The Midnight Hour (6 page)

He swallowed deeply. His jaw tensed. His eyes narrowed! Now was not the time to get horny. Maybe he should have made it a point to get laid after he'd recovered but the on opportunity had never presented itself while he had been id Texas. Surrounded by Ashton and his family, as well as Trevor's and his, not to mention all those Madarises, there hadn't been time to slip away and do much of anything. All of them had decided what he needed was rest and plenty of rest was what he'd gotten. Thanks to them he felt fit as an ox, well-adjusted and alert. Too alert. He couldn't dismiss the woman sitting across the boat from his mind.

After Tori had left Casey's office, he had hung back to talk to the man, trying to get him to understand his need to go solo on missions. But Casey refused to budge on this particular assignment. He and Casey had ended up having a lot of words, some that were still burning his ears, but in the end he had walked out of Casey's office with the same orders intact. He and Tori Green would work together on this mission and would leave out at midnight.

After leaving Casey's office and checking into his room! he had racked his brain trying to discover what there was about Tori Green that held his attraction and for the life of him he still didn't have a clue other than she was a good-looking woman. He'd come up against good-looking women before and after a good night spent in their bed or his, he had dismissed them from his mind without blinking. But through the rest of the afternoon, including the short nap he'd taken, this one particular woman had invaded his thoughts.

He had a feeling that Tori Green wouldn't easily get dismissed from his mind or any man's. For the second time he wondered why their paths had never crossed if she had been with the Agency for as long as Casey claimed. When he posed that question to Casey, the man only shrugged and said he assumed for no particular reason they never had, and moved on to something else like that was the end of it. But as far as Drake was concerned, that was not the end of it. The both of them had worked for Hawk so it would have made sense that at some point, he would have run into her. She'd been a surprise and he didn't like surprises.

Trying to take his mind off her, he glanced around the boat. From the moon's light he could see that this particular yacht was a beauty, from the gleaming floors to the sparkling walls, not to mention the leather benches. The government intended to give the impression this boat was owned by some wealthy person while docked next to the Diamond Bay Resort, and it did. Drake loved boats. In fact he owned one and couldn't remember the last time he had taken it out to do some fishing. While in Texas, he, Ashton, Trevor, the Madaris brothers, along with Trevor's brother-in-law Mitch, had spent some time in a cabin on the Madaris brothers' uncle Jake Madaris's ranch. For four days they had fished to their hearts' content and for him those days had provided some very relaxing and soothing moments.

So much for taking his mind off Tori Green, he thought when his gaze wandered back to her. A bevy of small flutters began moving around in his stomach and he decided this wouldn't do. He was determined to find out what there was about her that attracted him. Without making a sound "e eased over toward her.

She must have been in deep thought about something because she hadn't heard his approach and when he slipped into the seat beside her, Tori quickly turned, her round eyes °°ked startled, just moments before she caught him off-guard, and in a martial arts maneuver that was faster than anything he'd ever seen, she flipped him off the bench. He lay on his back staring up at her in total amazement.

Two things hit him at once. The first was that she was good and quick, and the second was that he knew of no other person, man or woman, who mastered ninjutsu, a particular style of martial arts other than Sandy. But he had to admit that she was a tad better than Sandy and to his amazement, she was left-handed, which had to have added a greater degree of challenge for her.

"Sorry," she said apologetically, with more than a tinge of anger in her voice as she reached out her hand to help him up. "I didn't know it was you. What the hell were you thinking about sneaking up on me like that? You could have gotten hurt."

Ignoring her outstretched hand, Drake got back to nil feet without her help. His lips tightened at the thought that she was operating under the illusion that she could have physically hurt him. He gave her a measured look. Besides being an expert in martial arts, according to Casey, she was also one hell of a sharpshooter who could easily take out her target. A cloud of unease raced through him when he remembered that those two things had also been Sandy's specialties but in the end they hadn't saved her life. But then neither had he. He had given her a direct order not to go back inside that warehouse but she had been lured by the sound of an infant crying. In the end it had been a setup tape recording, and she had fallen for it just like Solorno: Cross had planned. He sighed deeply. He didn't give damn just how good Tori Green was. In the end she could die just like Sandy had. Guilt over being responsible for the loss of one woman's life was bad enough. He didn't want to deal with two.

As he looked at her, he tried not to notice just how beautiful she was. She had pulled her hair back in a ponytail yet the glow from the moon picked up its gloss as well as her startling features. She was annoyed with him, highly upset, deeply pissed and was giving him a look that spoke volumes.

He glanced around to make sure the boat's crew was not around and decided to have his say. "When we get to shore and make it into the jungle, I want you to hang back and let me handle things from there." Drake could immediately tell that his comment only angered her more.

"Forget it, Drake. Whether you like it or not, we're a team and you will not dump me in the jungle to twiddle my thumbs while you go off and play soldier alone. You heard what Casey said and you know what rebels are quick to do with female prisoners. Robin Thomas might need me and I intend to be there if she does."

A growl automatically erupted from deep within Drake's throat. Instead of taking a step back like any person with good sense would have done, Tori Green merely placed her arms across her chest and stood her ground. He frowned. Even Sandy had known when to back off and leave well enough alone.

"You'll do as I say, Tori."

"If you think that then you have another thought coming. We'll work together as a team and that's final. I'm not someone you can push around."

He could see that. His frown deepened and he tried to Use another approach. Like Sandy she had a huge amount of self-confidence but unlike Sandy, Tori was displaying an inner strength that almost matched his own. The woman was tough but still, she wouldn't be tough enough. "I've worked in this area before. I know the terrain and I know the minds of those revolutionaries."

Tori rolled her eyes in frustration at the powerfully built man standing in front of her. "Why do you think you're the only agent who knows anything about dealing with the bad guys? What make you think you're all-knowing and all-doing and that no other operative can measure up to you?"

"I never said that!"

"You don't have to because you're insinuating it and I resent it. Whether you choose to believe it or not I don't care, but I can hold my own against anyone, including you. Knowing the importance of this mission, do you for one minute think Casey would have sent me if he didn't believe I wouldn't be useful?"

Drake tightened his lips. He wanted so bad to tell her that he thought she could be useful all right, plenty useful in some man's bedroom but he didn't think she would appreciate hearing that right now,

Tori saw Drake's face darken and recognized his facade for what it was. He was trying to scare her off, at the least intimidate her with his boorish attitude. But what he didn't know was that she wasn't easily scared or intimidated. Besides, she knew that hidden behind his mean and rough demeanor was a man with a sensitivity that would astound most people considering everyone thought there was nothing soft about him. But she happened to know another side of him. He was loyal and dedicated to those he loved and at one point in her past life she had been one of those individuals. Although she knew that losing Sandy had taken away some of his warmth and kindness, she refused to believe that part of him was eradicated completely. A part of her had to believe the human side of Drake Warren still existed even if he thought that it didn't.

"Look, Tori," Drake said, interrupting her thoughts. 1 have nothing against you personally, and to be quite hone^ a part of me does believe that you can hold your own, but 1 prefer doing the solo act for reasons I prefer not to share. I don't like having a partner, especially one who's a woman.

"Because of Sandy Carroll?"

Stunned, taken aback by her question, Drake's eyes darkened. He took a step closer. "What do you know about Sandy Carroll?"

Tori forced herself not to squirm under the intensity of Drake's gaze and the hard sound of his voice. She had thrown out the question before thinking about it. But now that it was out there, she had to answer it and tread carefully while doing so. The last thing she wanted was to raise his suspicions about anything.

"Only what I heard."

"And just what did you hear?" he asked, taking a step closer to her, his face almost turning to stone.

"I heard that the two of you were close. Some say you were engaged to be married. I never met Captain Carroll although we were in the marines about the same time but I did know of her. Most female marines credit her with proving that a woman can hold her own against any man as a Recon."

He lifted a brow. "Sandy was never a Recon."

"No, but she very well could have been since she accompanied a lot of Recons on missions and proved how good she was."

Drake stared at her for a moment, then asked, "Did you do basic training in South Carolina?"

Tori wondered if he was trying to make some sort of connection between her and Sandy. "No, I did all my training in California at Camp Pendleton, which is probably one of the reasons my and Carroll's paths never crossed."

When she saw Drake's slow nod, she breathed easier as she continued. "Because of your former relationship with Carroll, I can understand your reluctance to take on another female partner. Although I understand and can even sympathize with you, I still have to do my job, Drake. There's a Woman whose life is depending on us working together to

rescue her and I don't plan to let her down." She then gave him a challenging stare and asked, "Do you?"

Drake hesitated in responding, opening his mouth and then closing it. He turned and looked out into the night and for the longest time wasn't sure what he would say so he decided to remain quiet for a second to gather his thoughts. Tori Green had a way of throwing him curves. Sighing internally, he turned back around and met her gaze. "No, I don't plan to let her down nor do I plan to let you take unnecessary risks."

"Why…" Tori asked in a low voice, "can't you forget that I'm a female on this mission, Drake?"

A corner of his mouth flexed in anger. "Because that's not possible. You're too much woman for that," he said grumpily.

Caught off-guard by his offhanded compliment, Tori dropped her brows slightly as she tried to ignore the ache she felt in her heart. During her last year as Sandy Carroll, Drake had become her whole life. After her grandfather's death, she had joined the marines. It had been her rough-and-tough Granddad who had taught her how to fight and shoot. He had retired as a marine and had been proud to serve in that branch of the military. When her parents had gotten killed in a train wreck when she was four, it had been her grandfather who'd taken her in and given her a home. His wife, her grandmother, had died just a year before his only son and when Sandy had arrived, the old man had been shrouded in loneliness. He had needed her as much as she had needed him and together the two of them had made a wonderful team. He had loved her and she had loved him.

Then after joining the marines and meeting Drake, she had fallen in love with him. Setting his arrogance aside, his rough-and-tough exterior had reminded her so much of

Grampa Kenny. During his time in the marines, her grandfather had tried several times to be a Recon and had never made it. And a part of her felt he'd been disappointed that her father, his only child, hadn't been interested enough to join any branch of military. But she had, and he had died unexpectedly of a heart attack a week after she had graduated from high school. She hadn't had time to tell him of her decision to enlist.

Bringing her thoughts back to the present, she met Drake's stare and tried not to remember that before her stood the only man she had ever slept with and the only man she had ever loved. Even now she could vividly recall his kisses and especially how his strong, hard body felt on top of hers, inside of her, while sending her soaring in unadulterated pleasure.

She lowered her gaze as a sharp pain of despair tore through her and she felt instant regret for everything she had lost in her lifetime that had meant so much to her-her grandfather, her true identity, the right to still claim the man she loved.

"What's wrong, Tori?"

Lifting her gaze back to his, she asked softly, "What?"

"There was a look in your face that…"

When he didn't complete the sentence, she lifted a brow. "That what?" He didn't answer quickly enough and she demanded again impertinently, "That what?"

For just a moment, Drake allowed his gaze to take in everything about her; every angle of her face, every feature, before saying, "That was filled with sadness and pain. It seems that I'm not the only one who's lost someone that they care deeply about, Tori."

For just one millisecond, there was a softness in Drake's gaze that touched her deeply. "Yes, I've lost someone," she said quietly. "The man I had planned on marrying one day."