Her Master Defender (The Masters Men Series) (21 page)

“Don’t move,” he said in a gravelly voice. “Just give me a minute.”

Copper knew his present state of arousal was normal, and probably had little to do with her being there. At least her brain knew that, her body didn’t seem to care. She wrapped an arm around his waist and pressed her head against his chest under his chin. Inhaling deeply the scent of warm man that was entirely Dos filled her. She didn’t think she’d ever smell anything as good again.

“Copper, I said don’t move. You’re not helping.”

She couldn’t stop the smile, or the kiss against his shirt before tilting her head back to look at his face. “That depends on what I’m supposed to be helping with.”

“You’re supposed to be helping me talk myself into letting you go.”

Copper watched his lips move, but all she could think about was kissing them. Then her gaze traveled to his eyes and her brain had her craving dark chocolate kisses.

“Copper,” Dos said roughly.

“Hm? I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

“Woman,” he growled before taking her mouth in a hard kiss.

It took Copper a second to give in. Never being a wake-up kisser she resisted for that long. Then the dark chocolate image filled her mind and she was lost. She deepened the kiss and pressed her body as close to his as she could get. The groan she felt rumble from him sent heat pooling low in her belly. If there was a better way to wake up in the morning she couldn’t imagine it.

Vaguely she felt a strange sensation somewhere behind her. Dos’ hand left its position at her lower back and started fumbling on the mattress. When he broke the kiss, she trailed kisses down his throat. When he pulled back a little she stopped and looked up at him.

“It’s your father. Take it and get out of this bed now, please.”

His order was softened by the passion still burning in his eyes. Knowing they had things to do, she decided to respect his request. With a quick kiss to his lips, she flipped the phone open.

“Good morning, Dad,” she said climbing off the bed. She hadn’t taken two steps toward the bathroom when she stopped. “I turned it off last night so he could sleep. Yes, he’s here just a minute.”

When she turned to take the phone to Dos his eyes were glaring at her.

“You turned my phone off?”

“You have a land line and my cell was on. If there had been an emergency we would have known,” she said rolling her eyes as she handed him the phone and walked away.

Dos waited until the bathroom door closed. “Yes, sir, I’m sorry about that. I should have checked my phone before I laid down. I should never have--"

“Forget it, Major, I know my daughter. I do need to talk to you about your vacation after you’ve had some time to wake up. Give me a call back.”

Flipping Copper’s phone closed Dos waited for the paralyzing tension that always came when the Colonel mentioned his vacation. It didn’t come. He released the breath he’d been holding since the Colonel hung up. Turning his head he glanced at the bedside clock, almost eight o’clock. Then he realized what that meant. He’d slept, without dreams, for over five hours.

“Hey, soldier,” Copper said, coming back in the room with a smile that didn’t hide the concern in her eyes. “You okay?”

He couldn’t stop himself from giving her a serious once over. Feeling himself get hard again he threw the sheet back and sat up. “Yeah, I just need to call him from the secure line.”

“Stop,” she said, rushing to the side of the bed as he slid his legs over the edge. “Don’t you even touch your feet to the floor before putting on your brace.”

Not wanting to fight with her, or pain, he pointed toward the chair where he’d put the brace last night. As Copper turned to go get it he couldn’t keep his eyes from watching the soft sway of her hips in flannel lounge pants of her own. When had plaid become so damned sexy? When she turned back he didn’t turn away.

“You keep looking at me like that and we’re not going to make your mother very happy,” she said handing him the brace before stroking his face.

He busied himself with the brace trying to ignore how good her hand felt against his cheek. “If what the Colonel wants to talk about isn’t too negative we’ll go. You can shower while I talk to him.” Grasping his cane from where it leaned against the night stand he stood and started for the bathroom.

Dos closed the door proud of himself for not giving in to the desire to pull her back into bed with him. He needed to control his libido better or things were only going to get worse. Too bad he couldn’t put real physical distance between them, but that wasn’t an option right now. Tamping down the fact that he wasn’t really disappointed about that, he finished up, grabbed his electric razor and opened the door to let her know he was done before leaving through the other.

In the kitchen, he put on a pot of coffee and waited for it to brew. He knew he was stalling. It had just been so long since he’d felt this good, he didn’t want to let it go anymore than he’d wanted to release Copper earlier.

You are so losing it
.

Growling at himself he poured his coffee and went to the office. After booting up the computer he made his call.

“Okay, Major, first the good news. Dr. Martin contacted me.”

“Thank, God,” Dos breathed. “Have you brought him in? Put him under protective guard?”

“No, he thinks he’s safe where he is, which he didn’t disclose. He did say he thinks he’s making progress.”

Dos felt his heart rate kick up several notches. His future, his life depended on this man. Progress was good. “A cure?”

“Not yet, son, I’m sorry. He has determined that the virus is not contagious. I know you’ve been worried about the men that rescued you and the medical staff.”

“Yes, sir,” Dos said, more thankful knowing for certain Copper would be okay. “That’s good to know.”

“He asked for your number so he could talk to you directly if he had questions.”

“That’s fine, sir.”

“I have to say, I’m stumped as to what Cardone is doing with this. He’s a drug lord. He makes money on repeat customers. I can’t imagine many of his customers enjoying what this would do to them.”

“That’s true,” Dos agreed, his own body tensing with just the reminder of what the damned virus did.

“Now to the other news,” the Colonel said causing Dos to tense even more.

“Cardone is booked on a flight leaving in a couple of hours. The final destination is South America, but it has a layover in Dallas.”

Dos straightened in his seat. Driving from Dallas to northern Colorado would take thirteen hours give or take. Flying would take less. Dos had serious doubts Cardone was truly headed home with Garrett this close to their prize.

“He’s being watched until boarding and I have someone going on the plane. I’ll let you know if he doesn’t make his connection.”

“Yes, sir,” he said, as Copper appeared in the office doorway. The sight of her stole his breath away. He’d thought plaid flannels were sexy. The dress she had on right now sent his blood pressure sky-rocketing. Somehow he managed to hang up the phone.

“You okay?” Copper asked. “Bad news?”

Dos pulled his gaze away. He grabbed his cane and stood. “Not all of it,” he said walking past her and closing the door.

“Care to share?”

Not really. He wanted to get away from her before he did something really stupid. He kept walking. “The other scientist contacted your father. He’s safe.”

“Thank, God,” she said. Dos knew where for most people it was simply a reflexive comment, Copper meant it. “Has he made any progress?”

“Not enough.” He didn’t tell her about definitely not being contagious. He wanted to keep the possibility there. “The Colonel said Cardone is supposedly getting on a flight headed back to South America this morning.”

“That’s great. It means their giving up and we can relax.”

Dos turned and found her close behind him. Her eyes were bright and shining with positive energy. He had to set her straight. “No, darlin’, it’s more likely it means he’s coming for me.”

“But if he’s on a flight to--"

“Even if he gets on that flight it has a layover in Dallas. My guess is he has someone there ready to drive him here in hopes of losing the tail your father has on him. I probably have about twenty-four hours left.”

“Then we need to get out of here while we can. My uncle lives on the other side of the divide. We can go there. No one will find us. The police can take care of picking up Cardone and his men and then we can come back.”

For the first time in his life Dos found himself happy that someone wanted to protect him. She was so determined to help. He hated bursting her bubble. Shaking his head he placed a finger on her lips when she wanted to argue.

“I’m not hiding, you of all people should understand why. Besides, it would only postpone the inevitable. Cardone will keep coming after me. If I’m not here, he’s not above taking one of my brothers in my place. I won’t let that happen.” He saw understanding dull the brightness of her gaze. “But for today, we have some things to do, like getting our butts down to church before my mother sends out the National Guard.”

Dos pulled into the church parking lot and turned off the truck. Before he could move, Copper had climbed out.

He didn’t. He watched her walk to the front of the truck. A breeze had come up and it whipped her gorgeous hair and dress around her head and legs. What a vision.

The assault had begun while he was talking to the Colonel. He’d barely been able to complete the call his mouth going dry at the sight of her. The emerald green dress, he didn’t remember her packing made her eyes gleam like the jewels themselves. And her hair, though the day was overcast and the lighting inside the cabin had been low, her hair shown so radiantly it seemed the sun walked with her. He’d gone hard just looking at her.

Of course he’d been that way since the moment he’d woken up with her warm body snuggled up to his side. He still found it hard to believe he’d slept for five hours with no nightmares sneaking in to ruin the night. He really wished they could be back at the cabin now.

Battling his libido was child’s play compared to what he was supposed to do. He glanced at the front of the church. His brothers were waiting there. Looking back at Copper he saw her hugging her arms around her. She hadn’t moved to rush him, but her jacket was no match for the breeze that had changed to wind as they came down the mountain.

Dos climbed out and she met him at the front bumper. Placing himself between her and the wind he wrapped an arm around her. “You should have gone in.”

She looked up at him. “I’m not facing that crew without back-up. They want to see you, not me.”

Unfortunately, he knew they wanted to see them both. His mother didn’t hide her desire for her boys to find wives very well. He understood, but it wasn’t in the cards. Close friends, and a rare, but occasional one night stand were as close to a relationship as any of the Masters men planned to get.

The distracting thoughts only helped so long. One row of cars from the sidewalk Dos stopped. It was as if an invisible wall had gone up around the church.

“Come on,” Copper urged quietly. Her gentle voice pulled his gaze from the church to her face. “I know you don’t want to do this, but we’re here and it will make your mother happy. I won’t leave your side for a minute, promise.”

He looked away. Away from her. Away from his brothers. Away from the church. How could she offer her support when he was such a coward? Why did he get the feeling she understood?

Looking up at the entry again, he could clearly see the concern on his brothers’ faces. He didn’t want everyone worrying about him.

Then go in and everyone will think you’re fine
.

Looking at it that way, to convince his family everything was fine rather than about facing his final judge helped.

“Okay, but I’m holding you to that promise,” he said as he started forward again.

His brothers didn’t say anything when he and Copper reached the doors, but he knew they wanted to so he dropped his arm from her shoulders. The paralyzing feeling of not being able to go in rushed back, and he reached for her hand. Her answering squeeze assured him. After hanging up his coat, and reaching up to remove his hat, they followed Ace inside.

They walked to the pew where the rest of the family was sitting. His mother smiled at him and he smiled back hoping to give her some reassurance. Her relief gleamed in her eyes and he knew she’d been afraid he wouldn’t show. At least he wouldn’t have that guilt to add to his growing pile. He pulled Copper in between him and Tres needing her close.

You’re blocked in now. No escape. Not that it would matter, Major. Your God will find you, and so will I
.

The voice sent a shiver so strong through him, Copper looked at him with questioning eyes. The voice had sounded so clear, so real, so close. He scanned the church for Cardone’s evil face.

Everyone stood as the music started. Since he was taller than most people there, it didn’t stop his search. He scoured the entire sanctuary, even the balcony, but found no-one remotely resembling his enemy.