Farren could tell Travis was wishing he could have saved her the same way. Reminded of the dead-eyed man straddling her and pulling up the hem of her dress, she turned her face to Elam’s neck, resting her head on his shoulder. She’d been so sure she was going to be raped. She couldn’t protect herself.
Elam moved his head so it rested against hers. Something deep shifted in her. She felt the power of his emotion, how much it had cost him to know he’d let her slip away from his guard. But would that change his resolve when it came to avoiding women like her? She couldn’t think about that now. All she wanted was a hot bath. And to know she was safe. Elam made her feel safe.
The car came to a stop in the marina parking area.
“Just leave it here,” Travis said.
Farren guessed that meant Haley had stolen it to come after her. She’d thank her later.
After they got out of the car, Elam lifted Farren up into his arms.
“I can walk,” she said.
“I don’t care,” he replied.
She didn’t have the energy to argue. She lay her head on his shoulder again, not wanting to see the looks they’d get—her in a sundress with a T-shirt over it and Elam bare-chested with a gun holster. It would be a miracle if the authorities didn’t stop them.
Travis led the way down the busy maze of docks. It was a long walk to where the bigger yachts were moored.
As they passed Bev’s yacht, Travis didn’t even look over when she popped her head up and noticed them.
“Is everything okay?” she slurred, holding a glass of dark liquid. When no one answered, she called, “You come by anytime Travis, darling. We’ll pick up where we left off, okay?”
Travis glanced at the drunk woman and then at Haley. Haley’s head was stiffly erect, eyes straight forward, mouth pressed tight. Facing forward again, Travis climbed aboard Rapture and headed for the flybridge.
“Keenan, help Travis keep watch tonight. I don’t want anybody unwanted getting within fifty feet of this yacht,” Elam said.
“They won’t,” Keenan said. “Not unless they want to answer to me and my pistol.”
Without any further acknowledgment, Elam carried Farren to her cabin.
He sat her on the bed, then knelt before her, just looking up at her as if he didn’t know what to say.
“I need a bath,” she said. “With bubbles.”
He smiled but not in a humorous way. It was more affection than anything. Nodding, he stood and went to the bathroom. She heard the water running.
She rubbed her wrists where her attacker had held her. They were sore and a little red, but nothing more.
Before the water shut off, she stood and walked into the bathroom. Her legs felt rubbery. Catching a glimpse of her image in the bathroom mirror, she averted her gaze. She didn’t want to see her dress under this shirt. She didn’t want to relive the terror.
Elam straightened from testing the water temperature and turned to face her. She looked at the press of his lips and the intensity in his eyes. His anger had subsided but his alertness hadn’t. Only instead of looking out for danger, he seemed more aware of her, wary of her, uncertain what to do next. He stuffed his hands into his jean pockets.
She should ask him to leave the bathroom now. She should take a bath alone. Except she was still so vulnerable from what had happened. The thought of being alone gave her a sinking feeling, while the thought of him staying with her was like a ray of sunshine brightening her from the inside out.
“I don’t want to be alone,” she said.
He stared at her.
“Please…”
Without moving his eyes, he shrugged out of his gun holster and put it on the bathroom counter.
Farren turned her back to the mirror and pulled Elam’s T-shirt off her, next came the sundress. She heard him put his shoes aside. She kicked hers off but left on her underwear. Elam stepped into the tub and sat, still in his jeans, opening his arms. She stepped into the tub and sat between his legs.
Leaning back, she used him as a backrest. He carefully wrapped his arms around her. The sweetness of it washed her soul. She melted inside. He reached to their right and pressed a button. Jets came on, sending bubbles to the surface.
“I couldn’t find any bubble bath,” he said.
Farren closed her eyes and turned her head into the curve of his neck. “It’s okay.”
His arms held her snugly to him. He’d saved her, this sniper who’d hardened his heart to love. She closed her eyes, secure and warm and lulled into enchanted serenity. She wouldn’t think about how much she wanted to find a way inside his armor. How much she wanted to be the woman who made him love again. No, for now she’d savor his nearness. She’d worry about the rest later.
Chapter 8
Elam woke to find Farren’s head resting under his chin, her tangle of blond hair covering his shoulder and chest. Her hand lay on his abdomen. Her smooth bare leg was entwined with his rougher ones. He’d taken off his wet clothes last night and now wished he’d at least gotten dry ones from his duffel bag. Unable to stop himself, he lifted his head to get a better view of her. Her nightgown was hiked to her waist and the fresh pair of underwear she’d changed into after their bath pressed against his naked hip.
He dropped his head back onto the pillow and looked up at the ceiling, swallowing a groan. Any more of this and he was a goner.
She moved, a long, languid stretch. He felt all her soft parts slide against him and did groan, a strangled sound that was more of a grunt. The feel of her intoxicated him. He could smell her, too. All woman.
She stiffened. Lifted her head. Sleepy amber eyes widened into full alertness. A tiny gasp came through her open lips. She jerked away from him, scurrying across the bed as if he were a spider.
“What are you doing in here?” she asked.
“My clothes were wet.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It was either stay in here or walk half naked into the salon for my duffel bag. I heard Travis and Haley talking out there.”
She just looked at him.
“You were asleep by the time I dried off,” he went on. “I was just going to lie here until Travis and Haley left the salon, but I fell asleep. I didn’t mean to spend the whole night in here.”
He climbed out of bed, giving her a view of his backside as he went into the bathroom. There was attraction and then there was this thing building between them. Attraction he could deal with. This he couldn’t. Seeing the Arab man on top of her yesterday had brought out the animal in him. What if that man had killed her? The thought of losing her to another tragedy had cauterized him. It still did.
He’d lost his mother and his wife to tragedy, which hurt despite his wife’s having wanted a divorce. That had been part of the tragedy. Knowing that she’d been unhappy with him and had died before she could find happiness had just about killed him.
Losing Farren would affect him in the same way and that had him worried. He’d promised himself a long time ago to be sure the next woman he got involved with could handle his profession, could handle him. Harder, tougher women than Farren. Women who didn’t need a nine-to-five man.
That’s why he stayed focused on military types. They’d have more experience in dangerous situations and their emotions were less likely to be fragile. All he knew was he had to protect himself from facing the kind of loss he’d endured when Veronica died. His mother. He hadn’t been able to save either woman. He’d tried with his mother, but he hadn’t found a way to pull her from the depression that had gripped her ever since his dad died. The 9/11 tragedy had taken her from him before he could. A car accident had taken his wife before he could let her go the way she wanted.
What would falling for Farren do to him? He didn’t trust her to have the staying power he needed from a woman. It wasn’t her fault, it was just the way she was. He had to part ways with her before she mattered too much. Before she became yet another woman he failed. He hoped it wa
sn’t already too late.
Emerging from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, he saw that Farren had pulled the covers to her chin and propped herself more upright against the pillows. Her big amber eyes watched him. He could almost hear her chattering away in her head.
There was this guy I knew once. We were friends, you know? Just friends. But one day we went to the park for a picnic and we found a grassy spot and after lunch I fell asleep and when I woke up I was curled next to him with my whole body touching his, you know, draped over his, really close, and, well, he got the wrong idea and…
Okay, maybe he was a little off in what she’d say, but it’d go something like that. He caught himself before he smiled, then left the cabin.
After dressing to fit the part of a yachter, Elam went up to the flybridge, where Travis and Keenan stood talking. They stopped when he appeared.
“Farren okay?” Travis asked.
“Yeah. Much better.”
“Good. Because the congressman is having a cocktail party tonight. We think you and Farren should crash it,” Keenan said.
Elam looked around. “Where is Haley?”
“She had a late night mingling with the other festival attendees. That’s how she found out about the party.”
“She didn’t get back to the yacht until morning,” Keenan answered. “I was on watch when she got here and told me.” He glanced at Travis, making Elam do the same.
Travis didn’t look pleased about Haley being out all night by herself.
“That’s good. But I’ll need a suit and Farren’s going to need a dress.”
“Haley said she had that under control. She brought something with her from the States.”
“Really?”
“Yacht festival…nice clothes…the two kind of go hand-in-hand.”
“What she lacks in her personal life she makes up for in her professional one.”
Meaning, Haley knew how to dress nice but she didn’t dress nice herself. Her past made it hard for Travis to deal with her on a personal level, because her personal life was still so unsteady. She hadn’t been able to shed the horror of what had happened to her in Iraq. Travis had told him once that Haley had once enjoyed wearing feminine things when she wasn’t working. Not anymore, not since Iraq.
“Is Farren going to be able to handle a cocktail party with you tonight?” Keenan asked.
The question yanked his attention to his own issues with women. One in particular. “She’ll be fine.”
A sound made him look with the other two toward the stairs leading up to the flybridge and sundeck. Farren’s hesitant glance moved from one man to the next until it landed on Elam and stayed a little longer as she passed. She wore a Hawaiian floral bathing suit with a pink sarong tied around her waist. A matching big pink straw hat shaded her eyes. She held an iPod in one hand, probably filled with every Avril Lavigne song ever produced.
Elam understood she was only playing a role, appearing on deck looking like a vacationer about to get some sun, but he still had to harden himself against the swell of affection circling his heart. Her ordeal had made her reach out to him, but that didn’t change how different they were. She lived in an old farmhouse on a quiet island and he lived wherever his missions took him. Kids in the yard, barbecues with the neighbors, a kiss in the morning and an “I’ll see you at dinner tonight” just weren’t in his future. He couldn’t give her that.
He watched her recline on the blue-and-white striped sunbathing pad. She kept her sarong on and pressed a button on the iPod.
Dread welled up in him right along with a good dose of desire. Seeing her dressed to the nines in a cocktail dress was going to drive him over the edge.
Farren let her held breath go as she walked into the salon. She’d stayed up on the sundeck long after Elam had left and hadn’t seen him since.
“There you are,” Haley said as she came out of the galley.
Farren stopped as she approached.
“Mind if we go in your cabin for a minute?” Haley asked.
“What for?”
“I just need to talk to you about tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Didn’t Elam tell you?”
“I haven’t seen him since this morning.”
Haley smiled. “Trying to avoid each other, huh?”
“What’s happening tonight?” Farren resumed her walk to her cabin.
Haley followed. “A cocktail party.”
“Whose?”
“Congressman Shay’s.”
Just inside the cabin, Farren stopped and faced Haley. “We were invited?”
“No. You’re crashing it.”
“Elam and I?”
“Yep.” Haley smiled again.
“I don’t have anything to wear. I didn’t bring anything fancy.”
“That’s okay. Because I did.” Haley gestured toward the bed.
Farren turned. And stared. Beige lining peeked through a mesh of beaded silk. In the middle, the bodice would dip nearly to her belly button and the triangular pieces that covered her breasts tapered to ridiculously thin spaghetti straps. The hem rose precariously high on one side and on the other side angled to a point just above the knee.
“Odie helped me with the size,” Haley said.
Odie was a jack of all trades, apparently. What had she done, looked at a picture and known?
Farren went to the bed and lifted it for a closer look. “There’s no way I can wear this.” Her breasts would practically fall out of it. She felt funny about wearing something so sexy after what happened yesterday. But she had to admit, wearing it for Elam would be easy.
“Sorry. I didn’t know you when I picked it out. I was thinking fancy cocktail party on a yacht. I envisioned a different type of woman. Had I known…” Farren caught her giving her a thoughtful survey. “I would have bought something a little more…Cinderella.” She smiled along with her teasing tone.
“I’ll wear a sundress,” Farren said, not sure if she should be insulted that a woman like Haley likened her to Cinderella, teasing or not. Then again, she shouldn’t be surprised. Lots of people misjudged her. She dressed femininely and kept her nails meticulously groomed. People often had difficulty believing she was an electrical engineer.
“Not formal enough. You’ll stand out too much.”
“I don’t mind.”
“You’ll look like you didn’t come prepared. Like the decision to be here was impulsive.”
“I didn’t plan it.”
“Think of the team, Farren. And Elam. We don’t want anyone questioning his true purpose.”
“I don’t see the big deal. So what if Imaad knows. So what if Shay knows. Jared and Carolyn murdered each other and now a terrorist wants me to give him money.”
“Imaad will disappear if he finds out who we are. If he finds out what kind of organization is after him.”
“What kind of organization is that?”
“A secret one.”
Farren tossed the dress onto the bed and went to the closet where she’d hung all her sundresses.
“A powerful one,” Haley said. “TES has a reputation that even someone like Imaad wouldn’t be able to ignore. He isn’t safe in the shadows from an organization like ours. We can take him down without public, political consent. He would know that.”
“He won’t just turn away from three million.”
“Of course not.”
“But he would run from your organization? What are you, some kind of mafia with a cause?”
“No, nothing so theatrical. Our government would deny any involvement in a mission that resulted in the unauthorized killing of a rising terrorist figure, but who do you think is giving us our orders?”
Stunned, Farren slowly turned to face her. “You’re saying Elam works for the government?”
“Not at all. He works in the gray area between that and the devil.”
It sounded so risky. But brave and noble, too. Heroic. It fueled her feelings fo
r him and confused her at the same time.
“Look,” Haley said with a heavy sigh, “I’m probably telling you more than I should, but you’re one of us now. You need to understand the importance of protecting this team. As long as our organization is protected, we can keep fighting terrorism without political ramifications. That’s how you fight terrorism. You don’t do it by waving at the camera and telling the American public how you’re going to do your job. The job has to be secret.” She paused but Farren didn’t know what to say. She was still trying to wrap her mind around what she was learning.
“Wearing a sexy cocktail dress may seem insignificant,” Haley continued, “but every little thing matters. One slip could lead to another and pretty soon people like Imaad are going to their leaders with questions. They find out how close they are to getting caught and disappear into caves. As an operative for TES, you go in, you get the job done, and you get out before anyone knows who you are.”
“All right,” Farren said. “I’ll wear the dress.”
Haley smiled. “Good girl.” She headed for the door. “You “You have two hours.” At the door, she stopped, looking back. “Oh, and we didn’t have this discussion.”
Farren nodded. She caught the change in Haley’s smile and wondered if she’d just been fooled into wearing a sexy dress for Elam. Except she didn’t think Haley had lied to her about TES. Which touched her. And disturbed her.
Farren fingered the wisps of blond hair she’d left hanging free along her face and studied herself in the mirror. Softly lined brown eyes stared back at her and coral gloss shined on parted lips. She’d put her hair up and it made her neck look delicate and slender. The thin straps of the dress didn’t seem like they’d hold the triangular strips of cloth that covered her breasts and dipped to her sternum. The skin-colored material under the black beaded silk netting made her look naked and that touched every curve of her body. The hem rode high on her left thigh and dipped to a point at her right knee. Too many hard angles for her taste, but she had to admit, it looked pretty darn good on her. She found a black onyx pendant to hang from a vintage-style chain and a pair of strappy black shoes that made her legs look long and slender.
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