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I looked them over. They seemed a little shaken up but had no visible injuries. “You guys up for getting the yacht to a dock?”
A guy stepped forward, white uniform untucked, one of his shoulder pads ripped off. “Of course. A captain never leaves his ship. We’ll get her back safely, Mrs. Barlowe. You go and get yourself fixed up.”
Lowering her head, Thea sighed in defeat. “Thank you, Ricky. Radio if you need anything.”
“I will. Now take care of yourself, and don’t worry about a thing.”
When Devon guided her out of the room, she didn’t stop him. Carter spoke to the captain, and I followed Thea, unable to let her out of my sight.
She placed one foot in front of the other with infinite care, leaning heavily on Devon.
The urge to hurt the guy who’d hit her was overpowering. But if there was one thing I’d learned in the past year, it was how to turn off my emotions.
“Where do you think you’re going, newbie?” Carter called after me. “We have captives to process and hand over to the authorities.”
Losing sight of Thea as she disappeared around the side of the boat, I turned back. My thoughts should have been on completing the mission, not on a woman who was only a memory.
Picking up the guy who’d stood guard, I slapped him, hoping he’d wake up and I wouldn’t have to drag him behind me.
The sound of a chopper approaching signaled Thea’s ride to the hospital. I spent the remainder of my night dragging unconscious bodies to a police boat that had arrived to take the guys we’d knocked out into custody.
I made a note to talk to the office about lowering the doses in the tranquilizer darts, since it was hard work dragging limp bodies.
When the chopper came back to pick us up, I didn’t ask about Thea. Instead, I requested to be assigned to the next available team going out on another mission.
I was in luck, since there had been an assassination attempt on the US ambassador in South Africa. They still needed someone to complete the team to go out there and extract him. It was the perfect way to forget about a past I no longer wanted to remember.
2
THEA
Images of Archer’sice-blue eyes ran in my head on repeat, mocking me with their clarity, teasing me with their intensity. He’d worn a face covering, but I’d recognize his honeyed voice and those eyes anywhere.
I thought seeing him again would feel like seeing an old friend. Instead, every missed opportunity, every missed chance, came roaring back at me. The last time I’d seen him, he was eighteen, already tall but not as muscled as he was now.
The feeling of his hard bicep under my hand was burned into me. I’d always thought of him as a younger brother, but around the time he turned eighteen my feelings had changed. And I’d been disgusted with myself for feeling something for my best friend’s younger brother, which resulted in me cutting any contact with him.
I hadn’t seen him in seven years. My attraction to him should have been all but a distant memory. But it seemed it burned brighter than ever.
I wanted to let the tears I was holding at bay fall. Not because someone had beaten me up, but because Archer had treated me as if I was a stranger. As if I’d been nothing more than a job.
I guessed I was. And it had been my decision to cut him out of my life. The consequences were mine to bear.
“Darling.” My husband, William, came into my hospital room with grand hand gestures and tears in his eyes. All his theatrics froze in their tracks when he set eyes on me. Then they bulged out of his head, and he took a stumbled back.
Ciel, his boyfriend, was right behind him, stopping his retreat. When he stepped around my frozen husband, he gasped, clasping his hands to his chest. “Mon cherie, what have they done to you?”
Rushing to my bedside, he fussed over the blankets, then visibly wavered between touching me and breaking down in tears.
Putting him out of his misery, I lifted my hand. “This is the safest part on my body to touch right now.”
He collapsed on his knees next to the bed, holding my hand. “We should have been on the boat with you. I’m so sorry for making William take me to this stupid art show instead.”
Squeezing his hand, I swallowed the resentment that wanted to rise. What happened wasn’t his fault. “If you had been on board, things might have gotten much worse. I’m getting out of here tomorrow, and the doctor said nothing’s broken. I only have a few bruised ribs.”
A miracle, really, since I could still feel the boot hitting my side.
William finally came unstuck and rushed to my other side, taking my free hand in his. “I’m so sorry, darling. This is all my fault.”
