Out of Sight (27 page)

"In fact," he said, kissing her fingers,
"any
view with you in it is the prettiest sight I've ever seen."

Her eyes brimmed with tears.

Oh, crap.
"That's a bad thing?"

AJ flung herself on top of him. "No, you crazy, wonderful man, that's a
wonderful
thing. I love you. I love you. I love you."

"Thank God," he said with heartfelt relief. "I was afraid I was going to have to take you off somewhere and hold you prisoner until you admitted it."

"It wouldn't've taken long," she said, nibbling a path from his chin to his lips. "You fulfilled the gypsy curse."

"The gyp—I guessed your name?" He tried to look surprised. "No way. Which one was it?"

"Never mind. Hurry up and kiss me, would you?"

Kane threaded his fingers through her hair. "With pleasure, Aphrodite Jacintha, with pleasure." He pulled her head down and crushed his mouth to hers.

She punched him even while she was fully engaged in kissing him back.

"Hey, Coop? If Wright's bothering you that badly, get off him," a laughing voice suggested. "Geez, you two, do you know how much trouble your disappearance caused?"

"Go 'way. Hawk," AJ muttered, not looking up. "I have this man in custody."

"Well, yeah. We can see that. But you might want to take a quick look around before you interrogate him further."

AJ lifted her head. "Oh, crap," she whispered, meeting Kane's amused gaze.

They were surrounded.

Killian, McBride, Tariq, Christof, Wondwesen, and Hawk circled them. Between their legs, AJ observed uniformed military personnel pouring onto the scene. She was suddenly aware of the noise. Aircraft, vehicle engines, men shouting. It was pandemonium. People and camels raced about, vehicles drove across the lawns and flower beds. A jeep swung down from the sky, suspended by a military-green parachute, to land a few feet away. Then another. And another. The sky was filled with the noise of approaching aircraft and the ground with the roar of four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Ari Tariq reached out a hand to help her up. "Jesus," he said, looking her up and down, then swung around to check out Kane. "Which one of you is bleeding like a stuck pig?"

"Neither." Kane grinned, allowing McBride to haul him to his one good foot, where he stood balancing precariously. "AJ took out Raazaq. It was a beautiful sight to behold."

"Excellent. We'll hang on your every word over a brew later," Tariq said. "In the meantime, you two have a line of people waiting to talk to you. Coop, you go ahead. They're waiting for you in the dining room. We'll send this one in after he's patched up."

"Who's waiting?" AJ hugged her success to her. The guys were treating her like one of them. She'd completed her mission—and Kane Wright, by damn,
loved
her.

"Justice Department, Secret Service, and our people—Other odds and ends."

AJ pushed her hands through her hair and tried to clean herself up. Impossible. If nothing else, she was still covered with Raazaq's blood. She grimaced.

Christof pulled his gray T-shirt over his head. "Here," he said, blushing. "It was clean this morning. Take a moment to wash up and ditch those clothes before you go in, if you want."

"Bless you." She took the blond giant's shirt. Her gaze flickered to the team. "His ankle's probably broken, and he's got a hole that needs stitches, somewhere other than his hard head. Take good care of him, please, you guys."

"You gonna marry that girl?" Hawk asked conversationally as the men watched her walking away with unqualified appreciation.

"The minute I can walk down the aisle," Kane assured him. He closed his eyes. "Is she inside?"

"Yeah, wh—" Killian asked, and turned just in time to break Kane's fall as he passed out. "Aw, shit!"

"Wuss," Wondwesen said affectionately, helping support the fallen man. "Let's get him to the field hospital so they can patch up his owie before his Amazon sees him like this."

"Man, that is one lady I wouldn't want to mess with," Killian said, getting a hold of Kane's shoulders.

"Yeah," McBride said with a wide grin. "Join the crowd."

"What the—" Kane said, opening his eyes. He blinked AJ into focus.

"You fainted," she said cheerfully from her seat on the edge of his bed. Her face was scrubbed clean, her eyes sparkled, and she appeared to be wearing nothing more than another man's shirt.

"I did
not
faint."

"Yes," she said, stroking his face with cool hands, "you did."

"Lost consciousness," he corrected, surreptitiously looking her over for damage. "Where are we?"

"In the hotel. They gave us a nice fresh suite to stay in for the next week or so."

"Quarantine?"

"Yep. As far as they could ascertain, only one vial of the virus was released. And they're hoping that it was inert without the other agents being released to mix with it. But they don't know for sure. So no one leaves until the twelve-day incubation period is over. We're here for the duration."

There'd been grumbles and groans about that. But not many. People were too glad to be alive. And most of them were still scared, so they weren't going to protest too much. Besides, here they had a pool of the world's finest virologists and viral specialists. The best medical personnel, the best antidotes, the best physicians.

From the President of the United States down to the most junior busboy, everyone, without exception, was under quarantine.

She brushed Kane's hair out of his eyes. "How do you feel?"

"Like I have a whopping big cast on my leg."

She grinned. "Good, you won't be able to run."

Kane hooked his palm behind her head. "I'm not going anywhere." He brought her face down to his and kissed her. "I love you, AJ," he said against her lips. "I love you more than I ever dreamed it was possible to love."

"Good," she said briskly, sitting up. "Because I have a proposition for you."

"A proposition? Not a proposal?"

"I'll handle one, you handle the other."

"Yes ma'am."

"There's an opening for operatives to work as a couple. Did you know that?"

"There is?" he asked, straight-faced. Jesus. This woman was going to lead him a merry dance; she was going to give him prematurely gray hair and a life filled with joy. He couldn't wait.

"Yes. There is. So I was thinking—"

"Angina?"

"What?"

Kane laughed, grabbed her, and held her tight against his body, then kissed her long and hard and deep, since it was the only way he could think of to shut her the hell up.

When he finally let her up for air, he looked down into her eyes—something he planned on doing every day for the rest of his damn life—and said, "So? You gonna marry me, or what?"

"Oh," her smile was radiant,
"now
it's my turn to talk?"

"One-word answer."

"Yes."

Kane grinned and pulled her back into his arms, where she belonged. "That's the one."