by Mary Wine
That made sense. Rourke couldn’t help but grin a little. Chris might be his man but that didn’t change the fact that he’d deserted his pregnant wife. As far as Rourke was concerned, he’d gotten exactly what was coming to him. No woman should have to put up with an immature husband. They’d been married and Chris should have been a father to his child, whatever the sex.
Ahh, damn it.
Rourke tore his eyes off Loren and stared at his ceiling. She was married! He had to get that through his thick skull. Maybe she wasn’t so much afraid of him as she was afraid of breaking one of the Ten Commandments. Adultery was a harsh word even today.
Psychic or no psychic, the brass would skin him alive if they caught him in a relationship with one of his men’s wives. So Chris was an ass and had deserted her. That didn’t make any relationship between them right.
Even if he convinced Loren to get a divorce that really wasn’t an answer. Then what was he going to do? Rourke felt his stomach twist as he considered the fact that he’d have to walk out on her as well. Maybe not right away, but there wasn’t any room in his life for a relationship.
Life was handing out harsh lessons tonight. His body was still throbbing with desire as Rourke forced himself to swallow the fact that he wouldn’t be touching Loren again. She was a civilian and he had to ship her back to her world before she found out anything else about his.
* * * * *
Waking up had never been so hard before. Loren ran her hand through her hair and pulled on the strands to try and wake her brain up. All she did was make her eyes tear from the pain.
Kicking at the coverlet she wiggled toward the edge of the bed. The thing must have been huge because she was sweating by the time she made it. Her feet smarted as she stood up on them. A hundred needle pricks race along her soles as she forced her body to stand up on feet that had been parallel for too long.
“You just wait ‘til I get my hands on you, Jared Campbell.” Loren’s voice was muffled through her clenched lips as her legs began cramping. She reached into the shower and turned the faucet on before trying to yank her clothing off. Her entire body was stiff and aching from too much sleep. The midafternoon sun was streaming through the bathroom window making Loren issue a low growl at the complete loss of an entire day.
She couldn’t remember the last day she’d just slept away. It was an appalling waste of time! “You just wait.” Yanking a sock off her foot, Loren stumbled, off balance, before catching her body.
She glared at her reflection. The mirror showed her a pathetic-looking person. The dark circles sitting under her eyes made her start muttering under her breath again.
At least the water chased the cobwebs from her brain. Loren indulged her aching body in the hot water. She felt the stiffness melt away as she turned so the shower’s spray could hit her shoulders.
Stepping out of the shower, she felt infinitely better. Loren grabbed a towel and pulled it across her face. There! Now she was human again!
The refection from the mirror captured her attention again. Her memory was crystal clear now. Loren stared at her eyes and searched her face. There wasn’t a single bruise left from her husband’s hands. The marks had faded away with fourteen years of separation.
For the very first time, Loren looked at the mental scar she’d carried all those years. Was she really afraid of sex? Maybe it was an absurd question, but she’d panicked in Rourke’s arms. While her logical mind told her kissing the man was trouble, that didn’t mean that panicking was the answer. Far from it. Loren needed her wits completely in order to deal with Rourke. The man had an amazing ability to reduce her to a pile of emotions.
It was stupid. She wasn’t afraid of sex. How could she be? She had a son and the stork hadn’t delivered Toby to her. The sexual part of her relationship with Chris had never been the problem. In fact, their hormones were one of the main reasons they’d gotten married when she’d been so young.
Chris had been fresh out of basic training and bigger than life. He’d sparked the very first passion in her young body. But only wives moved onto the base, so they’d gotten married.
It really hadn’t been all that original. Half the guys in Chris’ training class got married within two months of getting their first orders.
Their domestic problems hadn’t been unique either.
Letting a sigh escape, Loren turned toward her clothing. There was no point in riding down memory lane. What was—was. Chris had been a spoiled brat and Loren had long since forced herself to grow up.
She had a lousy husband. Fine. Her fault and she’d moved on. Rourke Campbell made her sweat in places she’d forgotten she had. Fine. That was her problem. Trying to blame it on Chris would be, well, immature.
She needed to funnel her energies into what would do her and Toby the most good. That was the foundation of her life. Focus on the present not the past. Pick yourself up and move forward because no one’s life was perfect.
Besides, a good cup of coffee could do wonders for her outlook on life. A sneaky little smile turned up the corners of her mouth as Loren wandered toward the kitchen. Her ears picked up two male voices inside the house. Maybe she’d get the chance to take out her frustrations on Jared Campbell after all.
Loren felt a wide smile replace her grin, as she got close enough to see Rourke and his brother both sharing coffee. In southern California, coffee time was morning. But the brisk mountain weather made it appropriate for the afternoon as well.
Steam was rising from both men’s mugs as they continued their conversation. Men had a unique way of socializing. Loren recognized the body language instantly. There might not have been a whole lot of conversation but they were definitely communicating.
Someone laid a fist on the front door with the force of thunder. Both men snapped into deadly form. Loren watched from the hallway as they turned toward the door without spilling a single drop of their coffee. It was amazing to witness the tight control they held over their bodies. It was almost like she understood the difference between civilian and Special Forces at that moment. They men didn’t just move, they executed their motions with complete control and precision. There was no doubt in her mind that they could and would use deadly force in the blink of an eye. The fact that they went from the relaxed stance of drinking coffee together to their current positions made it so much more amazing to her.
That same fist pounded on the door again as Rourke caught her with his eyes. His head made a sharp jerk in her direction as he pointed her back the way she’d come. The order was silent but Loren felt her ears ring with it. The absolute authority the man projected had her body responding even before she recognized what she was doing.
Rourke sent her another sharp nod of approval before he took two long-legged strides and jerked his front door open. Not the way she would have done it. Rourke didn’t stand in front of the open doorway. Instead he sent the door swinging inward while his body was against the wall.
“I want to see my wife!”
Even knowing Chris for the spoilt brat that he was, Loren was still surprised to hear exactly how belligerent he’d decided to be with his commanding officer. She stepped toward the door and caught the harsh look Rourke leveled at his man.
“You seem to have forgotten how the Army works, soldier.”
Chris raised his chin and tried to out-bluster his superior. Rourke didn’t suffer the insubordination for long. He grabbed the center of Chris’ shirt and flung him back out the front door. Loren ran into the kitchen but came up short as Jared stepped into her path. The man literally used his body as a solid barricade to keep her from following the two men out onto the porch. Loren bounced back and immediately tried to go around the man. But she didn’t have to. A split second later and Rourke had pushed Chris down the steps and into the clearing in front of the house. Jared moved with his brother in almost perfect synchronization, following Rourke as he kept her behind his body.
Loren followed and found Rourke’s brother purposely blocki
ng her path again. The man stepped in front of her as she tried to move around him. The look he cast over his shoulder was just as full of authority as his brother’s had been. Loren felt her pride bristle but clamped her jaw shut. Rourke had enough trouble to deal with at the moment.
“She’s my wife. Sir!” Chris spat the expected title of sir and stumbled back from Rourke’s frame as he tried to shove his commanding officer but found Rourke immovable.
Loren had decided back on that beach that Rourke looked untamed. Right now she was certain the man was completely uncivilized. His body stood with tightly controlled aggression. The type you saw in a wild predator. Chris’ eyes went large but he refused to back down.
“There’s no married housing here.” Rourke used a tightly controlled voice with his man. He could smell the liquor on the man. But that didn’t make Rourke angry. Far from it. Chris was digging his own grave with his insubordination and Rourke would be happy to watch him do it. There was no place for Chris in his unit. This little alcohol-sponsored incident would just save Rourke the trouble of kicking the man out.
“Even a Goddamn officer can’t just screw around with my wife! I want a divorce.” Chris sneered in contempt before he raised an arm and pointed at Loren. “And I want my kid too! You’re an adulteress and I’m going to get custody of my son.”
“I won’t live with you.” Every head turned as Toby popped up from inside one of the helicopters. The three black Panthers were sitting at rest in the center of the driveway and Rourke had driven Chris toward the aircraft.
Toby jumped down from one Panther and stood facing his father.
“You’re a minor and my son. That bitch poisoned you against me. You’ll see, just as soon as we hang out together. You’ll see.”
Toby regarded his father in silence before he raised his blue eyes toward Loren. Her son sent her a wink as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned back toward his work. Toby jumped back into the helicopter and picked up his laptop computer again.
“Toby, you’re my son and you’ll do what I say!”
Chris didn’t know he was fighting a lost battle. When Toby decided something wasn’t worth his time, her son was oblivious. Toby promptly began punching lines of code into his keyboard.
“No court will give you custody of me. You tried to kill me before I was born.” Toby raised his face and glared at his father. “My mom almost died trying to keep me alive. That’s all I need to know.”
“That’s bullshit! She’s a liar.”
Toby pegged his father with a clear face. “The interesting thing is that Mom never said a word to me about you. So, I decided to look around and find out. The sheriff’s department has a big file on you. I saw what you did to her with your fists.”
Loren felt the blood drain from her face. Every pair of eyes turned toward her but she didn’t care. Her son looked at her and simply grinned. Her hand rose to cover her mouth as the simple truth hit her.
Toby had hacked into the Pentagon, hacked into NASA and he’d hacked into the sheriff’s department files too. When she’d refused to have an abortion, Chris had resorted to drinking first and then he’d tried to beat her badly enough that she’d miscarry his unwanted daughter.
Chapter Six
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Loren felt her muscles tense. Rourke was using the same low tone he’d used with Chris. Moving her eyes around, she studied Rourke’s face.
But he couldn’t hide the anger in his eyes. Loren rolled her shoulders and tried to relax. Her lips felt parched and she ran her tongue over them. Rourke’s eyes immediately focused on the telltale sign of her nerves.
“There was no reason.”
“Wrong.” Rourke crossed the kitchen and pulled Loren out of her chair. He handled her with extreme care but firmly pulled her body toward his. He had a deep need to touch her right then. Feel her skin and assure himself that she was well. Pulling a deep breath into his lungs, he enjoyed her scent and the pulse it triggered in his body.
Loren just couldn’t deal with that attraction right now. Her mind was full of too many memories. She needed space and Rourke was just going to have to give it to her.
“Let me go, Rourke.” Loren placed a single hand onto his chest with her words. She didn’t like the fact that she wasn’t in control of the outcome of her request. If Rourke decided he wasn’t releasing her, she wouldn’t be able to free herself.
He gave her exactly two feet. But he propped himself at an angle against the kitchen counter that blocked her solidly against the wall.
“Did he try to kill you?”
That was a question Loren had rolled around inside her head for years. Sure, it sounded simple enough but it certainly wasn’t. Admitting Chris had tried to kill her was also admitting that she’d made a horribly wrong choice in just who she took into her heart.
That was a mistake that could haunt a woman’s soul forever. If you were so very wrong in choosing one man, how could you ever make the decision to take another man into your bed?
Loren fixed her eyes on Rourke. If she admitted to being so wrong in her judgment on Chris, then her current attraction to Rourke would have to be questioned too, maybe even rejected.
She cringed as she considered that idea. There was something about Rourke that just felt so secure. Every time she looked at the man she felt more of that pull. Weakness and desire was eating away her self-discipline.
But there was definitely one thing she would not do, even for Rourke Campbell.
“Forget it.”
Loren was too quick. Rourke felt his anger tense because she’d homed in on the true reason for his question. He just needed to hear the accusation from her mouth. If Loren would point the finger, he could do something. Until she did that, Chris was an innocent man because she had not named her attacker. The detective who had written the report had suspected it was her husband but there was no evidence without Loren’s statement.
“All right.” Rourke crossed his arms over his chest and considered her. He wanted Chris and he was going to get him. If Loren wanted to play hardball, that would have to be the game. But there wasn’t going to be any getaway for her bastard husband.
“Since you don’t seem willing to let Chris have what’s coming to him, maybe we should let him have it his way.”
A tingle crept up her spine as Loren’s eyes flew to Rourke’s. The expression aimed at her made her feet itch to move back even though she had no room for retreat.
Rourke unfolded his arms and felt his emotions surge. Letting go of his discipline was intensely enjoyable. “Chris wants to divorce you for adultery. But you’re not guilty of that. Yet.”
Composure went flying right out the window. Loren felt every nerve ending snap a second before she tried to dive around Rourke. She didn’t make it even half a foot. The man was truly the predator she’d sensed. He pulled her out of her steps and wrapped her into a solid steel embrace against a chest that was completely unyielding.
But she wasn’t scared and that was the worst part. Loren felt a moan rise out of her mouth as her body begged her to surrender.
It would all be so much simpler. Chris would be gone and she wouldn’t have to worry about fear keeping her from moving on to another man. She wanted Rourke in a painful manner, nothing mattered but the desire burning her alive. Her body was straining toward him because they weren’t close enough. There were too many barriers between them. His shirt hid the warm male skin she craved to touch. She wanted to rip his shirt away until her hands could touch and feel the hard strength of him.
Whatever her reasons, Rourke didn’t care. He could feel her surrender. Her breasts pressed against his chest as the nipples stabbed into him. Her hips tipped forward in blatant invitation and he just didn’t give a damn anymore!
He carried her toward his room and kicked the door shut with his foot. Her eyes were glassy as she stared at him. Rourke took a long look in their simmering pools before he lowered his mouth to hers. Passion didn�
��t disappoint either of them—it was searing hot in its intensity. He laid her in the center of his bed. He stood for a moment as her eyes traveled over his body. Need was written across her face as he reached for the buttons on his shirt. Rourke pulled his shirt off and tossed it across the room.
His hands were impossibly hot on her skin. Her top didn’t last more then a few seconds as he striped the garment from her. Loren watched the way he smoothed his hands over her breasts. His fingers gently rolled her nipples and sensation centered on the single point of touch. Rourke moved his hands to cup each breast entirely before moving back toward her nipples once again. The bed moved as he climbed onto it and knelt over her. His knees spread right in front of her, teasing her with the thick bulge of his pants.
There was such heat in the touch, but there was infinitely more. Rourke wanted to love her. It went so much beyond sex. This wasn’t some groping frenzy that would crescendo in a frantic pounding of genitals.
It could be so deeply right. But it wasn’t. Not this way.
While he cradled her breasts, Loren cupped the sides of his face and raised it to hers. His eyes burned with passion but that didn’t hide the sheer enjoyment he was experiencing. The man wanted to touch her. It burned out of his eyes as she held his face. It lacked the stark selfishness of lust. Instead the need blossomed up in full three-dimensional colors.
Rourke absorbed the last few seconds of sensation before he pulled his hands away from temptation. He wanted her intensely, but she was right. Sitting back onto his knees he considered her as she lay in his bed. The globes of her breasts gleamed against the navy blue of his sheets. Her nipples were beaded into hard little nubs that his mouth was watering to taste.
And he was going to get that taste. “One way or another, Loren. Right here in this bed, I will have you. Soon.”