Guarding Raine (Security Ops)

by Brant, Kylie

  Joe’s voice panted in her ear. “You’re not leaving yet. Or ever.”

  She screamed with all the pent-up tenor and adrenaline inside her, and then a force knocked both of them to the ground. She lay stunned for a moment, and then rolled as far away as she could before climbing to her hands and knees, peering frantically into the darkness. She could hear Sarah sobbing somewhere in the room, and the sounds of a struggle taking place.

  Disoriented in the tomblike room, Raine tried to head away from the action. Then there was the unmistakable sound of a fist making contact with human flesh, and the struggle came to a conclusion.

  Raine’s head jerked up, and she forced herself to go completely still. Scarcely daring to breathe, her ears strained for the next movement. She’d have to be quick. Once she had a clue where Joe was, she’d have only one chance to get to the office window to make her escape.

  “Raine? Where are you?”

  She swayed a little at the sound of the voice coming from the shadows. “Macauley,” she whispered tremulously, disbelievingly.

  He found her in the darkness and captured her in a tight embrace. Then, with unerring accuracy, he tipped her head back and sealed her mouth with his own.

  She clung to him tightly, welcoming the almost bruising strength of his arms. Her mind was still confused by his presence here, dazed still further by the sensation of being held by him again.

  “It’s going to be all right, Raine,” he murmured huskily, rocking her slightly in his arms. “It’s going to be all right, I promise. Do you trust me?”

  Her answer was immediate, and aching with tenderness.

  “Always.”

  Epilogue

  The waves were gentle, rocking the boat like a large cradle. The aqua waters off the shore of Cancun sparkled in the sunlight. The boat’s distance from the white beaches turned the people into brightly clothed specks.

  Mac handed Raine an icy-cold glass of lemonade. He dropped down on the deck mattress next to her with a can of Dos Equis in his hand, supremely, confidently naked.

  She blushed and looked away, but not before her eyes had painted him with a quick, thorough glance. “You could have at least dressed when you went to get the drinks,” she scolded feebly. Unable to prevent it, her eyes snuck back to him, and she gave silent thanks that he hadn’t. What he lacked in modesty he made up for in sheer masculine beauty.

  “No, thanks. I don’t want any tan lines.” He cocked an eyebrow. “You were working on a cute little all-over tan yourself until a few days ago.”

  “Yes,” she retorted in a scandalized voice, “until Alberto left the steering wheel and came back here to ask you something.” She put her glass down and punched him with a gentle fist. “You assured me that would never happen.”

  He laughed appreciatively in remembrance. “I covered you up in time, didn’t I? And I explained to him once more that he must never do that. It won’t happen again.”

  “I’m not taking any chances,” she said loftily. Leaning back on her mattress, she gave a contented sigh. “You know, in some ways this has been the most perfect month of my life.”

  His voice was quiet. “I’m glad.” He hadn’t left her side since that nightmarish night in the gallery. He’d arranged this trip quickly, with ruthless efficiency. They’d dealt with the police swiftly, and after a few days he’d had Raine on a plane heading south. He hadn’t known how long it would take for the ghosts to fade from her expressive golden eyes. They hadn’t disappeared completely, but they’d definitely faded.

  Yes, they’d faded, he thought with satisfaction. And sometime since he’d met her, his own ghosts had started to fade, too. He’d been much too busy taking care of her in the last few weeks to spend any time on regrets. In his concern for her, he was finding it surprisingly easy to let go of some of the guilt he’d borne for so long.

  “It still hurts,” she whispered softly, gazing pensively at the water. “Sometimes I catch myself thinking of things to remember to tell Sarah about, and then I remember. . . .”

  “I know,” he responded quietly.

  “I’m glad she won’t go to jail,” she said, her eyes meeting his.

  He nodded. “You were right about the kind of help she needed. The judge must have agreed, too. Trey says she’s been remanded to a psychiatric institution.” He hadn’t liked listening to Raine defend Sarah to the police. But the results attained by the court-appointed psychiatrist had supported Raine’s long-time suspicion of abuse. Raine was convinced that the years of physical abuse Sarah had suffered from her brother had taken a serious emotional toll on the woman. “After Burnett had begun the threats, Sarah must have decided to copy the idea. When you were completely terrorized, she figured you wouldn’t be able to work. But I think it was definitely Joe’s decision to take the idea to the extreme.”

  “Getting rid of me completely.”

  His face went harsh at her words. “Yes.” God, the final episode in the gallery still had the power to wake him at night, sweating at the realization of how easily he could have lost her. It had been the most difficult thing he’d ever had to do, to wait in the darkness, knowing Joe had his hands on Raine and being aware of the man’s intentions. It had been impossible to tell in the darkness whether Joe had a weapon, so he’d had to wait for his chance to take him off guard. Sarah’s action had given him the opportunity he needed. He hadn’t expected her to come to Raine’s rescue and strike her brother with the heavy flashlight. It had provided the opening he’d been waiting for. Joe had turned Raine loose, and Mac had sprung.

  He smiled grimly. Getting his hands on Joe had been primitively satisfying. If it hadn’t been for his need to hold Raine again, he couldn’t be sure Joe would have left the gallery alive.

  “What will happen . . .” her voice faltered a little, and she made a visible effort to steady it. “I mean, to the others?”

  He frowned, fiercely wishing she’d leave the subject alone. But he knew better than to shield her from unpleasantness, had learned his lesson well from her. Still, it was with visible reluctance that he answered. “Burnett will go back to prison,” he said with certainty. “With his record, there won’t be any plea bargains. And there’s an awful lot of circumstantial evidence linking Joe to the physical attacks on you. The hairs found in the abandoned car matched his. His girlfriend drives a late-model sedan that matches the description of the one Anderson saw the night your porch was set on fire. I think they have enough to send him away for a long time.”

  He fell into a brooding silence, and she could read his thoughts from the ferocity of his expression. It wasn’t in his nature to forgive easily, and he’d taken his role as her protector very seriously. But she’d learned a long time ago the fruitlessness of dwelling on the past. She turned to her side, facing him, and reached out to smooth her hand over his hard shoulder. “It’s over now,” she reminded him gently.

  He turned his head slowly to gaze at her, and the intensity in his eyes made her breath catch. He raised himself up on one elbow, bringing his face very close to hers. “No, it’s not over,” he said, his low voice giving her words a very different meaning. “If there’s one thing I’ve decided in the last month here with you, it’s that I don’t want it to be over. Not for us.

  “All I’ve thought about in the last twenty-nine days has been you. And if I was honest with myself, I’d admit that I thought of damn little else for quite a while before that.” He leaned closer and pressed a long, deep kiss to her mouth. Raising his head slightly, he rasped, “My life had been empty for a long time before I met you. I deliberately kept it that way. But I have a feeling that if I let you walk away, I’d find out what true emptiness is.”

  Her lips parted, wonder skating over her features as hope unfurled its fragile bloom within her. “I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered, her lips near enough to brush his as she formed the words.

  “You told me once that your love was there for the taking. Are you still offering it?”

 
She wrapped her arms around his sun-kissed back. “It’s always been yours, Macauley,” she told him achingly. “All you had to do was reach out for it.”

  His mouth grazed hers as he said shakily, “I don’t know much about love, Raine, but I figure you have about the next seventy years to teach me.”

  She stroked his cheek lovingly and saw the pure emotion blazing in eyes that had once been so expressionless. “You know more about love than you think.”

  He gazed steadily at her, wanting to freeze the moment into his memory. If he had her talent he would paint her like this, sunlight spilling all around her. “I like to see you like this,” he murmured, “surrounded by light.”

  She smiled serenely against his lips as they claimed her own. He was thinking of her fears, she knew, and the shadows that had tormented them both. But somehow she didn’t think she would mind the darkness anymore, now that Macauley would be there beside her.