Yara narrowed her eyes. “You know that’s not possible.”
Kade crossed his arms. “Then stop wasting our time.” He lifted his chin in the direction of the reporters. “Or maybe you want to do more primping and posing in front of the press.”
“In case you missed it,” she said sweetly. “We’re the ones paying for your time.”
His face rearranged itself into chiseled granite. His mouth flattened as he regarded her with his dark gaze.
“Is this man giving you a hard time, Yara?” Len joined their huddle as he handed her suitcases to the cargo loader.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Her eyes continued to do battle with Spear’s.
“You sure about that?” A mocking grin curved Kade’s lips.
“Don’t try and smile, Spear, your face might crack,” Yara said coolly.
Max barked a laugh and offered his arm. “All right, Ms. Emerson, let’s get you situated before you both combust and melt the runway.” Yara grabbed his arm and let him lead her away from his partner and yet she could feel Kade’s heavy scowl on her back.
“Don’t let him get to you,” Max said by her ear. “Spear has a weird way of showing he cares.”
She stopped walking and her head reared back. “Are you making excuses for him or do you really believe that?” Not waiting for his answer, she let go of his arm and stalked ahead, stopping short at the bottom of the steps leading up to the plane. The most important mission of her life and she was saddled with people whose sanity she questioned.
“Problem?” Max came up beside her.
“No.” Yara sighed. The truth was, despite her hostile reaction to Kade Spear, he and Max exuded the type of take-charge attitude that elicited confidence in their skills.
Resolving not to let her emotions overcome logic, she ascended the steps.
“I’ve seen this happen enough.”
Kade tore his gaze away from Yara’s shapely figure and turned to her bodyguard. “Sorry?”
“Men acting like assholes because they know she’s too good for them.”
“No idea what you’re smoking, old man.” Kade nodded to the Porsche. “Shouldn’t you be leaving?”
Len Whitlock smiled faintly, but his eyes were serious. “Don’t underestimate her. Don’t treat her like a damsel in distress and, for the love of god, don’t treat her like glass.” Len blew out a breath. “She’s got a good heart you know, despite appearances.”
Kade snorted. “She’s wearing khakis and a white button-down shirt like she’s going on a Safari photoshoot.”
“Judging a book by its cover, Spear?”
“Got no time for this.” Kade started to walk away but the other man grabbed his arm. Kade stopped but didn’t say anything, eyes dropping to the spot where Len held him before flicking his cold stare back at the man.
Len released his arm, retreated a step and raised his hands. “Don’t be prejudiced.”
“I’m prejudiced?”
“Both of you are to a certain extent.” Len’s eyes cut into him. “Yara has no problem working through hers as long as you stop being a prick.”
At this, Kade’s brow rose in amusement.
“You’re also attracted to her,” Len added.
Kade scowled. “I assure you, my problems with her have nothing to do with the attraction you’re imagining.” He exhaled irritably and leveled his eyes at Len. “I’m concerned for her safety. That’s all.”
“I see that.” Len glanced at the Porsche. “I better head out.”
“Please do,” Kade replied, deadpan.
“Not a scratch on her, Spear,” Len warned and moved away.
“I’ll do my best,” Kade muttered.
Yara jolted awake to a shaking cabin.
Her hands gripped the arm rests and she noticed the seats around her were empty. She was in a section with double facing seats that enabled a huddle for four people. Max and Kade sat with her during takeoff, but both disappeared when the plane reached cruising altitude. She had no problem sleeping on planes despite her low confidence in this mechanical bird earlier. The presence of Kade and Max had a calming effect, but now with the fuselage creaking loudly and with no one in sight, a knot of fear formed in her stomach.
She craned her neck to look for the flight attendant and saw more empty seats.
What the hell? Where is everyone?
She’d been on rough rides, but this turbulence bore an eerie resemblance to the Serengeti incident. Yara stared down the aisle at the cockpit door. Light and shadows played beneath it and she had a sneaking suspicion she was alone.
The door flew open; the cockpit was empty.
Every muscle of her body seized then she sprang into action.
Yara ran down the aisle and got into the pilot’s seat and grabbed the controls.
Alarms beeped chaotically.
The nose of the plane dipped and she tugged on the yolk with no success.
It continued to plunge.
She screamed.
Yara jumped in her seat as her eyes flashed open and stared straight into intense ink-blue eyes.
“You all right?” Kade asked quietly.
She glanced over to Max, who was looking on with concern.
She was still panting hard. It had been a dream, thank god.
More like a nightmare.
“Yara?” Kade prompted.
“I … I …” She broke off. The last thing she needed was Kade mocking her about a weakness. It was as if he’d seen straight into her soul. Her fears. She unbuckled her seatbelt and scrambled out of her seat. Her feet shuffled quickly, but she had to squeeze past the flight attendant who was busy chatting with one of Kade’s crew. He had eight men on board—including him and Max—and another two who’d be meeting their plane in Turkey.
She entered the bathroom and slid the bolt closed and braced her hands on the tiny sink.
It felt so real.
I thought I was going to die.
Again.
Yara raised her eyes and stared at herself in the mirror. Why was it, when she’d gotten her pilot’s license, these dreams started happening again? Shouldn’t they go away? She’d faced her fears, so why did she feel like they were becoming worse? Sweat beaded her upper lips, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright. Passing her hand through the faucet sensor, water ran in spurts and she splashed it against her face, welcoming its coolness. The tightness in her lungs slowly eased and she could breathe again. She rinsed her mouth with the provided mouthwash, savoring the sting of the mint and stayed a few minutes longer in the tiny lavatory until she regained her composure.
After giving herself a once-over in the mirror, Yara slid the bolt open and yanked at the folding door.
She stopped.
Kade stood directly in front of her, arms crossed over his chest, his face a blank mask.
She slipped aside to let him in, but he didn’t move.
He was waiting for her.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Just a bit air sick, I guess,” she said as she tried to scoot past him.
He gripped her arm. “Yara …”
“Not now, Spear.” She yanked her arm free and stomped away from him.
Hands clamped her shoulders directing her body to the row of empty seats right beside them, far from everyone else.
“What are you doing?” she hissed.
When he wedged his body into the cramped space, his arm nudged her left boob and she hissed again for an altogether different reason. He landed beside her, his body a wall of hardness, his heat doing funny things to her insides, specifically between her legs.
Hell, no! she thought, mortified. This brute did not turn her on!
“Scoot over.” His mouth brushed her ear. Goose bumps rose on her skin and her nipples hardened.
She didn’t move.
“Yara,” he growled. “Scoot over or get on my lap.”
Outraged, she slid to the end of the row, turned, and glared at him. “That w
as highly inappropriate.”
His face looked pained and, for a minute, she regretted what she said.
“The arm rest was digging into my ass,” he muttered as he settled beside her. His big frame certainly occupied more than his fair share of space. She shrank into the corner, hugging her arms, hating herself for suddenly feeling so aware of this man in a sexual way.
Kade cast her an irritated look. “I’m a big guy.”
“I’m aware,” she replied, and she refused to think what other parts of him were big.
“You were spooked when you woke up.”
She was staring at his thigh. Cargo pants were usually loose on the men she’d seen, but Kade was testing his to capacity.
“Bad dream,” she mumbled, raising her chin, prepared to see mocking amusement in his eyes, but instead, she saw … concern?
“Tell me.”
“I dreamt the plane hit horrible turbulence. No one was around. The cockpit door flew open and there was no pilot.”
Yara shuddered in recollection and maybe it was her imagination but Kade’s face seemed to be closer.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Why are you apologizing?”
“Not sure, but I have a feeling it’s my fault,” he muttered.
“Probably. You do torment me at every turn.” She chewed on her lower lip, the way she always did when she was thinking about what to do next.
His eyes hooded as if mesmerized by her mouth.
This was starting to get really, really weird.
“Um … so you see?” she said brightly, hating all this strange tension swirling between them. “I’m fine. You said we should review the files of the personnel.”
His face hardened back into stone. Yara liked the Kade of a few seconds ago, but this version of him was less complicated.
“Sure.” He eased himself out of the seat and stood aside to let her go down the aisle first. The sounds of quick movements reached her and she caught several heads suddenly facing front.
It turned out, mercenaries were nosy people.
5
Kade was scowling again.
She was at wit’s end with this man’s mercurial moods which had the limited range of stoic to pissed off. It made her wonder if his concern about her nightmare earlier was a figment of her imagination.
“Move on, Roarke,” Kade growled.
Yara smiled once again at the former Army Ranger who was the last of Kade’s eight-man team introduced to her. They all could be models for a tattooed men’s calendar. Declan Roarke had dark hair and green eyes, with a charming Southern drawl. She just loved listening to him speak and might have been mesmerized by his voice.
Declan smirked at Kade and winked at her before he walked off. She was used to male attention, but this plane was loaded with such sheer testosterone, she was having a hard time absorbing all the raw energy emanating from the men.
Especially from the one sitting before her. “Would you explain something to me, Spear?”
Her question was met with a slight narrowing of his eyes.
“I’d prefer we lay all our cards on the table to avoid the tension for the three weeks we’ll be spending together,” she said. “I seem to displease you a lot, so I don’t understand why someone like Declan can’t be my shadow.”
“Not happening.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
Yara resisted the urge to roll her eyes and kept her gaze level. “That’s not an answer.”
“Declan has issues with female clients.”
“What do you mean?”
“They fall in love with him. Causes big fucking problems.”
“You mean he’s unprofessional?”
“No. Our clients are the ones who cross the line.”
“I can see that happening,” Yara said absently, noting that Declan was the typical tall, dark, and handsome. Add to that he was charming and yet full of danger, he was a chick magnet. “Is that why you wear this perpetual glower on your face? To keep women away?”
The lines on Kade’s face deepened into a darker scowl. “Perpetual glower …?”
“Do I need to hold a mirror in front of you?”
“I’m not trying to be a ladies’ man.”
“You know, Spear. You wouldn’t be bad looking if you smiled a bit more.”
“Don’t know if I should be flattered or insulted,” he muttered, but there was a hint of humor in his voice and his face relaxed.
Yara fought a smile. This might be progress. “And since you’re my self-appointed protector, we should at least be friends, right?” She held out her hand. “Let’s try this again. Hi, I’m Yara Emerson.”
Kade stared at her hand like it was a viper, his mouth flattened and he made no move to reciprocate.
After a stretch of long painful seconds, Yara lowered her hand, disheartened and embarrassed. “You really can’t stand me, can you?”
“That’s not it,” he said gruffly.
“Then I don’t understand.”
“Need to keep this objective. It’s nothing personal.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“That’s how I operate.”
“Then I feel sorry for you.” She leaned back against her seat.
Max chose that moment to interrupt. Holding a file in front of him. “Need to talk to you.” He was clearly addressing Kade, but he glanced briefly at her. She smiled tightly.
“What’s up?” Kade asked.
“Have intel on the South African job.” Max turned to Yara. “You mind if I steal him for a sec?”
“Not at all,” she replied.
“Saudis were right.”
“Garrison confirmed?”
Max nodded. “A large donation to ERAF was made by Iranian billionaire Massoud Rostami. What’s more troubling, the agency analysts have traced a freight drop to the ERAF warehouse in Oman.”
“From where?”
“Coeur D’eau. It’s a French manufacturing company that produces water purifiers.”
Kade snorted. “This is a problem, how? That’s a legitimate aid item.”
“Rostami is a fifty-percent stakeholder in the company. Saudis believe it’s a chemical weapon destined for the Nasir Rebels.”
“You think the Emersons are in on it?”
“Not sure. You think Mrs. Emerson …?”
“Half Iranian doesn’t make her a sympathizer. She’s been outspoken against the mullahs in Iran. We’ve gone through this a thousand times.”
Kade had trouble picturing Yara and her mother as arms dealers, but weren’t the most successful spies and terrorists hiding in plain sight?
“Mrs. Emerson’s signature is on the manifest we received.”
“That’s expected. She’s the one supervising the loading of the cargo.”
“We also can’t ignore the fact that Tariq Haddad and Yara are close friends.” Max exhaled a long breath.
“Do we have the records of communications between the two?”
“I can ask Brody to dig it up.”
“Do it.”
They looked at the woman in question who quickly looked away from them to study her tablet.
“She looks guilty,” Max said.
Kade had to agree.
He needed to have his head examined. The woman was all sorts of trouble.
“Maybe I should be her bodyguard,” Max suggested.
“No.”
“How about Roarke? He’s more personable. Best chance for us to charm the information out of her.”
“That’s hell fucking no.” He clenched his fists and controlled the urge to punch his friend.
Max quirked a brow. “You all right, man?”
“No one sticks to Yara unless I say so.”
“You’ve never been this—”
He glared at his friend. “I’m guarding her. Got it?” This time both of Max’s brows shot up. “I mean I’m responsible for her safety. Wipe that smirk off your face before I do i
t for you.”
“Then better start working her for information.” His friend chuckled which irritated him more.
Kade was pissed that she was even considered a suspect, pissed that CIA found shit that could lead back to her.
But that intel was what they were hoping for, so why was he feeling like this?
“Everything all right?” Yara asked.
“Yeah, just a slight hiccup on our South African job.” He pasted a smile on his face, sat beside her, and changed the subject. “Dinner should be served soon.”
She nodded. “What’s on the menu?”
“Nothing fancy.”
“That’s all right. I’m not picky.”
Kade ground his molars. Their whole conversation was so fake. She was obviously feeling him out which meant she was guilty of something or aware, at least, that they were keeping something from her.
He decided to test her. “I have to commend ERAF for your personnel on the ground. Your logistics are amazing.”
Yara’s eyes widened then turned wary. He was usually better at this shit. This woman had snuck under his skin; his usual cutthroat attitude seemed to have taken a vacation.
Kade had no problems scaring the fuck out of terrorists but doing it to Yara twisted up his insides.
“Um, thanks,” she murmured, grabbing the cup of water beside her and taking a sip. “We could have used the company Gulfstream, you know? It’s brand new.”
“The configuration of this plane’s cargo hold is specific,” Kade said. “We didn’t want to waste time retrofitting.”
“Gotcha.”
“And there’s enough room on this plane for your team.”
Yara looked around. “You’re right.” Her lips curved into a smile. “Still cheaper to book them on a separate flight instead of the four hundred K you’re charging for this plane.”
Kade chuckled and leaned over to the coffee table separating them from the row of seats across and grabbed the ERAF shipment paperwork. It might have been his imagination or Yara stiffened when he picked up the folder.
He flicked the file open pretending to study its contents. “Is there a reason the aid wasn’t going to the Hudaydah port? That’s where eighty percent of food aid goes.”
The Princess And The Mercenary Page 4