The Dom Who Loved Me (Masters and Mercenaries)

by Lexi Blake

  “It’s not a big deal. Adam’s worse.” Sean’s breath came out in pants.

  Ian nodded and lowered his weapon. He seemed satisfied the danger had passed. He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Yeah, Alex, we need another bus. Sean. He’s fine, but he’ll need someone to dig out the bullet.” Ian looked down at his brother. “Adam’s still hanging on. Jake and Eve are treating him. The ambulance should be here in a minute. And the cops. Do we have the package?”

  Grace touched Sean’s good shoulder, needing the connection. “I have it.”

  Ian held out his hand. “Good. Give it to me.”

  She looked to Sean who nodded. She was just about to hand the thumb drive over when she saw another figure darken the doorway. He raised his gun and fired.

  Ian Taggart moved like a cheetah. One minute he was the man’s target, and the next he was gone. Grace pulled back the thumb drive. She had never felt more vulnerable in her life. She looked around for cover, but she couldn’t leave Sean. Sean struggled to get to his feet. His arm came up, but he was slow. The man in the door wasn’t injured. Grace screamed as the night cracked around her again, and Sean went down for a second time. Grace crawled to him, her knees scraping over the rough floor. Sean’s right thigh was torn open. Blood seemed to be coming from everywhere.

  “Good evening. Young Taggart, if you raise that gun, I’ll shoot the female. Toss the gun away, and she might live through this.” The man with the gun was backlit. She couldn’t discern the features of his face, but she knew that voice. Mr. Black. Evan Parnell had been correct in his assessment that his old boss would turn on the team.

  Sean’s face twisted bitterly. Grace looked around trying desperately to figure out where Ian had gone. He couldn’t have simply left them. Sean tossed the gun toward the doorway with a curse.

  “You should get out of the business, Little Tag. Your brother is much more suited for it than you are.” He came slightly out of the doorway, and Grace could see Mr. Black’s urbane face. If he was worried about betraying the team he’d hired, he didn’t show it. “And I know you’re here, Ian Taggart. Did you think I didn’t know you were on to me? I knew. But you’re a game player to the end. And you used your brother and his little woman to try to catch me. I admire you, Tag.”

  Grace felt Sean stiffen under her. He was trying to move, trying to force her behind him.

  “I’ll take the package, Ms. Hawthorne,” Black said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

  If she gave up the package, they were all dead. She could see that now. She looked down, and Sean’s face was tight. He was trying so hard to move, but his body simply wouldn’t. He practically vibrated with frustration.

  “I would stay down if I were you, Mr. Taggart.” The CIA agent walked out calmly. The gun in his hand was focused on Sean and Grace, but his eyes moved around the space, watching for threats.

  “Get out of here, Grace,” Sean pushed her away. He didn’t seem to be able to use his left hand at all. He shoved her with his right. Even in the moonlight, she could see the desperation in his eyes. “Go. Whatever you do, don’t give him the package. Find Ian.”

  She couldn’t do that. She wasn’t even sure if she trusted Ian at this point. Panic threatened to swamp her. It boiled up like bile in her throat. She was the only thing standing between Black and Sean.

  “Oh, dear, I’d rather you didn’t run.” Black took careful aim and put another bullet in Sean’s leg, this time the left.

  Grace had a hand on Sean’s body when the bullet hit his thigh. She felt his every muscle jerk and twist. Sean groaned as the blood started to flow again. Tears streamed down her cheeks making the world a watery mess. How much more could he take? Black was playing with them. When he was done, he would simply put a bullet in Sean’s heart, and she would watch him die. What could she do? Sean’s whole damn life, every day he might have from here on out, depended on her.

  “Don’t shoot again or I swear I won’t be responsible for my actions.” Ian walked out from behind the brick enclosure that held the doorway. It didn’t matter now because Black was on them. Grace moved to put her body across Sean’s. He couldn’t take another freaking bullet. She tried to cover as much of him as she could. Her body was the only shield she had. She buried his head in her chest.

  He tried to push her away, his right hand coming up weakly. She looked down at him. He was so beautiful. Her heart was filled with him. He couldn’t die here.

  “Oh, that’s sweet.” Black was standing next to her. “And not something I can allow.”

  Grace gasped as Black’s hand tangled in her hair, and he pulled her up. Every nerve in her scalp lit up with pain, but she forced herself to fight him. He hauled her up anyway, like a rag doll in a child’s merciless hands.

  Black held her tight. “Now, Tag, I’m taking my package and getting the hell out of here. This is my retirement. You can shoot me, but I’ll take out your brother’s little girlfriend, and I might be able to get him, too. What’s it going to be, Tag? You let me leave with the girl, and your brother lives to see an operating table. Otherwise…”

  “I will never forgive you,” Sean vowed with a shaking voice. Grace didn’t think he was talking to Black. His head was up, his eyes staring at his brother as though he could will Ian to do something. “Do not do this, Ian. You know what I want.”

  Ian’s face remained a stoic mask. He didn’t glance down at his brother. His eyes were steady on Black. “Take her.”

  “Good choice. He can always find another girl.”

  Grace held tightly to the thumb drive as Black dragged her to the wall. She craned her neck to look down. There was an empty balcony below, a twin to the balcony where the party was still going on. That balcony was lit with twinkling lights. It seemed like it was worlds away from her now. The balcony below was dark and quiet. It was the only real escape route Black had. Ian had called for an ambulance. There were going to be cops and paramedics in the stairwell, and any minute they would show up here. She was sure Black was in good physical shape, and he was probably very athletic. But damn, that was still a long fall. Once he had them both on that balcony, he would kill her. He didn’t need her, only the package. She would be dead weight after he had that.

  “Grace!” Sean had managed to turn over and was trying to crawl toward the gun he’d tossed away.

  He wouldn’t stop. Her Viking would die before he let her go. It would have worked. It would have worked between them. She could have had a whole rich second life with Sean as her husband. All of the reasons to be afraid vanished in the face of his struggle. Love for Sean was all that mattered now. He wouldn’t stop fighting for her. She owed him the same.

  She had seconds before he got to the gun, and Black was forced to kill him. She had one shot at saving the man she loved. She understood why Black hadn’t gone for the package before. She had it, and he had her. They were at a stalemate. Ian couldn’t shoot because he didn’t want to hit her. If she didn’t have the package, Black would kill her in an instant.

  But he’d overestimated her will to live in a world where Sean was gone. Perhaps this time chaos would be her friend.

  “You want the package?” She drew her arm back and tossed it over her shoulder as hard as she could. It went sailing over the wall. “Go get it!”

  The minute the package left her hand, all hell broke loose.

  “Fuck,” Black cursed and leapt to the wall as Ian started running toward them. Grace tried to move away, to get to Sean, but Black caught the neck of her black cocktail dress. It bit into her flesh, choking her. She was still his shield. Ian couldn’t get a shot that didn’t hit her. “If I’m going down, I think I’ll take you with me.”

  And Grace went flying. The world seemed to slow down. Ian ran toward her, but she was moving faster. Her stomach lurched as she fell backwards, watching the building and safety and Sean get further and further away.

  She heard Sean’s scream, but it seemed a distant thing. She fell for what seemed like fore
ver. At some point, Black let go of her collar. When she hit the balcony, she landed with a sickening thud that knocked the breath out of her. She looked up at the black night. Nothing hurt. That was bad.

  She had a vision of Black running by, and then Ian Taggart landed on his feet. He knelt down beside her. His face was the only thing that seemed real in the world. He looked so much like his brother. Sean. Her Viking.

  “Grace?” His hand came out, his fingers resting against her throat.

  She tried to move, to tell him that she was fine, but nothing seemed to work. She wanted to speak, to tell Sean she loved him, but the words were trapped inside her.

  Sean was still screaming. She wanted to hold him. Oh, she was going to miss him. Tears slipped helplessly from her eyes. She couldn’t move. Why couldn’t she move?

  Ian looked up, a frown on his face. His body twitched as though he was fighting some instinct. His prey was getting away, Grace realized. Then he set the gun down, his decision obviously made.

  “It’s going to be okay.” He pulled her hand into his. “Damn it, Grace, you have to live. Please live. He won’t ever forgive me if you die.”

  The last thing she heard was Ian’s voice calling for another ambulance. Then the world went dark, and all its horror winked from existence.

  * * * *

  Grace came back to consciousness slowly. It happened for seconds at a time. She would become aware of a terrible, debilitating pain, and then she saw a flash of a face. A gorgeous Viking was watching over her. He was saying something, and then it was all gone and darkness took her again. There were times when all that seemed real was the warmth of a hand in hers, squeezing her flesh, begging her to come back.

  But the world was warm here. It was safe here. The darkness wasn’t a bad place to be, and she could stay here forever if she wanted.

  And still the Viking called to her.

  “Please,” he pleaded.

  He was the only thing that kept her tethered. He wouldn’t let her go.

  Her children were grown. They would miss her, but they didn’t need her, not really. It was okay to go. It was okay to hide from the pain.

  “I love you.” He whispered it over and over. He never let up.

  Gradually, Grace realized eternal peace would have to wait. Sean wasn’t letting her go.

  When she finally opened her eyes, it all seemed like a strange dream. Her body ached, and she looked down at the man sleeping with his head on her chest. He held onto her hand, his big body stuffed in a hospital chair. That’s where she was. She was in the hospital. The events of the night she was injured rushed back. It played like a horror movie in her head, but the end result was sleeping beside her. Sean was alive.

  She wiggled her toes. Oh, they moved. Her whole body was a bundle of pain, but at least she felt it. She embraced the ache in her bones because it meant she was alive.

  “Sean?” Her mouth was dry, her voice rusty.

  “Mom?” A familiar voice was heard. She turned to see her sons on the other side of the room. Her head swam for a moment.

  There was a mad scramble as Sean woke up, and suddenly David and Kyle were at her side.

  “Mom? You’re awake. Thank God, you’re awake.” Kyle rushed off, yelling for a nurse.

  “How long?” Grace asked.

  Sean’s eyes filled with tears, and he didn’t even try to stop it. He let the tears wash down his face. Grace stared at him. He was so perfect.

  “You’ve been in a coma for ten days.” He put his forehead gently against hers. “I thought I lost you.”

  She let her fingers find the gold silk of his hair. She was weak, so weak, but touching him gave her strength.

  She looked up at her oldest baby, who had a hand on Sean’s back. Kyle ran back in the room, and the nurses took over. She had all her men in one room.

  “I love you, Grace.”

  She smiled through the pain. Everything she wanted was right here. “I know. I love you, too, Viking.”

  * * * *

  It was three days before Ian Taggart snuck into her room.

  The whole team had been to visit. Adam and Jake had shown her all of Adam’s cool new scars. They were puckered and red, the staples having just come out. Adam had been close to death, but he joked about it. Eve had sat with her, telling her everything that had happened. She was the one who had explained just how close Adam had come to dying. Sean had to be sedated before he would allow anyone to take him into surgery. He’d been determined to wait on Grace. Now Sean had a couple more scars on that glorious body of his, but he was on the mend. Liam had shown up bearing flowers and a big fluffy teddy bear. Alexander McKay had brought magazines, but no Ian.

  Ian had waited until Sean and her sons had gone out for something besides hospital food. Then he glided into the room like the ghost he was.

  “Would it help at all if I said I was sorry?”

  She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. She looked at her giant soon-to-be brother-in-law. “Are you?”

  “Yes,” he admitted. His arms crossed over his massive chest. “And I would do it again.”

  He would choose his brother. She could handle that. “I understand.”

  His face softened slightly. “But, Grace, I underestimated you. You are good for Sean. You’re much stronger than I gave you credit for.”

  She shrugged. “And now I have a metal plate in my head.” And she would have to grow back the hair there. Her skull had shattered in some places. It had been a close thing. “I think it makes me tough.”

  He laughed a little. “And an automatic pat-down at security gates. You’ll be hell on metal detectors.”

  Grace frowned. There might be body cavity searches in her future. “I hate that man.”

  Ian’s face went dark. Grace was beginning to understand it was the face he made when he thought about his prey. “I’ll get him, Grace. If it’s the last thing I do. I will kill that man. He’s dropped off the radar. He’s gone rogue, but I’ll find him. The good news is that we found the package before he could. It was all the way down on the street. That’s quite the throwing arm you have.”

  Grace didn’t care. Sean was sure Black or Nelson or whatever his name was wouldn’t come after them. There was no reason to. They were out. That was what mattered. “I’m glad we have the information. As for Black, I’m sure you’ll do what you have to. Do you still work for the CIA?”

  Ian’s eyes widened, and for a moment, she worried he wasn’t going to answer her. “No. I got out a few years back. I never really was on the payroll, so to speak. I was a contractor. And the army loaned me out. I won’t ever work for those bastards again. I don’t know what Black said about me, but everything I have ever done has been for the good of my country.”

  Grace believed him. There seemed to be a core of integrity to Ian.

  And now Ian seemed awfully willing to chat. No one would talk about the case with her. Any time she asked, they changed the subject as though worried it might tax her broken brain. “Is Matt really dead?”

  Ian nodded. “Yes, Grace. He’s dead. The police found him in a bathroom. It looked like a heart attack, but we know that’s not true. The toxicology report will tell us what kind of poison was used on him. The District Attorney is pouring over Wright Temps. The Earth League has broken up, and the FBI has officially taken over the investigation. It will take them a while to sort through the mess Patrick Wright left behind. I want to assure you that you’ve been cleared of any wrongdoing. I’ve talked to both the FBI and the CIA. You’re out of this, Grace. You and Sean are free and clear.”

  A knot eased in her chest. She was happy to hear that she had been declared innocent, but knowing Sean was out of the line of fire really eased her mind.

  Ian was quiet for a long moment, looking over the lilies Sean had filled her room with. “I knew a woman who loved lilies. She’s gone now, too.”

  There was a long silence as he stared at those flowers, and Grace knew she was seeing a piece of Ian Taggart’s s
oul very few people saw. He was opening himself to her. He was accepting her as his family. He turned to her, and there was a certain humbleness in his stance she had never seen before from him. “I need something from you, Grace. I know I have no right to ask.”

  She wanted to ask him about the woman, but the moment had passed. “I’m listening.”

  “Come to work for me.”

  That wasn’t what she’d expected. “Why?”

  She hadn’t even started to think about work. She really was going to need a job. She and Sean had gone over their finances the night before. He had money saved, but they would need cash to start his restaurant later on. And culinary school wasn’t cheap.

  “Because I need someone to run the office.” He stared at her, waiting patiently.

  She stared back. That was a bullshit answer.

  He sighed. “Fine. Sean won’t talk to me. He won’t take my calls or let me anywhere near him. He won’t forgive me. You’re the only tie I have to my brother. I don’t want to lose him. I know I made mistakes, but I love him. I don’t want to lose my family.”

  Now that she believed. If anyone in the world needed a strong family to ground him, it was Ian Taggart. As she was about to become a member of his family, it was an idea that deserved consideration. “What if Sean won’t let me work for you?”

  She had to admit, she found the idea intriguing. And that group really needed someone to look out for them.

  A small smile tugged at Ian Taggart’s face. “I think you’ll find a way. You subs always do.”

  Grace grinned back. Yes. They always did.

  Epilogue

  Six months later

  “Guacamole again?”

  Adam stared at the bowl on her desk. Sean was setting up her little lunch. He had Fridays off from school, and every Friday he brought in a gourmet picnic. Every Friday, Adam showed up to mooch. He claimed that since getting gut shot, his appetite had increased threefold. Grace couldn’t tell from the cut of his suit. He was as fit as ever.