Navy SEALs Complete Series: 3 Books + 3 Novellas (Tempting Navy SEALs) (127 page)

“We were separated.” She breathed through the pain, fighting to keep her head clear. God, she was going to fucking kill him.

“You’re lying to me.”

She shook her head desperately, praying Tehya stayed hidden.

“It was too dark. I couldn’t find her. I was looking . . .”

He twisted her wrist and she lost it. Her stomach roiled, pitching with the pain as darkness threatened her vision.

Gagging, she leaned over, fighting to hold on to consciousness.

“Don’t you puke on me, you stupid whore.” He jerked her back from him, using his hold on her wrist.

Agony blazed through her mind, exploded in her head as she went to her knees. And it kept exploding.

He jerked her again, nearly ripping her wrist off as he fell. Kira’s free hand clawed at his, breaking his hold, only distantly aware of the explosions that didn’t seem to stop as she pitched to the floor, rolled, and cradled her wrist to her chest while the pain continued to resound in her head.

She heard someone screaming her name. Screaming hoarsely. Ian. That was Ian’s voice. Ian’s hands lifting her as she fought to hold on to consciousness through the agony resounding through her arm.

Oh hell, she was a pussy, she thought, just as Tehya had accused.

I
AN HELD KIRA AS SHE
passed out. Mercifully. He cradled her in his arms as Daniel rushed to her, his hands moving to the broken wrist, hurriedly splinting it as Ian stared at Sorrell, otherwise known as Joseph Fitzhugh.

Lights had swept into the kitchen the minute Kira’s screams had sounded. And Tehya had rushed in, firing every round the Glock held straight into her father’s chest.

She stood over him, staring down at his body, her face bloodless, her green eyes wilder than before as Antoli stood
behind her, watching her like a man tormented, the gash in his head bleeding profusely.

Deke, Trevor, Mendez, and Cristo were all in good shape, all armed and standing around Ian and the two women protectively as the gunfire outside finally leveled off.

“Where’s Diego?” He finally realized the other man hadn’t been seen since the lights went off.

Deke looked around the room then back at Ian in confusion.

“Reno, Diego’s missing, do you have a fix?” Ian snapped. He had attached a transmitter to Diego as well as the two women without their knowledge well before Sorrell had shown up.

“Tracker shows he’s with the women.” Macey’s voice came through the line.

“He’s not here.”

“His signal is right there beside the two women,” Macey repeated patiently.

Ian looked around. Kira was in his arms, Tehya beside her.

“Deke, check me for the transmitter.” Resignation filled his voice.

Deke moved to him quickly, running his hands over the collar of Ian’s shirt as Ian continued to hold Kira to his chest.

“Here it is.”

Diego had slapped his shoulder before Sorrell had arrived. He had known about the tracker.

“He’s flown,” Ian snapped into the link. “Find the bastard. Son of a bitch. He got away.”

D
IEGO STARED AT THE LIGHTS
blazing in the villa an hour later, surrounded by his personal team of soldiers and sailing for home.

He gripped the rail of the borrowed yacht, grief lying tight in his chest, clenching his stomach. Tears would have fallen had he been alone.

A boy should not be forced to kill his father, he thought to himself, continuing to stare at the receding lights of the estate Ian had moved them into. At his side, laughably enough, was his DHS handler. It was amazing really how his deal with DHS had worked out through the years. Such as now.

“My dear Mr. McClane, how do you think Ian is going to feel once he learns how easily you managed to slip me from the island and also that you warned me of what may well happen?”

McClane sighed at that. “It would be nice if he didn’t find out, Fuentes. You know what they say about burning bridges. As your legal counsel in this matter, I can assure you, it could be a deal breaker with DHS.”

Diego chuckled, but the sound was rusty, bitter.

He hadn’t had his son long enough, hadn’t had a chance to pull free those more calculating tendencies he knew Ian must surely possess. He hadn’t had enough time to gain his loyalty, and he had known it. Just as he had known it was Ian’s intention all along to kill him when this was finished.

“A man shouldn’t have to murder his own father,” he whispered then, aware that the agent was listening.

“If I didn’t agree, I wouldn’t have had the yacht waiting for you.”

Diego nodded and sighed again. Wearily.

“Marika raised a fine man,” he told Jason then.

“Yes, she did, despite Carmelita’s attempts to have him killed.”

He was always being reminded of this. As though there were a way he could go back in time to change the past. If only he could. He would have given his own soul to do just that.

“Did you know about him when I made my deal with DHS?” Diego wondered aloud.

“None of us knew about him until he and his stepfather approached the director,” Jason assured him, his voice as cold and unemotional as ever.

Yes, that sounded like Ian, and Marika. They wouldn’t have wanted anyone to know the shameful secret of who Ian’s father was.

He couldn’t find it in himself to blame the boy; as Jason said, Carmelita had made his life hell. She had helped mold the man Ian had become, and Diego cursed her to hell for it.

“The estate is secured?” he asked then.

“Secured. Ian will receive his orders tonight that you’re protected by DHS. And in return you sign the papers I brought that you’ll refrain from taking any U.S. government personnel hostage. Should you learn they are agents of the U.S. you will contact me and I’ll take care of them.”

Diego nodded. Yes, it had been a mistake to allow Clay and Sorrell to hold Nathan Malone. The testing of the whore’s dust on the SEAL had been amusing, and it had taught him something about the depth of a man’s soul. Malone had never broken. He had always known that the women brought to him were not his wife.

“Perhaps I will concentrate on some of the plans Ian placed into motion while he was with me,” he mused. “Several of those business look very lucrative.”

“Going legit, Fuentes?” McClane’s voice was mocking.

“Legit?” Diego frowned. “The time has passed for that, my friend. Very much so. But perhaps it is time to face the future. No children, no grandchildren, no time to teach a child about the legacy being passed to him. Perhaps it is time to just let it go.”

He didn’t give McClane time to answer. He turned, pushed his hands into his pockets, and entered the lavish interior of the yacht before continuing to his room. It wouldn’t take long to reach Colombia. A plane would be awaiting him and he would fly home where Saul waited for him.

To an empty, lonely estate.

Could anything be worse?

K
IRA OPENED HER EYES, GROANED
, and closed them again. She remembered. Oh hell yes, she remembered passing out like a wimp. And that was it.

She stared around the bedroom, the same bedroom she and Ian shared at the Fuentes villa. There was no broken glass here, no shattered windows or bullet-riddled furniture. Just her.

“You’re awake.”

Her eyes jerked to the doorway, to Ian as he stepped into the bedroom, then to Daniel and Durango team as they entered behind him.

She glanced at the cast on her wrist and the sunlight outside the room.

“How long was I out?” She hated passing out. Tehya was right, she was a pussy. It was the whole pain thing. She hated it, it just pissed her off, and if it was strong enough, caused her to pass out. It was pathetic.

“Close to ten hours.” Ian sat on the bed beside her, reaching out to smooth her hair back from her cheek as she looked at the cast on her wrist once again.

Anything to keep from looking at Ian.

“Teyha’s safe,” Daniel told her from the bottom of the bed. “She’s on her way to Fitzhugh’s estate in France to allow
the authorities, both French and American, into his private computers. With him and his legal son dead, she’ll have to have a few DNA tests, but it will be relatively easy for her to claim his estate. And we need his files.”

“He’s dead?” She looked up at Ian in surprise.

“Tehya,” he said simply. “He was distracted with you, he didn’t see her step into the kitchen. She emptied the Glock in his chest.”

A daughter had killed her father.

Had Ian killed his? She continued to stare up at him, the question in her eyes.

“It would appear DHS warned Diego months ago that he could end up tasting one of my bullets,” he said coolly. “He escaped during the chaos. The last word we had on him was that his DHS handler was escorting him back to Colombia. They’re revising his agreement with them. With any luck, he’ll never torture another SEAL.”

It didn’t sit easy with him, she could see that, but she could also see the acceptance in his eyes.

“We’re heading back downstairs,” Reno announced then. “We have a carrier headed this way and a copter ready to escort us home. I should be home in time to wake my wife and newborn son with the news that Ian’s home and all’s well.” He nodded to both of them. “Be ready to roll.”

Durango team strolled from the bedroom, leaving her alone with Ian and Daniel.

“Jason’s called me back, he even promised me a vacation.” Daniel grimaced. “Can you hide the wrist until I collect my bonus? It’s really not my fault you were hurt this time, Kira. And I’m telling you, Caroline is going to make me quit if Jason decides to bruise my face again.”

She rolled her eyes at his pitiful, hangdog expression.

“Jason won’t know about the wrist until you get your bonus,” she promised, almost shaking her head at him. “But you really need to have a talk with Caroline, Daniel. Bodyguards get bruised sometimes.”

“By the bad guys,” he growled, disgust suddenly weighing heavily in his voice. “Not by the damned boss because the charge doesn’t know how to keep her butt out of trouble.”

She grinned at that, then glanced at Ian. He was no more amused than Daniel was. She cleared her throat, wrinkled her nose, then picked at the tattered, bloodstained material of her dress. Damn, it was ruined.

“Get on out of here, Daniel,” Ian ordered him then. “You should have a few days before Jason gets a look at her. By then the bruises should be . . . Well, worse anyway.”

Yeah, she was bruised. She could feel a nice one forming beneath her eye and had already glimpsed the ones on her arms. No doubt about it, Jason was going to have a healthy little meltdown over this one.

She was quiet as Daniel made his way out of the room, the door closing behind him, leaving her and Ian alone, the silence in the room weighing heavily between them.

She lifted her eyes to meet his, saw the edge of sadness and pain and wanted to weep.

“I talked to DHS while you were out,” he told her softly. “Diego was warned months ago about what could have happened tonight. I’m amazed he didn’t murder both of us before Sorrell arrived.”

She shook her head. “He loves you.”

Ian shook his head at that. “I don’t know if that knowledge should terrify me or reassure me. One thing’s for certain, he’s out of my reach. His new agreement with DHS will curtail many of his games with government agents, according to the director. I have to content myself with that.”

“And will you?” She ached for him, ached for the loyalties that tore him in two and the knowledge that the man who sired him was more a monster than a father.

“I won’t go gunning for him.” He shrugged. “He stays away from us, I’ll stay away from him.”

“Us?” she whispered. Until that moment she hadn’t realized how terrified she had been that Diego would separate them, that her disagreement over Ian’s decisions would drive him away.

“I wasn’t going to kill him.” He gave his head a brief, hard shake. “I wanted to, Kira. I wanted to so bad sometimes it boiled in my gut like acid. But you were right, killing him wasn’t my responsibility. The agreement I suspected he made with DHS tied my hands and I knew it.”

She breathed in slowly, deeply. “None of this is your fault, Ian,” she told him softly. “Fuentes, Sorrell, Nathan. You couldn’t have prevented it.”

“I would have, if I had known Nathan was alive before I did. I would have gotten him out of there, no matter what it took.” No matter how many times he had to sell his soul to Diego. Kira understood that; she would do the same thing if it were Jason or Daniel.

“So. What do we do now?” she asked almost fearfully.

He stared down at her silently. “What do you want to do?”

“Love you forever,” she whispered.

Some of the tension seemed to ease from him then. “It won’t be easy for a while, you know. The press is already converging on the island. The papers in the States were carrying pictures of us together a week ago. We’ve already caused a sensation. ‘The deserter drug lord and the society princess.’ ” He sneered at the caption description.

She eased up in the bed, her breath hitching as he immediately eased her into his arms.

“The press will love us once they learn the truth.”

He grunted at that. “I’m not reenlisting. There’s no way I’d be effective now and I’ll be damned if you’re going to be off causing trouble somewhere without me keeping an eye on you. I’d go insane.”

“My job is done, Ian.” She stared up at him then, knowing in her heart it was over now. “I wanted Sorrell, and now he’s eliminated.”

His eyes narrowed. “Home and hearth and white picket fences?”

She would have been angry at the disbelief in his tone if she hadn’t glimpsed the hunger in his eyes as well.

“I like white picket fences.” Hope bloomed in her heart, the dream she had pushed aside, a home to share with someone who knew her, body and soul. A life that didn’t involve bloodshed and disguises, and maybe, just maybe, a baby. She would like to have a family with this man, a man who understood her, who loved her.

“I like white picket fences too.” A grin tugged at his lips. “I have a place, in Texas.”