Her Lieutenant Protector

by Lara Lacombe

  His heart beat hard against his ribs, and Everest was certain Mallory could feel it as he held her close. But if she noticed, she didn’t say a word. Instead, she linked her fingers behind his head and pulled him down, silently asking for another kiss.

  Everest was only too happy to grant her request.

  His mouth found hers again, but this was no tentative inquiry. Mallory had responded to his earlier question, and now that he knew how she felt, he no longer had to go slowly.

  He loosened the leash on his self-control, allowing some of his hunger for Mallory to rise to the surface. She tasted faintly of chocolate and bread, likely a testament to her breakfast. He inhaled deeply, drawing in the honey and melon scent of her skin. He didn’t know what kind of bath gel she used, but he was never going to look at a cantaloupe the same way again.

  Her hands trailed across his body, her touch growing bolder as he continued to explore her mouth. Goose bumps rose on his skin as she skimmed her fingertips down his side, her hand pausing at his belt to grip the loose material of his shirt in her fist. The fabric pulled on his shoulders and across his chest, sending a jolt of heat through him. He’d love nothing more than to shed the interfering garment and give Mallory free access to his body, but this wasn’t the time or the place to let his libido overrule his sense of professionalism.

  Besides, once their clothes started coming off, he’d have to show her his leg. Or rather, what was left of it. And while he got the impression that a doctor like Mallory wouldn’t blink at the sight of his injury, it wasn’t exactly a romantic sight.

  He eased back, reluctant to stop kissing her. But it was important to get back to the business at hand, before he forgot what it was they were doing in the first place.

  Mallory stared up at him, her lips slightly parted as she frowned slightly. Emotions swirled in the depths of her brown eyes, and Everest was able to detect confusion, arousal and what looked like a flash of relief before her expression cleared and she straightened her shoulders, putting a bit more space between them.

  “Well,” she said, after a few seconds of silence. Her voice had a husky note that made him think of satin sheets and champagne, and his imagination kicked into overdrive, picturing Mallory wearing nothing more than a scrap of red lace. It was an enticing sight, even if it wasn’t real.

  At least, not yet.

  Everest took a deep breath, tightening his grip on his self-control before his desires got the best of him. He was suddenly very aware of the two double beds in the room, and he shifted to put them at his back. They needed to leave the privacy of this cabin and return to the more public areas of the ship. Short of a cold shower, it was the only way Everest was going to be able to reset his brain.

  “Well,” he echoed. He ran a hand through his hair and felt his face heat. Mallory had to think he was some kind of skirt-chasing oaf, the way he’d kissed her in the middle of an empty cabin while they were busy searching for this mystery material. Way to pick a moment, he thought wryly. He cleared his throat. They needed to keep searching, but he wanted to give Mallory an out in case she no longer wanted to be alone with him. “Shall we continue, or would you rather stop?”

  Her response was immediate. “Let’s keep going.” She lifted her hand and rubbed a finger across her lips, then gave him a shy smile. “Maybe we can focus on one thing at a time, though?”

  “Of course,” he said quickly. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to—”

  “You don’t have to apologize,” she interrupted. “I’m not upset. I rather enjoyed it, actually.” She sounded almost surprised, as if she hadn’t thought that was possible. “But let’s wait until we’re someplace private to do it again.”

  Everest lifted one eyebrow. “I’m not disagreeing with you, but this cabin seems pretty private to me.”

  Mallory laughed softly. “Fair enough. But I’m sure we can find a location where we’re not in danger of being discovered at any moment.”

  Her words knocked the last of his fantasies right out of his head, and he realized with a small shock that she was right. He’d been so caught up in kissing her he hadn’t stopped to think about what would happen if a passenger walked in and found them pawing at each other in the middle of the cabin. Would the captain have fired him immediately, or waited until the voyage was over before handing him a pink slip?

  Fortunately, he wasn’t going to find out. “Let’s get back to it,” he said. The sooner they completed their investigation of the ship’s communication hubs, the sooner they could find a quiet spot to talk. It wasn’t the noblest motivation, but it would get the job done.

  Mallory nodded and started for the door. He moved to follow her, and his view of her reminded him of an important point. “Just one thing,” he said, as she reached for the doorknob.

  She paused and glanced back at him, one eyebrow raised in inquiry. “What’s that?”

  “I’m going to take care of the rest of the climbing.”

  * * *

  It didn’t take long for Mallory and Everest to fall back into a working rhythm as they moved from room to room, checking the boxes and taking notes. Their earlier observations still held true; the boxes in passenger cabins all contained the gray putty, while the hubs in hallways or other less-trafficked areas were empty. There had to be an explanation for the unequal distribution of the material, and Mallory had a sinking feeling her concern about the situation wasn’t misplaced paranoia after all...

  She glanced at Everest, trying to read his expression for some clue as to his thoughts. But he’d been strangely quiet after their kiss, and she hadn’t really felt like talking either. She still felt unsettled, and she didn’t trust herself to speak coherently right now.

  The kiss had been a revelation, answering questions she hadn’t known she had, and stirring up feelings she’d never thought she’d experience again. Her first instinct had been to pull away, to break the connection and literally run down the hall, putting as much distance as possible between herself and Everest. But she was done letting fear rule her life. If she was going to move forward, she had to take a chance.

  Everest had been so careful, so thoughtful. He’d given her every opportunity to change her mind or turn him down, and his calm, patient presence was a big part of why she’d been able to finally relax and take what he’d offered.

  She hadn’t really known what to expect. It had been ages since she’d let a man get close enough to kiss her. For several years after the rape, she hadn’t been interested in any kind of sexual contact. Later, she’d been too scared to try anything.

  As Everest had dipped his head to close the distance between them, Mallory had half expected to feel nothing, to find that her ability to respond to a man’s touch had disappeared thanks to a lack of use.

  She couldn’t have been more wrong.

  Everest’s kiss had triggered a chain reaction of sensations in her body that had threatened to overwhelm her. It had been almost intoxicating, the way her body had responded without any input from her brain. Her stomach had fluttered like a butterfly wing, her skin had tingled, and a flush of warmth had spread through her chest and down her limbs. Her head had spun, leaving her no choice but to grab his shoulders or risk falling down. His muscles had been warm and solid under her hands, heightening the physical differences between them and reminding her of his strength.

  The loss of control should have scared her, but it had actually left her feeling energized and eager for more.

  She studied him now, sneaking glances as they moved from room to room. He didn’t seem to be affected by any lingering aftershocks from their kiss, and she had to wonder if it had been as earth-shattering for him as it was for her.

  Probably not, she mused. He’d likely had a normal dating life, and she hadn’t given him any reason to suspect her experiences had been any different. She’d warned him about her tro
uble trusting men, but that was hardly uncommon.

  How would he respond when she told him about her rape? Would he pull away and decide a relationship with her wasn’t worth the trouble? She’d been pleasantly surprised by her body’s reaction to his kiss, but what would happen when things started to heat up between them? She couldn’t promise she wouldn’t panic when they ventured into more intimate territory.

  She could imagine it all too well. Everest touching her, moving over her. Terror clawing up her throat, trapping her breath in her chest until spots of color danced in her vision. Nothing sexier than a panic attack at such a crucial moment, she thought wryly.

  Maybe it wouldn’t be like that, though. After all, she was attracted to Everest, and she wanted to explore this connection she felt with him. Surely that would be enough to keep the hysteria at bay.

  But what if it isn’t? whispered her inner voice of doubt. What if no matter how much her brain insisted she was ready to take this step, her body couldn’t handle it?

  She was going to have to talk to Everest. There was simply no way she could keep him in the dark about her past, not when there was a very real chance he would be affected by her present responses. He deserved to know what he was getting into and to have a choice in the matter. He might not be willing to stick around, and she had to emotionally prepare herself for rejection. But there was an equal possibility he would stay, and she felt a little thrill at the prospect.

  “Everything okay?” Everest’s voice cut through her thoughts, dragging her out of the land of what-ifs and returning her focus to their current situation.

  “Just worried,” she said. It was easy to pass off her distractedness as concern over their findings, and it wasn’t really a lie. She was troubled by the way things were shaping up, but she didn’t know what they could do about it. They had to talk to the captain, and hopefully he would listen now that they had more evidence on their side.

  “Me, too,” he admitted. “I was hoping we wouldn’t find any more of this stuff, but it seems to be everywhere.”

  “You still haven’t heard from your friend?”

  He frowned. “No. Which is unusual—he’s usually a lot more responsive.” He unclipped his phone and looked at the display, then swore softly. “I’ve got no signal,” he said. “No wonder I haven’t gotten a reply.”

  “This must be a dead zone on the ship,” Mallory said. It wasn’t uncommon to have cell phone issues thanks to the architecture of the vessel, with all its metal and compartments.

  “I’m going to run to the railing and see if I can get a few bars of signal,” he said.

  “I’ll head to the next room,” Mallory said. “Meet me there when you’re done?”

  “Yeah,” he said, a bit absently. He started to walk away, head bent as he focused on his phone.

  Mallory watched him go for a second, allowing herself to be distracted by the play of muscles in his back. The slight hitch in his gait was no longer so noticeable to her; she’d grown used to his unique walking rhythm.

  He seemed to have overcome his embarrassment from the moment on the bridge, when his prosthetic leg had hit the desk and revealed his secret. She hoped he would tell her about it, and the circumstances surrounding his injury. Given his military service, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to guess he’d likely been injured while on deployment. But she’d like to hear his story in his own words.

  She moved to the next cabin and knocked on the door, letting out a small sigh of relief when no one answered. Most of the passengers were in the city, enjoying one of the many shore excursions the company offered. That made it a lot easier to search the ship.

  She unlocked the door and opened it slowly, calling out as she entered in case the occupants were asleep or in the bathroom. “Hello?”

  When there was no response, she walked fully into the room and propped open the door so Everest could get inside. Then she grabbed the desk chair and rolled it over to the corner, under the communication hub. She put one leg up on the seat and prepared to stand when a hand snaked around her waist and jerked her back hard.

  Her back hit something solid, knocking the breath out of her chest. She grabbed at the arm holding her, trying to push away. If this was Everest’s idea of a joke, it wasn’t funny.

  “Stop it,” she said. She’d meant to scream the words, but they came out as more of a whisper. A hand clapped over her mouth, and an instant later, a sticky-sweet scent filled her nose and made the room spin.

  Panic slammed into her and she thrashed about, kicking out with her legs in an attempt to dislodge her attacker. She couldn’t be at the mercy of a man. Not again.

  But her wild struggling only made him tighten his grip. The fight drained out of her as weakness stole over her body, her muscles going numb to her commands. She sagged in the man’s arms, helpless against the encroaching darkness.

  Chapter 14

  Everest stepped to the railing and frowned, tamping down his impatience as his phone registered a signal and began to download emails. How long had he been without service?

  Normally, the lack of reliable cell phone service wasn’t an issue, as the portable radios and pagers used by the staff ensured he was plugged in to what was going on with the ship. But these were unusual circumstances, and he hoped his friends had good news for him.

  After what seemed like an eternity, the emails finished downloading. He scanned them quickly, dismissing one after another until he finally saw the reply he’d been waiting for. He clicked it open, and his heart dropped when he saw the simple message: CALL ME NOW!

  Everest cursed quietly and wasted no time punching in the number. Peter MacKenzie was an expert in the CBRN—chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear—field, well versed in the myriad of threats that existed in the darker corners of the world. He was also rather unflappable. The exclamation point on his message might as well have been a scream, which only heightened Everest’s anxiety.

  “What the hell took you so long?” Peter snapped. “I’ve been trying to call you—why haven’t you answered?”

  “Bad service,” Everest replied shortly. “Talk to me about this stuff. What is it?”

  “I can’t be sure just from the pictures,” Peter said. “But it looks an awful lot like enriched uranium.”

  Everest tightened his grip on the phone as his guts turned to water. “But that’s not possible,” he said weakly. “It’s not the right consistency. According to the guy who touched it, this stuff is pliable, like kids’ clay. Enriched uranium is more cake-like.”

  “Normally, that’s true,” Peter said. “But it’s not hard to break that stuff up into tiny pieces or even a powder that can then be added to pretty much anything.”

  “That’s a big leap, don’t you think?” Everest said. “Why go to all the trouble of modifying the uranium like that? Seems more dangerous than it’s worth, if you ask me.” He didn’t doubt the possibility, but it was a rather complicated explanation. In his experience, things were rarely so convoluted.

  Peter paused, and in the heavy silence that followed, Everest got the impression his friend was debating on telling him something. “You didn’t hear this from me,” Peter said, his voice dropping as he spoke, “but we made a pretty alarming finding in Afghanistan last month. One of the local warlords had been bragging about his ‘new weapon.’ The chatter was that he’d acquired some uranium and was building dirty bombs. The CIA felt the intelligence was credible enough, so they used a drone strike to take him out. Our team was sent in to examine the aftermath.”

  “And?” A band of worry tightened around Everest’s chest, making it hard to breathe. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what came next.

  “We found stuff,” Peter confirmed. “Not much, but enough to be troubling. From what we could piece together, they were pulverizing what material they had and adding i
t to suicide vests. Intel revealed they were going to target Islamabad first, and depending on how that run went, they’d aim for Western targets.”

  “My God,” Everest whispered.

  “I know,” Peter said. “We stopped this guy, but how many more are out there?”

  “Where did they get the uranium? That’s not the kind of thing you can just pick up at the corner store.”

  “That’s probably the worst part,” Peter replied. “We traced it back to a facility in the States.”

  “What?” Everest couldn’t keep the shock out of his voice. “How in the hell—?”

  “We’re still looking into it,” Peter said grimly.

  “But that means...”

  “Yeah,” Peter said. “If there’s a leak, it’s possible your material may have come from the same source.”

  Everest was stunned speechless. The idea that the material in the boxes was radioactive had gone from implausible to all too possible, and his stomach felt queasy as the ramifications began to sink in. The putty was scattered throughout the ship. If it really was sprinkled with enriched uranium, the ship was essentially a floating nuclear waste dump.

  “You’ve got to cut the trip short,” Peter said. “At least until we confirm if the mystery material is radioactive.”

  Everest knew his friend was right, but he didn’t think the captain would agree. “I don’t know if that’s possible,” he said.

  Peter made an exasperated sound in his throat. “You don’t have another choice here,” he said. “Look, I’ve got some time off coming to me. Where’s your next stop? I can meet you there and come aboard and do a quick scan with a Geiger counter. If the results are negative, you guys can be on your merry way. But if I find something...” Peter trailed off, letting Everest fill in the blanks.

  “It’s not that I don’t agree with you,” Everest said. “But we tried to get the captain to terminate the voyage in Charleston due to some other circumstances. He refused.”