Finding Dani (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 3) (7 page)

Her big green eyes glowed in the semi darkness, drawing him toward her. He had to make her understand, and he wanted to be close to her. He always wanted to be close to her. But she took a step back, putting space between them again.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Travis. And I don’t think you do either.”

“He’s a killer, damn it. Did you know that? He’s a mercenary with orders to protect that Dr. Halverson with whatever means necessary. And he was a sniper. I heard some of the soldiers talking, practically worshiping him because he shoots people from far away. It’s disgusting. He’s got blood on his hands.”

Travis couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Her face was completely blank. Maybe she was in shock at hearing that her brother-in-law was completely different from the noble man that was her late husband. A man that was like Travis. Both doctors. Both willing to sacrifice their lives to save others. And both in love with Danielle Bordeaux.

He dropped his bag and reached out to grip her shoulders. To force her to understand that Damon was beneath her, beneath them both.

“Let me go, Travis.”

“You save lives and he takes them. How can you look at him the way you do when he kills for a living? You’re so much better than he is.”

“You’re hurting me, Travis. Let. Me. Go.”

“Let her go, now, or I’ll show you exactly how much of a killer I am,” Damon said, his voice washing over Travis like a cold wave. “And it’ll be up close and personal.”

Dani backed away, the look on her face wasn’t directed at Damon the way it should have been. Instead, she was looking at him with dread. While rubbing her arms. He hadn’t meant to hurt her.
Oh, God, never that
.

“I’m sorry, Dani. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She said nothing.

Then, Travis looked at the man he’d just called a killer. And any thoughts of being able to handle himself were immediately discarded. Cold dread washed over him. He was no match for the very angry man standing almost in front of Dani now, protecting her from Travis himself. That wasn’t how it was supposed to be. She was supposed to realize that Damon was the threat, not look at him like he was.

“You ever touch her again, Travis, and I’ll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them. Am I perfectly clear?”

He hated himself for nodding, for giving in and looking weak in front of Dani. But he didn’t have a choice. He believed the man in front of him. There was no doubt in Travis’s mind that if he ever touched Dani again, he was a dead man.

***

Claire drew back into the shadows of the nearest tent. She hadn’t meant to follow anyone; she had merely headed back to her own sleeping space, the one she shared with Hailey, when she’d come up on the end of that little confrontation.

Travis picked up his shower bag and scuttled away, tail tucked firmly between his legs, as far as she could tell. And Damon grabbed Dani’s hand and led her in the opposite direction. Her friend looked a little shell shocked by the whole thing.

“Spying?”

Claire turned her head, barely able to see the sarcastic little smile on Dr. Graham’s face. “More like, not wanting to interrupt that rather tense little scene. Besides, what’re you doing skulking around in the shadows?”

The smile dropped off his face. “I do not skulk, Ms. Belgarde. I was also merely going this way.”

“Your tent isn’t this way,” she said. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him. He could be such a formal ass.

“No, but the infirmary is, and we might have a new Ebola case. I was asked to come and consult, since Dr. Bordeaux couldn’t be located. Clearly, she is sorting out some personal issues.”

Claire snorted at him, not caring that he raised his eyebrows at the unladylike noise. “What new Ebola case? I was there most of the day and it was all routine vaccinations.”

“The man who came in with the head wound. He’s the one.”

“But, they were all tested,” she said. None of the villagers had shown any signs of being positive for the virus. No one even had so much as a fever. “We’d better tell Dani.”

“Not yet,” Martin said. “Let’s make sure it’s actually something to be worried about and not Dr. Montgomery trying to cause a panic.”

“Then, let’s go. I want to see this for myself.”

This was seriously going to derail all their plans for going stateside if it really was Ebola in the camp. They’d all need to follow quarantine procedures, which would keep them in Liberia another twenty-one days.

Chapter 8

Damon was vibrating with the need to punch something. Travis was his focus, but he knew Dani wouldn’t want him to seriously hurt a teammate and friend. And right now, he was in a killing mood. Seeing his hands on Dani—hurting her.

He had her smaller hand in his as Damon led them toward her tent. She was the only thing keeping him from finding that bastard again and showing him what hurt was. And she was too quiet, not stopping him from dragging her through camp. That worried him.

She should be giving him all kinds of hell.

When he had her safely inside, he closed the door and dropped the cloth blinds to ensure privacy. “Dani?”

Her face was expressionless, but her cheeks were pink and she was blinking rapidly, trying to hold back tears. Damon made the effort to calm down, taking a deep breath, before lifting his hand to her chin and tilting her face up to his.

“Are you alright?”

She nodded, the move jerky, and tried to move away. “Fine,” she whispered.

“You’re not fine. Did he hurt you?”

She rubbed her arms and shook her head. “Just a little.”

One tear broke free and slid down her cheek and that was more than Damon could take. He pulled her into his arms and held her close. “It’s okay to cry, sugar. A lot has happened in the last two days.”

Her sob nearly broke his heart. He scooped her up into his arms and sat them both onto her cot. With her face buried in his neck and her arms up around his neck, he couldn’t think of anywhere else he’d rather be. And she felt damn good in his arms.

Better than he’d ever imagined. Over the years, he’d imagined more than he’d ever admit to anyone. He gently unbraided her hair and ran his fingers through it in long strokes. He knew she found it soothing when she sighed.

“I’m sorry,” she sniffed.

“Shush. You have yourself a good cry.”

Dani hadn’t lifted her head from his shoulder, so he couldn’t see her face, but he could feel her start to shake. With laughter. He pulled back so he could see her expression. It was tear-stained, and her cheeks were almost as red as her hair. But those big green eyes are what held him.

“I think I needed that.” She ducked her head and continued to smile. “But now I’m feeling really stupid for being curled up in your lap like a little girl.”

He grinned. Very glad she was getting her spunk back. “Got my shirt all wet too.”

“That’s what you get for being all macho and sweet.” She was wiping away the moisture around her eyes, which was beginning to dry up, with the sleeve of her shirt.

Damon couldn’t help but turn serious. He’d heard what Travis said and he wasn’t wrong. Dani was a healer, and he’d taken more lives than he could even talk about. But she wasn’t looking at him like he was some kind of pariah.

“I have taken lives, Dani. Travis isn’t wrong about me. It was my job. Still is.”

Her eyes widened and then she reached up to smooth the hair from his forehead. It was a tender gesture. One he hadn’t expected, but it felt nice.

“You protected the men on your team, Damon. That’s what you do.” She frowned as she looked at the door. “What Travis said was—”

She shifted in his lap and froze. There was no mistaking what was rapidly happening in his pants. He’d been able to control himself while she’d been upset and crying it out. But now, the smell of her hair and the feel of her curvy, warm body was bringing out his baser instincts. She wasn’t even wearing any expensive perfume, just plain soap and her own unique fragrance. It was a heady combination.

“Maybe I should move,” she said. Her eyebrow was arched and her frown had turned a tad mischievous.

Damon stifled a groan. “If you move any more, this situation is going to change your perception of me from caring knight-in-shining-armor to something a lot less complimentary, given recent events.”

***

Dani didn’t want to move, and yet she did. The safe feeling she had in his arms was quickly turning into something else. Something much more complicated.

Damon’s light topaz eyes had turned dark and serious. And the rigid length of him was snug against her bottom, making her heart thud in her chest. A heart that until this moment, she thought might be encased in ice.

“Finish what you were going to say about Travis,” he said. And if his voice was husky now, she tried to ignore it.

“He’s just wrong. You aren’t a killer.” She reached up and cupped his cheek, knowing he needed to hear this. Because it was obvious that he believed the same thing Travis did. She had to make him understand that what he’d done was necessary and even noble.

“You made hard choices and served your country with honor. Screw what Travis said and anyone else who thinks that way.”

She stared into his eyes, willing him to believe her. But then his eyes moved down to her lips and she realized that both of her hands were around his neck and her face was mere inches from his. If she moved any closer, she’d be plastered up against him.

“I warned you,” he rasped.

Then his lips touched hers. And it surprised her so much that she gasped and he slipped his tongue inside and took over. He was a conquering warrior and she was a prize fought for and won.

Dani melted.

His arms were around her in a second and she was taken. Her breasts pressed against his muscled chest, tingling and tightening in an almost painfully sweet sensation. Dani’s fingers tunneled into his long hair as his found her own.

The kiss was a warm and wet explosion of taste. It was as if she’d been seeing in black and white her whole life and suddenly could see in color. Her body lit up, feelings she thought long dead rising eagerly to the surface.

The sounds she made in the back of her throat would probably embarrass her later, but at this moment, they were totally involuntary.

“Goddamn, you taste good,” he said.

“Hmm.” She wasn’t sure she was actually capable of words because he started kissing her again and it was so good she never wanted to stop.

She’d been on some dates over the years, even shared some kisses, but none of those had inspired much more than a pleasant warmth. Nothing like the volcanic need raging through her veins. And just being in his arms, so strong and so gentle, made her want to cry again. And that was the problem. She needed him in a way that she shouldn’t. Dani couldn’t do this. She just couldn’t.

She pulled away. “I’m sorry. That shouldn’t have happened.”

Damon kissed her again, a quick swipe of his lips. “Why the hell not?”

“Because it isn’t right. It reminds me too much—”

“Of Gabriel,” he finished.

She scooted off his lap to pace the floor, mainly because the feel of him was a temptation she was dangerously close to throwing herself at. And how could he not remind her of her dead husband? They were twins, for God’s sake.

“Listen, Damon—” she started, but a loud pounding on the door stopped her.

“Hope you’re decent. I’m coming in,” Gunner Halverson said before opening the door.

He stopped just inside, briefcase in one hand and a smirk on his face. A quick look at their disheveled appearance and it was clear there had been something going on. Dani could feel the tips of her ears get hot.

“What’s up, Gun?” Damon asked. He didn’t bother to straighten up, just sat there and looked at both of them.

“Sorry to interrupt, folks, but we have a situation.” His grin said he wasn’t sorry at all, but his eyes were serious as he set the briefcase down and began entering the combination for the locks.

Damon stood at that point, but Dani wasn’t sure what was going on. “What’s the situation?” she asked.

“Seems we have an Ebola case in the infirmary.”

“What?” Dani shook her head. “But everyone was tested when they came into the camp. There was nothing but routine cases.”

Gunner nodded as he popped the locks and opened the case. “That’s why we need to get some samples now. I have a feeling your mutated strand is here now.”

Inside the case was soft padding that encased two vials of a milky white liquid and a number of syringes. Gunner began loading up three of those syringes in rapid succession, showing no hesitation as he turned toward her with one of the needles.

“What is that?” she asked. It wasn’t something she was familiar with, especially since there was no label on the vial. She’d moved closer to look.

“This is the reason I’m here, to study the virus and come up with an antidote, if possible. Those vials are a prototype that I refined for the CDC that they’ve been being testing on monkeys. I’d planned on using mine once we’d rounded up some sample subjects to see if there was some measurable success.”