“Just trying to make sure I’m doing a good job,” he said, but his husky voice gave him away.
And it really wasn’t fair when he slipped his hand between her thighs and gently rubbed the wet cloth against her clitoris until her head fell back and she gave a soft, sweet moan.
“You just wait,” she said. “I’m going to get even.”
Dec looked down at his erect penis and gave a rueful laugh. “I hope so.”
When it was her turn, she washed him with meticulous care, stroking the wet cloth over his face, his shoulders, his chest and back, pausing to kiss each scar.
She could feel the tension building in his muscles.
“Darn,” she said.
“What?” His voice was low.
“I don’t know how I missed this,” she said with perfect innocence.
Her hand closed around his erection.
“Anoushka…”
She stroked him. He groaned and closed his eyes.
“Am I doing this right?” she whispered.
He put his hand over hers. “You’re doing it right,” he said hoarsely. “Just a little harder… That’s it. That’s…”
In one quick move, he was out of the basin, she was in his arms, and they were on the soft bed again.
“Anoushka,” he growled, catching hold of her hands, tangling his fingers with hers, and when he thrust into her, she wrapped herself around him and her last thought, before her orgasm swept her away, was that this man, this moment, this joining of body and soul, was the very purpose of life.
* * *
She came awake slowly, yawning, stretching, feeling warm and snug in a cocoon of soft wool blankets.
A wonderful aroma filled the air.
Something spicy. Cinnamon. Nutmeg. Apple…
“Hey.”
She blinked and rolled onto her side.
Declan was squatting beside her. He had on a black T-shirt and shorts.
“Hey yourself,” she murmured. “How long did I sleep?”
“Less than an hour.”
“Mmm.” She stretched again. “Feels longer than that.” She wiggled her nose. “What’s that amazing smell?”
“It’s dinner, princess.” He leaned in and gave her a tender kiss. “I washed our stuff and hung it to dry, and I have a clean shirt for you.” A quick, sexy smile curved his lips. “Unless you’d rather go casual.”
“Casual?”
“Uh huh.” He kissed her again. “As in, clothing optional.”
Annie laughed and sat up. “The clean shirt sounds good.”
He sighed. “Difficult woman,” he said, and handed her a shirt that was a twin of his.
She pulled it on and got to her feet. The shirt hung halfway down her thighs. No pants was casual enough. In fact, knowing she was naked beneath the shirt put a knot of warmth low in her belly. Her hair was still damp; she ran her fingers through it and let it settle against her shoulders.
She felt absolutely wonderful.
And Declan—Declan was wonderful. He’d not only washed their clothes, he’d made dinner and set the table with spoons, earthenware bowls and mugs, and in the center, a jug filled with what looked like pussy willows.
Annie sat in one of the two chairs. “Very nice.”
Declan grinned as he lifted a big pot from the fireplace and brought it to the table. “Only the best for the Presidential Suite.”
“Mmm. Smells good.”
“Broiled steaks and baked potatoes always smell good.” He laughed at the look on her face. “It’s oatmeal with spices and brown sugar tossed in. And some dried apple slices. We’ll have to leave our anonymous host a thank you note along with the number of my credit card.”
Annie looked at him. “Are you sure he won’t, you know, drop in on us?”
Dec filled both bowls, and then sat down across from her.
“Based on the dust, the super-clean hearth, I don’t think anyone’s used this place for months. It might be abandoned. Even if it isn’t, nobody who’s moving sheep up from a valley is going to do it for at least another few weeks. Go on, honey. Dig in.”
She spooned up some of the oatmeal, put it in her mouth and sighed with pleasure.
“Declan Sanchez! You’ve been holding out on me. I never knew you could cook.”
“Not true! Have you forgotten my beef empanadas? My General Tso’s chicken? How about my specialty, pizza with garlic and pepperoni?”
She laughed. “You mean the takeout from the Mexican place, the Chinese place and the pizza place?”
“Details, details. Want some tea?”
“Tea would be wonderful.”
Dec rose, got a small tin canister from a shelf, opened it, dumped tea leaves in their mugs and then added boiling water as Annie gave each of them another serving of oatmeal.
“My mother taught me to cook,” she said. She laughed at the doubtful expression on his face. “Well, okay. Not really. She could only make one thing. Brownies. She’d learned how from a roommate when she was at school, and she made them for me a few times a year. They were a special treat.”
“My mom’s specialty was corn fritters. She’d tell me to bring in a couple of dozen ears of corn and I’d run out and pick them as fast as I could ’cause the faster I picked ’em and husked ’em, the faster those fritters got into my belly.”
Annie smiled. “You grew up on a farm?”
“You could call it that, I guess.” Dec drank some of his tea. “We had a few acres.”
“But you didn’t want to be a farmer.”
“Me?” He smiled. “I wanted to be the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. Or maybe pitch for the Red Sox. Somehow get to the UK and be drafted by Manchester United.”
“A sports hero,” she said, laughing.
“Uh huh. Only one drawback. I was good at sports, but not good enough to win a scholarship. And I knew I needed a degree if I was going to get out into the world.”
“So you joined the Navy?”
He pushed his empty bowl away. “I had this thing about computers. Kind of a skill.”
“I remember what you did for Chay and Bianca.” Annie smiled. “Very impressive. I mean, I’m good at computers, but you…”
“I just have a feel for coding.” He grinned. “And especially for hacking. Of course, I didn’t mention the hacking part when I applied to a bunch of colleges. NYU—New York University—offered me a scholarship, but after I graduated the idea of sitting at a desk for the rest of my life…” He shrugged. “Then I lucked out. I met this guy, a friend of a friend. He was a SEAL. He wouldn’t talk much about his work, but the little he said… I knew it sounded right. So I asked him how to become a SEAL. A long time later, I realized I was lucky he hadn’t laughed in my face…” Dec rolled his eyes. “Man, just listen to me! You’ve got me babbling.”
Annie reached for his hand. “I want to know everything about you, Declan. Everything! Your favorite color. Your favorite book. What you were like as a little boy…” She hesitated. “But right now—now, I guess it’s time for me to tell you about me.”
Her voice was low; her face, when she lifted it and looked at him, wore an expression that made his throat tighten.
Dec knew she was about to tell him what he needed to hear, what they’d both done a good job of avoiding, and suddenly he thought, to hell with putting her through this. He knew the bad guys who were after them—her uncle, her would-be bridegroom, the bastards who’d kidnapped her, the terrorist who wanted her, and what did it matter if he knew how all of them came together?
He didn’t even have to know why she’d left him.
Not anymore.
She was his. That was all that mattered—although yeah, some day he’d want the whole story so he could deal with the uncle, the groom, the kidnappers, the so-called Deliverer, but the bottom line was that getting her home had nothing to do with any of that.
“Annie,” he said, “you know what? You don’t have to do this. I believe everything you told me abou
t your uncle, and I’m sure you had a good reason for leaving me, and—”
“I have to talk about it.” She laced her fingers through his and drew a long, deep breath. “Because here’s the most important thing. I didn’t leave you. I mean, I knew I had to—it was why I’d started to see you less often—but I couldn’t bring myself to make the break.” Her eyes filled with tears; she brought their joined hands to her face and pressed kisses to his knuckles. “I loved you. I loved you. I would never have—”
“Anoushka.” Declan pushed back his chair, reached for her and drew her into his lap. “Don’t cry, baby. Please. Don’t cry. Remember what I said? If you can’t talk about it—”
She put her fingers lightly over his mouth, took another deep breath, and began with her childhood in Qaram.
“I was always happy. Nobody’s always happy, but I really was. My parents loved me and I adored them.” She smiled. “I have lots of wonderful memories. Seeing mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower. A trip to Disneyland.” Declan raised his eyebrows and she gave a soft laugh. “I had my picture taken with Minnie Mouse.”
Dec smiled and gathered her closer. “Not Mickey?”
“I thought Minnie had been overlooked. She was a girl mouse, but that didn’t make her less important than Mickey.”
Dec laughed. “A feminist at, what, age ten?”
“Seven,” Annie said, laughing with him, “but that’s how I was raised.” Her expression grew serious. “My parents wanted changes in Qaram. The country was eager to embrace technology, but it was difficult to move cultural attitudes forward. That was part of the reason I decided to take a graduate degree in computer studies. I’d already studied engineering. Computers seemed a good next step.”
Dec gave a soft whistle. “I’m impressed.”
“So was my uncle.” A muscle in her jaw tightened. “Although that’s not the right way to put it. He thought my parents were making a terrible mistake. As far as he was concerned, the old ways were sacrosanct. No education for girls beyond what Americans would call the eighth grade. No women in the professions. He and my father argued over my father’s plans for Qaram and over my plans for my future.”
“But your father was king.”
Annie nodded. “And he was determined. He established an advisory governing council. At first they rubber-stamped whatever he said, but he worked hard and with the support of a trusted appointee to that council, the members began to speak up, to offer opinions of their own.” She paused. “And then—and then, my father and mother died in a plane crash.”
Her voice wobbled.
Dec drew her head to his shoulder. He rocked her gently in his arms. felt her hot tears on his neck.
“Anoushka. If it hurts too much to talk about this—”
She sat up straight and wiped her hands over her eyes. “They died, and the council member who was my father’s oldest friend warned me not to come home. He said—he said it was possible my parents had been murdered, and that he feared for my life if I returned to Qaram, even for the funeral. I’d registered at school as Anne Stanton to avoid publicity. He told me to truly become Anne Stanton and forget I’d ever been a woman named Anoushka.”
Another steadying breath, and then she told Declan the rest.
How she’d had to mourn the loss of her parents alone.
How she’d lived in fear of being found.
How she’d resigned herself to despair and solitude.
“And then I met you,” she said softly, “and everything changed.”
Declan cupped the back of her head and brought his mouth to hers.
“You were all I’d ever dreamed of,” Annie whispered. “Strong. Tender. You cared about people, about your friends…” She smiled and put her hand against his cheek. “You cared about me.”
Dec turned his face into her hand and kissed her palm.
“I think I fell in love with you that first day on the beach,” he said. “I’d never known a woman like you. Sweet and beautiful, kind and generous…” He returned her smile. “And smart. So smart you scared me.”
Annie laughed. “It was the same for me. I thought, how did I get so lucky?” Her smile tilted. “Declan? I knew you wanted more. Sex, I mean.”
“Honey. You were so innocent. I wanted you—but I couldn’t bring myself to rush you.” His mouth twisted. “It never occurred to me that remaining a virgin was part of your—”
“That wasn’t why I never slept with you, Declan.” She swallowed hard. “I wanted to. I wanted to, desperately. But you were so good, so honest—and all the time, I was lying to you. Maybe it sounds crazy, but the thought of giving myself to you without also telling you the truth about me seemed—it seemed obscene.” Annie paused. “That was when I realized I had to break things off between us.”
“What I don’t get is why you didn’t confide in me. Didn’t you trust me enough to tell me who you were and what had happened to you?”
She gave another of those soft, sad laughs.
“I trusted you with all my heart—and that was the problem. My uncle had taken over Qaram. In the blink of an eye, our two countries had become alienated. You’re a warrior, Declan. A man of honor and duty. I’m the niece—the titled niece—of a man well on his way to becoming your country’s enemy. I knew you wouldn’t hide that from your superior officers, that you’d tell them about our relationship, and then what? Would they still let you serve your country or would they see that as the end of your career? And if it was—if it was, how could you possibly go on caring for me?”
Declan gathered her hard against him. He held her for long moments, loving the feel of her in his arms, loving her courage—and knowing she was right. Once his superiors knew about her, it probably would have meant his career in Special Ops—in the military—was over.
She’d sacrificed herself for him rather than let him sacrifice himself for her, because he would have given up everything to be with her.
That was how it was when you loved a woman the way he loved his Annie.
And—and—
A knot formed in his belly.
All at once, he knew, goddammit, he knew that even though she’d decided to end their relationship she’d never have left him without a word. A note. Something. She wouldn’t have just vanished from his life. She was too decent, too giving.
How come he’d never considered that before?
“Annie,” he said, trying to sound as if he wasn’t already feeling anger building in his blood, “you didn’t just leave Santa Barbara, did you?”
She looked away from him.
This was the one part she wished she could keep secret. Bad enough she’d told him her uncle had kept her prisoner and sold her to the King of Tharsalonia. The rest would enrage him and she knew enough about STUD to know that her Declan would want to avenge her.
“Annie.” Declan turned her on his lap so that she was straddling him. His eyes bored into hers. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
So she did.
She told about waking in the middle of the night to find two men in her bedroom. Told him about the threats they’d made to hurt someone she cared about.
“Someone you cared about.” Dec’s tone was ominously calm. “Was I that someone?”
Annie looked away from him. Dec grabbed her chin and forced her to meet his eyes.
“I did what I had to do,” she whispered.
“I could have handled them,” he said calmly. Much too calmly. “And then?”
“They had a car waiting. A black SUV with tinted windows and diplomatic plates.” Annie ran the tip of her tongue over her lips. “They took me to the airport. To a part I’d never seen before.”
“The area reserved for private planes.”
“Yes. They put me on a plane and we flew to Qaram.”
“And when you got there?”
Once again, she tried to turn her face away. Dec wouldn’t let her.
“Tell me the rest.”
&nbs
p; His touch was gentle. His voice was steady. But his eyes were flat; his breathing was swift. She could almost feel his body humming with rage.
“My uncle confined me to my rooms. Not all the time. If he had guests—important guests—he expected me to join him.” Her head lifted in defiance. “But I refused. No matter how angry he got, how much he threatened, I wouldn’t do it. It made him furious. He said I was a drain on the kingdom and he promised he’d find some way to make me useful.”
Dec nodded. His Annie. His Anoushka. His brave, honorable princess who had given up everything for him…
“And this marriage would make you useful.”
“Yes. He’s planning to invade the kingdom of Suwaith. It’s a small country—”
“—on Qaram’s southern border,” Dec said grimly. “One of our allies, rich in oil and minerals.”
“Yes. And Tharsalonia is—it was an ally of Suwaith. So my uncle made a deal with the Tharsalonian king. He’d give him several million dollars to turn a blind eye to the planned invasion.” She hesitated. “And he’d give him me.”
“And you told your uncle you wouldn’t agree.”
She shuddered. “I told him I would never—that I would never…” Her voice hardened. “It’s why I told you not to worry about us making love without a condom. My uncle sent me to—to be examined. To be sure I was a virgin. Otherwise, my bridal price would not have been high enough.”
Declan said nothing. How could he, when he was so filled with fury?
“The doctor who examined me had been a friend of my mother’s.” Annie’s tone softened. “She said she would assure my uncle that I was a virgin—but she knew I was unhappy. I cried, you know? I couldn’t help it. I cried when she asked me how I felt about the marriage. About—about bearing the king’s children.”
“She gave you birth control pills,” Dec said softly.
“Not pills. She gave me a shot. Someone could have seen me taking pills. The shot lasts for three months. She warned me that after that—that after that—”
Dec used his fingertips to wipe away Annie’s tears. “She’s a good woman.”
Annie nodded. She sat quietly in his arms, her head resting against his shoulder. After a few minutes, Dec raised her face to his.
Renegade: Special Tactical Units Devision (STUD) Book 3 Page 12