He reached out, his hand shaking as he wiped the tears off her cheeks before she could. He cleared his throat, but his voice still came out hoarse. “The Army lost a good man because of me. Don’t you lose him.”
Somehow, she managed a smile. “Trust me. I have no intention of losing Jack. Not after I had to smoke another cigarette to keep him.”
His brow shot up. But then that damned heavy, awkward silence saturated the air again. Would they ever get rid of it for good? Maybe. Because he cleared his throat again. He was trying. He even spoke, “You’ve got somewhere to be, don’t you?”
Yes. But Jack would understand. “No, I’ll just—”
“Link up with your old man tomorrow?” He shrugged off her surprise. “It’s late. Long flight. Man’s gotta sleep.”
Her heart lurched. He really was trying. Dammit, then so could she. “A man’s gotta eat, too.”
“Lunch?” He looked so uncertain, the tears threatened.
She nodded slowly. Smiled. “I’d like that.” His answering smile was slower and a bit stiff as she turned to leave, or maybe just rusty. She figured she’d find out soon enough.
“Just a minute, young lady.” Startled to hear the general’s voice and not her dad’s again, she whirled around. He’d donned his hat and snapped to attention. He wasn’t her dad anymore. He was General Ramrod-and-Ruthless Stanton in the flesh. Especially when he popped the sharpest, crispest salute she’d ever received. “I’ve been briefed. Outstanding work today, Captain.”
Damn him. He just had to send her to Jack in tears, didn’t he? Again.
He’d waited so long, he was starting to worry. Jack stared at the silver lighter clenched in his hand. Worried, hell. Six hours earlier, trapped in a barn with Dani wrapped in his arms while he waited for the right moment to flick a cigarette into fifteen feet of straw separating them from nine bags of gunpowder and an 8-inch tactical nuclear round, he’d been worried. Right now, he was pretty much terrified.
So much so, his stomach roiled when he heard the knock. He tossed the lighter on the coffee table and strode across the guest suite’s carpet. His feet knew the way. They’d paced it out a hundred times already. He sucked up his panic and wrenched the door open. Dani was loitering on the other side, leaning against the wall, her loose hair still tangled, his T-shirt tucked into her jeans and his oversized belt. Soot still streaked across her right cheek, the purple bruise and split lip still marred her left. At least the marks on her neck had faded.
His heart burned as she smiled. “Hi. I’m sorry, I know it’s late. But it’s kind of important. I’m looking for a man who goes by the name Special Agent Jack Gage?”
“That would be me.”
“Hmmm…so I heard.” She cocked her brow toward the room behind him. “Mind if come in?”
He threw the door wide, making way as she stepped inside.
“This isn’t a bad time is it, Agent?”
He blinked.
Her gaze swept his dark-blue robe. “You look like you were getting ready for a shower…or bed.”
“Whichever comes first.” At the moment, he wasn’t sure he’d have company for either. Not when he spotted the note he’d sent via the marine as she retrieved it from her back pocket. The paper was still folded. The creases still sharp. Had she even opened it? Did she even want to? Every time he’d thought he’d gained ground with Danielle Stanton, her father got in his way, whether or not the man intended to. And she’d just spent half an hour with him.
His heart burned once more as she set the square of paper on the coffee table, right beside the lighter. And this burn wasn’t good. It seared in deeper as she pulled a wad of bills from her back pocket and carefully smoothed them. He stared at the stack as she held it out.
“Sorry about the twenties. The bank machine was out of hundreds. It’s all there, though.”
Christ. His heart blistered. “I don’t want your money.” He hadn’t wanted a goddamned thing from this woman for eleven years now—except one simple statement. He was so sure he’d have heard it from her up in that room of Rurik’s if they’d just had a little longer. But now? Staring at that stack of bills? He wasn’t sure of anything. Maybe it had been adrenaline after all.
“Take the money, Jack.”
“Dammit, Dani, I—”
“What? Three hundred’s enough for a lowly army captain, but not some lofty special agent?” She tsked her tongue as he blinked, gaped. “My, my, just what agency are you with?”
“State Department.”
“Diplomatic Security?”
He nodded.
“Mobile Security Detachment?”
He nodded again.
She frowned. Her low whistle filled the room, invading the bedroom beyond. “I hear they travel quite a bit. Never home. Understand the work’s pretty dicey on occasion, too.”
“It can be.”
“I guess you’re right then. Three hundred won’t cut it.” She sucked in her breath and squared her shoulders. He sucked in his own as that gorgeous gaze darkened with determination. “Unfortunately for me, I’ve decided that—special agent or not—I like what I see. So, how much is it going to take?”
Just like that, the burning in his heart eased.
“One word.” His heart swelled as her gaze softened and slid to the square of paper. His hope swelled.
“Which word would that be?”
“The right one.”
He stood there, his bare feet fused to the carpet as she slowly smoothed the bills and folded them before tucking the wad back into her pocket. His pounding heart timed the silent, excruciating seconds as she leaned down and picked up the note, unfolded it, then carefully smoothed that out, too. She took her sweet time reading the short statement and burning question he’d scrawled after. She took so long, he not only knew what her answer would be, he was certain she was enjoying every raw, bloody second of his torture. Christ, could this woman be cruel! He didn’t care. Especially when he knew what was behind it. She might understand his silence at Rurik’s, but she also intended to make him earn his forgiveness. Fine with him. He wasn’t about to give up now. But he would have to make her pay, too.
“Yes, I’ll marry you.”
His heart exploded with joy. He had no idea how he managed to stand there and calmly nod as he absorbed the sheer ecstasy that showered back down, but he did. Nor did he have any idea where he found the strength to slowly shake his head. But again, it was there. He used it. “Sorry, that’s four words.”
When her gaze widened slightly, he knew she knew he was on to her. “Oh.” She blinked. “Well, I guess the deal is off then.”
She spun around—and got precisely nowhere. His hands whipped out before he could stop them. He hauled her in close, locking her wrists together with one of his hands as he swung her around with the other. He leaned in closer, staring directly into her eyes. “As long as you’ve overpaid, give me the rest.”
“You’re cheating.”
“This isn’t a game anymore, Danielle.”
She nodded solemnly. “I know. I also know I shouldn’t have walked out eleven months ago. I should have decked you and maybe given you a chance to explain. But I shouldn’t have left.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. But I shouldn’t have waited so long to tell the old man off, either.”
“Why’d you finally do it?”
“Because once I got you alone, in my house and in my bed, I knew I’d never be able to let you go again. I should have said then, before we left for work, what I wrote in that note.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“’Cause I was scared, honey. We’ve known each other for so long. Hell, I’ve always known you were attracted to me. But what if that was it? What if you didn’t feel the same way deep inside your heart? What if it was just adrenaline?”
“You really think adrenaline can cause what happened on your bed and in your shower? Beside my car? What happened against that wall tonight? What happens between us whenever we
’re this close?” She dragged her gaze down to his mouth and dragged her husky whisper even lower. “What’s happening between us right now?”
“Hell, no. But I need to know what you think. What you feel. Dammit, Danielle, I need to hear the words.”
“Come closer.”
He leaned in until the tips of their lashes meshed. He was so close her very breath was turning him on. He could feel the soft, cool suction against his lips as hers parted, inhaled, and then the warm, slow wash as she exhaled. He felt each and every excruciatingly slow breath that followed, every single sensation as she shifted to scrape her lips across the individual hairs that formed the scruff on his cheek—until she stopped, and then finally, mercifully, filled his ear with her throaty whisper.
“I love you too, Jack.”
The burn returned. This time, not just to his heart. The ache spread out, searing through every single inch of his body as he turned his head and leaned down to sweep her up in his arms. He carried her into the bedroom, right up to the bed he’d turned down almost an hour before, claiming her lips as he laid her out and sank into her curves. He delved deep inside her mouth, capturing the sigh from her heart and dragging it into his own, savoring it for so long that when he finally poured it back into her, it had turned into a hoarse, needy groan.
He didn’t care.
It might have taken him eleven years and he might have had to cheat a bit along the way, but every blessed moment had been worth it. Because he’d finally won the most precious prize of all. The complete, unconditional surrender of Danielle Stanton’s heart. He intended on treasuring it and her for the rest of his life.
IN LOVE AND WAR
Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Books S.A.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6271-7
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
A MILITARY AFFAIR
Copyright © 2003 by Merline Lovelace
COMRADES IN ARMS
Copyright © 2003 by Eileen Nauman
AN UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER
Copyright © 2003 by Candace Phillips Irvin
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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In Love and War Page 23
