The Mercenary (26 page)
Authors: Cherry Adair
Tags: #Contemporary, #General, #Romance, #Fiction, #Twins, #Missing Persons, #Terrorism, #Bookkeepers
you.”
She shuddered as he touched her fingers with his warm tongue. “I’m used to being safe, I like things
predictable.” She tried to pull her hand away from the erotic feel of his mouth. “I don’t like to take
chances, Marc. It frightens me.” Her eyes filled as she looked at her lap. “I’m sorry, but I’m too old to
change now.”
Marc laughed softly. “You’re definitely not a coward. You are the bravest woman I know.”
“No, I’m not.”
“How many women do you know who would save a man’s life without a second thought?” He stroked
her cheek with the back of his hand. “How many women do you know who would go through what you
went through and not come back a basket case?”
“How do you know I didn’t?”
“Because I know you, Victoria Jones. I know that you have the inner strength and the emotional
fortitude to do what you have to do. You didn’t fall apart.” He dropped a tender kiss on her forehead.
“And God only knows, you had every reason to come unglued on several occasions.” His lips moved to her temple, to touch the throb of her pulse.
“Life isn’t as simple as debits and credits. There’s no neat predictability, where all the columns are
totaled and neatly balanced, like your ledgers. If life was as rigid as your accounting books, we would be
bored to tears.”
“Bored, but safe,” she said as his lips skimmed her eyebrow. “I’d know where you were and when
you’d be home.”
Marc took her face between his hands. “I could get run over by a truck, sweetheart.
Nothing is ever
totally safe.”
“But the law of averages is that much higher when you’re being shot at.” Her voice shook and she
cupped his strong hands against her cheeks, holding them there tightly. “I’ve always hated what Alex did,
and that was just a nebulous fear. Now I know and it’s so much worse.” She felt his breath fan her face as he leaned down to silence her very effectively with his mouth. He
tasted of mint and Marc—a flavor that she’d been yearning for for weeks. He drew her shoulders closer,
deepening the kiss.
When he eventually broke away, he whispered against her skin, “We’ll work this all out.
I promise.”
She’d seen him furiously angry, blindingly focused, playful, and tender, but she’d never seen such
seriousness in all the time that she’d known him. There was even a small spark of…
what? Fear? But that
was impossible.
Marc had never been afraid of anything in his life. Had he?
“I had better tell you the whole story,” he said. “After Krista…after Krista, I made myself believe that I
was happier, safer alone.”
“Oh, yes. Let’s not forget the perfect Krista. Would you have—” Marc gently placed a hand over her mouth. “Shh. Let me put Krista to rest once and for all. Tory, when
I told you that Krista had died, I omitted telling you one of the most salient points. I was sleeping when
an assassin broke into our room. I thought that Krista was beside me and I shot to kill.
But the hit ‘man’
was Krista. I was the one who shot her.”
“Oh, God. Marc…”
“When I turned on the light and saw her, I convinced myself that it had been a mistake.
I frantically
rushed her to the hospital. She was pregnant, Tory. I—”
“Don’t do this to yourself. None of it matters now—”
“I went straight from Mexico to the ranch. And stayed there for two years. Alex was the one who told
me that Krista had been the would-be assassin. He had proof.” Marc pulled the leather tie out of his hair,
scraping it back from his forehead with both hands. “Do you understand, Tory? I hid on my ranch for
two years like some guilt-ridden fool, thinking that I had killed that innocent woman.
That I had killed my
child. For two goddamned years I’d allowed myself to wallow in guilt. I’d enjoyed my misery. And then
your brother came and blew my life to hell with the truth.” Tory took his hands in hers. She was filled with pain. His pain.
“When I heard that Lynx had been killed, I really lost it. For the next six months I was worthless. I
refused to go back into the field. I should have been with Lynx. I’d trained him, and he’d come to me for
help. I refused him. The guilt and remorse I felt at his death incapacitated me. I fell apart. No man should
collapse like a damned cream puff, but that’s what I did.
“And then you came into my life and I wondered just what the hell I thought I could offer a woman like
you. A burned-out mercenary? After I got back from Marezzo the second time and went to my ranch, I
was missing you like hell and I finally realized that the solitude I had built around myself was nothing more
than a jail. I might not deserve you, Tory, but I sure as hell need you. Tell me you missed me half as much
as I missed you.”
Missed him. Yearned for him, ached for him. Her voice was whisper soft. “Yes.” She looked into his
eyes. “Yes, I did. I’m so sorry that you were betrayed by someone you loved. I love you more than life.
I would never betray you. But I have to be honest. Your job scares me. I know what it’s like when you
have to dodge bullets.” She touched the scar on his forehead. “What if this had been two inches lower?”
“It wasn’t.”
“But it could have been.”
“I retired,” he said roughly. “I’m just a rancher that loves you. Come back to Brandon with me, Tory. I
promise you a life filled with love and sunshine.”
“I don’t want to have you remind me for the rest of my life that it’s because of me that you no longer
do—”
“I’m not just doing this for you. After giving it a lot of thought, I’ve had enough. I need to move into the
light with you. I can’t live without you, sweetheart. Please, say yes.” He didn’t give her a chance to answer. His mouth dropped to hers in a kiss so tender and poignant that
it brought tears to her eyes. The familiar taste of him made her ache.
A shudder went through him as he pulled her closer, plucking the pins from her hair. His mouth moved in
a slow dance across her face as he combed his fingers through her hair until it lay silky and loose down
her back.
“Retired? Really?” she asked dreamily, feeling the delicious sensation as he lifted her hair at her nape.
“Really,” he assured her. “I’d be thinking of you and then I’d get hard and I’d think to myself, ‘Forget
her.’ But I never could.” He smoothed the long hair over her shoulder, his eyes almost charcoal as they
held the emerald of hers.
“I’m here to take you back with me. I can’t live without you, Tory. Not for another day.
I want you,
need you to share all my tomorrows.”
Tory stretched up to wrap her arms around his neck, his hair deliciously cool between her fingers. He
deftly dispensed with the buttons on her blouse, tugging it out of the waistband, the hand behind her neck
drawing her forward. He managed to part both blouse and jacket buttons, and then his fingers were at
the front clasp of her bra, and she felt the cool air on her naked breasts.
Logic deserted her, falling away as his hand skimmed her breasts, weighing, teasing until she pressed
closer.
His mouth against her throat was mobile, the hot, hard, questing pressure of his teeth making her shiver
deliciously. He drew the fabric aside as he moved to take one aching peak into the cavern of his mouth.
He pressed her back against the soft pillows, his hard chest pinning her in place. His fingers slid beneath
the heavy fabric of her skirt, up the length of her leg, smoothing along her thigh until he came to the moist
heat of her through her panty hose.
His groan was muffled by the pressure of her mouth. He traced her lips and teeth with his tongue, as his
hand slipped beneath the silky fabric to the smooth skin at her waist. Tory felt the withdrawal of her hose
only dimly. Aching to be closer, she ripped at the buttons of his shirt.
Her hands were clumsy as she struggled to slide both his shirt and coat out of her way.
It was impossible
with their upper bodies melded together. Leaning her face against his chest, she felt his muffled, frustrated
laughter.
With a low sound from the back of her throat, she lifted her face, starving for the taste of his lips again. It
had been so long since she’d felt the fire of his touch. She couldn’t get enough. As he loved her with his
mouth, his palm covered her engorged nipple, rubbing and teasing until she shifted restlessly on the
cushions. She looked up at him.
“Marc…”
“Tell me what you want, my love.”
She saw the smoky pewter of his gaze, felt the strength in his arms as they wrapped around her. There
was no doubting his love. She dropped her head to his naked chest. He smelled musky and sexy.
“Anything. Everything. You,” she whispered, her arms sliding up around his neck and holding him against
her pounding heart.
He lifted his head, his hand cupping her stubborn little chin. “I love you more than life itself, princess.
Come back with me. We’ll raise cattle and babies….” He buried his face in the fragrance of her hair, more afraid than he’d ever been in his life. Waiting for her
answer was a thousand times worse than getting shot.
“You’re mine,” he said fiercely. “Tell me what you want from me, and if it’s within my power I’ll make
sure you have it.” His voice shook and he felt her arms come up to encircle his shoulders.
“You,” she whispered brokenly against his forehead. “Just you. Safe and whole and…
loving me. That’s
all I want.”
“I’ll give you all that and more.” His mouth sealed hers with the vow. “We’ll have the wedding at the
ranch….”
He picked her up and carried her toward the bedroom. Tory kissed the corner of his mouth. “Yes…”
“I have a chauffeured limo waiting downstairs and the plane is fueled and ready….” Her lips moved to his throat. “Fine.”
Marc closed his eyes, his hands stroking down her back. He said with a mock sigh, “I guess the driver
wait.”
Tory looked up into warm gray eyes. “The driver can come back tomorrow.”
“Maybe the day after.”
“Tomorrow,” she said firmly, pulling him down onto the bed with her. “I’ll be temporarily done with you
by then. You’ll need time to recuperate for the wedding.” He didn’t…but she did her best.
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