Safe In Your Arms (12 page)

“You always were just like Emily.” The tears in his dark eyes shocked her. “You look like me, no doubt, but that fire and determination to live life your own way is all your mother. I don’t know where you got the notion that I don’t love you, Mina. You and your sister are everything to me and I don’t know what I would have done if—” He pulled her into him hard. Lucky jumped out of her arms to land on the couch with an indignant hiss before curling up into a tight ball of fur on the cushion.

“Daddy?” He was crying, sobbing like a child in her hair. Mina hugged him hard.

“I love you, Mina. I just want you to be safe and happy.”

“I know. I am...with Gabe.” She felt him nod before he pulled back to look at her with red eyes.

“Then with him you will stay. Here in the main house, though. I want you close, in case...” His fears were there for her to see on his aged face. Mina felt a weight lift from her shoulders as she stared up at him.

“Don’t worry, Daddy. If the Z’s come, I’ll protect you. After all, the human race needs a strong leader.” He grinned down at her as he hugged her once more.

Chapter Twelve

Gabriel Landing was shown to the room by a member of the Secret Service. When the man in black came for him, he thought he was heading for the brig, but his alarm quickly turned to concern when he was brought into the main house. Only the top officials were in residence here. He knew he’d have to talk to the senator at some point, but after the grueling interrogation he’d just faced, a one-on-one with Mina’s father was not going to be a treat.

He knew exactly what he wanted to say to the man, but having the fortification to do it with how bone-tired he felt was another thing. All he wanted to do was go back to his tent and collapse. He knew in his gut that Mina wouldn’t be there. She was the senator’s daughter. The man who had stared him down earlier had no intention of letting his daughter stay under the same roof as a common soldier. To be fair, if Mina were his daughter, he’d be hard-pressed not to feel the same damn way.

The big guy stopped next to a door and nodded toward it. His silent manner only added to Gabe’s tension. “Thank you for the tour, soldier.” He grinned and shook his head as the man only raised a brow at him. Taking a deep breath, Gabe grabbed the doorknob and stepped inside. It was darker in the room than it had been in the lit-up hallway. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he felt his eyes go round as saucers, his jaw dropped open, and his lungs constricted.

“Welcome home, Lieutenant Landing.” Mina stood at the bottom of a double bed dressed in a silky looking nightgown that hugged her curvy body like a lover’s hands. Her dark hair was down the way he liked it, curling over her shoulders, and framing her sweet face. She was nervous, he realized instantly. Her teeth bit down on her lower lip as she stood watching him for a reaction. He slammed the door shut behind him. No way was he sharing this lovely creature with the silent hulk behind him.

She swallowed, the dim light from the candles on the small table off to the other side of her showing her perfectly white teeth as they bit into her lower lip. Her hands clutched together in front of her as she watched him. “I hope you don’t mind, but I ordered a light snack for you. I...I wasn’t sure you would be able to eat... Gabe?” Her dark eyes went wide in alarm as he headed for her like a scud missile.

He couldn’t stop himself from wrapping his arms around her waist to lift her up against him. She felt perfect in his arms as he spun her around twice. Dropping his head, he buried his face in the soft curves of her breasts and inhaled the sweetest scent of light floral body wash and pure woman. His woman.

The feelings of protectiveness and possession nearly outdid him as he felt her arms wrap around his head to hug him to her. There were no words for how he felt as he slowly let her slide down his body to the carpeted floor. She looked up at him with a soft smile full of acceptance and welcome.

“I’ve changed my mind, Mina.” His words made her face fall like an out-of-control avalanche. She looked so lost that he could barely stand it.

“About what? Gabe, if you don’t want to stay with me...” He stopped her pained words with a kiss so deep and long that he thought they might never survive it, but he found the strength to pull back. She looked confused, but aroused as hell. Her nipples were sharp against his chest and those deep, dark eyes promised all manner of tempting things with the lust shining out of them.

“I’ve changed my mind. You are the best thing to come out of Z-Day and I’m so glad that I had the brains to save you that night.”

“Gabriel, I love you.” She smiled softly, reaching up a hand to slide it seductively through his hair to clasp the back of his head. He leaned down for the kiss she obviously wanted, then he felt a sharp slap to the back of his head. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

“Do what?” he asked, feeling like he’d missed something.

“Scare me like that. I thought you didn’t want me. I know a lot has happened between us and to us in a short amount of time, thanks to Z-Day. Hell, we might never have seen each other again if not for the Z’s.”

“I don’t believe that, Mina. There’s a purpose for everything that happens. We don’t always understand them, or agree with them, but good does come out of the bad things in life. Look at that fur ball snoozing over there on the pillow.” Mina turned her head to follow his gaze. Lucky was indeed curled up on the stark white pillow sound asleep and looking adorable as all get-out. “If we hadn’t needed a charger for the phone and supplies, she never would have been rescued. It was meant to be. We were meant to be. How could you doubt that?”

“How could I not? What with my sister drooling all over you...” She let out a small, hushed squeal as he lifted her back up to stare at her. Her hands clutched his shoulders as he shook his head at her.

“I’m not in love with your sister. I love you, Duchess. I will fight all the Z’s in the world and all that is left of civilization for you. Don’t you ever doubt that, again.” He saw her dazzling smile and the sparkle of tears in her dark eyes.

“I won’t,” she whispered.

“Good, because as my wife, I expect you to trust me to know what is best for you and any children we might have.” He watched her eyes widen and then blink. A tear fell, hitting his chest as another one ran down her cheek. Alarm had him slowly placing her on her feet so he could capture her face in his hands.

***

Mina grabbed his wrists as she felt his thumbs gently wipe away the tears as they fell down her cheeks. “Don’t cry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.” His words tumbled out in a shaky apology that made her heart soar even higher.

“Did you just ask me to marry you?” She felt the world shift as he grinned.

“Well, yeah. I can get down on one knee if you’d like me...” She didn’t let him finish as she lunged up to pull his head down. The kiss was fierce and long, filled with all her desire to grab on to him and this feeling of hope for the future. All that had happened, the echoes of the past two weeks, wouldn’t interfere with this night, as Mina meant to show him that he was everything to her.

There wasn’t a promise for a tomorrow, she knew that, accepted it...but for tonight there was only Gabriel and her. Here, in each other’s arms, they were alive, happy, and safe. Tomorrow they would face together, armed with sharp weapons and a love strong enough to let them survive.

Biography

Kelliea Ashley lives near the Canadian Border in upstate New York with her husband, a cat named Copperkitty, a dog named Sammy, and several fish, who do not have names and are very lucky her husband feeds them.

Kelliea grew up an only child with a devoted single mother. She looked at books as companions and writing as a favorite escape. She has always been a bookworm who steadfastly refused to give up her paperbacks until her loving hubby bought her a Kindle for Christmas. Secretly she still adores the smell of a well read book, but sh... don’t tell her husband.

She has a habit in the form of chocolate and loves a glass of sweet red wine. Romance has always been her favorite genre because she sees the miracle and magic in finding ones’ true love.