Safe In Your Arms (5 page)

Her eyes burned as the answer shamed her. Guilt tore her in two. She hadn’t even thanked Gabriel Landing for risking his life to save her. The mattress depressed with his weight as he sank down next to her.

“Lift your head, Mina.” She looked over to see him holding a tube of antibiotic ointment and a sterile gauze pad. He turned her head and wiped a finger coated in ointment over the cut.

“You don’t have to do that,” she protested.

“Yes, I do. You don’t want infection.” He had the gauze pad in place seconds later. “There. You’ll live.” She reached out blindly, her fingers tingling at the contact with his wrist. He stopped to look at her, questions and caution in his look.

“I want to thank you.” Mina inwardly cringed at the way her voice was shaking. She was Senator Benjamin Brady’s eldest daughter and she could barely speak right. He nodded his head, a dark patch of hair falling over his eye as he tilted his head.

“It’s just a patch-up job, Mina.” His lips pulled back into a wry smile that had her tummy flipping.

“You didn’t have to save me, but you did.” His head pulled back and he looked down at her hand on his wrist.

“Like I said, this is my last duty to your family. I’ll get you to the summer house tomorrow, if the weather cooperates with us.” He pulled his arm away from her and stood up. “Get some sleep while you can. I’ll take the first watch.” Mina realized he was taking the dirty plate with him on his way out of the cave.

“Wait!” She was up and moving right behind him. Her body smashed right into his as he stopped suddenly to turn around. His arm with the plate wrapped around her waist, his other hand clutching her hip to keep her from falling.

“Mina!” His wide eyes narrowed in irritation as he looked down at her. Mina realized she was holding onto his arms for dear life with her breasts crushed against his solid chest with only the soft fabric of her shirt between them. She watched as his eyelids drooped and his head lowered toward hers. Tilting her chin up, she focused on his mouth as it drew closer to hers. “You are an accident waiting to happen.” He quickly pushed her back, creating enough space between them to ensure they were no longer in full body contact.

“Sorry. I just...” What the hell had she wanted? She looked down at the beautiful chest in front of her and bit her lip hard.

“You just...what?” There was that edge to his voice that told her he didn’t want her here. She was an intruder to his world, uninvited and unwanted. Nothing new, she thought with a sadness that hurt deep.

“What duty do you owe my family?” She released his arms as he let her go. Hugging her waist, she watched as he rubbed at his neck and looked away from her.

“I’m not getting into this with you, Mina. What I owe to your father is my business. Not yours. Do us both a favor, go to sleep and stay out of my way.” He turned and left her standing there with her mouth wide open and her emotions swirling in turmoil. The nerve of the man! Turning, she stamped her way back to the mattress with a deep anger and hurt she didn’t know how to control. Tears threatened, but she choked them back. This was how he wanted it, then this was how it would be between them. He hadn’t wanted her around back in the day and he didn’t want her around now. She’d be sure to remember that.

Chapter Five

The weather was changing. He could feel the storm in the air as it moved up the river toward them. Growing up, he’d loved the sudden thunderstorms that plagued early summer in the North Country. What he didn’t like was the idea of getting wet. A few wet drops hit his face as the wind came up, and he clenched his teeth. The last thing he wanted to do was go back into the cave with her.

There was no denying that he was attracted to her. Hell, who wouldn’t be? She was a hot little piece of work with a tight body that curved in all the right places. The image of her cleavage pushed up above the towel had sweat running down the back of his neck. He wiped a hand down his face as more drops landed on him. Damn. He was a healthy male. It was no wonder that he’d popped a boner at having her that close to him in just his shirt. He’d wanted to kiss her. He almost did.

“Shit! I’m no better than the ass who tried to make a move on her last night.” Thunder rumbled through the dark sky above him and he knew he had to go in, whether he liked it or not. She would probably be sleeping in his bed by now. Relief that he wouldn’t have to talk to her filled him as he moved back toward the cave. He picked up her damp clothes as he went.

She was sleeping all right. Her long hair fanned out over the pillow as she lay with her back toward him. The oil lamp was still burning low. Anger filled him at her stupidity until he thought she might have left it burning for the light. Was she scared of the dark? He remembered how she’d attacked him when he returned from storing the boat the night before. She’d definitely been terrified when he interrupted her trying to brush her teeth.

He almost swore out loud when he realized he hadn’t given her the new toothbrush he’d snagged from the house. Having her lush body pressed to his had more than rattled his brain. He was still at half-mast and irritated as hell by it. He didn’t even like the woman. She was too self-contained for his liking. He couldn’t remember her uttering more than a dozen words to him in the short time they knew each other. She watched him, though. She was always watching him, as if she expected him to try to make off with the good silver or something.

He’d never felt that way with her younger sister. Callie was different in a lot of ways. Only a year younger, she’d seemed more open to conversation and eager to learn from him. He’d taught her to fish and to make sailor’s knots in rope. Where Mina was dark-haired like her father, Callie was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty like her mother. Her body was thin and her complexion was like a fine china doll’s. She’d made him smile with her fun personality and charming humor.

Why wasn’t it Callie who he’d stumbled upon? Not that he’d wish harm to Mina, but she was so difficult to deal with. Those dark brown eyes were intelligent and deep with distrust. She seemed constantly on guard as if she expected to have to defend herself. What made the sisters so different? He stood there studying her from across the cave. Her body jumped as thunder boomed above them and the floor of the cave moved with a loud cracking noise.

Mina sat up and turned in a fluid move of readiness. She stared at him with fearful eyes. “It’s all right, Mina. That’s just thunder.”

“Thunder?” She shoved her hair out of her face with hands that shook. “Storming?” The way his shirt slid off her shoulder to dip low on her chest exposed the upper curve of her breast. He turned away to move toward the oil lamp.

“I had to come in. This one is going to get rough. Don’t worry, though. The water gets close, but hasn’t entered the cave yet.” Was he seriously babbling to her? He shook his head as he turned the knob to brighten the light.

“The light, won’t it attract them?” Her soft voice trembled over the words. He looked over at her. Even, white teeth were chewing at her lower lip to betray how frayed her nerves were. Gabe wanted to step right back outside, rain and lightning be damned. He didn’t know how to reassure her, didn’t want to try, either. Still, he found himself moving to sit beside her legs on the mattress. He felt her body tense up as he turned toward her.

“I’ve found they like to be wet about as much as you and I do. Relax, you’re safe here.” He watched her eyes close as he gave into the urge to touch her. Pushing her hair behind her ear, he caught a long, silky strand and wrapped it around his finger. “Don’t tell me you’re scared of thunderstorms?” The shrug of her bare shoulder and the way she ducked her head at the next loud crack told him she was. She lifted her head, dark eyes colliding with his as he tugged on her hair.

“Are you afraid of anything, Gabe?” The way she was studying him made him more than a little uncomfortable as he turned away to rub a hand over his face. God, he was tired.

“My father once told me that thunder is the noise God makes when he cleans house up in heaven. Moving furniture.” He stared across at the protective covering moving in the wind. “He always explained things to me in a way that made sense. This thing with the Z’s, it doesn’t make sense to me. There’s no way I can rationalize it away. I don’t think he could, either.” Gabe jumped as her hand landed on his shoulder. He turned his head and found she’d moved closer to him.

“What happened to your father?” Gabe barely heard the question, she spoke so softly. He wondered if she realized that her fingers were kneading the tension in his shoulder. It felt good having her touch him, even through the button-up shirt he was wearing.

“We didn’t know what was causing people to act crazy. Rumors went around at first that it was a bad side-effect of a drug. Dad refused to just stay inside the house like they wanted him to. I was home on leave for two weeks. He didn’t want me to go to work with him because it was just a leaky pipe in our neighbor’s bathroom. ‘Stay here and rest, son. The military will be calling you back to work soon enough,’ he told me as he grabbed up his smaller tool box. I’ll never forget the grin on his face as he pulled the rim of his hat down. ‘I love ya, son. You’ve made me proud,’ he said before he left.” He shook his head to meet her concerned look. “It was the last time I saw him alive.” He swallowed hard, shutting down the pain. There was no way in hell he was telling her what he found when he stumbled into Mrs. Dulattie’s kitchen.

“I’m sorry, Gabe.” It surprised him to see tears forming in her dark eyes. She was going to cry for him? Why? She’d never even said hello to his father. Why did she care, now? He opened his mouth to tell her so when her fingers touched his lips. “I really liked your dad, you know.” He must have looked surprised because she nodded her head at him. “I did.” She looked at her fingers, realizing she was touching him, and dropped her hands to her lap along with her gaze. A tear dropped onto the blanket, immediately soaking into the woolen material.

“I was feeling miserable, moping about the house because Callie was off fishing with you. He must have noticed my attitude. I was getting a glass of ice water to take out to the deck and read in the swing when he sat up beneath the sink. He asked me to grab him the wrench. Actually, his words were, ‘Girl, do me a favor and hand me a crescent wrench.’ I didn’t have a clue what he was asking for and told him so. He laughed and told me in order to fix something, one must have the right tools.” She smiled as she looked up at him. “I realized later that he wasn’t just talking about the broken sink.”

“Dad always was cryptic.”

“He was sweet. I helped him when you weren’t around. He treated me like an adult, with respect. I didn’t get that from my father...” She trailed off, seeming to realize that she had given away far more information about her father than she intended. Pride for his father grew as he could see the old man charming a younger version of Mina Brady.

“Where is the senator?” He regretted the question as she took a shaky breath, all softness fading from her expression as she frowned.

“I don’t know. He called me the day Julie, my roommate, was attacked by her boyfriend. He told me to go straight to the summer house. Mom and Callie were already on their way and he’d meet up with us later. He didn’t even tell me he loved me. He just hung up after giving me his orders.” Hurt shadowed her face as she blinked and took a deep breath. “You were in the military? What branch?”

“Nice change of subject, Duchess.”

“You look nicer when you smile like that.” He realized he was smiling and looked away from her considering gaze. “Answer me. What branch?”

“You know, for not liking orders, you give them like an expert.”

“And you sound just like a drill sergeant when you’re being a bad ass.” Her counter had him laughing at her cheeky grin.

“SEALs. I just passed hell week and graduation. After two weeks of leave, I was being relocated to California. So much for fun in the sun.” He shrugged.

“Why didn’t you go? They must have wanted you back—”

“They did, but I had more important issues to work out. I’ll report in once I figure out who to report to. In case you didn’t know, Duchess, this plague doesn’t discriminate. One bite to a soldier can take down an entire base.”

“I know. Most of my dorm was changed overnight.” He felt a shiver slide over her and reached out to wrap an arm over her shoulders before he thought better of it. The move was as natural as breathing to him, but she stiffened a moment before leaning into his side. “I haven’t felt safe since.” The admission sounded as though it was torn from her as she hid her face in his shirt.

“You can feel safe right now.” He pulled her closer, wrapping his other arm around her shoulder as he rested his cheek against the top of her head. The scent of fresh strawberries wafted to his nose as he inhaled. Thunder boomed loudly overhead and he felt her jump against him. Clearing his throat, he tried to think of something to reassure her that everything was going to be just fine. “Come on. Lie down and sleep. I’ll stay up and guard you from the angry booms of the gods.” He awkwardly patted her shoulder.

“No.”

He leaned his ear down toward her.

“What?”

“No.” She cleared her throat loudly. “Don’t let me go. Please, Gabe. Let me sleep tonight.” Her fingers clenched in his shirt. “Stay with me.”

Chapter Six

She was finally safe, warm, and cozy. Sighing, Mina cuddled closer to the warmth. Had she ever felt this good waking up? Heck no! Maybe it was all a dream, just a scary, silly nightmare that wouldn’t go away. This dream was much better. She could stay in this dream where she was being held in strong arms against a warm body. A warm, male body that smelled wonderful and strong enough to keep her safe from the world.

She rubbed her nose against scratchy skin and a deep purr of approval echoed in her ear. Mina opened her eyes, but couldn’t see much in the darkened room. She could feel, though. Her body was completely surrounded by strong arms. A heavy leg lay over hers and she had no doubt what the sizeable member pressing against her lower belly was. Panic eased as she remembered getting under the covers with Gabriel Landing. He’d insisted she sleep next to the wall in case they were attacked. He’d placed the lethal-looking blade he carried on the floor behind him and let her snuggle against his side. Before she’d let sleep claim her, she heard him wish her a good night. Lifting her head, she tried to get a little distance from his scratchy jaw.