No Remorse_A Manhunters Novel

by Skye Jordan

  “My mother was a nurse. After my dad passed away, she found solace in helping others. We traveled all over the world, providing medical care to those less fortunate and living in the villages of the people we cared for.”

  “I understand she passed away recently.”

  “Six months ago. Cancer.”

  “I’m sorry.” He leaned back in his chair and assessed her. She was easy and comfortable. Pleasant enough. Just too damned attractive for her own good. Or his.

  “Thank you.”

  “Where did you hear about this job?”

  “In town. One of the women I see frequently at my local laundromat mentioned you were looking for a nanny. I guess she’s a friend of a friend of your housekeeper.”

  He nodded, confident Decker had already confirmed her story.

  “Tell me about you,” Everly said, her smile polite. She seemed to be holding a little too tight to the “I’m cool, no sweat” attitude. “This is the most gorgeous house I’ve seen since I’ve been in the country. I hear you were in the military? That you own and run your own business?”

  No. He didn’t want to go there. Not yet. “What brought you to Costa Rica?”

  “I’ve never been here, and there aren’t very many countries I haven’t seen.” She shifted topics easily enough. “I’ve stayed because most Costa Ricans are ridiculously friendly, your food is amazing, and the weather is even better.”

  Her dig about his temperament amused him. And after seeing him in warrior mode earlier, the fact that she felt secure enough to tease him reflected her self-confidence.

  “What interests you in this job? You’re awfully young for the role as a nanny.”

  “I’m easily old enough to have a child Mirabella’s age.”

  “Why don’t you?”

  She grinned. “Are you Costa Rican? Or American living in Costa Rica?”

  “Both.” He refocused on her résumé. “English is your first language, but you know several others. You’ve worked with children in one way or another for most of your life.” He shrugged. “I keep coming back to the question—why us? Why this job?”

  “My life has been dedicated to caring for others. I learned early on that it suits me. Your housekeeper’s acquaintance said you’re raising Mirabella alone and that your nanny left to care for a family member recently.”

  Austin leaned forward and rested his arms on his desk. He’d be finding out exactly who gave a stranger this much information and make sure one of his guys plugged that leak.

  “She also said,” Everly continued, “that Mirabella is a little behind the curve—in size and cognitive abilities.”

  Austin’s hackles flared. “Bella is incredibly smart. She’s also clever, with a free spirit that—”

  “I wasn’t putting her down,” Everly said, her tone compassionate, her gaze direct and honest. “I was going to make the point that I’ve spent two decades nurturing children with similar challenges into happy, successful, compassionate teens and young adults.”

  “Two decades? That would have made you a child yourself.”

  “As you mentioned, I’ve spent most of my life working with children. My mother and I first moved overseas when I was eight. I was often cast as a caretaker for village children. You must have spent significant time overseas. You’ve seen how quickly children are tasked with responsibility. How quickly they grow up.”

  He nodded and glanced over her résumé again.

  “My goal is always to teach people how to play on their strengths and minimize their limitations,” she went on. “To teach them how to push through the hard times to realize their full potential.”

  She sounded a little like a “Be All That You Can Be” ad for the US Army. He would have taunted her with it if he didn’t—at the core of his being—live and breathe those very values. If they weren’t things he worried Bella would never find because she was small, because her speech was behind, because she didn’t have a mother. Because of one of a dozen other drawbacks Bella had in her life that made Austin worry deep in the night.

  He dropped back in his chair, threaded his fingers together, and rested them on the top of his head as he thought. She was by far the most passionate about Bella’s care of all the women he’d interviewed. His gut told him not to let her in, that an unknown American within his fortress could hinder the security he worked so hard to maintain. But Decker was right about needing a nanny, and he’d give Austin hell if he didn’t give her a chance.

  “There is a very real risk to Bella’s safety outside this property,” he told the woman. If she lost interest in the job on her own, it technically wouldn’t be his fault. “She must be accompanied by two security guards anywhere she goes.”

  Confusion clouded her expression. “Why? This is one of the safest countries I’ve ever lived in.”

  “Because we’re bordered by countries with strife and conflict. Countries I’ve refused to work with because of unstable factions of government.” It was only a half lie. Bella wasn’t at risk because he refused work, but he wasn’t about to get into the custody issue. “And because I have more money than the average Costa Rican, she’s at high risk for kidnapping.”

  “I see.” She seemed to be thinking about that.

  “I travel quite a bit for work,” he added, “and I always take Bella with me. You would have to travel with us.”

  Her brows shot up. “Really.”

  “I promised her some time ago that she’d never have to go anywhere without me again. I intend to keep that promise until she no longer needs it to feel secure.”

  She hummed, acknowledging the statement, but she didn’t jump to her feet and look for the exit.

  “I also have several groups of former teammates who come to train with me regularly,” he told her. “It’s a vital part of development. The property is constantly crawling with men. Big, rugged warriors. The men I was with earlier will be here the rest of the week. We train, eat, and hang together. That could make you uncomfortable.”

  She smiled. “I’ve been in the Congo, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Rwanda, and Somalia. I’ve learned when to stand my ground and when to acquiesce with warriors far less civilized than those in the US military. And if Mirabella can handle them, I’m sure I can too.”

  He tossed her résumé onto the desk with a shake of his head. “I can see why Decker insisted I interview you. You’re definitely one of a kind.”

  “And you’re…” She frowned a little, and her head tipped.

  “What?”

  “Unusually devoted to your daughter.”

  “She’s everything to me,” he said, unashamed. “This business, this house, the security, cooks, tutors, nannies, everything I do is for one main purpose: to keep Bella safe and happy. Nothing else matters.”

  She studied him, clearly questioning his sincerity. For others, it was hard to believe all his success and material wealth had come out of his single-minded purpose to secure a good life for his daughter.

  “She’s had a lot of people come and go in her life,” Austin told her. “Moving forward, I want to limit that as much as possible. How long do you plan on staying in Costa Rica?”

  She lifted her hands. “As long as I’m needed.”

  Movement in the door drew his gaze. Bella’s little hand snuck around the jamb of the open doorway, and Austin smiled. “I see you, Bella.”

  Holding the side of the doorjamb, she swung into the doorway and hung there at an angle, her head back, her curls spilling into the air, looking at him upside down—hence her nickname, monkey. “I see you, Daddy.”

  His heart flooded with the joy she brought into his life every day. He pushed his chair back. “Come here.”

  She skipped to him and jumped into his lap. “Color me?”

  “Will you color with me, Daddy?” he said, filling in the words she’d omitted.

  “’ill color me, Daddy?”

  He ran a hand over her hair, then glanced at his desk and sighed. “I’ve got a lot of work to
do, baby.”

  “Hi, Bella,” Everly said, clearly impatient with Austin’s lack of manners. “I’m Everly. I’d love to color with you.” She cut a look at Austin. “If it’s okay with your dad.”

  She was just a little too good to be true. And she was way too attractive to have hanging around the house or the guys. Or him, if he were honest. Austin pulled in a breath to tell her no, even though he didn’t have another alternative.

  “No charge,” she said right before he spoke, her mouth curving in a sexy little smirk, her shoulder lifting in a lazy shrug. “Let’s just test it out for fit.”

  Austin agreed. What could it hurt?

  Bella jumped off his lap and took Everly by the hand, then led her upstairs to the playroom.

  Decker came up beside Austin. “What do you think?”

  “Can’t tell.” He met his friend’s gaze. “If I hire her, you’ll have to verify her background and her story again. And this time, I want boots on the ground. I want to know what she’s made of. This is too important to take the word of invisible people on the other end of an anonymous phone line.”

  Decker nodded. “Done.”

  3

  “She never stops.” Everly murmured the complaint to Sam as she closed the lid on the Candyland game for the third time. “Are all kids like this?”

  “Some.” Sam sounded distracted, but she couldn’t blame him for multitasking while she entertained the whirlwind Mirabella.

  It was truly a special kind of torture being stuck in a room of toys with a child who never stopped moving. Everly would have preferred almost anything over this—drilling with the SEALs, breaching an ISIS stronghold, hell, she’d take scrubbing a barracks toilet over this.

  “Every, pay with me.” Mirabella had taken to calling her Every or Evie instead of Everly.

  Everly barely held back a groan as she slid the Candyland box back onto a pile of games on the shelves. When she looked over her shoulder, she found Mirabella dragging out the container of Legos Everly had put away twice already.

  She was careful to keep her voice down when she spoke with Sam and forced a perpetual smile on her face to hide her frustration. She was pretty damn sure she was either being listened to or watched. Or both.

  Mirabella turned the carton of Legos upside down and they spilled across the floor. This time, Everly couldn’t hold back. She groaned.

  “That sounds familiar.”

  Hix’s voice startled her. She always stayed aware of her surroundings and thought she saw and heard everything. But he had been special forces for several years, so she gave herself a break and turned to smile at him.

  “How many times has she done that?” he asked.

  “This makes three.”

  “Bella, are you torturing your new friend?”

  “No torting, Daddy.”

  “You’ve got one very busy girl,” she told him. “I can see why you need a nanny. You’d never get anything done without one.”

  He didn’t smile, but he wasn’t wearing that suspicious expression he’d maintained in the office either. He stood in the middle of the doorway, hands on either side of the jamb. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his white button-down, and the light fabric accentuated his dark hair and tanned skin. The man seemed to slide into both roles of warrior and CEO effortlessly.

  “Daddy? Pay Yegos?”

  He wandered into the room and crouched beside his daughter. He ran a hand over her hair. “Daddy, will you play Legos with me?”

  “Daddy, ill you pay Yegos me?”

  He laughed and kissed her head. “Very good. Maybe after a snack. I bet you’re hungry after all this playing.”

  As Hix and Mirabella chatted about all she and Everly had done that afternoon, Everly listened to Sam in her ear.

  “I think I’ve found a way for you to add value to this deal. Mirabella is a little young for this diagnosis, but she exhibits all the signs of a child with ADHD. Based on how protective and conservative Hix is, I doubt he would want her on any medication. I’ve been looking into ways to treat ADHD with behavior modification.”

  Everly knelt on the floor and helped Hix and Mirabella put the Legos back into the bin. Hix wore a soft smile as he listened to his daughter prattle on, but he still seemed to have an aversion to smiling at Everly. That was fine. She had a feeling his smile might knock her on her ass.

  By the time the three of them had found every tiny Lego, Sam had offered a litany of suggestions on how she might help Mirabella with her ADHD.

  “Roman and Ian just touched down in San Jose,” Sam said. “They are headed to Café Loco in Coco Beach. Contact them when you can meet. Call me if you need me, and I’ll check in soon. Signing off.”

  “Everly?”

  “Yes.” She responded to Hix instantly, realizing she’d missed something he’d said while her mind had been turning over the information Sam had delivered. “I’m sorry, what?”

  She looked up and found Hix’s gaze on hers. It was the first time he’d looked her in the eye for more than five seconds. His eyes were somewhere between hazel and light brown, surrounded by long black lashes.

  “Where’d you go?” he asked, the crinkle at the corner of his eyes suggesting he was amused. “Probably wish you were sunning yourself on the beach right about now, huh?”

  “Not at all. I was actually thinking about all the ways I could help Mirabella.”

  Hix pushed to his feet, and Mirabella lifted her arms to him. He picked her up and told Everly, “If you’re interested in staying on, we could talk about it over food and wine. I’m sure you could use both right about now.”

  Yes. She was in. And even though that meant dealing with a kid up close and personal, it would last for only a few days at most.

  Everly smiled. “That’s an offer I can’t refuse.”

  She followed Hix down the stairs, enjoying the view. His ass was as muscular as his shoulders. God, she loved working with men.

  “Señor Hix, the food is ready.” Lucia, the cook, was standing at the base of the stairs. She was somewhere in her early sixties, very pleasant and soft-spoken.

  “Thank you,” Hix said. “Everly will be joining us.”

  The woman smiled broadly. “Ah, very good, very good. Welcome.”

  Hix put Mirabella on her feet, and the little girl danced through the kitchen and dining room and right onto the patio. With no walls, there were no boundaries. The concept was fresh and beautiful.

  Everly stopped at the threshold and looked down at the metal tracks for the floor-to-ceiling glass doors, wondering how the security system worked on doors like this. She glanced around the door’s borders but didn’t see any sign of accessory devices. Which meant the wiring must be directly in the tracks.

  “I can’t get over this construction,” she said, wandering out onto the stone patio. “It’s so innovative.”

  “We love it here.” Hix surprised Everly by pulling out a chair for her. He gestured toward the ocean and the sun hanging low in the sky as it headed toward sunset. “The best seat in the house.”

  She murmured a thank-you and took her seat. Hix sat across from her. Mirabella skipped and danced around the patio, looking inside planters, feeling the leaves, smelling the flowers, talking to the statues.

  Lucia came out with glasses and chilled white wine. Once their wineglasses were filled, Hix said, “Tell me how you think you can help Bella.”

  Everly was distracted by the way Mirabella was crossing the pool’s infinity edge like a balance beam. “I assume she’s a good swimmer?”

  He glanced over his shoulder but returned his gaze to Everly immediately. “The first thing I did when I moved here was teach her to swim. I’d still never leave her alone near water, but I know she can hold her own under normal circumstances.”

  Everly nodded. She sipped her wine and looked out over the ocean, trying to find a way to phrase what she wanted to say. “I don’t want to overstep. You were pretty annoyed when I suggested Mirabella might be a little
behind.”

  “I was, and I apologize. I want the world for her, and sometimes my defenses go up. But I’ll try not to be so reactive. Anything I can do now to make her life easier in the long run, I want to know about.”

  She nodded and took another sip of wine. “This is very good.”

  “It’s a Pinot Grigio. A friend of mine brought it from Italy.”

  Everly rolled the stem of her wineglass between her fingers, taking another moment to consider everything Sam told her and how she could portray that information to her advantage.

  “Does she take naps?” Everly asked.

  “No. Never has.”

  “Does she go right to sleep at night?”

  He shook his head. “She always needs ‘Just one more story, Daddy.’”

  Everly smiled and nodded. Sam had nailed it. That man was truly a genius. “Has Bella’s doctor ever mentioned that she might have ADHD?”

  As expected, he frowned and sat back. “No. What makes you think that? She’s awfully young for that kind of label.”

  “Not a label. A condition. One that can be diagnosed as early as four years old. She never sits still for more than a minute or two, not even to play her favorite game. She can’t focus on anything for any length of time. And she talks.” Everly laughed. “A lot.”

  The first hint of a smile teased his lips. “That she does.”

  “ADHD is manageable if you understand what’s happening. Catching it early means you could give her skills to deal with it young, so she’ll have time to integrate them into her behavior by the time she goes to school. If she’s truly ADHD, she won’t grow out of it, but she’ll learn how to manage it. Maybe even use it to her advantage. Behavioral therapy is very effective and can limit the drawbacks of the condition on her development as she learns and grows.”

  “And if she’s not ADHD, just an active kid?”

  “Then she’ll be ahead of the curve. These are skills that help children—and adults—at any age.”

  “That would be refreshing.”