Rescuing Rayne (18 page)

G
host didn’t bother knocking
, merely opened the door to Rayne’s room and strode in as if it was his own. She turned her head to him. The look in her eyes was a heartbreaking blend of excitement, welcome, and distrust.

He went over to her bed, pulled up the chair and settled into it. Leaning toward her, he asked, “How’re you doing, Princess?”

She huffed out a breath. “Would you quit calling me that ridiculous name?”

“No. Now how are you? Are you in much pain?”

Rayne narrowed her eyes at him. “Is your name John Benbrook?

“No. It’s Keane Bryson.”

She looked surprised that he’d come clean without a quibble. “And you’re not from Fort Worth, are you?”

“No. I live here in Killeen and am stationed out of Fort Hood.”

“What else did you lie about?”

Ghost could tell she didn’t really expect him to tell her much of anything, but he laid it out. “I never knew a girl named Whitney Pumperfield when I was in middle school and I was never held up at gunpoint.”

“And?”

Ghost stood up and settled next to Rayne on her bed. He supported his weight with one hand by her opposite hip and leaned toward her.

“That’s it, Princess. Everything else was the truth.”

She looked up at him with unhappy, untrusting eyes. “I don’t believe you,” she said finally, a bit sadly.

“I know you don’t. But I told you once, and I’ll repeat it as many times as you need me to. I won’t lie to you again.”

“Why were you in London?”

“I was on my way back from a mission.”

“What mission?”

Ghost sighed; he’d known it was coming, but hoped it wouldn’t be so soon. “I can’t tell you.”

“I thought you just said you wouldn’t lie to me,” Rayne said belligerently.

Ghost brought his free hand up to her face and smoothed her hair behind her ear. “I didn’t lie. I’ll tell you what I can, but there are some things I simply
can’t
share. I know you understand that, Princess. Does your brother tell you everything he does for his country?”

She shook her head reluctantly.

Ghost lowered his voice and leaned closer to her, deepening the intimacy between them. “I’m Delta Force. I don’t know if you know what that means, but we’re the most secretive branch of the military. Even more so than Navy SEALs. You are the only person, outside of those in the military who are on a need-to-know basis and your brother, who I’ve ever told.”

He paused to let that sink in for a moment. When her eyes widened, he figured she understood the enormity of it, and he continued.

“We go where the government sends us, when they send us. We were sent in to get the hostages, get
you
, out of the middle of that coup. You think the President wants anyone to know American forces were anywhere near there?”

He could see the understanding in her eyes, and he pressed his point.

“I might
want
to tell you where I’m going, but I won’t. I won’t
ever
put you in danger for knowing more than you should, Princess. I
was
on my way home from a mission that day. And I was lucky enough to have crossed paths with you.”

“It was a one-night stand,” Rayne said in a confused voice, obviously still fighting her attraction to him. “What are you still doing here?”

“I thought it was. I told myself it was, but I think we both knew differently.”

Rayne shook her head in denial.

Ghost sat upright, reached into the pocket of his pants, and pulled out a cell phone. He put in the password and clicked a few times on the screen. He turned the phone toward Rayne and watched her face as he explained.

“I’ve never taken a photo of a one-night stand before. I’ve never wanted to bring a piece of a woman home to look at first thing when I woke up and to be the last face I see when I fall asleep.”

Rayne looked in disbelief at the photo on Ghost’s phone. If was of the two of them in front of Buckingham Palace. She was in his embrace with her arms wrapped around his waist and was looking up at him and laughing. She remembered the moment. She’d been teasing him about taking a selfie picture. She had no idea he’d taken the picture when she hadn’t been looking at the lens.

She looked away from the picture and up at Ghost. “But you left.”

Ghost put the phone back into his pocket and leaned down to her again and agreed. “I did.”

Rayne didn’t know what else to say. Had no clue what he wanted. Everything he’d told her made her think that he was trying to let her down gently. He couldn’t talk about what he did, he was Delta Force, he was one big secret. She was so darn confused.

“How’re your wounds?”

Rayne shrugged.

“Can I see?”

“Uh, I don’t think you’re supposed to remove the bandages. The doctor said he’d look at them tomorrow.”

“I’ll be gentle. Please, Rayne. Let me see what they did to you.”

She held out a hand to him, allowing him to unravel the bindings there. “I’m pretty sure I did it to myself, Ghost.”

“No,” he immediately countered. “
They
did this to you.”

Rayne kept her eyes on Ghost’s face as he undid the last of the bandage and gazed at her wrist. Ghost looked up at her.

“You seen this?”

“Yeah, earlier.”

“Does it look better now?”

“I’d rather not look.”

“Why not?”

“It made me feel sick this morning.” Rayne felt Ghost’s grip tighten on her for a moment before he relaxed.

“I’m sorry, Princess. God, I’m so fucking sorry.” He leaned down and gently, oh so gently, kissed the palm of her hand, above the wound. She barely felt his lips whisper against her skin.

She dared to look. Ghost’s large hand held her wrist in his grasp. The torn and infected skin looked obscene next to his tanned, calloused palm. She forced herself to look more closely.

“I think it’s looking better, actually,” she told him. “It’s not quite as…oozy…as it was before.”

Ghost leaned over to the table beside her bed and picked up a piece of gauze. He carefully dabbed the wounds on her wrist, wiping away some of the pus so he could get a closer look. He even leaned in and sniffed her wound.

Rayne tried to pull her hand away. “Gross, Ghost, quit it.”

He held firm and she couldn’t pull out of his grasp. “It doesn’t smell putrid. The infection is clearing up. The antibiotics are doing their thing, Rayne. It’s good.”

“Okay, whatever you say. It’s still gross.”

He smiled at her then, carefully rewrapping her wrist. He gestured to one of her ankles. “May I?”

Rayne shrugged and watched as Ghost went through the same procedures with her ankle as he did with her wrist. Obviously deciding she was healing nicely, he pulled the blanket back up and returned to his position from before, one hand at her hip and leaning over her.

“Do they hurt?”

Rayne shrugged. “A little.”

“Do you need another pain pill?”

She shook her head. “They make me feel weird.”

“But you’re in pain?”

Rayne shrugged again and rolled her eyes when Ghost leaned over and pushed the call button on the side of her bed. When the nurse came in, he told her that Rayne was in pain and needed a pill. The nurse left and returned in a minute or so with a little white pill and a small cup of water. Ghost helped hold the cup while Rayne washed the pill down with the water.

He had spoken with the doctor before he’d left that morning, and explained a bit of the situation. Ghost might have insinuated that Rayne could be in danger and it was in her best interest to have either he or one of his teammates there at all times, even past the ten o’clock end of visiting hours…but he couldn’t be sorry for lying. His words, along with the colonel’s conversation with someone at the hospital, assured he’d be allowed to spend the night. There was no place he’d rather be other than at her side at the moment. He’d lost her once, he’d be damned if he’d do it again.

“I hope you don’t mind some company tonight,” Ghost told Rayne.

“Of course not, although don’t be surprised if I fall asleep before visiting hours are over.”

“Yeah…about that…” His voice trailed off.

“What did you do, Ghost?” Rayne asked suspiciously.

He shrugged. “I might have convinced the Doc that it’d be okay if I stayed in here with you.”

Rayne studied him before saying in a soft voice, “Okay.”

Ghost brought a hand up to her head and palmed the back of her neck. “You want me here.” It wasn’t a question.

She nodded anyway. “I think after what’s happened, it’d make me feel better if you stayed one night with me…at least until I get my feet under me again. I’m sure I’ll be all right tomorrow.”

Ghost inhaled deeply. She had no idea what her words meant to him. She might act as though she didn’t trust him, that she was upset with him for lying, and she most likely was…but when push came to shove, she trusted him to keep her safe.

“You’re safe here with me, Princess.”

She nodded, eyelids beginning to droop.

“You’re tired. Close your eyes.”

“I told you. It’s the stupid pill,” she complained. “It’s why I don’t like to take them.”

“Ummm.” Ghost made the sound in the back of his throat, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with her.

“Will you sleep with me?”

“What?” Her question surprised Ghost.

“Sleep with me. You’re very warm.”

He smiled, understanding what she meant. For a second he thought she was propositioning him and his body had reacted accordingly. He never would have done anything when she was half-conscious and in the hospital, but his body sometimes had a mind of its own.

Ghost moved his hand from her neck to her cheek as he palmed her face and ran his thumb over her cheekbone. “I don’t think we’ll fit, Princess.”

“We fit on the plane.”

“You remember that?”

“Yeah, sorta.”

Ghost considered it. Her hospital bed wasn’t any smaller than the cot she’d been on while they’d been flying home on the plane. He mentally shrugged. The hell with it. He might get in trouble with the staff, but there was no place he’d rather be than wrapped around Rayne.

He stood up and leaned over to unlace his boots. He quickly removed them and placed them by the side of the bed. He pulled the sheet up to completely cover Rayne, then scooted in behind her, on top of the covers. Ghost carefully arranged her with her back to his front, put her head in the crook of his arm, and wrapped the other arm around her waist.

“God, I love this,” Rayne said sleepily. “I missed this. We slept just like this back in London.”

“Well, not exactly. We were both wearing a few less clothes.”

She chuckled and pushed back farther into him, trying to burrow to get as close as she could. “True.”

She didn’t say anything else for a while, and neither did Ghost. He knew things had been way too easy so far. Rayne wasn’t the type of woman to just let what happened go by without more of a protest. But he’d take what he could get.

“Ghost?”

The word was soft and slurred.

“Yeah, Princess?”

“I was scared.”

His heart nearly broke. “I know you were.”

“I was really glad to see you.”

“Uh-huh.”

“But I’m still mad at you.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“You might not trust me, but you know I’ll keep you safe.”

“Yeah.”

“Go to sleep, Rayne. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

“Mary’s coming tomorrow.”

“Mary?”

“My best friend.”

“Ah, the one you sent my picture to when we were in London.”

“Um-hum. She tried to find you for me.”

“She did?”

“Ummm. She’s pissed.”

Ghost kissed the back of Rayne’s head. “As any good friend should be.”

“
Really
pissed.”

Ghost’s voice got serious. “I’m glad you have a friend like Mary looking out for you. But I swear to God, Princess, this time is different. I’m in this for the long haul. We’re going to figure this out. Please give me a chance. Don’t let your friend drive a wedge between us. She can be pissed, but please, don’t let her talk you out of giving me the chance to show you how much you mean to me.”

Rayne was silent for so long Ghost thought she was finally asleep.

Her sleepy voice broke the silence of the evening. “I want to believe you.”

“If you believe nothing else, believe that I’m not letting you go. You’ll never wake up and wonder where I went again. Okay?”

She didn’t answer him with words, but she turned in his arms and cuddled against him, her chest to his. Both arms curled up in front of her, her fingertips resting on him. Ghost could feel her hot breath against him. He felt her nod once, before she finally drifted off into the sleep of the drugged and exhausted.

“
Y
ou had better not be
that fucking liar John-bullshit-Benbrook.”

The harsh words woke Ghost up early the next morning. He carefully extracted Rayne from his arms—neither of them had moved from their positions the night before—and eased out of the bed without waking her up. He didn’t say a word, but bent down and grabbed his boots and gestured with his head to the hallway.

It looked as if Rayne’s friend, Mary, had arrived and she was pissed, just as Rayne had warned him she would be. Sometime between her brother letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak, and him arriving last night, Rayne had spoken to her friend and told her what she’d found out.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Mary lit into him. “You have some nerve showing your face here. She’s been in a funk for six months.
Six months
. You obviously didn’t even care enough to try to see her before, but here you are. All touchy-feely and wanting to stay by her side. Where were you four months ago when she tripped stepping off a curb and twisting her ankle? Or two months ago when she was trying to break up a fight on a flight and got elbowed in the face? I know she agreed to sleep with you, she told me all about it, but you still shouldn’t have done it. She told me about your conversation about how she’s a romantic. No matter what she said, you should’ve known after spending the day with you in London she would’ve read more into sleeping together than you would. She doesn’t do one-night stands, assclown. You shouldn’t have taken advantage of her like that, she—”

Mary’s words were cut off by a large hand covering her mouth from behind. Ghost looked up to his teammate, Truck, with amusement.

“If you think that’s gonna stop her from saying what she wants, I think you’re sorely mistaken.”

“It’s early, she’s too loud. People are trying to sleep.” Truck shrugged, easily controlling the now-struggling woman in his arms. “Maybe you should take this outside.”

Ghost stood up after tying his boots. “Good idea.” He looked at Mary, who was shooting daggers out of her eyes. “Shall we go and talk about this rationally? Or will my friend, Truck, here have to carry you outside?”

She mumbled something behind Truck’s palm and nodded. He lowered his hand and stepped around Mary to introduce himself.

He held out his hand. “Truck. Good to meet you.”

She glared at him, seemingly ignoring his scary countenance, refusing to shake his hand. She poked his chest with her finger as she spoke. “Whatever. If I find out you had anything to do with him,” she pointed her thumb at Ghost, “ignoring my friend, you’re in just as much trouble as he is.” With that, she stomped down the corridor, obviously expecting Ghost to follow her so she could finish speaking her mind.

“Looks like you have a fan, Truck,” Ghost told him teasingly.

He shrugged. “At least she didn’t seem to care about the ugly mug.”

“Wanna come with me and play backup?” Ghost asked.

“No way, Ghost. You’re on your own there.”

They both chuckled as Mary hissed from the other end of the hallway, “You coming?”

Ghost made his way toward the slender woman standing with her hands on her hips, knowing he had to appease Rayne’s best friend before he could even begin to make any more headway with Rayne herself.

They headed outside to a set of picnic tables. Ghost sat on the tabletop and rested his forearms on his bent knees.

Before Mary could light into him again, he said quickly, “First things first, I haven’t slept with anyone since her.”

That seemed to take the wind out of Mary’s sails, but she climbed up next to him and asked only slightly less belligerently, “Why should I believe you? You lied about your name, it’d be easy to lie about something like who you’ve slept with.”

Knowing nothing he said would get through to Rayne’s friend as well as show-and-tell, Ghost leaned down to untie his boot for what seemed like the millionth time in twelve hours. He’d found showing his tattoo to Rayne’s friends and family was the quickest way to make them believe his sincerity.

“I never expected to ever find a woman who fit me. Who ‘got’ me like Rayne did. But by the time I realized what I had, I’d already lied to her. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve been struggling against what I know I
should
do versus what I
wanted
to do for the last six months.”

Mary didn’t look moved in the least. She merely raised her eyebrow as if to say, “So?”

Ghost wrenched his pant leg up and tilted his calf towards Rayne’s friend. “I got it three weeks after I got back from London.” He heard Mary’s in-drawn breath at the sight of his tattoo. Figuring she got the meaning, he lowered his pants and set to work putting his boot back on…again.

“She tried to tell me it wasn’t a big deal, but I knew better.” Mary’s voice was less caustic now, but still accusatory. “It was a shit thing to do.”

Ghost was getting sick of being accused of being the bad guy. He knew he screwed up, but he’d suffered just as much as Rayne had. “Look, cut me some slack, all right? She knew going in I was a one-night kind of guy. Shit, I told her enough…and she agreed. I never would’ve done it if she hadn’t.”

“But you pushed.”

“I did, but you know as well as I do that I didn’t have to push very hard. Rayne’s refreshing and I knew she was something special. Mary, her favorite part of our trip around London was looking at a fucking balcony.”

Mary chuckled, loosening up for the first time. “Yeah, she made me look at the pictures of that damn thing a million times.”

They shared a smile before Mary got serious again. “She’s my best friend in the world. I’d do anything for her. She was by me every step of the way when I had cancer. When I got depressed, she pushed and pushed until I sucked it up. I think she was happier than I was when the doctor’s said it was in remission.”

“I’m very glad you kicked cancer’s ass, Mary. You’re the kind of friend I want Rayne to have. Loyal to a fault and protective as all get out,” Ghost told her honestly.

“Thank you. When the airline called her emergency number, and got me, and I found out she was neck-deep in whatever was going on over there in Egypt, I panicked. I don’t know what I’d do without her. I miss my old friend, Ghost. I miss her laughter and her easygoing ways.”

“I’ll be honest with you, Mary—”

“That’d be a first.”

Ghost ignored her snarky interruption and continued, “I wasn’t going to come after her. She deserves more than I can give her. I won’t be able to tell her where I’m going or what I’m doing. I could be gone for weeks at a time, it depends on our missions.” Before Mary could interrupt him again, he quickly continued, paraphrasing what he’d told Rayne’s brother.

“But…finding out she happened to be one of the hostages I was sent over there to rescue changed my life. I mean, what are the odds? There had to be some sort of divine intervention and I’m not an idiot. I’ll protect her with my life, I’ll keep her safe from others who might want to take advantage of her. I’ll be her friend and her lover. I’ll do whatever I can to make it work between us.”

“Is she moving down here to Killeen?”

Ghost shrugged. “I have no idea. I haven’t even talked to
her
about this shit yet. But you obviously need reassuring and I’m not going to do anything to get between you two. She’s gonna need you when I’m gone on missions. It won’t be easy being with me, but I hope to Christ she’s willing to at least try.”

“Have you seen her tattoo? I mean the additions to it?”

Ghost nodded solemnly.

“I think she’s willing to try.”

“I mean it, Mary. Whatever you guys need, I’ll do it.” Ghost looked Mary in the eye.

“Do you love her?”

“I don’t know,” Ghost replied immediately. “I think it’s too soon for that.”

“Good answer, slick.”

“I wasn’t trying to be slick, but I’ve only been with her for about twenty-four hours. But I can tell you this, she’s touched me deeper than any woman ever has before. The thought of her being sick, or wounded, or what almost happened to her over there makes me want to kill someone. Fuck, I
did
kill someone for her.”

Ghost regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. Shit, he knew better than to talk about his mission, but apparently it was the right thing to say.

“Good. Fuckers. I wanted to ask her about it, but was afraid it would bring up bad memories for her. I only talked to her for a little bit yesterday when she called, and I’m sure I’ll hear more details later, but if you killed the motherfucker who was going to become a ‘man’ after raping her, all the better.”

Ghost nodded.

“As much as it pains me to say this, because I was all ready to hate you for lying to my best friend, I think I like you…whatever your name really is.”

“Keane Bryson.”

“No wonder you go by Ghost.” Mary’s words were said as an aside.

Ghost chuckled but didn’t respond.

“Anyway, as I was saying, I
think
I like you…but I have to say, my feelings could still swing the other way, so watch yourself, Keane Bryson.”

Ghost nodded. “Now that we’re done with this little heart-to-heart, can I please get back inside to Rayne before she wakes up and doesn’t see me there and panics, thinking I left her again?”

Mary immediately hopped off the bench. “Shit, that’s exactly what she’ll think. Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

Ghost shook his head as he followed Mary back into the hospital. She was a prickly thing, but dammed if he didn’t like her too.

L
ater that afternoon
, Rayne was sitting up in her bed, laughing at the tension between Mary and Truck. Ghost had been at her side when she’d woken up that morning, along with her best friend. Surprisingly the two had seemed almost chummy, when Rayne was sure Mary would’ve ripped him a new one. She’d been pissed the day before when they’d spoken over the phone and Rayne told her about Ghost.

Ghost had left that morning not much longer after she’d woken up, saying he had “shit to do,” but that he’d be back later in the evening. But he hadn’t left her alone. Apparently his teammate, Truck, was on babysitting duty, and at first it irritated Rayne, but now she loved the entertainment he and Mary had provided all afternoon.

They’d argued about what to get her for lunch, they’d argued about what to watch on television, they’d even argued when Mary told him to scat because she wanted to talk girlie shit with Rayne. Truck refused to budge, saying that if Ghost wanted him here, watching over his woman, then that’s where he was going to stay.

Truck was as intimidating as anyone she’d ever seen. The nurses didn’t waste time when they came in to see how she was doing or if she needed more pain pills. With Truck sitting in the corner, arms crossed over his chest, his natural scowl on his face, they made a quick retreat.

But Rayne didn’t mind him being there, he was actually comforting to her, no matter how scary his countenance might be. And Mary wasn’t intimidated by anyone; she took him on, figuratively, toe-to-toe.

“When can we get you out of here and back home?” Mary asked Rayne.

Rayne shrugged. “I’m not sure when I’ll be discharged. The doctor said my wounds were looking better this morning, but he still wants to keep me at least one more night, maybe two.”

“You can stay here, with Ghost,” Truck said.

“No way, Trucker,” Mary argued immediately, grinning when he narrowed his eyes at her nickname for him. “She can go home with me.”

“She isn’t up for traveling yet,” he returned.

“Why not? You’re not her doctor; we’ll wait and see what he says.”

“Guys,” Rayne protested, holding up her bandaged arms. “Stop, please. You’ve been fighting all day and while it’s amusing as hell, it’s getting pretty annoying.”

Mary huffed out a breath and relented. “Okay, but I’m still not sure why he’s even still here.”

Both women looked at Truck expectantly.

“As I already told you guys, Ghost asked that I stay and keep an eye on Rayne, to make sure there was nothing you needed until he got back.”

Rayne tried not to think it was really sweet of Ghost, but failed. It was very nice to be on the receiving end of such attention. Especially after no interaction with him for so long.

She had no idea what she was going to do when she was discharged. Most likely she’d go back up to her place in Fort Worth. She’d called her boss at work and had been granted three weeks or so of leave and she planned to take every second of it. The thought of getting on a plane and resuming work held no appeal for her whatsoever. And if she was completely honest with herself, the thought of flying into another foreign country was even less appealing.

Why Ghost would even want her to stay with him was beyond her. They didn’t know each other. There was no way she’d stay with him…was there?

As if their conversation about Ghost conjured him up, the man confidently strode into her hospital room. “Thanks for staying, Truck. Any issues?”

“What issues could there have been?” Mary griped, standing up with her hands on her hips. “We’re in a public hospital on an Army base, for cripes’ sake.”

Rayne giggled. Mary had always been a bit brash, but it was amusing to see her standing up to both Ghost and Truck as if she could make them do something.

“Calm down, Mary, just wanted to make sure Rayne was good.” Ghost came up to her bedside, leaned over, and kissed her on the forehead. Looking into her eyes, he asked, “You all right? Not in too much pain?”

Rayne shook her head in bemusement. “I’m good.”

He studied her for a moment, as if trying to decide if she was telling the truth or not, finally murmuring, “All right.”

Truck got up to leave and shook Ghost’s hand. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Nope, got everything I needed to get done today. I’m off tomorrow. I’ll be here.”

“Sounds good.”

“The colonel will be talking with you tomorrow though,” Ghost warned his teammate. Since he’d taken the day to go over what had happened in Egypt, it would be Truck’s turn to say what went down as well. It was procedure for the colonel to talk to them all separately, to make sure he got all angles of the mission for his final report.