by Elle James
Deep in Alex’s heart, she knew the man was wrong. But who was she to tell him that there was someone for everyone when she hadn’t been completely convinced herself?
* * *
JAKE LAY FOR a long time with his eyes closed, willing himself to sleep. Normally he didn’t have a problem dropping off into light sleep when he knew he needed the mental and physical recharge only rest could provide.
But sleep wasn’t coming, and the more he lay there, the more he realized it was because of the woman sitting by the mouth of the cave. Since finding her in the village, he’d had a difficult time focusing on the mission at hand.
Alex’s silky black hair, hanging down to her waist in straight lengths, made Jake want to reach out and run his fingers through the strands. And those ice-blue eyes made him look twice. He could swear he saw the vastness of the universe reflected in their depths. And her alabaster skin fairly glowed in the darkness.
She was beautiful, smart and physically capable of keeping up with the grueling trek through the hills and rocky terrain. She hadn’t complained, even after sliding down the side of a hill, scraping the skin off her hands and backside. She was one tough lady, and she stirred up more feelings inside Jake than he cared to acknowledge.
The last time he’d felt this way he’d been too eager to make a relationship permanent, only to discover the woman he had fallen for wasn’t willing to wait for him to return home from deployments.
Trish had left him after his very first deployment. While he’d been gone, dreaming about her, she’d found a civil service employee on the navy base who would be home each night to see to her every want and need. With him, she would never have to worry that he’d return from work in a body bag or be deployed nine months out of the year to some godforsaken place he couldn’t even discuss.
That was when Jake had sworn off meaningful relationships that lasted more than a date or two. He didn’t have time for the games, and he didn’t need the heartache. His team depended on him to have a level head and solid focus.
He opened his eyes and stared at the silhouette of the woman he’d rescued from the village overtaken by the ISIS terrorists. She wasn’t someone who took the easy way out. She’d come to Africa to start over. And, boy, had she. Teaching orphans in a poor village had to be completely different from her life in the States, yet she’d done it. Not only had she taught them, she’d gotten her orphans out of the village when the terrorists stormed the streets. And she’d returned to help her missionary sponsors.
How many women had he known who would fearlessly head back into danger to help someone else?
Alex had gumption. She was the kind of woman who wouldn’t settle for safe and boring in a relationship. But was she the kind of woman who could stand long separations from her significant other? What had been the reason for her breakup?
Jake found himself wanting to know more about Alex. But he needed to sleep so that he could be refreshed enough to continue the trek out of the hills and back to some measure of safety, away from the terrorists.
Thinking about Alex was pointless. Once he got her out of this situation, he probably wouldn’t see her again. Why waste his time mooning over a beautiful woman? Hadn’t he proved he wasn’t cut out for anything more than a quick fling?
Alex didn’t strike him as a quick-fling kind of woman.
With a sigh, he closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep. And he must have drifted off, because he woke with a start after what felt like only a few minutes.
“Jake,” a soft, feminine voice called out to him.
He sat bolt upright, his gaze going to Alex. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, but I’m nodding off. I can’t keep watch through my eyelids.” She wrapped her arms around herself and yawned. “And it’s getting cold out here.”
He glanced at his watch. “Four hours to sunrise. You should have woken me an hour ago.”
“You were sleeping so peacefully I hated to disturb you.”
He rose and crossed to where she sat with her back against the wall of the mouth of the cave.
Alex shivered and yawned at the same time. “I can’t quit yawning,” she said into her hand.
“Then lie down and catch some z’s. I’ll keep watch.”
She didn’t move. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll just nap here, sitting up. I’m betting the floor of the cave is as cold and hard as it looks.”
He nodded and stretched the kinks out of his back before sitting beside her. “It is.” He held open his arms. “I can offer you an alternative if you don’t mind snuggling with a stranger.”
“Right now—” she yawned again and laughed “—I’d snuggle with a bear just to get warm.”
“I’m not a bear, but it might help to share body warmth.” He slipped his hand behind her back and pulled her against his side. “I promise not to bite.”
Her belly rumbled. “I make no such promises. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention biting, eating or food. I’d give my right kidney for a hamburger about now.”
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close against his body. “Better?”
She was stiff at first, pressed against him but not letting her body relax.
He leaned back and stared down at the top of her head. “We haven’t known each other long, but I’m not in the habit of taking advantage of women when I’m trying to escape and evade hostile enemy forces.”
She tipped her head to stare into his eyes. “Did I say I was afraid of you?”
“No, but you won’t get any sleep unless you relax.”
“You’re right.” With a heavy sigh, she burrowed into him and rested her cheek against his chest. “Thank you for rescuing me from the village.”
“You’re welcome. Now hush and sleep.”
“Yes, sir,” she said smartly, the effect ruined by a huge yawn. “I am warmer. Didn’t know they had bears in Niger,” she mumbled.
“I didn’t know they had beautiful black-haired, blue-eyed women in Niger,” he whispered into her hair.
Her body relaxed against his, and her breathing became more regular and deep.
Alex slept, nestled in his arms.
Jake remained vigilant, afraid that if he fell asleep he wouldn’t wake soon enough to get them out of the valley and over the next hill before the enemy found them.
The night stretched, long and cool. With Alex’s body resting against his, he managed to stay warm enough.
She shivered several times, and, each time, he tightened his hold, trying to cover as much of her as he could with his arms.
His stomach rumbled, protesting the lack of food. They’d run short on energy as their bodies burned up the last of their fuel.
Jake knew he had to get them back on the road as soon as possible for his team to have even a ghost of a chance of finding them. And he needed to do it before he did something stupid, like fall for this courageous, beautiful woman.
Chapter Five
Just before dawn, Alex was nudged awake by a hand smoothing over her soft hair and a voice that whispered, “Time to go, sweetheart.”
She cracked an eyelid and stared up at the man leaning over her. Had she imagined the endearment? “Are we leaving?” she asked, blinking open both eyes.
What a wonderful face to wake up to, and what a sturdy body to hold her through the night. She didn’t want to wake and face the reality of their situation, not when she was wrapped in warm arms and feeling so incredibly safe.
“We are,” he said. “The sun will be up within the next hour. We have to be over the next ridge before that happens.”
Alex sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “But it’s still dark out.”
“True, but we don’t want to wait until light. If we can see better, so can the enemy. We have to get out of this area before they enter it.”
&nbs
p; “I know, but I was having the best dream about eating eggs, bacon and hash browns. Could I go back to sleep long enough to finish my meal?”
“Sorry, but it’s time to rise and shine.” He rose to his feet, stretched and then held out a hand to her.
She grasped his hand in hers and let him pull her to an upright position. Stiff from all the climbing she’d done the day before, she stumbled and fell against Jake’s broad chest.
The SEAL held Alex close until she could get her feet firmly beneath her. She couldn’t tell him that part of her problem was how giddy and unsteady she felt around the handsome man. He’d likely laugh her all the way back to his buddies.
Then again, he’d been so kind and gentle the previous day, tending her wounds and holding her through the night. For such a big, rugged man, he was sweet and patient with her. Or was he just trying to keep her healthy so that she wouldn’t slow them down on their mission to survive?
She straightened her shoulders and faced the task ahead. “Let’s do this.”
“Are you sure you’re steady enough on your feet to make it down the slope?”
“You mean without sliding on my butt to the bottom?” Alex snorted. “I promise to be a little more graceful, if at all possible. I don’t relish a repeat performance of yesterday.” She held up her hands, which were still neatly bandaged with the remnants of her blouse. “I can’t afford to tear any more clothing. All I have is what I’m wearing. I’d like to make it to civilization with at least your T-shirt on my back.”
“That’s the spirit. I’ll go first. That way, if you fall, you’ll bump into me.”
“And I’ll take you with me, as I slide all the way down.” She shook her head. “You’d do better staying far away. We can’t afford for both of us to be injured.”
“Nevertheless, I’m going first.” He stepped over the lip of the cave’s mouth and started down the hill. The gray light of dawn had only just begun to lighten the sky from pitch black to a dark battleship gray.
Jake picked his way down the hill, holding his hand out to steady Alex’s descent while looking over the valley to make certain they weren’t spotted or being followed.
She could have gotten down the slope on her own, but she appreciated that his strong hand provided stability and showed his concern for her safety. He probably only cared that she didn’t break something and make his job of getting them out of there alive a lot harder.
Alex did her part and carefully placed every footstep. She refused to slide down another hill and risk taking Jake with her.
Once at the base of the hill, Jake snapped a branch off a leafy tree and handed it to her. “Drag this behind you to cover our tracks.”
She did, careful to make sure the leaves stirred the prints left in the dust without looking like someone had dragged a branch over them.
Jake led her along the stream, urging her to keep to the shadows as much as possible. Every so often, she checked over her shoulder, expecting to see the ISIS fighters close on their heels. Thankfully, they weren’t.
By the time the sun rose high enough to light the sky, Alex and Jake had reached the top of another ridge. Jake hurried her over the edge and paused long enough to check through his rifle scope.
Alex leaned close without raising her head above the ridgeline. “Do you see them?”
“Not yet.” He shifted his concentration from the scope to viewing the entire valley with his naked eye. He stiffened. “No, wait. They just popped up over the other side of the valley.” He watched a little longer. “One, two, three, four, five, six.”
Jake ducked down beside her. “They don’t seem to want to give up.”
“What can we do?”
His jaw tightened. “Keep moving.” He helped her to her feet and led the way through the hills, telling her they were heading southwest toward the city and hopefully they’d find a road that wasn’t overrun by ISIS militants.
After two hours hiking in the hills, they found a dirt road and followed it for another mile. It wound around the side of a bluff and dipped down into a valley. When they came out of the vegetation to the other side of yet another hill, Alex gasped.
Jake snagged her arm and pulled her back into the brush. From there, they peered through the branches and observed the bustle of activity before them.
Where a hillside had once been now lay a giant, gaping hole with terraces spiraling down into a pit. People swarmed the pit, half-dressed, barefoot and covered in dirt. They carried buckets of mud on their heads or in their arms, or dragged them behind them as they climbed out of the pit like ants.
A backhoe dug deeper at the bottom of the pit, shoveling giant scoops of dirt into the backs of dump trucks. When the trucks were full, they rumbled up the narrow terraces to the top and emptied their contents in a huge pile.
“What’s going on?” Alex asked.
“It appears to be a mining operation.”
Alex frowned. “I didn’t know there was one this close to the village. Most of the villagers would have known about any potential for jobs in the area.”
“We’ve covered a considerable amount of ground since we left the village.”
“Yes, but the villagers would have moved for the opportunity to work at a paying job. Those are hard to come by in rural Niger.” She nodded toward a man standing on the edge of the pit, carrying a rifle and dressed like the ISIS militants. “Do you see what I see?” she whispered.
He nodded, pulled a camera out of his pocket and snapped several pictures.
“Why the pictures?”
“When we get back to civilization, I want to show the intel folks what we found.” He tucked the camera back into his pocket and stood. “I don’t think we want to announce our presence to these guys. Come on. We can move around the periphery and get the hell out of here.”
Alex followed Jake on a circuitous route skirting the mining operation, giving it a wide berth.
As they neared the opposite end of the mine and nearby camp, Jake paused to snap more pictures, including some of the trucks hauling dirt out of the pit. They had some kind of logo on them.
“Look out,” Jake whispered. “Our guys are entering the camp.” He nodded toward the road where they’d been standing less than thirty minutes prior.
Six men dressed in black, their heads swathed in turbans, emerged from the brush and walked straight into the mining camp.
“That’s our cue to leave,” Jake said. He took Alex’s hand and led her into the brush, following a course that paralleled the road leading into the camp. They stayed far enough away from the road to keep out of sight, but close enough that they wouldn’t lose their way.
When they had gone a mile from the camp, Jake came to a halt and tilted his head to listen. “There’s a truck coming.” He glanced at Alex. “Stay here. I want to get a closer look at one of those vehicles.”
Alex touched a hand to his arm. “But someone might see you.”
“I’m good at blending into my surroundings. But I need to know you’ll stay put and hide until I come back for you.”
She chewed her lip, not liking that he was going to leave her to go near the road and risk the possibility of being captured. If he was, Alex wasn’t at all sure what she was supposed to do.
He held up his hand. “I promise not to do anything dumb.”
“Good. Because I don’t want to have to fight my way into that camp to free you.”
He chuckled. “You won’t have to. I’m not going to get caught.”
“Yeah,” Alex muttered. “Famous last words.”
He was going no matter what she said, so she kept her mouth shut, found a cluster of bushes and hid behind them. Through the leaves, she watched as Jake moved from the shadow of one tree to another. Before long, he disappeared, the shadows and leaves blending with his camouflage uniform.
A fly buzzed around
Alex’s head, and she was certain one was climbing up her leg, but she didn’t dare move. Call her superstitious, but she was afraid if she took her gaze off the path Jake had taken, even for a second, he’d be lost to her.
Her heart hammering against her ribs, Alex lay in the bushes, counting the minutes until Jake’s return. She prayed he’d come back for her. If he didn’t, she would just have to go find him and bring him back herself.
* * *
JAKE CUT THROUGH the brush, angling toward the dirt road leading into and out of the copse of trees that had been their temporary sanctuary. He prayed Alex would stay hidden while he nosed around.
The rumble of a truck’s engine alerted him to a vehicle approaching on the road.
Jake eased forward and dropped down behind a bush, getting as low to the ground as he could. He pulled the camera out of his pocket, aimed it at the road and waited for the truck to pass.
A modified SUV rolled by first. The top had been removed and a machine gun mounted in the center. A black-garbed soldier manned the weapon, turning left and right as they traversed the dirt road. The SUV kicked up dust behind it, temporarily clouding Jake’s vision and the viewfinder of the camera.
A few moments later, a large truck came into view. The body of the truck was white, with a company logo painted in red lettering on the side.
He snapped a picture of the logo as the truck passed.
Snyder Mining Enterprises.
Another vehicle brought up the rear. This one was a pickup with another machine gun mounted in the bed and another black-garbed fighter perched behind the weapon, holding on as the truck bumped over the uneven surface.
As the vehicle neared Jake’s position, the gunman in the rear banged a hand on the roof of the truck. The driver slowed to a stop.
Jake held his breath and sank lower into the brush and dirt.
The man in the back said something to those in the truck. Another man similarly dressed dropped down out of the passenger seat and climbed into the bed of the truck while the original gunman jumped out.