Bane (3 page)

He’d finally told them about his marriage to Crystal. Then he wished he hadn’t when they’d teased him about all the women they were getting while he wasn’t getting any. He took it all in stride because he only wanted one woman. His team members accepted that he intended to adhere to his wedding vows and in the end they all respected and admired him for it.

Now the SEAL in him studied his surroundings, taking notice. The one thing he appreciated was that Crystal’s home appeared to be in a safe neighborhood. The streets were well lit and the houses spaced with enough distance for privacy yet with her neighbors in reach if needed.

The brick house where she lived suited her. It looked to be in good condition and the yard was well manicured. One thing he did notice was that unlike all the other houses, she didn’t have any Christmas decorations. There weren’t any colorful lights around her windows or animated objects adorning her lawn. Did she not celebrate the holidays anymore? He recalled a time when she had. In fact the two most important days to her had been her birthday and Christmas.

He’d made her birthday even more special by marrying her on it. A smile touched his lips when he recalled how, over the years, he had bought her birthday cards and anniversary cards, although he hadn’t been able to send them to her. He’d even bought her Valentine’s Day cards and Christmas cards every year. He had stored them in a trunk, knowing one day he would give them to her. Well, that day had finally arrived and he had all of them packed in his luggage. He had signed each one and taken the time to write a special message inside. Then there were all those letters he’d written. Letters he’d never mailed because he hadn’t a clue where to send them.

He’d made Bailey promise not to tell him because if he’d known how to get to Crystal he would have gone to her and messed up all the effort he’d made in becoming the type of man who could give her what she deserved in life.

Five years was a long time and there had been times he’d thought he would lose his mind from missing her so much. It had taken all he had, every bit of resolve he could muster, to make it through. In the end, he knew the sacrifice would be worth it.

He figured he would give Crystal time to get into the house before he got out of the car and knocked on the door, so as not to spook her. No need to give her neighbors anything to talk about, either, especially if no one knew she was married. And from the private investigator’s report, her marital status was a guarded secret. He understood and figured it wouldn’t be easy to explain a husband who’d gone AWOL.

His phone rang and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth when he recognized the ringtone. It was Thurston McRoy, better known to the team as Mac. All Bane’s team members’ names had been shortened for easy identification during deployment. Cooper was Coop. McRoy was Mac. And because his name was Brisbane, the nickname his family had given him was already a shortened version, so his team members called him Bane like everyone else.

“What’s up, Mac?”

“Have you seen her yet?”

He had spoken to Mac on his way to the airport to let him know his whereabouts, just in case the team was needed somewhere. “No, not yet. I’m parked outside her place. She’s late getting off work.”

“When she gets there, don’t ask a lot of questions and please don’t go off on her as if you’ve been there for the past five years. You may think she’s late but it might be her usual MO to get delayed every once in a while. Women do have days they like to get prettied up. Get their hair and nails done and stuff.”

Bane chuckled. He figured Mac would know since he was one of the married team members. And Mac would tell them that after every extended mission, he would go home to an adjustment period, where he would have to get to know his wife all over again and reclaim his position as head of the house.

When Bane saw car lights headed toward where he was parked, he said, “I think this is her pulling up now.”

“Great. Just remember the advice I gave you.”

Yours and everybody else’s
, Bane thought. “Whatever. I know how to handle my business.”

“See that you do.” Then without saying anything else, Mac clicked off the phone.

As Bane watched the headlights get closer, he couldn’t stop the deep pounding of his heart. He wondered what changes to expect. Did Crystal wear her hair down to her shoulders like she had years ago? Did she nibble her bottom lip when she was nervous about something? And did she still have those sexy legs?

It didn’t matter. He intended to finally claim her as his. His wife.

Bane watched as she pulled into her yard and got out of the car. The moment his gaze latched on to her all the emotion he hadn’t been able to contain over the years washed over him, putting an ache in his gut.

The streetlight shone on her features. Even from the distance, he could see she was beautiful. She’d grown taller and her youthful figure had blossomed into that of a woman. His pulse raced as he studied how well her curves filled out her dark slacks and how her breasts appeared to be shaped perfectly beneath her jacket.

As he watched her, the navy SEAL in him went on alert. Something wasn’t right. He had been trained to be vigilant not just to his surroundings but also to people. Recognizing signs of trouble had kept him alive on more than one mission. Maybe it was the quickness of her steps to her front door, the number of times she looked back over her shoulder or the way she kept checking the street as if to make certain she hadn’t been followed.

When she went inside and closed the door he released the breath he only realized now that he’d been holding. Who or what had her so antsy? She had no knowledge that he was coming, so it couldn’t be him. She seemed more than just rattled. Terrified was more like it. Why? Even if she’d somehow found out he was coming, she had no reason of be afraid of him. Unless...

He scowled. What if she assumed he wasn’t coming back for her and she’d taken a lover? What if she was the mother of another man’s child? What if...

He cleared his mind. Each of those thoughts was like a quick punch to his gut, and he refused to go there. Besides, the private investigator’s report had been clear. She lived alone and was not involved with anyone.

Still, something had her frightened.

After waiting for several minutes to give her time to get settled after a day at work, he opened the door to the SUV. It was time to find out what the hell was going on.

* * *

With her heart thundering hard in her chest, Crystal began throwing items in the suitcase open on her bed. Had she imagined it or had she been watched when she’d entered her home tonight? She had glanced around several times and hadn’t noticed anything or anyone. But still...

She took a deep breath, knowing she couldn’t lose her cool. She had to keep a level head. She made a decision to leave her car here and a few lights burning inside her house to give the impression she was home. She would call a cab to take her to the airport and would take only the necessities and a few items of clothing. She could buy anything else she needed.

But this, she thought, studying the photo album she held in her hand, went everywhere with her. She had purchased it right after her last phone call with Bane. Her parents had sent Crystal to live with Aunt Rachel to finish out the last year of school. They’d wanted to get her away from Bane, not knowing she and Bane had married.

Before they’d returned home after eloping, Bane had convinced Crystal it was important for her to finish school before telling anyone they’d gotten married. He’d told her that if her parents tried keeping them apart that he would put up with it for a few months, which was the time it would take for her to finish school. They hadn’t counted on her parents sending her away. But still, she believed that Bane would come for her once the school year ended, no matter where she was.

But a couple of months after she left Denver, she’d gotten a call from him. She’d assumed he was calling to let her know he couldn’t stand the separation and was coming for her. But his real purpose had been twofold. He’d wanted to find out if she had gotten pregnant when they eloped, and he’d told her he’d enlisted in the navy and would be leaving for boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois, in a few weeks. He’d said he needed to grow up, become responsible and make something out of himself. She deserved a man who could be all that he could be, and after he’d accomplished that goal he would come for her. He’d also promised that while they were apart he would honor their wedding vows and she’d promised him the same. And she had.

She’d figured he would be in the navy for four years. Preparing for the separation, she’d decided to make something of herself, as well. He deserved that, too. So after completing high school she’d enrolled in college. She had taken a placement test, which she’d aced. Instead of being accepted as a freshman, she had entered as a junior.

Sitting on the edge of the bed now, she flipped through the album, which she had dedicated to Bane. She’d even had his name engraved on the front. While they were apart she’d kept this photo journal, chronicling her life without him. There were graduation pictures from high school and college, random pictures she’d taken just for him. She’d figured that by the time she saw him she would have at least two to three years’ worth of photos. She hadn’t counted on the bulky album containing five years of photographs. The last thing she’d assumed was that they would be apart for this long without any contact.

She thought of him often. Every day. What she tried not to think about was why it was taking him so long to come back for her, or how he might be somewhere enjoying life without her. Forcing those thoughts from her mind, she packed the album in her luggage. Her destination was the Bahamas. She had done an online bank transfer to her “fun” account, which had accumulated a nice amount due to the vacations she’d never gotten around to taking. And in case her home was searched, she’d made sure not to leave any clues about where she was headed.

Was she being impulsive by heeding what the note had said when she didn’t even know who’d written it? She could report it, what happened to her locker and that she’d noticed someone following her to those two government officials. If she couldn’t trust her own government, then who could she trust? She shook her head, deciding against making that call. Maybe she’d watched too many TV shows where the government had turned out to be the bad guy.

Crystal thought about calling her mother and Aunt Rachel, and then decided against it. Whatever she was involved with, it would be best to leave them out of it. She would contact them later when she felt doing so would be safe. Moments later, she had rolled her luggage out of her bedroom into the living room and was calling for a cab when her doorbell rang.

She went still. Nobody ever visited her. Who would be doing so now? She crept back into the shadows of her hallway, hoping whoever was at the door would think she wasn’t home. She held her breath when the doorbell sounded again. Had the person on the other side seen her enter her house and knew she was there?

Moments passed and the doorbell did not sound again. She sighed in relief—and then there was a hard knock. She swallowed. The person hadn’t gone away. Either she answered it or continued to pretend she wasn’t there. Since the latter hadn’t worked so far, she rushed into her bedroom and grabbed her revolver out of the nightstand drawer.

She’d grown up around guns, and thanks to Bane she knew how to use one. This neighborhood was pretty safe, and even though she’d figured she’d never need to use it, she had bought the gun anyway. A woman living alone needed to be cautious.

By the time she’d made it back to the living room, there was a second knock. She moved toward the door, but stopped five feet away. She called out, “Who is it?” and tightened her hands on the revolver.

There was a moment of silence. And then a voice said, “It’s me, Crystal. Bane.”

Two

T
he revolver Crystal held almost fell from her hand
.

Bane?
My Bane? No way
, she thought, backing up. It had to be an impostor. It didn’t even sound like Bane. This voice was deeper, huskier.

If it was a trick, who knew of her relationship with Brisbane Westmoreland? And if it really was Bane, why had he shown up on her doorstep now? Why tonight of all nights?

It just wasn’t logical for her to have been thinking about him only moments ago and for him to be here now. She would go with her first assumption. The person at the door claiming to be Bane wasn’t him.

“You aren’t Bane. Go away or I’ll call the police,” she threatened loudly. “I have a gun and will shoot if I have to.”

“Crystal Gayle, it
is
me. Honest. It’s Bane.”

Crystal Gayle?
She sucked in a deep breath. Nobody called her that but her parents...and Bane. When she was young, she had hated being called by her first and middle names, which her father had given her, naming her after his favorite country singer. But Bane had made her like it when he’d called her that on occasion. Could it really be him at the door?

Lowering the gun, she looked out the peephole. Her gaze connected to a gorgeous pair of hazel eyes with a greenish tint. They were eyes she knew. It
was
Bane.

She was about to open the door when she remembered the note.
Trust no one.
But this wasn’t just anyone, she reasoned with herself. This was Bane.

She unlocked the door and stepped back. Soft porch light poured into her foyer as Bane eased open the door. He’d always been tall and lanky, but the man entering her house appeared a lot taller than she remembered. And he was no longer slender. He was all muscles and they were in perfect proportion to his height and weight. It was obvious he worked out a lot to stay in shape. His body exemplified endurance and strength. And when her gaze settled on his face, she drew in a deep, sharp breath. He even looked different. Rougher. Tougher.

The eyes were the same but she’d never seen him with facial hair before. He’d always been handsome in a boyish sort of way, but his features now were perfectly masculine. They appeared chiseled, his lips sculpted. She was looking into the most handsome face she’d ever seen.

He not only looked older and more mature, but he also looked military—even while wearing jeans, a chambray shirt, a leather bomber jacket, Western boots and a Stetson. There was something about the way he stood, upright and straight. And all this transformation had come from being in the navy?

He closed the door behind him, staring at her just as she was staring at him. Her heart pounded. A part of her wanted to race over to him, tell him how glad she was to see him, how much she had missed him...but she couldn’t. Her legs refused to move and she knew why. This Bane was like a stranger to her.

“Crystal.”

She hadn’t imagined it. His voice had gotten deeper. Sounded purely sexy to her ears. “Bane.”

“You look good.”

She blinked at his words and said the first thing that came to her mind. “You look good, too. And different.”

He smiled and her breath caught. He still had that Brisbane Westmoreland smile. The one that spread across a full mouth and showed teeth that were perfectly even and sparkling white against mocha-colored skin. The familiarity warmed her inside.

“I am different. I’m not the same Bane. The military has a way of doing that to you,” he said, in that husky voice she was trying to get used to hearing.

He was admitting to being different
.

Was this his way of saying his transformation had changed his preferences? Like his taste in women? He was older now, five years older, in fact. Had he shown up on her doorstep tonight of all nights to let her know that he wanted a divorce?

Fine, she would deal with it. She had no choice. Besides, she wasn’t sure if she would like the new Bane anyway. He was probably doing her a favor.

“Okay,” she said, placing her revolver on the coffee table. “If you brought any papers with you that require my signature, then give them to me.”

He lifted a brow. “Papers?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of papers?”

Instead of answering, she glanced at her watch. She needed to call a cab to the airport. The plane to the Bahamas would take off in three hours.

“Crystal? What kind of papers are you talking about?”

She glanced back over at him. And why did her gaze automatically go to his mouth, the same mouth that had taught her how to kiss and given her so much pleasure? And why was she recalling a lot of those kisses right now? She drew in a deep, shallow breath. “Divorce papers.”

“Is that why you think I’m here?”

Was she imagining things or had his voice sounded brisk? She shrugged. Why were they even having this conversation? Why couldn’t he just give her the papers and be on his way so she could be on hers? After all, it had been five years. She got that. Did it matter that she had spent all that time waiting for him to show up?

“Crystal? Is that why you think I’m here? To ask for a divorce?” He repeated the question and she noticed his tone still had a brusque edge.

She held his gaze. “What other reason could there be?”

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and braced his legs apart in a stance that was as daunting as it was sexy. It definitely brought emphasis to his massive shoulders, the solidness of chest and his chiseled good looks.

“Did you consider that maybe I’m here to keep that promise I made about coming back for you?”

She blinked, not sure she’d heard him correctly. “You aren’t here to ask for a divorce?”

“No. What makes you think I’d want to divorce you?”

She could give him a number of reasons once her head stopped spinning. Instead, she said what was in the forefront of her mind. “Well, it has been five years, Bane.”

“I told you I’d come back for you.”

She placed her hands on her hips. “Yes, but I hadn’t counted on it being
five
years. Five years without a single word from you. Besides, you just said you’ve changed.”

The look in his eyes indicated he was having a hard time keeping up with her. “I
have
changed, Crystal. Being a SEAL has a way of changing you, but that has nothing to do—”

“SEAL? You’re a navy SEAL?”

“Yes.”

Now she was the one having a hard time keeping up. “I knew you’d joined the navy, but I figured you’d been assigned to a ship somewhere.”

He nodded. “I would have been if my captain in boot camp hadn’t thought I would be a good fit for the SEALs. He cut through a lot of red tape for me to go to the naval academy.”

That was another surprise. “You attended the naval academy?”

“Yes.”

Jeez
. She was realizing just how little she knew about what he’d been doing over the past five years. “I didn’t know.”

He shifted his stance and her gaze followed the movement, taking in his long, denim-clad, boot-wearing legs.

“Bailey said the two of you lost contact with each other a couple of years ago,” he said.

Now was the time to come clean and say losing contact with Bailey had been a deliberate move. The periodic calls from his cousin had become depressing since they’d agreed Crystal wouldn’t ask about Bane. Just as he wouldn’t ask Bailey any questions about Crystal.

That had been Bane’s idea. He’d figured the less they knew about the other’s lives, the less chance they had of reneging on their promise not to seek the other out before he could meet his goals.

During one of those conversations Bailey had informed her Bane had set up a bank account for her, in case she ever needed anything. She never had and to this day she’d never withdrawn any funds.

“Even if Bailey and I had kept in touch, she would not have told me
what
you were doing, just
how
you were doing. That was the agreement, remember, Bane?”

“You could have called Dil,” he said as he raked his gaze over her.

He was probably taking note of how she’d changed as she’d done with him. He could clearly see she was no longer the eighteen-year-old he’d married, but was now a twenty-three-year-old woman. Her birthday had been two weeks ago. She wondered if he’d remembered.

“No, I couldn’t call your brother, or any other member of your family for that matter, and you know why. They blamed me for you getting into trouble.”

Crystal glanced at her watch again. He’d said he was here to fulfill his promise. If he was doing it because he felt obligated then she would release him from it. Although asking for a divorce might not have been his original intent, she was certain it was crossing his mind now. Why wouldn’t it? They were acting like strangers instead of two people who’d once been so obsessed with each other they’d eloped. Why weren’t they all over each other? Why was he over there and she still standing over here? The answer to both questions was so brutally clear she had to force tears from her eyes.

Like he said, he had changed. He was a SEAL. Something other than her was number one in his life now. More than likely it had been his missions that had kept him away all this time. He’d chosen what he really wanted.

“Crystal, I have a question for you.”

His words interrupted her thoughts. “What?”

“Why did you come to the door with a gun?”

* * *

It had taken every ounce of Bane’s control not to cross the room and pull his wife into his arms. How often had he dreamed of this moment, wished for it, yearned for it? But things weren’t playing out like he’d hoped.

Although he’d taken heed to Zane’s warning and not swept her off her feet and headed for the nearest bedroom, he hadn’t counted on not getting at least a kiss, a hug...something. But she stood there as if she wasn’t sure what to make of his appearance here tonight. And he still couldn’t grasp why she assumed he wanted a divorce just because he’d told her he’d changed. He’d changed for the better, not only for himself but also for her. Now he had something to offer her. He could give her the life she deserved.

Crystal nibbled her bottom lip, which had always been an indication she was nervous about something. Damn, she looked good. Time had only enhanced her beauty, and where in the hell had all those curves come from?

She had changed into a pair of skinny jeans, a pullover sweater and boots. She looked all soft and feminine. So gorgeous. Her hair was not as long as it used to be. Instead of flowing past her shoulders it barely touched them. The new style suited her. How had she managed to keep the guys away? He was certain that with her beauty there had been a number of men who’d come around over the years.

Even now Bane’s hands itched to touch her all over like he used to. He would give anything to run his fingers across the curve of her hips and buttocks and cup her breasts.

“The gun?”

Her question pulled his concentration back to their conversation. Probably for the best, since the thought of what he wanted to do with his hands was turning him on big-time. “Yes. I watched you get out of your car to come into the house and you seemed nervous. Is something going on? Is some man harassing you or stalking you?”

She lifted a brow. “A man stalking me? What makes you think that?”

He held her gaze. “I told you. I noticed you were nervous and—”

“Yes, I got that part,” she interrupted to say. “But what makes you think any man would stalk me?”

Had she looked in the mirror lately? If she’d asked him
why
he thought she was being stalked, then he could have told her that his SEAL training had taught him how to zero in on certain things. But her question had been what made him think
any man
would want to stalk
her
. That was a different question altogether. He could see a man becoming obsessed with her. Hadn’t Bane?

“You’re a very beautiful woman. You’ve always been beautiful, Crystal. You’re even more so now.”

She shook her head. “Beautiful? You’re laying it on thick, aren’t you, Bane?”

“No, I don’t think so. Level with me. Is there some man stalking you? Is that why you had the gun? And what’s with the luggage? You’re going someplace?”

She broke eye contact with him to shrug. “The gun is to protect myself.”

Bane had a feeling that wasn’t all there was to it. When he’d first walked into her house he’d seen the luggage, but his mind had been solely on her, entranced with her beauty. This older version of Crystal sent his heart pounding into overdrive. It had been a long time. Too long.

He turned his concentration back to what she’d just told him. “You have the gun to protect yourself... I can buy that, although this seems to be a pretty safe neighborhood,” he said. “But that doesn’t explain why you were ready to shoot. Has your home been broken into before?”

“No.”

“Then what’s going on?”

Even after all this time he still could read her like a book. She had a tendency to lick her lips when she was nervous, and unconsciously shift her body from side to side while standing on the balls of her feet. He could tell she was trying to decide how to answer his question. That didn’t sit well with him. In the past, he and Crystal never kept secrets from each other. So why was she doing so now?

“After all this time, you don’t have the right to ask me anything, Bane.”

You’re wrong about that, sweetheart.

Without thinking about what he was doing, he closed the distance separating them to stand directly in front of her. “I believe I do have that right. As long as we’re still legally married, Crystal, I have every right.”

She lifted her chin and pinched her lips together. “Fine. Then, we can get a divorce.”

“Not happening.” He rubbed his hand down his face. What the hell was going on here? Not only was this reunion not going the way he’d wanted, it had just taken a bad turn.

He looked at her, somewhat bewildered by her refusal to answer his question. “I’m asking again, Crystal. What’s going on with you? Why the gun and the packed luggage?”

When she didn’t answer, standing there with a mutinous expression on her face, he then asked the one question he hadn’t wanted to ask, but needed to know. And he hoped like hell he was wrong.