spreading mayhem to settling down with her mother. Since I hired you to rescue her, she’ll pin the same label on you.”
“Mercenary.”
Noah nodded.
Memories of dinner with Sabine made him chuckle.
“You find that amusing?”
“She’s got fire in her, that’s for sure.”
Noah nodded again, looking rueful. “Got her mother’s temper.”
Cullen rolled the newspaper up and held it in his hand at his side. “Is that why she despises you? She thinks you’re a merc?” He already knew but wanted to hear Noah’s side of it.
“I was, at one time in my life. Now I just hire them.”
Noah ran a private military company, but its purpose was security. Executives and foreign dignitaries hired his services, as did corporations with assets in foreign countries that needed guarding and natives who needed protection against rebel groups. For Noah, humanity came first on every mission. Sabine was wrong about him.
“You never lost sight of what was right,” Cullen said.
“That’s not what Sabine thinks.”
“Sabine has never gotten over growing up without a father around.”
“If I could have been around, I would have. I swear it.”
“You don’t have to convince me.” Cullen smiled a little.
“She doesn’t understand why I had to stay away, after years of trying to make it work with Mae.”
“Why couldn’t you?”
Noah turned his back, a clear attempt to hide his emotion. “I wasn’t ready to give up my profession for Mae, and she wasn’t willing to leave her hometown. At the time, I didn’t think small-town life was for me.”
“Isn’t asking a man to give up his career a bit much?”
Noah faced him again. “Not if the career is controversial and keeps him from the woman he loves.”
Cullen saw the genuine emotion in Noah’s eyes and felt a flash of contrition. It was too close to what he’d done with Sabine—acted on concern for his career and left behind anything that might have sparked in Kárpathos. Or had it been more than that? Waking up after making love to her had knocked him off balance. The way he’d felt. He’d wanted nothing more than to get rid of her, to cut short the uneasy sensation crawling up his spine that she was like no other woman he’d met. He could fall into deep love with her. And deep love he did not do. Deep love wasn’t for him. Not ever.
“It may be too late for Mae and me, but I want to make things right with my daughter,” Noah said. “I want to know her and have a good relationship with her. You’ve given me a chance to do that, Cullen.”
But not without a price. He’d lost four good men saving Sabine, and it never should have happened. No matter how many times he went over it in his head, he saw nothing he could have done differently. His plan had been solid. Nothing in the intelligence indicated they were dealing with anything other than terrorists. How could he have predicted that someone other than the kidnappers wouldn’t want Sabine to make it out of there alive?
He’d have to work in the background to avoid the press, but he’d help Noah find those responsible. He wouldn’t rest until he had retribution for his team.
As though reading his thoughts, Noah walked over to the center of the table and leaned over to press a button on the phone. The speaker came on and a woman answered.
“Bring me the al Hasan file.”
“Have you found something?” Cullen asked, wondering if it would support his suspicions.
Noah didn’t answer. Seconds later the conference room door opened and Noah’s assistant entered the room. The slender brunette eyed Cullen up and down. Noah took the file from her.
“Thanks, Cindy.”
Cindy smiled at Cullen with a smoky look. Cullen didn’t encourage her. He turned his attention to Noah, and the woman left the conference room, closing the door behind her.
Noah handed him the file. He took it and put the newspaper on the table to free both hands. Opening the folder, he found a picture of Isma’il al Hasan, the leader of the group who’d kidnapped Sabine and Samuel. He flipped through other pages containing background information.
“I’ve confirmed he was killed in the explosion you and your team set,” Noah said.
That came as good news to Cullen, for Sabine’s sake. And Samuel’s.
“He was a rebel who came from a wealthy family that has ties to al Qaeda,” Noah went on as Cullen read. “He had the means to have a helicopter in the abandoned village where Sabine and Samuel were taken. He could have had it there all along as a precautionary measure.”
Cullen shook his head. “It didn’t show up in the satellite images. And that doesn’t explain why someone was waiting for us in Egypt. Isma’il kidnapped your daughter, but he didn’t do it for terrorism.”
Noah sighed with frustration. “I’ve searched every angle. Why would Isma’il kidnap two American contractors for any other reason? He had confirmed ties to al Qaeda.”
“Isma’il couldn’t have known about the rescue mission. None of his men were expecting us. It wasn’t until we were in flight with Sabine that things started to go wrong. Someone was waiting for us outside the village with the helicopter...like they didn’t want Isma’il and his men to know they were there any more than we did. And mercenaries were waiting for us in Egypt like somebody hired them for the job. Whatever reason Sabine and Samuel were kidnapped, that same somebody wanted them dead.”
Seducing the Colonel's Daughter: Seducing the Colonel's DaughterThe Secret Soldier Page 27
