by Lora Leigh
CHAPTER 15
Tehya had thought she would know the two men when she faced them, that they would be men she had known from Sorrel’s organization. She hadn’t expected strangers. Men she hadn’t glimpsed following her before. Men she knew nothing of.
It was so reminiscent of the years she had spent running from her biological father. Despite his death, he had reached out from the grave, determined to destroy everyone, anyone she cared for or who would attempt to protect her.
As she stepped into the main room of the suite, she wondered if perhaps Jordan wasn’t right. Maybe love truly was an illusion. If it were real, wouldn’t she have forced him out of the danger she faced? At the least, wouldn’t she have run, or found a way to hide from him? To protect him. Wasn’t that a part of love?
“Jordan, they’re not going to talk.” John stepped from the room, the others following. “They’re not going to tell you why they targeted Tehya, if the information we’re pulling up is true.”
Jordan turned slowly to face him. “Tehya was the target once they killed me. And they will talk, one way or the other. I want answers John. They knew our security and exactly how to get past it, knew the lay of the suite and how to get to me. I want to know who told them.”
“They knew which side of the bed you were sleeping on,” Tehya pointed out, hearing the sound of her own voice, recognizing the dispassionate sound of it. “And it wasn’t luck, because you rarely sleep on the same side of the bed two nights in a row.”
It had driven her crazy since he had begun sleeping with her. She liked her side.
She liked Jordan alive.
She could feel herself freezing inside, feel the fear, the certain knowledge that in all the years she had been running, anyone who tried to save her died.
Could she bear losing Jordan as her mother had lost everyone she had tried to trust during the years she had fought to keep her daughter safe?
She couldn’t. She knew she couldn’t survive losing Jordan in such a way.
Oh God, she couldn’t be the cause of the life being bled from those incredible blue eyes.
Tehya watched as the six men and two women exchanged looks.
“No one should have been aware of anything within this suite,” Micah stated as he jerked the mask from his face and cast a disgusted look at the door they had just closed. “We don’t allow staff or visitors in the room and Nik had the location of the furniture moved into the normal walk paths of the room before we arrived. No one could have known the layout.
“We’re not fucking rookies, Tehya,” Micah reminded her, his voice, his eyes icy cold. She had offended him and she hadn’t meant to.
Tehya inhaled slowly. God, she didn’t have time to deal with the male ego or tender feelings tonight. She’d had enough. Her fingers curled into fists as she fought back her own smart-assed response. The need to rip the eyes from the bastards that had attempted to kill Jordan was nearly overpowering.
They had almost succeeded in taking from her one of the few people she knew she could depend upon. The only man she had ever loved. The only man she hadn’t been able to resist from the moment she had laid eyes on him.
Her point was the fact that Nik had reserved the room in his own name. At the earliest, they might have known she was in the room the day after. And as Micah stated, they hadn’t allowed anyone inside the suite, even staff. Furniture in both the living and dining suite as well as the bedroom had been moved.
The only way any type of video or audio could have been placed inside the room was before they arrived. They had checked for surveillance equipment, though, she knew that. Hell, she had helped do it and they had found nothing.
Could the would-be assassins get that lucky?
No maids were allowed inside. Room service was never called, one of the men had gone out for food instead. Somehow, some kind of surveillance had to have been placed in the bedroom. It was the only way Frackle and Fillipinni could have known where Jordan was sleeping without the aid of night-vision equipment.
“Lights were left on here in the living suite,” Jordan pointed out. Even in the dark it wouldn’t be that hard to pick out the white comforter on the bed and the side the larger body lay on.
“What would be the point behind killing Jordan?” Noah asked softly, the quiet tone more indicative of the danger raging inside him than the icy control the other men displayed.
“He protects me,” she said painfully. “That was Sorrel’s favorite game. To kill whoever stood between him and his goal of acquiring me. Right down to my mother.” She turned and watched Jordan, aching, filled with such regret that she could feel her stomach turning with the thought of the blood that had been shed when she was younger. “I killed Sorrel. How is he still haunting me?”
She remembered killing him as well as his son. She remembered seeing Raven and Sorrel’s lifeless eyes gazing back at her. Blood had soaked their chests from the bullets they’d taken to the heart. She remembered it all, yet, it was as though they still lived.
Pushing her fingers through her hair, she turned away from the others as they gazed back at her silently, somberly. She feared pityingly. She didn’t want their pity and she had been cruel to accept their help.
They had lives, families. They had children, friends.
She only had them until she had moved to Hagerstown. And even now, she hadn’t truly made friends. No one would miss her, save those who stood in the room with her now. And they would go on. They would remember her fondly. They would regret her death. But no one cared enough to truly grieve.
Perhaps not even the man sleeping with her. The man she had given her heart to.
She couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t face the danger she had brought to his life. And she had been too weak to run, too weak to remember the lessons she had been taught in the past.
Never make friends, because they died.
Never love anyone, because they were murdered.
Never, ever, dream of a life that could include a measure of security or of peace.
“Tehya.” Suddenly, his arms were surrounding her, turning her, pulling her against the muscular strength of his chest.
He was warm, strong. He held her as though he could protect her against anything, anyone that would strike against her. He held her as though he were bulletproof, and she knew no man could make that claim.
“I wanted it to be over,” she whispered as her fingers curled into the loose material of his shirt. “I just wanted it to go away, Jordan. It should have died with Sorrel.”
“And it will,” he promised her, his lips against her ear. “I promise you, this time, we’re going to bury it for good.”
She turned slowly.
She should have run, she should have protected him when she had the chance.
*
He was going to kill.
It was all Jordan could do to keep from stalking into the other suite and murdering the two men where they sat.
“You expected this,” Noah stated quietly, accusingly, as he stared back at Jordan from the other side of the table.
“I would have been stupid not to.” Jordan shrugged as Tehya finished bandaging his side more than an hour later, after Micah had been found to stitch it. “They just moved faster than I expected.”
“I would have expected another attack to come outside the protected area,” Micah inserted as he sat back in his chair. “It came too soon.”
Jordan shook his head in denial. “The first attack was an attempt to take Teyha. Whoever’s pulling the strings here wasn’t aware she had friends willing to protect her.” He glanced at John Vincent and Travis Caine. “Tonight’s attack was the taking of an opportunity.” He glanced at Teyha. “They thought they had the advantage so they took it.”
He sat back, aware of the others watching him thoughtfully as he hid a mocking smile. There was a reason he was a commander in the Elite Ops unit. There was a reason he had been given more freedom than any other commander in the private covert op
erations organization.
Because he knew how to cover his ass, and he knew exactly how to push to achieve a reaction.
“We know whoever’s been searching for her has a personal stake in it,” he began.
“And how do we know this?” Nik was the one that leaned forward to question the observation. “I’ve gone over the past reports filed on her mother and the deaths of the men attempting to protect them, as well as the months Teyha was in France and the attempt against her there. I would say it’s more likely one of Sorrel’s partners attempting to punish her for killing Sorrel.”
Beside him, Tehya flinched.
“I have to agree,” Micah spoke up. “We’ve all been over the past reports, Jordan. How can you assume there’s something personal involved, now that Sorrel and his son are both dead?”
“Sorrel’s associates, friends, and even his enemies wouldn’t play with her,” he explained. “She’s being toyed with, for whatever reason. Watched. Pushed to certain reactions. It’s more a trademark of Sorrel’s pattern when targeting a victim to kidnap rather than an attempt to extract vengeance for his death. The plan changed when the attack at the house didn’t leave her on the run, vulnerable and frightened, because I was there.” He glanced at the closed door to the suite where the two mercenaries were being held. “They were ordered to get rid of me.”
Tehya sat silent, staring at the closed door, listening as he laid out, step by step, the actions that had taken place since he had arrived at her home.
And he was right. Even before he arrived, she had felt pushed, led, dragged into a situation she was helpless to avoid.
It was indeed a Sorrel trademark. Even as a child, Tehya had recognized the game that was played with her mother and the men who attempted to protect her.
No one could protect her. That was the lesson Sorrel had tried to teach her. He had been amused the few times he had managed to contact her. Once, he had even left a cell phone along with his number. And Tehya had called. She listened with a sense of unreality to the charming, caring voice of a monster so evil it had sent chills racing up her spine.
“How do you propose handling this?” Noah brought her attention back to the conversation going on around the table.
Noah’s voice was deeper, darker for the fury burning inside him.
“I propose we let them escape,” Jordan suggested, his lips curling in a smile. “Let them run back home to whoever Daddy is, while we follow and see who they’re reporting to. Meanwhile, Tehya will be rushed from the hotel to Senator Stanton’s estate, where we’ll carefully arrange the rumor that our two erstwhile assassins actually managed to succeed in their attempt to kill me, but the bodyguards I had hired arrived in time to save Tehya.” He turned to Noah. “John, Travis, and Noah will drag out my wrapped body and put it in the Conquest while Nik and Micah rush Tehya to the senator’s estate. We’ll drop Noah off to watch the two men as they “escape” while we collect the backup vehicles and follow them once they’re on the move.”
“Stage it first,” Bailey suggested quietly. “Let them hear the argument when they awaken concerning the torture you’re going to exact once you return from taking care of his body. Convince them Jordan is dead.”
“And remember, I wasn’t shot until the end, as I knocked Frackle out. They aren’t aware where I was hit. It could have been a fatal shot.”
Tehya sat silently and listened. The plan was simple and effective. A typical “Jordan” plan, while at the same time being in-depth enough to be completely convincing.
It was the reason why he had been so effective as a commander.
He left nothing to chance. Even the smallest details were taken care of, and each opportunity to put it to its best use considered.
“I can’t believe you’re totally dropping out of the game.” Micah’s gaze gleamed with amusement. “You realize we just laid in a plan that requires no backup support and eliminates ninety percent of the chances of failure, right?”
Jordan’s expression was still tightly controlled. “It’s that ten percent that worries me. Let’s see if we can’t get a little closer there.”
Tehya got slowly to her feet. She felt stiff, old. As though the years she had spent running, plotting, searching for just a moment’s haven to find some rest had prematurely aged her.
After the morning she had just spent, she definitely expected to find gray hairs.
“Tehya, are you okay?” Quiet, concerned, Jordan continued to stare up at her, the blue of his eyes darker than normal.
“I’m fine,” she whispered as she extricated her arm from his grip and gave him what she hoped was a natural smile. “I do need to use the restroom though, if you’ll excuse me.”
Turning her back on them, she left the room quickly.
Her stomach was churning, and no amount of concentrating on others or distracting her thoughts was going to save her this time.
At the very thought of Jordan’s life being taken so easily, the dinner she’d had last night was about to make a reappearance.
CHAPTER 16
Jordan was waiting on her as she left the bathroom, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, his blue eyes narrowed as he stared back at her silently.
It would be impossible to miss the fact that she had been sick.
She’d washed her face, but she knew what it looked like. It was incredibly pale, her eyes appeared too large, her lips too stressed.
And he was taking in every inch of her face, her expression, whatever he saw in her eyes.
“You’re not okay.”
Duh. She’d just finished puking her guts up while escaping.
Thank God he had changed shirts and cleaned his blood up, but there was still a smear of red at his hairline. The sight of it had her stomach turning, as memories raped her mind.
“I’m fine now,” she assured him, giving a brief shrug as she moved to pass him.
He caught her again. His fingers curled around her upper arm as her breath caught in her chest, and tears clogged her throat. The past was too close. There had been too many times that she had seen the results of Sorrel’s horror. The pictures he had sent her. See what you caused, baby girl? Come home to Daddy so he doesn’t have to hurt anyone else.
Sorrel had played with her. Just as someone was trying to play with her now. Who? He’d had no partners other than her brother.
“Tey?” His voice was a dark croon as his head lowered, his hand smoothing to her hip, fingers burning through the thin material of the short T-shirt dress she had changed into.
Her eyes closed as his lips pressed to the bared curve of her shoulder and he pulled the material to her side. When he placed her head against his opposite shoulder, she felt her breath hitch in her throat.
She could feel the warmth of him against her, his hand stroking up her back, then returning to her hips. The sheer gentleness, the tension of banked hunger, the need she could feel, unspoken and louder than words, surrounded her.
“Take me with you.”
The plea escaped her lips before she could pull them back. She was terrified to let him out of her sight now. The panic building inside her threatened to send her running back to the bathroom.
She had spent so many years knowing each time she was separated from whoever attempted to protect her, they died. They were tortured, left lifeless after hours of pain.
“Tey,” he whispered her name again, his fingers tightening on her hips once again. “Play your part, sweetheart. John, Travis, Bailey, and Lilly are going to rush you to the senator’s as the others carry me out. I’ll be there soon.”
He moved to pull back.
“No, not yet.” Her hands tightened on his shoulders, the need to hold him in place overwhelming now. “Listen to me, Jordan. Every time. Every time they left me and thought I was protected, they were killed.” A sob escaped her lips. “You know they were. They were tortured.…”
It was all she could see. Jordan, his expression twisted in agony because he
hadn’t talked. Jordan wouldn’t talk. He’d never tell anyone where she was if she were hidden. And they would ensure he died in agony.
“I’ve got this, baby.” As he lifted his head, his hand rose and cupped her cheek, his gaze locked with hers.
This wasn’t the man she had worked with. If she had dared express concern or fear for his life then, the ice that was so much a part of him would have kicked in.
It didn’t this time.
His gaze actually softened, his lips quirked in tender amusement, but in his expression she saw his refusal to do as she asked.
“I’ve got this,” he repeated, his lips touching hers, brushing against them. “When we’re finished here, it’s going to be over, and you’re going to be safe. I won’t have it any other way.”
She had to clench her teeth against the urge to beg. This expression she knew. There was no changing his mind, and John, Travis, and their wives would ensure she was where she was supposed to be.
“Noah has my back,” he promised her. “Nik and Micah have his. I’ll slip into the senator’s estate tonight, as soon as we’re finished.”
She tried to shake her head, tried to speak. His hand tightened on her jaw, his lips covered hers, and the kiss he gave her rocked her to the soles of her feet.
His lips rubbed against hers, stroked, and sent heat flushing through her system in a slow burn that, at first, seemed harmless enough.
The heat rose slowly, enveloping her, flowing into her blood and spiking it with a hunger she couldn’t deny, or hide.
Her arms curled around his neck, her fingers feathering into the back of his hair as a moan whispered past her lips, and the need to hold on to him began to grow inside her.
She felt the hunger beginning to infuse both of them, his body tensing, his cock pressing more firmly against the juncture of her thighs as his hand slid up her leg.