Echoes at Dawn (26 page)

She smiled. She was back. She was alive. She’d made it through.

There was no doubt she was as weak as a newborn kitten. She felt as limp as a wet noodle and her mind was mush. But she had renewed strength. Strength she hadn’t possessed before and an awareness she hadn’t felt since before she’d severed the link between her and Shea.

Shea! The awareness was of her sister’s presence in her mind. Always there, just as she’d been before. Tears gathered in her eyes and she bit her lip, afraid to call out, afraid
that she’d only dreamed that she’d been able to reconnect with Shea.

I’m here, Grace.

The calm sound of her sister’s voice sent joy coursing through her soul.

I worried I’d dreamed it all. I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve missed you so much.

I’ve missed you too, Grace. I love you. It’s been too long. We can be together now. Things are different. We can have a…life. I don’t want to be without you anymore. There’s no reason for it. Nathan and his family have promised to keep you safe. And now you have…Rio. You know you’re going to have to tell me all about him.

Grace smiled through her tears. Happy tears. So like old times when they shared everything.

Deal. Just as soon as you tell me everything about Nathan.

She felt Shea’s answering smile.

We’ll talk when you’re stronger, Grace. Right now I just want you to focus on getting better.

Love you.

Love you too.

Even though the communication ended, Grace could still feel the lingering presence of her sister. She hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed having her there until she’d been permanently gone.

“Have a nice chat with Shea?”

She turned, realizing that Rio was awake and had been silently watching her. She smiled. “Yeah. I can’t believe she’s back. I thought I’d never be able to talk to her telepathically again.”

Rio kissed her, his lips gentle and loving over hers. For the longest time he stayed there even when he’d pulled his mouth away. His forehead rested against hers and he cupped her jaw in his palm.

“I’m just glad
you’re
back,” he said. “You scared me, Grace. I thought I’d lost you.”

“I thought I’d lost myself,” she said honestly.

Rio pulled slightly away but kept hold on her jaw, tilting so she met his gaze. “Why did you do it?”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “I didn’t want to die if that’s what you’re thinking. I almost refused because I was afraid I
would
die.”

Rio’s face went hard and his eyes cold. “Browning said he didn’t threaten you. Did he? Did he hurt you?”

She could only imagine what Rio had done to his teammate. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She shook her head, feeling the firm imprint of his fingers on her face. It was comforting. There was strength in his touch. And possession. A clear message that he considered her his.

“I think he was scared. And resigned. It was as if he knew the consequences of what he’d done. Knew you’d be furious. I was pretty pissed too. But I also understood why he’d done it. I can only imagine how I’d feel if it were my child and I couldn’t do anything to help her. I’d lie, cheat, steal, threaten or kidnap anyone who could help her, you know?”

“Is that why you did it? Because you understood?”

She leaned her forehead against his lips, liking the warmth of his mouth on her skin. “I did it because once I saw her, I knew she was dying. I knew she wouldn’t last much longer. Death surrounded her and I knew that if I didn’t help her, I would be responsible for her death and I couldn’t look Browning and Sumathi in the eye and tell them I wouldn’t help their daughter because I was afraid of dying when I’d finally found a reason to live.”

His hand stilled in her hair. He pulled her back so they were looking eye to eye. “What’s your reason, Grace?”

There was such a multitude of things in such a simple question. There was hope. Curiosity. A little dread. Didn’t he realize? She guessed he didn’t. Things had moved so fast. She hadn’t really been that forthcoming about her feelings. She hadn’t even been sure of what she felt.

Her entire world had been turned upside down. She’d barely existed for the last year, and yet in the midst of it all, her life in ruins, had come this man.

He’d challenged her, bullied her and made her feel more loved than she’d ever felt with another human being. He hadn’t allowed her to quit.

Why? What had he seen in her that very first time to make him so determined to track her down?

She touched his face, stroking over the roughness of his jaw. He hadn’t shaved and the stubble was bristly over her fingers.

He looked like hell.

“How long have I been asleep?” she whispered.

His eyes narrowed at her avoidance of the question. But she just hadn’t quite found the right words yet.

“Three days.”

Her mouth popped open in dismay. “Three days?”

He nodded grimly.

“What about the baby?” she asked hesitantly.

His lips thinned. “I don’t know. I assume she’s fine.”

She wanted to ask about Browning and what had been done with him.

Rio sighed. “What are you thinking?”

She nibbled at her bottom lip. “About Browning. And his family. Did you kill him?”

“And if I did? The bastard deserved it.”

She frowned unhappily. “He was only protecting his daughter.”

“Yeah, by risking what belongs to me and betraying his team.”

“I can see why you’d be angry.”

“Really, Grace? You can see why I’d be angry? I was fucking
furious
. You don’t get it, do you? He took what was mine. He took what was important to me and he used you. He could have killed you. And you see why I’d be angry.”

“He betrayed you,” she whispered.

Rio rose up on his elbow, his eyes blazing. “It has nothing to do with me, goddamn it! Don’t you get it? I
love
you and he tried to suck the life right out of you. Yes, he betrayed me, but I wanted to kill him because he nearly took you away from me.”

She swallowed, opened her mouth and then snapped it shut again. He didn’t give her another opportunity. He slid his hand around to her nape and pulled her to meet his kiss.

It was fierce and possessive. She felt branded and marked. He kissed her like he was swallowing her whole, devouring her and pulling her into himself.

He turned her fully onto her back and then he was over her, pushing into her, hot and hard. He slid into her body, locking them together, and then he stared down at her, his eyes burning with emotion.

“Do you get it
now
, Grace? You’re mine. I’ve never felt this way about a woman, and I don’t like how goddamn crazy it makes me.”

She smiled and arched up with a sigh, taking him farther inside.

“I’m glad you find this so damn funny,” he growled.

Her smile got bigger. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss.

“Would it make it better if I told you that I’m just as crazy over you?” she whispered.

“Maybe.”

“Or that I’m pretty sure I love you just as much?”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” he grumbled.

She stroked his cheek. She wrapped her legs around him, wanting him closer still. Wanting to find that warmth that burned from the inside out.

“Or that my reason for finding the will to live after wanting to die is you?”

His eyes darkened and he went still above her. For the longest time he simply stared down at her as if he was trying to collect himself.

He was still deeply embedded inside her. She was tight around him and he seemed to swell larger even though he hadn’t yet moved.

“I don’t know what to say,” he said hoarsely. “I’ve never mattered to anyone. Not in this way. No one has depended emotionally on me. I’m depended on for leadership and
strength. Discipline and determination. No one has ever needed me for
who
I am. Just
what
I am.”

“I do,” she whispered. “I need you, Rio. You saved me. I’ve never mattered to another soul besides my sister. No one has ever cared about me or about what happens to me. Not until you. I wasn’t just someone with special abilities to you. You saw the real me, and you cared about
her
. Not what I could do for the world or for someone you knew. You looked inside and saw
me
.”

He lowered his forehead to hers until they were touching. “Say it. Say the words, Grace. I don’t just want to hear them. I
need
to hear them. I need…you.”

She smiled, tenderness filling her heart. “I love you, Rio.”

His nostrils flared and his jaw went tight as if he were fighting to maintain his control and composure. There was such vulnerability in his dark eyes, and she realized in that moment that for all his strength and resolve, for how protective and possessive he was of her, he needed those same things from her.

“I love you too, Grace Peterson.”

He withdrew and then pushed forward again, more gently this time and without the urgency he’d displayed when he’d first taken her.

He kissed her lips then moved to her cheeks, giving each a kiss in turn. Then he kissed her nose, her eyelids and each temple. All the while he continued his gentle thrusting, gliding in and out as he restaked his claim all over again.

Slowly he ran his hands down her body, then underneath to cup her behind. He held her in place, positioning her for his thrusts as he worked deeper.

“Don’t ever risk yourself like that again,” he admonished. “You can’t save everyone, and I won’t lose you so that you can save one more person. Maybe that’s selfish of me, but I don’t really give a damn.”

She smiled at the gruffness of his tone because underneath
was a layer of fear. Fear for her. Fear that he’d lose her. She kissed him again as the first waves of her orgasm rolled over her.

She held on to him, her anchor, the person who’d taken her from death’s grasp more than once. He’d protect her. She had absolute faith in him. How could she not? He’d faced death down for her and
won
.

“YOU
better have something good to report,” Farnsworth growled into the phone. “With what I’m paying you, you should have had Grace Peterson to me weeks ago.”

“I don’t respond well to threats, Mr. Farnsworth. You’d do well to remember that.”

Farnsworth froze at the icy implication in Hancock’s voice. He hated that this man intimidated him. And he didn’t simply intimidate him. He bloody well terrified him, and that pissed him off because he feared no one. People feared
him
.

Except this man who headed up Titan. Farnsworth was certain there wasn’t a man alive that Hancock feared.

“Well? Have you located her yet?”

“I have,” Hancock said simply. “Rumor is she healed a child in a village on the Belize River and that it nearly killed her. Nothing is known of her current condition, but I have a lock on her location. My contact there says they’re moving her out soon. If I’m patient, they’ll come to me.”

Farnsworth swore savagely. “I can’t afford to wait a minute longer. What if the little fool had killed herself
trying to heal this other child? If she’s going to die healing someone, it’s damn well going to be my daughter.”

“I understand your impatience,” Hancock said in a mild tone. “But impatience won’t get you what you want any faster. You hired me to do a job. I’ve never failed a mission yet. Think about that when you’re issuing idle threats because my next mission will be to come after you if you continue your present line of discussion.”

“Just get her here. I’m running out of time. I’ll double your price. I don’t care what it takes. You can have all I have because if my daughter dies, I’ll have nothing anyway.”

“Your devotion to your daughter is admirable and I’ve already said that I would have Grace Peterson delivered to your daughter’s bedside in a timely manner. She won’t escape. I know the man who protects her far too well. I know how he thinks. I know his next move. I should. He taught me everything I know.”

The line went dead and Farnsworth threw it across the room. He hated how this mercenary reduced him to feeling insignificant and powerless. As if Hancock held all the cards and he knew it.

Time was running out. The doctor had seen her again today and had faced Farnsworth with a grim expression and a shake of his head. She didn’t have long. She was growing weaker. Her body could no longer fight off the cancer. It was insidious, growing and multiplying at an alarming rate. There was simply nothing to be done.

She had days, maybe weeks, but nothing more. She could die tonight or she could die next week. He was afraid to enter her bedroom for fear that he’d find her already gone.

He slumped into his chair and buried his face in his hands, and for the first time since learning of his daughter’s illness, he wept.

“RIO,
I’m perfectly capable of walking,” Grace protested as he carried her out of the bedroom and into the living room.

He ignored her and she sighed, though she really didn’t mind him carrying her. She was still living in the new and shiny revelation of knowing this man cared so much for her. It was a little frightening and yet it made her giddy, like a teenage girl with her first crush.

She was deathly afraid of having that bubble burst. They were not living in a dream world. Not everything was hearts and roses. They’d hollowed out a little niche, a temporary break from reality, but the real world waited like a predator. Teeth gnashing, evil. Those who pursued her hadn’t given up. And they wouldn’t.

Soon they’d go back into that harsh, cold reality, a place where people died, a place where people gave no thought to humanity. She’d be caged, used, the equivalent of a monkey taken out when it was time to perform and then shoved back into her cold, impersonal prison.

“Grace.”

Rio’s impatient voice cut through her maudlin thoughts and she realized it wasn’t the first time he’d called her name. She blinked, also realizing that he’d already put her on the couch and apparently he’d been trying to get her attention for some time.