The_Secret Soldier

by Jennifer Morey

  For the next three hours Cullen studied Brooks Tower, spying on what she had to assume was Aden’s condo. Sabine found a movie to pass the time and was halfway through a second when he finally put the binoculars down and looked to where she leaned against the pillows on the bed. She lost interest in the movie. He seemed more relaxed now.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  For you, she thought.

  His eyes began to smolder in response to what he must see in her expression.

  “Yes,” she said.

  She watched him control his rising interest. “I know a good seafood place near here.”

  “Good idea.” She climbed off the bed. They needed to get out of this hotel room.

  A short walk to Larimer Street brought them to Del Mar Crab House. Sabine followed Cullen down wide stairs. A smiling hostess—who didn’t recognize them—seated them at a table near the bar. It wasn’t very crowded at almost nine-thirty. Sabine looked around at the tables. A family of four sat at a table two down from them, and a couple sat across the aisle. There were two people sitting at the bar and three other tables occupied by small groups of people.

  Sabine took in the brick walls with pictures. The restaurant was open and rectangular, like so many of the older buildings in downtown Denver. It smelled like seafood. Facing forward again, she noticed a candle in a glass container, glowing between her and Cullen. He watched her as he sipped his water. Being watched by him was an erotic experience. She leaned back and enjoyed the slow burn that took over his eyes. But only for a moment. Where would this lead if she allowed it to continue? With no small effort, she reined in the pleasure of his sultry appreciation.

  “Be careful, Roaring Creek might start to look appealing to you,” she teased.

  “It already does.”

  He had to mean something other than what she’d like to think. “You’d climb the walls with nothing to do.”

  “I can think of one thing I’d like to do.”

  She half laughed, too nervous to trust him. “What? Fish?”

  He didn’t answer, not verbally anyway. His eyes said it all.

  A spark of awareness rushed through her. She struggled to cover it. “If only you were a permanent resident.”

  That worked to cool his ardor well enough. She felt him withdraw. It also reminded her that he didn’t belong in Roaring Creek. She pretended to look around the restaurant, willing the sting of his subtle rejection down to a manageable level. His reaction proved he was the wrong man for her. How much more did she need to keep her distance? If only it were that easy.

  The sound of a news program filtered into her musings. She turned to a television above the bar.

  “More information has surfaced about the man who daringly rescued Sabine O’Clery from her captors in Afghanistan,” the newswoman said, a big smile bursting onto her face. “This hero is one to remember. Although the army has repeatedly denied any claim McQueen was once a Delta Force soldier, fellow Ranger Anthony Timmons says otherwise.”

  The screen switched to a ruthlessly short-haired black man. “It was years ago, but he was my platoon leader. I remember him because he was a scary dude. Big and serious and good at everything he did. Got promoted to captain about the time he applied for Special Forces. Lost track of him after that. He just sort of, you know…disappeared.”

  “Disappeared?” the reporter interviewing him repeated.

  “Yeah. Nobody knew where he went or what he was doing. I kept sayin’ he joined Delta, but nobody’d believe me.” He laughed. “Now he shows up on the news and people aren’t in such a hurry to call me a liar. I didn’t know he joined the reserves, but it makes sense, since he runs his own Ops company now.”

  “You know it’s an Ops company? Do you mean Special Operations?” the reporter asked.

  The camera changed to a view of both men. “I don’t know it for fact, but with McQueen’s background it don’t take much of a stretch. That company is probably blacker than anybody will ever know….”

  The interview ended and the newswoman’s beaming face filled the screen again.

  That’s when the murmurs gathered momentum around them. The woman sitting with a man across the aisle from them said, “Oh my God, it’s them. They’re here!”

  “Mommy, look,” came from another table.

  Watching Cullen’s reaction, Sabine’s heart broke for him. His livelihood was crumbling and there was nothing she could say or do to stop it. When she realized she wanted to, feelings warred inside her. How could she have ever thought of him as a mercenary? She could barely think of her father that way anymore. The truth frightened her because it tore down defenses when she needed them most.

  Cullen stood, dropping several bills onto the table. “Let’s go.”

  Sabine didn’t protest. Nearly every eye in the restaurant was lasered on them.

  Jogging to keep up with him, she braced herself for his stormy mood. His boots thudded on the sidewalk with each of his long strides. He didn’t look at her once on the short walk back to their hotel. There, the doorman smiled and opened the door for them. She was grateful that he didn’t say anything, if he’d recognized them. They rode the elevator alone.

  It dinged on their floor and the doors slid open. Cullen preceded her into the hall. At the door to their room, he opened it and went in before her, going to stand in front of the window. Across the street and in the distance, the Brooks Tower loomed.

  She felt so bad for him. “Cullen—”

  “I’d rather not talk right now, Sabine,” he interrupted, without turning.

  Recognizing his need to be alone, she went into the bathroom to take a long shower. Knowing the truth about him had stripped away her defenses. Whatever his company did outside the army reserves, it was for the right cause. He was a hero through and through. How could she find the strength to stop feeling so much for him? She wanted him now more than ever. If only she believed she could have him. If only she believed he’d want her the same way.

  Chapter 11

  Cullen unfolded his body and stood up from the chair, irritated with his inability to ignore Sabine. She looked sweet and sexy in her nightgown as she warily made her way to the bed, smelling fresh from her shower. He picked up his ringing cell phone from the desk.

  “Yeah.”

  “What are you doing to yourself, Cullen?” Odelia Frank said.

  She must have seen the news and all it had revealed.

  “Lining myself up for a career change,” he joked with a bitter bite to his tone. “Did I forget to mention that? I’m sorry.”

  “You’re going to lose everything over this. You do know that, don’t you?”

  “I had a feeling.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “They’re hanging me by my balls, Odie. What do you expect me to do?”

  All he heard was Odelia’s breathing for a moment. “I don’t understand you, Cullen. It’s so unlike you to allow something like this to happen.”

  Cullen twisted his body to look at the reason he was in this situation. Sabine lay in bed, her eyes open and watching him, so beautiful that it gave his heart a warm pulse. “I’ll just have to find a way to fix it.”

  There was a long silence on the line. “Since you’re still in denial, let me spell it out for you. Without anonymity, SCS is finished. Like the bottom of a dry martini. All right? You can’t run a company like this one as a celebrity.”

  The sourness in his stomach started an ache. Odelia was right. He couldn’t run the kind of covert missions he ran and expect them to stay that way with the media following him everywhere. Even years from now, he’d risk the possibility of someone recognizing him at the wrong time. The senator, the two generals at the Pentagon and the colonel at U.S. Army Special Operations Command who made his company possible would all turn their backs without so much as a see-you-later. Contacting Cullen would be too risky. Even if he were able to protect their identities, he’d have no guarantee any of them would be willing t
o step forward and support a new company.

  “What are you going to do?” Odelia asked again.

  He couldn’t imagine a life without the army or his company. Complete disconnection from Special Forces.

  “I don’t know. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of no matter what happens. You’ve been a critical part of the team, Odie. I wouldn’t leave you out in the street.”

  “Don’t get wishy-washy with me, Cullen. I can take care of myself.”

  He smiled a little, looking at Sabine again. Her thick red hair was spread out on the pillow, and her green eyes still watched him. Holding the blankets up to her chin, sexy as all get-out. Despite everything, he still wanted her. More than before, probably.

  Sabine propped herself up on her elbows while she listened to his side of the conversation, her breasts perky and free beneath the nightgown.

  “Just a couple more things and you can get back to ruining your life with your future bride,” Odie said.

  “She’s not my—”

  “I got copies of Aden’s bank statements,” she said, cutting him off. “There were some peculiar, regular cash deposits.”

  “Yeah? What do you make of it?”

  “The transactions aren’t large enough to make it worth his while smuggling emeralds on his own, but maybe he was helping Isma’il in some way. Like providing the use of a mule.”

  “Lowe?”

  “None other. He could have flown the gems into Peshawar for Aden, who could have paid him to make the trips. He always withdrew a lot of cash before his trips to Afghanistan.”

  “Except Lowe got greedy and stole a pricey bundle of emeralds for himself.”

  “Aden had to be in on it. And neither of them thought Isma’il would kidnap Samuel and Sabine, which explains why there was no communication from Isma’il. At least, not overtly. But he must have gotten a message to Aden.”

  “Who ignored it.”

  “Of course. They don’t care about the contractors. Samuel was on to them. Sabine is with Samuel, so they assume she knows as much as he does.”

  “Or that Isma’il revealed his reason for kidnapping them during their captivity. To demand Aden give him back the emeralds.”

  “Either way.”

  “So Aden and Lowe wanted Isma’il to kill them.”

  Sabine’s eyes drooped with sadness with his comment. He wished he could spare her this.

  “And when you rescued Sabine, Lowe was ready with low-budget mercs.”

  “Compliments of Noah’s secretary.”

  “Right.”

  “There has to be more. Nobody in the States is after Aden or Lowe. There’s no evidence Aden got his share of the money from the emeralds, either. What are they so afraid of?”

  “I’m working on that.”

  “You’re an amazing woman, Odie. Have I told you how much I love you?”

  “You’re full of it, McQueen. Why do I put up with your ass?”

  Cullen chuckled, catching the way Sabine watched him now. She was wary of the way he talked to Odie. “Because I put up with yours.” He winked at Sabine.

  Odie laughed while Sabine’s lips curved with the hint of a smile. “At least you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”

  “Ha, ha, ha.”

  “One more thing.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Noah’s secretary was killed in a car accident. Car went off the side of a mountain. There was a blurb on the news. Maybe you missed it.”

  “Car accident, huh?” He had missed the news on that. He’d been too wrapped up in his own downward-spiraling world.

  “That’s what they said.”

  “Call me when you find Lowe. I’d like to meet the man.” He already knew where to find Aden, and now he couldn’t wait for the encounter.

  “You got it.”

  He ended the call and sat on the edge of the bed to remove his shoes.

  “Who was that?” Sabine asked from behind him.

  “My secretary.”

  “Oh,” she exaggerated the word. “The J-3 captain, expert markswoman secretary.”

  He stood and faced her, liking the way she looked lying there all soft and warm. “She’s good at her job. I’d trust her with anything. Including my life.”

  “So would I, as long as I don’t have to fight her for you.”

  Heat dropped low in his abdomen. Was she doing that on purpose? Flirting with him again, like she had at the restaurant? He looked at her while he removed his clothes down to his underwear. The way she watched, the way her gaze roved over his body and then stayed on his face, moved him in a way that should scare him. Instead, he crawled onto the bed, caging her on his hands and knees. Her eyes widened as he took in her face.

  “You don’t have to fight anyone for me,” he said.

  She blinked once. Her lips parted slightly and her breasts elevated with a deeper breath. He bent his elbows to bring his mouth closer to hers, staring into her eyes while an inner struggle took place in his head. If he kissed her, he might not be able to stop. If he didn’t stop, what then?

  He’d lose himself in her. He’d fall in love with her. And not a comfortable love. With her it would be intense. Deep.

  Life altering.

  The cold shock of fear swept him. He jerked back from her mouth. Then rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

  A sound woke Sabine. Opening her eyes to a dimly lit room, she remembered where she was. The light came from the bathroom down the hall, but movement in the room made her lift her head. She blinked the sleep from her eyes, some of her hair falling in front of one eye as she spotted Cullen standing at the foot of the bed. Glancing at the clock, she saw only two hours had passed since they’d gone to bed.

  She brushed the hair out of her face as she watched him load his pistol with a metallic click, anxiety bringing her fully awake. Dressed all in black, he looked much as he had the night she’d found him in her bookstore, which did something hot to her insides. The only thing missing was a mask.

  Where was he going at such an hour, and what was he planning to do?

  His eyes raised. Combat mode again.

  Though the news report yesterday had painted him nothing less than an American hero, he looked dangerous right now.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  He shoved the gun in a holster against his left rib cage without answering.

  Pushing the covers back, she crawled to the edge of the bed and sat on her folded legs. He picked up a hooded sweatshirt that zipped up the front and shrugged into it. When he zipped it halfway up his chest to cover his gun, he looked almost normal. Except for his height and general menacing appearance in black.

  “I want you to wait here,” he said.

  He started to turn, but she rose up onto her knees and stopped him by gripping his sweatshirt.

  Facing her, letting her pull him closer, his lower legs came against the mattress and gray eyes found hers.

  “What if something happens to you?” Realizing she sounded like a worried lover, she lowered her eyes. What was the matter with her? He knew what he was doing. He got her out of Afghanistan. What made her think he couldn’t handle downtown Denver?

  He bent his head until she was forced to look at him. His eyes were soft above an unsmiling face. His gaze moved to her nightgown. She could feel him warming further, which disconcerted her because it warmed her, too. How close he’d come to kissing her enveloped her.

  “Don’t worry about me.”

  Trying to get a grip on herself, she released his sweatshirt. But she couldn’t resist touching him, so she flattened her hands on his black top between the partially open zipper of the sweatshirt. As his chest muscles flexed underneath, heat flowed more freely in her.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  He didn’t answer. Instead he raised his hand and slid his fingers into her hair and around the back of her head. She stared up at him, into the burn of his eyes. His mouth came down.
Pressed hard against hers. His other hand slid over her rear for a kneading caress that pulled her against him while he kissed her long and deep.

  Too soon, he withdrew and stepped back. “Don’t try to follow me.”

  At the threshold of the hallway, he looked back at her. “There’s a gun on the nightstand. It’s loaded. Use it if anyone other than me comes into this room. Don’t open the door for anyone.”

  The door shut with a solid thud, and Sabine collapsed onto her back on the bed. She stretched her body, arms above her head, humming with desire, wishing he was back in the room. On top of her. Inside her.

  Sabine was sick of looking out the window at Brooks Tower. Every once in a while, a car passed on the street below. Lights glimmered from buildings. She bit her thumbnail. What was taking him so long? What was he doing? She didn’t like imagining him hurting Aden, but she suspected that’s where he’d gone.

  The sound of the door opening gave her a jolt. She scrambled for the gun on the nightstand and aimed it at the hallway. Heavy footfalls drew closer on the tile floor. Cullen’s dark shape emerged, sending her heart skipping with more than relief. She lowered the gun and put it on the table beside the chair.

  Cullen dropped a small duffel bag he hadn’t had with him when he left and shrugged out of his sweatshirt. He unfastened his gun harness and put it on the desk. It sounded heavy. He moved toward her, his biceps and shoulders pronounced in the formfitting black top, his eyes on her like an urgent touch.

  He stopped before her. “He told me everything.”

  “He stole emeralds with Lowe?” Somehow knowing it was true changed the way she felt. It was no longer speculation. Aden and Lowe had stolen emeralds, and that was why she and Samuel were kidnapped.

  “Aden never wanted you and Samuel to get hurt. But he was most concerned about you. He warned Isma’il if anyone touched you, the gems would never be returned.”

  Was that why Samuel had been killed and not her? “But he never intended to give them back.”