Her SEAL Protector

by Jillian Burns

  As they were getting dressed in the sleeper car she’d beamed with happiness and hope. Hope for something he could never give her. Despite her assurances, her feelings were all wrapped up in some unrealistic fantasy... Whatever Gabby wanted in a guy, it wasn’t him.

  He needed to make sure she realized that when they touched down in New York tomorrow, he’d be walking away without a backward glance. At least, that was the plan.

  But her in that dress right now? Definitely a major obstacle to the plan.

  “Is something wrong?” She spun and then peeked over her shoulder at him, running her hands over the tight-fitting backside of the dress. “My gown? Is it inappropriate?”

  “What?” He cleared his throat trying to find his voice. “No. It’s fine.” He had to drag his gaze away from her to look at his watch. “We better get going.”

  With a slight quirk of her lips she accompanied him down to the hotel ballroom, where he fetched her a glass of champagne, and played the doting boyfriend. In the back of his mind he worried that the role came way too easily to him.

  After the chairman of some Swiss bank wrapped up his speech, dinner was served. Clay swallowed his goblet of water in one long gulp, and then dug into his salad. Every few minutes, he scanned the perimeter of the room. But as the salads were cleared away a twinge of pain stabbed behind his eyes and at his temples.

  As the waiter set the dinner plate in front of him, his head was pounding and his vision had blurred. Was he getting the flu? As he picked up his fork his hand shook. Something was wrong. Without excusing himself to Gabby, he jumped up from the table and bolted for the men’s room.

  He barely made it to a stall in time before he lost the water and salad. He was sweating, clammy, cold. So cold. Shivering, he didn’t have the strength to get up. His last thought before the world went black was for Gabby. Someone had taken him out. And now she was unprotected.

  * * *

  “FAMILY FOR CLAYTON BELLAMY?”

  Gabby jerked up from the hospital waiting room chair and waved at the doctor. “Yes, that’s me. How is Clay? Is he going to be all right?”

  “You are his wife?” The doctor peered at Gabby over her glasses.

  Though Gabby didn’t know how to contact Clay’s family, she’d left a message at the base in Virginia Beach. But she wasn’t going to wait for someone else to make decisions if he needed surgery now. She might get in trouble later, but... “Yes.”

  “He is stable now. But the blood pressure and body temperature had dropped very low, so we want to keep him overnight for to watch.” The doctor’s thick German accent made it difficult to understand her, but Gabby caught her meaning. “We are flushing his system with IV. You say he is not allergic to anything?”

  “No. I said I didn’t know.” Gabby bit her lip. Trying to answer the paramedic’s questions earlier had been like a smack in the face. Blood type? She didn’t know. Medical history? No idea. She’d only met him a couple of months ago. And in that time she’d only spent a total of nine days with him.

  And yet, she knew him. His quiet confidence. His humble strength. The fact that he would give his life for his country. Or even just to help someone in need... She almost broke down.

  Drawing a steadying breath, she met the doctor’s questioning gaze. “Have you figured out what’s wrong with him?”

  The doctor looked at the chart in her hands. “Well, we want to run couple more tests, but maybe some kind of toxin was introduced into his system.”

  “Toxin?” Her vision blurred as tears filled her eyes. “You mean, like, a poison?” Oh, Clay. Oh, Clay.

  “I cannot say. But I have notified the polizei,” the doctor continued. “They will wish to speak at you.”

  Gabby clamped a hand over her mouth. This was her fault.

  The doctor gripped her upper arm. “He will be all right. You have someone to be with you?”

  Gabby nodded, glancing back at James. He was sitting in a row of chairs, legs crossed at the knee, watching her. He smiled, returning her nod.

  He’d shown up not long after she’d raced to follow Clay. When she’d hesitated to invade the men’s restroom, James had gone in. He’d been the one to call emergency services. And he’d been so supportive, so kind. He seemed genuinely worried about Clay.

  “Can I see him?” she asked the doctor now.

  The doctor hesitated. “Ya, once we move him to room, okay?”

  Wiping the tears off her cheeks, Gabby nodded again, and then returned to sit next to James and fill him in.

  James took her hand in his. “I’m concerned about you, Gabby. You need to rest. I could stay. Why don’t you go back to the hotel for a while?”

  Gabby pulled her hand from his, clasped both of hers in her lap. “Thank you for offering, but I couldn’t.”

  “It’s only a few blocks away,” James persisted. “You could be back here within minutes once he wakes up.”

  “I’m not leaving him! You go if you want. I’ll be fine.”

  James’s brow furrowed. “Of course not. I just wanted to be helpful.” He slumped in his chair, staring at the floor. “I feel so useless.”

  “I’m sorry to snap.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “It means a lot to me that you’re here.”

  He raised his head, his eyes soft, adoring. “Does it? Because that’s all that’s important to me. To mean something to you. To be there for you when you need me.” He took her hand again. “I want us to...” He leaned closer, cupped her cheek in his palm.

  Gabby stiffened. “James...”

  “I can be everything to you, Gabby.” There was a desperate quality to his voice. “You don’t need that guy.” He jerked his head in the general direction of the outer waiting room door. “You need me.”

  “No.” Wrenching away, she jumped to her feet.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He sounded panicked, not sorry.

  “Mrs. Bellamy?”

  “James, I...appreciate you being here, but...”

  “Mrs. Clayton Bellamy?”

  Oh, that was her. “But I think you should go.” Gabby spun to face the nurse. But not before she caught a glimpse of something cross James’s face. She got that he was disappointed, frustrated even. But he’d seemed...furious. She walked off without looking back. “Yes, that’s me.”

  At the nurse’s directions, Gabby took the elevator and found Clay’s room. She pushed through the door and had to compose herself before approaching the bed. Seeing Clay so pale, so unmoving... What had she done to him?

  She took his hand and caressed it, noting all the scars and calluses, how it dwarfed hers. She studied his face, relaxed in sleep, the strong nose, the thick lower lip. Already his cheeks sported a five o’clock shadow.

  Glancing around, she pulled the straight-backed chair up close and took his hand again, willing him to get better.

  How could she live with herself if he didn’t?

  15

  CLAY BLINKED AWAKE. His blurry gaze followed a long, dark strand of hair curled against the white sheet covering his stomach. It had slipped from Gabby’s fancy hairdo. She was sitting in a chair next to his bed, but she’d fallen asleep with her head lying on the mattress. Her hair was mussed, her makeup smudged and she was holding his hand. His chest tightened. Damn, she was beautiful.

  He blinked again and the fuzziness dissipated. He scanned white walls, a rolling bedside tray, the IV in his arm. He was in a hospital. The banquet. He remembered drinking water, eating salad and then... He swallowed. Had he been drugged? Had Gabby?

  She seemed uninjured, but, how long had he been out? What had happened while he was incapacitated? He curled his fingers more tightly around hers. “Gabby?”

  Her eyes opened and she looked at him. That slow smile and the warmth in her gaze... He had a crazy thou
ght that he wanted to wake up to that every morning.

  Then her smile was replaced with a stricken expression and she shot up in the chair. “Clay!”

  “Hey.” His throat was dry, his body a bit weak. But he gave her a reassuring smile.

  She stood. “I’m going to get the doctor.”

  “Wait.” He kept hold of her hand. “Are you okay?” His voice was raspy. “No one hurt you or threatened you?”

  “Me?” Her eyes widened. “I’m fine. You were the one who was poisoned.”

  Poisoned? Someone had gotten close enough to put something in his food or drink. Some bodyguard he’d turned out to be. Had it been meant for Gabby? His stomach clenched just thinking what could have happened to her.

  What if it hadn’t been a mistake? What if someone had intentionally tried to take him out, leaving Gabby vulnerable? This threat might be bigger than he’d originally thought. He needed to call Neil. He threw back the sheet and tried to swing his legs off the bed.

  “Clay!” Rushing in, Gabby planted her hands on his chest and pushed him back. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I need my phone,” he mumbled, but he was weaker than he thought and slumped back against the pillow.

  “Stay in bed.” She pushed the call button. “A nurse should be in to check on you in a minute.”

  “Gabby, listen to me.”

  One of her hands was still flattened on his chest and he covered it with his. “If they got to me that easily, you need more security.”

  “I already talked to the police. They’re questioning everyone. But Clay, I’m so sorry.” He looked up to find her eyes filled with tears. “This is all my fault.”

  He scoffed.

  “It’s true.” She looked down at their hands. “You’d be safe in Virginia Beach right now if it wasn’t for me.”

  He shook his head. “You mean, maybe I’d be safe in some war zone? That kind of safe?”

  She smiled ruefully and her eyes twinkled like the sparkles in her dress. “Okay. Point taken.”

  His chest eased at her smile.

  “But you know what I mean.” She bit her lip in that adorable way. “Protecting me isn’t the same as protecting the country.”

  “Maybe it is.” Some crazy impulse made him bring her hand to his lips.

  Gabby searched his face, a question in her eyes. But he didn’t have any answers. He tugged her down to sit beside him, wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. All he knew was he had her where he wanted her. Where he needed her right now. The soft, warm weight of her against his chest eased the bleakness.

  She rubbed her cheek on his collarbone, her hands caressing his arms, then shoulders. He arched into her touch like a cat being petted. Lowering his nose to her hair, he closed his eyes and inhaled. “What’s your perfume?”

  She lifted her chin and settled her lips just under his jaw. “Gardenias. You like it?”

  “Yes,” he said with a surrendering sigh. He stared at her a moment, then framed her face in his palms and kissed each corner of her mouth, her nose, her eyes. Desperate to taste her, he fit his mouth to hers. She responded instantly, moaning, deepening the kiss. He loved that about her, how she could give all of herself to a kiss. If only he could absorb all her tender goodness, all her generous compassion, all her confident love, then maybe they’d have a chance...

  Wait. Have a chance with Gabby? They must have given him some kind of pain meds. A chance at what? Years of making each other miserable? What had he been thinking? He’d forgotten his mission for a minute there. Keep Gabby safe. He didn’t understand what was going on, but he hadn’t come this far and spent this amount of time just to be careless now.

  So best place to keep Gabby safe? Back on home turf. He felt like a sitting duck in this hospital. He checked the clock on the opposite wall. Their train for Zurich had already left, but taking a different flight, or even a different route, was safer, anyway. He needed his phone. And his clothes. He eased Gabby away from him. “We have to get out of here. Can you get my stuff?”

  “Clay,” she said his name like a gentle scolding and smoothed her fingers through the hair at his temple. “Right now the most important thing is to make sure the poison is out of your system.”

  “I’m fine.”

  She gaped at him. “You can’t be. Not this soon.”

  He stared at her. “Okay. Why don’t you get the nurse? And bring me some water. I’m really thirsty.”

  She jumped up. “Of course. I’ll be right back.”

  As soon as she cleared the threshold to the hallway, he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Grimacing, he ripped off the tape holding his IV and then yanked the needle out of the crook of his arm.

  For a minute, the room spun. He used his hospital gown to stop the bleeding from the IV while he rummaged through the only cabinet and found his stuff.

  But he’d barely gotten a quick text shot off to Neil before Gabby reappeared with a glass of water.

  “What are you doing?” She set the cup down and rushed to him. “Get back in bed. The nurse is coming.”

  Clay ignored her and searched online to make new travel arrangements, though he did drink the water and thank her for it. He could email the hotel once they were on the train. Have the concierge pack and ship their belongings to the airport. They weren’t going back to the Palace Lucern.

  “Clay, please.” She put her hand on his arm and when he looked up, it was to pleading dark eyes.

  Shaking off her hand, he set down his phone and grabbed his clothes from the cabinet. The penguin suit would have to do.

  “Will you at least—” Gabby started.

  “No. This is nonnegotiable. Get your coat. We’re leaving now.”

  He held her stare while she studied him. She must’ve decided he wasn’t going to change his mind, because she slowly stepped over to the chair and gathered up her wrap and purse. As he dressed—slowly and with Gabby’s help—the nurse came in, but once Clay agreed to sign a “discharged against doctor’s orders” form, they caught the first cab to the train station.

  Twelve hours later they were landing at Kennedy Airport, though in local time it was still the same day they’d left. Clay had slept for most of the flight, or dozed as best he could. What he needed to tell Gabby had to be done when he could say his piece and then walk away.

  Once they were through customs, the new bodyguard was waiting for them with a sign.

  Gabby halted a few steps behind him. She’d been unusually quiet most of the trip, occasionally stealing glances at him with wary eyes. “We didn’t discuss this.”

  Clay turned back. “Gabby, I have to be in Little Creek.”

  “I know that.” Her lips compressed and she folded her arms under her breasts.

  When she said nothing more, he took her silence as acceptance and confirmed the guy’s credentials before handing Gabby’s carry-on to him and asking him to meet her at the luggage carousel. Then he faced Gabby, a lump in his throat.

  If he’d thought at all about how this thing with her would end, he’d hoped after they caught her stalker, she would return to her world, and he’d go back to Little Creek and maybe they’d exchange a few polite texts until his next mission took him out of the country...

  “I asked Neil to have someone look into the wait staff at the Palace Lucern, but I believe it’s more likely a colleague of yours. We’re focusing on the five of them who were there.”

  She nodded. “I agree. Though I hate to think one of them would be capable of this, it does narrow it down. But the investigation in Switzerland sounds expensive. I can’t really afford—”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  She raised disapproving brows. “I didn’t argue when you insisted on leaving the hospital, but I draw the line at you metaphor
ically patting my pretty little head. Ultimately, I need to make my own decisions regarding my safety.”

  She frowned and bit her lip. “I’m aware that I dragged you into this mess by showing up at your base and falling apart. But that doesn’t mean I need twenty-four-hour protection. I feel safer now with the security you had installed in my apartment and I will repay you for that. But I won’t let you pay for anything else, and I can’t afford a bodyguard.”

  “Until we can—”

  “Can we just...sit for a minute?” Gabby gestured at a nearby coffee shop. “Talk?”

  He hesitated, glancing between the café and the baggage claim exit. “All right.” Resigned, he followed her to a table. He couldn’t decide if he was hoping she would end things, or desperately hoping she wouldn’t.

  No, of course he was hoping she would.

  She settled into her chair and met his gaze with steady coffee-colored eyes. “I had a lot of time to think when I was down in that well in Paraguay. And I promised myself that if I got out of there alive I’d stop being such a coward in my personal life, so I’m just going to say this.” She wrung her hands, but then lifted her chin. “I—I have feelings for you, Clay.”

  His heart thumped a little faster. The hardest thing he ever did was look away, lean back in his chair. “You only think you do. It’s Savior Syndrome. It’s a thing. But the feelings aren’t real.” Just like his feelings wouldn’t last either. It was the nature of the beast.

  She folded her arms. He could feel her stare weighing on him, but if he looked into her eyes, he might lose his resolve.

  “One way to prove you wrong is to give us a chance,” she said quietly. “Time will tell.”

  She was such an optimist. “Time would prove me right. Look, SEALs deploy on a moment’s notice with no idea when they’ll return or even if they’ll return. It wouldn’t be fair to you—”

  Her lips flattened. “That sounds like an excuse.” She dropped her gaze to her hands, where she was shredding a tissue. “If you don’t care for me, then why would you use your leave and fly to Switzerland just to watch out for me?”