Take No Prisoners
Page 19
“You couldn’t. Not like this. And I’m not fragile.”
It was an image she’d fought all the years she’d spent with the Agency. One she had never before realized Landon, too, harbored.
“But you’re not denying the other?” He had raised his head, looking down at her face in the half-light.
It took a few seconds to think what he meant. Cerebral.
She’d always been proud of that. She just didn’t see what it had to do with this.
“No,” she said, and watched his lips tilt in amusement.
“Good.”
“You should do that more often.”
“Make love to you?”
“Smile.”
“I think now I will.”
After a second or two she realized what a beautiful thing that was for him to say. And then, a split second later, what it implied.
“Then, this… At least this…”
“Yes,” he said, bending to touch her forehead with his lips. “And whatever else you want.”
“What does that mean?”
She really didn’t know. They had talked about so many things, including promises she was determined not to ask for. Now, however, he seemed to be saying there was nothing she couldn’t ask for.
“That I want you here. Every night. And every morning.”
“To live here?”
“Here. Or wherever you like. As long as it’s with me.”
Almost the brass ring. And more than she had been willing to hope for.
“Why?”
“You know why. I’ve been telling you why all night.”
More than enough. She had told herself that whatever he could give, it would be. Surely she couldn’t still want the words, too.
She closed her mouth so the request for them couldn’t escape her control. Enough. More than enough.
“You said you were afraid you’d die alone.”
She nodded, unsure why he would bring that terrible confession up now. It seemed to have no place in what they’d found. It shouldn’t have a place here.
“That’s not what I’m afraid of, Grace.”
“I always thought you weren’t afraid of anything,” she said, smiling at him.
Her attempt at teasing fell flat. Whatever Landon intended to say, he was deadly serious about it.
“Maybe that was true at one time, but only because I didn’t know enough to be afraid.”
“Didn’t know enough about what?”
“About me. About my own limits.”
Abdul Rahim. He was talking about Abdul Rahim. And that bastard shouldn’t have a place here, either.
“Everyone has that kind of limits.”
“I didn’t think I did. And you’re right. That was arrogance. Believe me, I paid for it.”
“This?”
With her thumb, she brushed across the band that held the patch in place. It was almost lost in the matching blackness of his hair.
He flinched from her touch. The movement was slight, but enough to break the contact between them.
And then, before she realized what he intended, he reached up and pulled the covering away from the empty socket.
Perhaps that was designed to shock her, but if so, it failed. The physical damage was less than she’d been imagining. Still…
She waited, her eyes holding on his. After a moment he broke that contact, too, turning his head to look toward the windows. Her gaze followed, realiz ing that the sun was fully up now, flooding the room with light.
“You’d have seen it eventually,” he said, still not looking at her.
She refused to voice the platitudes he probably expected. What had been done to him was barbaric. There was no way she would try to lessen its impact.
“Is that what you were afraid of? Showing me this?”
She was proud of the lack of emotion in her voice. It sounded infinitely more composed than she felt.
“You said your life had been empty.” His head was still turned toward the window.
“It has. But that was my own fault. I have no right to complain.”
“So has mine.” He turned, finally meeting her eyes.
What he’d just said made a mockery of all those nights she’d spent picturing him with someone else. Instead… Instead he’d been as alone as she.
“I didn’t want that for you,” she said. “I never intended it.”
“That’s what I fear, Grace. Not dying alone. Living alone. Living without you. I don’t think I can do that anymore. I know I don’t want to try.”
“You don’t have to,” she said, leaning forward to kiss him.
“I’m not nearly as arrogant as I used to be, but… At one time you wanted something other than…this.”
She waited, despite all her avowals, hoping he might say what she had wanted to hear for so long.
“Do you still?”
A test? To see how serious she was about what she’d told him. Or was it possible he was simply asking for the truth.
I wish I’d said everything I felt…
If she denied what she felt, would Landon interpret that as a change in the way she viewed him? One that had been caused by the confession he’d made.
Either way was a risk. And she had never been a risk taker. Not like he was. Not like Griff and the others.
She was the analyst. The one who relied on logic, not emotion. The one who weighed all the choices and then chose the safest.
Except, this time not taking the chance he was offering seemed the greatest risk of all. One she couldn’t afford.
“Gracie?”
“I want everything. I want it all.”
The brass ring. A marriage license. A mortgage. Babies. And all the precious things that went with them.
He took a breath, deep enough to be visible. Then he, too, leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers, as those long dark lashes hid the sudden glittering brilliance of his gaze.
When he leaned back, he was smiling. The same smile that had given her hope enough to begin this conversation.
“Marry me,” he said softly.
“I thought you’d never ask.” And that, too, was nothing less than the truth.
Maybe things work out as they are supposed to, she thought, as his lips closed over hers. Being called to testify. The assignment to Afghanistan. The crash. Being taken prisoner. Mike’s death. Everything that had happened to her and Landon.
She had believed at the time those incidents represented the worst that had ever happened to her. And yet they had led, ultimately, to this.
She had no explanation for why that should be so. No possible reason for why, after she had decided that some dreams were not meant to be, she should finally be offered what she’d wanted for so long.
Having somebody to love you. Somebody you love in return. It’s the only thing that matters.
Mike had been right about that, too. Maybe that was the answer as to why this was happening now. Because finally that was a lesson she had learned.
…the only thing that matters.
“I love you,” she whispered. “I always have. I just didn’t know how important that was.”
“Neither of us knew. Maybe that’s why it took us so long to find our way.”
“And now that we have…”
“We’ve come too far to go back, Grace. I don’t think we’ll ever get lost again.”
She nodded. Then she leaned forward, putting her lips against the empty socket. And this time he made no effort to avoid her touch.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-2847-4
TAKE NO PRISONERS
Copyright © 2005 by Mona Gay Thomas
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*Home to Texas
**Phoenix Brotherhood
†Men of Mystery
††Phoenix Brotherhood
Table of Contents
Letter to Reader
Dedication
About the Author
Books by Gayle Wilson
Cast of Characters
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Epilogue
Copyright