by Karen Foley
“He does?” Shane echoed.
The Admiral narrowed his gaze on Shane. “Son, your old man couldn’t be prouder of you. He brings that Mustang out every month and drives her through town just to keep her pipes clear. If that car doesn’t purr like a kitten the first time you turn her over, I’ll eat my hat.”
Shane felt a little stunned by the news. The few times he’d been home during the past eight years, the Mustang had surprised him by starting right up, but he’d never guessed his father had anything to do with it. Now, looking back, he wondered how he could have been so obtuse.
“I had no idea,” he admitted. “I’ll stop by the stables on my way out of town to say hello.”
“Well, how long are you going to be gone?” Emily asked. “I hope you’ll be back in time for the parade and the festivities. It just wouldn’t be the same without you, Shane. Especially considering what you did to save our little girl.”
“Mother,” Holly protested weakly.
“I realize the Marine Corps does not view your actions in the same heroic light that we do,” Emily continued quietly, “but I want you to know that the Admiral and I are grateful to you for your efforts.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate that. I’ll be back in just a few days,” Shane assured her. What he needed to do wouldn’t take that long. He pushed his chair back and stood up. “I should probably get going. If I leave now, I can be in Washington by two.”
“This is all so rushed,” Emily protested. “Must you leave this instant? Why, the traffic will be horrendous.” She turned to the Admiral. “Tell him to wait a few hours, at least.”
The Admiral leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Son, if there’s one thing I’ve learned during thirty years of marriage, it’s not to contradict Emily.” He winked at his wife to take the sting out of his words. “If I were you, I’d wait a bit.”
Emily nodded in satisfaction. “You’ll avoid the traffic and probably still arrive at the same time.”
“I’ll meet you out front in an hour,” the Admiral said, standing up. “I have a few phone calls to make and then I’ll drive you over to the drugstore.”
“Holly, why don’t you show Shane the new fishpond that we had installed last year?” suggested Emily. “I don’t think he’s seen it, and the black-eyed susans are in full bloom right now. After that, follow the path to the fountain, and you’ll see how magnificent the lilies are this year. And I added a new bed of carnations just beyond the arbor that I believe both of you will enjoy.”
“Thank you for breakfast,” Shane said, and bent to kiss Emily’s cheek.
He fell into step beside Holly as she made her way slowly along a garden path edged with tall boxwood.
“Did you tell my father about what happened at the lake house?” she asked.
“Yes. He’s going to make some calls and have the security system changed at the house. He’s also sending in a team of guys to go over the property with a fine-toothed comb to look for any other booby traps, like the one with the boat engine.”
Holly nodded. “He certainly has connections, so that won’t be a problem.”
“Yeah.”
Shane didn’t tell Holly that he’d told her father the truth about what had happened that day in Iraq; that Sgt. Martinez had intended to kill his daughter on the battlefield. He’d never seen the Admiral lose his composure, and he hadn’t shown any outward emotion at the news, but he’d gone very quiet and his mouth had tightened into a thin line.
“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he’d promised Shane, and that had been the end of the discussion. But Shane knew that as soon as he was alone, the Admiral would be on the phone, demanding answers. In that regard, Holly was right; her father had connections.
They walked away from the main house, following the gravel paths through gardens that boasted sculptures and small benches, and under arbors that were draped with hanging flowers. Eventually, they left the cultured gardens behind and strolled into the woods at the rear of the property.
“Where are we going?” Shane laughed as they entered the cool darkness of the trees. “I don’t remember there being anything out here except more trees.”
“Wait and see,” Holly said with a secretive smile.
Within a few minutes, they came to a stone bridge that arched over a small creek. As they crossed the bridge, Shane saw the stream fed a small pond that was surrounded by trees and lush plants. On the far side of the pond was a gazebo.
Shane whistled softly. “I definitely don’t remember this.”
Holly laughed. “My mother calls it her wishing pond. She says there’s something magical about being out here. She had it made a couple of years ago. This is the first time I’ve seen it during the summer.”
Shane thought Emily’s description was accurate; the pond had an almost ethereal feel to it, and the surface was thick with white lily pads.
“Come into the gazebo,” Holly urged, drawing him across the bridge and down the path that led to the pond.
The entire gazebo was overgrown with climbing wisteria, which draped across the openings in purple swags. Inside the gazebo, the only view was of the pond itself, and the flowering lily pads that floated serenely on the surface.
Holly drew Shane down onto the swinging bench. “Nice, right?”
“Very nice.”
“So how come you lied to me?”
Startled, Shane swung his gaze around to her. “What?”
She gave him a tolerant look. “You told me that you were going to Maryland to have your leg looked at, yet you told my parents you were going to Washington. So which is it?”
Shane backpedalled furiously. “Bethesda. Definitely Bethesda.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Shane studied her for a moment, seeing the resolve in her eyes. “Fine. I’m not going to Bethesda. I’m going to see the Inspector General and tell them what I remember about the day of the attack.”
Holly gave a small gasp and straightened. “You do remember what happened.”
“I do.” He frowned. He didn’t want to tell Holly what his memory told him was the truth. Nobody wanted to hear that someone under their own command had tried to kill them. But more than that, he knew she’d feel responsible for his own injury once he told her why he’d abandoned his post.
“Tell me what you remember,” she insisted. And then, when he didn’t immediately respond, “That’s not a request.”
Shane blew out a hard breath, finding it difficult to relive those moments. “I asked to be assigned to your convoy that day. I knew you were in the third truck and when we came under attack, I watched for you. I saw you and Martinez start to make your way alongside the vehicles.” He leaned forward to brace his elbows on his knees and scrub his hands over his face, unable to continue.
Holly wanted to reach out and comfort him, but she sat frozen, her mind reeling over what he’d just said. He’d asked to be assigned to her convoy. The impact of that stunned her. As much as he tried to pretend he was immune to her, his actions that day said otherwise. Sucking in a deep breath, she forced herself back to the present.
“What happened then?” Holly asked softly. “I remember there was an explosion behind me, and Sgt. Martinez and I were both thrown forward.”
Shane nodded, not looking at her. “Yeah. But then you got up and kept moving, while Martinez…”
“What? What did Martinez do?”
Lowering his hands, Shane angled his head to look at her. “He raised his fucking gun and pointed it right at your back.”
Holly blinked. She had a difficult time reconciling the man who Shane was describing with the man she’d known in Iraq. Martinez had always seemed so non-threatening and pathetic. She never would have guessed that he was capable of any kind of violence, never mind murder. “Oh.”
“Yeah. You were right in my line of sight or I would have plugged the son of a bitch right then and there.”
“But instead you left your position and tried
to run to me.”
“I thought if he at least saw me coming…if he knew that I knew what he was up to, that he’d back off.”
Holly was staring at him now, her dark eyes huge in her pale face. “But you were shot. And I ran to help you.”
“And gave Martinez the lucky break he’d been looking for. He shot you, but you didn’t go down. And then he realized that I was a witness and so he threw a grenade, thinking he’d just kill us both.” He gave a humorless laugh. “But he’s a supply clerk and didn’t have the kind of battlefield experience that the rest of us had. He seriously overthrew the grenade, which is the only reason you and I are sitting here right now.”
“But why?” Holly wasn’t looking at Shane. She was staring sightlessly at the pond, remembering the events of that day. “Why would he want to hurt us?”
“You were having him investigated.”
Holly did look at Shane then, and he saw the confusion on her face. In her entire life, she’d never had anyone deliberately set out to hurt her, and he could see how deeply the news affected her.
“Come here,” he said roughly, and drew her gently into his arms, tucking her head beneath his chin and using his good foot to set the swing into motion. “None of what happened was your fault,” he assured her. “And what Martinez did wasn’t even personal, as crazy as that sounds. He was panicked, knowing that he was about to be exposed as a liar and a thief.”
“But that’s just it,” Holly said, her voice muffled against his chest. “I took care not to arouse his suspicions. He couldn’t have known that I’d requested an investigation. The only person I told was my commanding officer and the Inspector General’s office.”
Shane stilled, and then a deep fury filled him until he had to concentrate to keep his breathing normal and his touch gentle so that Holly wouldn’t guess. Holly’s commanding officer was involved in whatever sleazy scheme Martinez was caught up in. He wondered if killing Holly had always been part of the plan, or if Martinez had simply grabbed the opportunity as it had arisen. For the first time, he grasped the full enormity of what had happened, and how close he’d come to losing Holly.
He pressed his mouth against her hair, loving the feel of the silky strands against his mouth, loving her fragrance, loving her.
“I don’t want you to worry about anything,” he said, his voice husky with repressed emotion. “Everything is going to be fine.”
Holly nodded and wound her arms around his waist, insinuating herself closer, until she was almost sitting on his lap. “I want to go with you,” she said firmly, and kissed his throat. “You’ll need my testimony.”
“No. You’ve already made your statement and told the IG everything you know. This is my statement, and it’s better if I go alone.” He hesitated. “We don’t need to give the IG any more ammunition to use against us, and if you come with me, I don’t think I’ll be able to hide how I feel about you.”
Holly paused in the act of tasting his skin and pulled back to look at him with an enthralled expression. “How do you feel about me?”
Shane stared into her chocolate dark eyes and knew he was lost. He had been since the day she’d walked into Benjamin’s Drugstore and ordered a cherry Coke, and then drank it without once taking her eyes from him.
“I do better with hands-on demonstrations,” he growled softly, and lifted her so that she straddled his thighs. Sliding his hands to her bottom, he pushed them beneath the hem of her sundress and reveled in the feel of her warm skin beneath his hands. “And I think I’m beginning to understand the benefits of wearing a dress.”
Holly laughed softly and raised herself up on her knees to wind her arms around his neck and lower her mouth to his. Her lips were incredibly soft and moist and she tasted faintly of sweet melon.
“Love me before you go,” she begged, her voice low and urgent against his mouth.
Without waiting for his answer, she reached down and fumbled with the fastening of his shorts. He was already hard for her, but he grasped her wrist, needing to slow her down.
“Holly, what if someone comes?”
She leaned back slightly to look at him with a crooked smile. “Well, gee, I was kind of hoping that would be me.”
Shane laughed and then stopped breathing as she unsnapped his shorts and lowered his zipper, and slid her hand beneath the waistband of his boxers. He heard her breath hitch when she found him hot and hard, and that small sound was a complete turn on.
He forgot about where they were or that anyone could come across the stone bridge and find them. There was only Holly, warm and alive and vibrant in his arms. She kissed him, sliding her tongue against his as she gripped him in her hand, until sparks of white-hot lust fire-crackered behind Shane’s eyelids. The only thing that mattered was getting inside her as fast as possible.
Hooking his thumbs in the waistband of her panties, he dragged them down her hips, and she shifted her weight to help push them free of her body. Then there she was, pulsing and warm and soft against the part of him that ached for release. He wanted to go slow, to take his time and watch her reach her pleasure first, but he never had the chance.
Holly braced herself with one hand on his shoulder and positioned him at the entrance to her body, and then lowered herself over him in one smooth, blissful movement. Shane gritted his teeth at the exquisite sensation of sinking into her wet heat, but when she gave a deep groan of sexual pleasure and began rocking against him, he lost whatever tenuous control he’d had.
Gripping her hips in his hands, he thrust deeply and only the fact that his good foot was planted firmly on the floor of the gazebo kept the swing from rocking wildly. Even so, the rhythmic movement of her body against his was too much. He wasn’t going to last, but it was okay because Holly was there too, her hands buried in his hair as she angled for deeper penetration. She clutched at him, rising over him as she used her thighs to leverage her sensual movements. She gasped and Shane swallowed her soft cries of satisfaction as a powerful orgasm gripped her, and then pulled him over the edge to join her.
Breathing heavily, he wrapped his arms around her and just held her, breathing in her scent and feeling the hard thump of her heart against his. Her arms were still wrapped around his neck and her fingers threaded idly through his hair as she struggled to catch her breath.
“Oh, man,” he finally groaned. “That was unexpected.”
“But amazing.”
Shane laughed. “Oh, yeah…. Sweetheart, I hate to do this, but if we don’t head back to the house in the next few minutes, your old man is going to come looking for us. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to explain this to the Admiral.”
Holly smiled against his neck. “Mmm, me neither.”
Reluctantly, Shane eased her away from him and helped her to retrieve her panties. With their clothing back in place, they made their way out of the gazebo and back over the stone bridge. Shane kept her hand tucked loosely in his, reluctant to let her go completely.
“So, I’ll call you when I get to Washington and let you know how it’s going.” She nodded.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. We may both have to testify, eventually.”
“I don’t have a problem with that. Do you?”
An image of Martinez raising his gun at Holly’s unprotected back came back to Shane and he felt again that sensation of panic and desperation and utter helplessness. He curled his hand tighter around Holly’s. “No, I have no problem whatsoever with it. If I have my way, he’ll spend the rest of his life in Leavenworth.”
They retraced their steps back toward the house until they came to a small clearing with a fountain. In the center stood a small sculpture of a cherub pouring a jug of water into the surrounding pool. Thick yew shrubs surrounded the circular fountain and ivy climbed over the carved feet of the stone benches on either side.
“I always loved this part of the garden,” Holly mused. “When I was a little girl, I’d pretend I was a princess being kept in a for
bidden castle against my will, waiting for my knight in shining armor to rescue me.”
“And then I showed up,” Shane quipped. He’d meant it as a joke, but when Holly turned to him, there was nothing remotely humorous about the expression on her face.
“Yes,” she said softly, “and then you showed up. A reluctant hero who wanted nothing to do with princesses.”
Shane gave a small laugh. “I don’t think I’d describe you as a princess, Holly. A real princess would wait for her hero to save her, not go charging into battle to save him.”
Holly flashed him a smile. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I’d do it again if I had to.”
“I hope it never comes to that. You’ve had enough close calls in the past month to last me the rest of my life.” Then, afraid he’d said too much, Shane glanced toward the house. “I should get going. Your father is waiting for me.”
“Come this way. My mother said there’s a new garden she wants us to see.”
Holly led him beyond the fountain to where the path circled toward the side of the house. In a small clearing, they saw Emily had planted red, white, and purple carnations in the pattern of the American flag.
“Very nice,” Shane commented. “I can never think of your mother without thinking of flowers. Are you really going to turn your photos into a calendar?”
To his surprise, Holly blushed. “I don’t know that they’re good enough. Mother thinks they are, but that’s not the reason I took the photos. I just thought that someone ought to capture the beauty of her gardens.”
“I’ve seen your photos, Holly. I think your mother is right—you have a true talent with a camera. Have you ever thought of doing something professional?”
“Sometimes. But dreaming and doing are two very different things. There are a lot of talented photographers out there who’ve spent years perfecting their craft. I just sort of go on instinct.”
“Sometimes instinct is what separates the survivors from the rest of the pack,” Shane said quietly. “And you’re a survivor, Holly.”
She flashed him a quick smile of gratitude. “We’ll see.” She gestured toward the flowers. “Don’t be surprised if you see these gardens all over Chatham next year.”