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“Kira.” She leaned forward. “If you knew anything about what Noah is doing here, or any information about my husband’s last mission or specifically the recovery of his body, would you tell me?”
Kira eyed her thoughtfully for long moments before her lips pursed and she said softly, “No. I wouldn’t be able to tell you that.” Then she leaned forward as well. “I like you, Sabella. You’re a very dear friend of mine, and because you are, between you and me, I’ll tell you one thing.”
Sabella leaned back, knowing she wasn’t going to get what she wanted, but listening anyway.
“You’re intuitive. You told me once your dad was a detective, and he taught you to use those instincts.”
“He did.” Her father had been her life until his and her mother’s death. He had taught her so much.
“Then trust those instincts. I believe your father loved you. He taught you how to protect yourself, how to watch people and how to know them. Believe in what your father taught you. In what your husband taught you.”
“I think I need coffee rather more than more wine.” Sabella set the glass aside and she let it go. She’d found out what she needed to know. She wouldn’t push this friendship further. She and Kira knew the truth, they couldn’t speak it, neither of them could acknowledge it. But they knew. “How long are you and Ian going to be in town this time?”
“I’m not certain.” Kira put her glass on the counter as Sabella moved to the coffee maker. “Ian hasn’t set a time limit, and we’re still rather enjoying our time together.”
Sabella nodded. In other words, however long the mission here took, she guessed.
She wondered what Noah would do when the mission here was over. Would he tell his wife, then, who he was and what had happened to him?
“Are you having problems stepping into a relationship with Noah?” Kira asked her suddenly. “I would imagine it’s hard. Sienna mentioned you’ve not been involved with anyone since your husband died.”
“Just as she suggested it was a rebound relationship?” Sabella snorted. “No. I’m not having any problems at all.”
She tucked her hands into the back pocket of her short jeans skirt and moved to the wide kitchen window.
She could see the back of the garage. Noah’s Harley sat close to the cement building, gleaming black in the waning summer sunlight.
“You and Sienna have been friends for a long time,” Kira stated. “Still, I’d have hesitated to say that to a friend of mine.”
Sabella shrugged. “Sienna can be blunt sometimes, especially when she and Rick are going head to head over something.”
“They don’t get along well then?”
Sabella turned back to her. “They get along fine. She just hates his schedule. And Rick is pretty intense about his job.”
“Most men that work in a protective capacity are rather intense.” Kira nodded. “Ian mentioned that Admiral Holloran said you had called Rissa Clay a few days ago. That was very kind of you.”
Sabella frowned and pushed her fingers through her hair worriedly.
Her husband’s last mission had been the rescue of Rissa Clay and two other young girls. She hadn’t called to ask Rissa anything, she remembered very little of that night, Sabella had been told. But she called occasionally, because she knew Rissa. Cared for her. Thankfully the other girl seemed to be doing well.
“I knew Rissa before she was kidnapped,” she said softly. “Nathan and I sometimes flew into Washington to visit with his uncle Jordan. Rissa was around a lot. She lived close by with her father so we were invited to several of the parties. She was a sweet girl.”
She hadn’t deserved what had happened to her.
“Rissa is a very sweet young woman.” Kira nodded. “I saw her a few weeks ago. She’s recovered well from the horror of the kidnapping. Six years has given her some distance, some resolution I believe.”
Sabella was silent, the thought of what Rissa had gone through weighing heavily on her. Nathan had supposedly died during the mission to rescue Rissa Clay and two other senator’s daughters. One of the young women had died, the other, Emily Stanton, had married another of Nathan’s friends and a fellow SEAL, Kell Krieger.
Before she could say anything more, Sabella swung around at the sound of Noah’s Harley purring to life behind the garage.
God. He was dressed in snug jeans and riding chaps. A snug dark T-shirt covered his upper body, conformed to it. And he was riding her way.
“Is there anything sexier than a man in riding chaps riding a Harley?” Kira asked behind her. “It makes a woman simply want to melt.”
And Sabella was melting. She watched as he pulled around the side of the garage then took the gravel road that led to the back of the house. The sound of the Harley purred closer, throbbing, building the excitement inside her.
“I think it’s time for me to leave,” Kira said with a light laugh. “Don’t bother to see me out.”
