Hot Rebel (6 page)

“You are a… distraction.”

She curled her hands into fists and breathed deeply, though she was beginning to feel light-headed. After all she’d been through, all she’d done, this was how it ended? Here, under a bridge in the sand, when she’d been in combat situations repeatedly over the past two years?

“I saved Zaran’s life two weeks ago.”

“And he is grateful. If he were not, this would be far more painful.”

“Emily will never forgive him if she finds out—”

“She will not know.”
 

The man was infuriatingly calm. He spoke to her like she was a child, and she wished she could strangle him.

“Good-bye, Miss Royal.” He made a motion to the man with the gun and started to turn away—

But the man holding the gun dropped to his knees and then fell into the sand with a thud. Cafe Man barely had time to exclaim before he collapsed too. The car’s tires spun as the driver realized what was happening and put the pedal to the floor.

But then the car careened out of control as glass shattered, and Victoria knew he’d been hit as well. She threw herself onto the sand and grabbed the gun from the man who’d been about to shoot her. Then she started to belly crawl toward a pylon. She might be next, she might not be, but she wasn’t going to make herself into an easy target.

An engine revved, and she looked up to see a van barreling down on her. Victoria scrambled upright and started to run. The sand sucked at her feet as her shoes slipped and slid, the tiny straps useless to keep them on. But she didn’t have time to stop and unbuckle them.

Victoria ran, cursing her vanity and swearing she’d never give in to girlish tendencies again if God would just let her get out of this alive. It was a surprisingly unimportant thing to focus on at a time like this, but whatever.

Yet the van caught up to her in spite of her prayers and vows. Clearly, God wasn’t amused.

Victoria whirled and took aim, ready to shoot the tires, the driver, anything. But the vehicle slid to a stop, and the doors opened before she could fire. Men in black clothing boiled out of the door, assault rifles drawn and trained on her, surrounding her.

Victoria kept her pistol aimed at one man, the one directly in front of her. They might kill her, but she was taking one of them with her. The air crackled with danger and electricity.

And then the man lowered the rifle just enough that she could see his face. It wasn’t a face she’d expected, but relief flooded her at the sight.

Nick Brandon looked as handsome as always, but he also looked angry, his dark brows drawn low in two slashes over his face. Still, she knew he wouldn’t kill her. She knew it in her bones. She dropped the pistol to her side, but the men still didn’t relax their stances, and she knew they wouldn’t until she was unarmed. She had to make her fingers uncurl from the grip, but she did it, and the gun slid to the sand where it hit with a soft plunk.

The team of special ops warriors lowered their weapons, but Victoria only had eyes for Nick. The last time she’d seen him, she’d also had a pistol aimed at him. He wasn’t likely to forgive her for that, but right now she almost didn’t care. She was safe, even if she wasn’t entirely certain she would remain that way.

“Well, hey there, Preacher Boy,” she made herself say, though her teeth wanted to chatter. “Didn’t know I was quite so dangerous you had to bring the entire Delta Force with you. But I’m flattered, I have to say.”

*
 
*
 
*

Nick couldn’t believe that he was looking at Victoria Royal in a dress. It was white with yellow flowers, and her long red hair hung in a hot, thick mess down her back. It had been sleek earlier when he’d watched her at the cafe. Her gray eyes were wide and fringed with long auburn lashes that she’d darkened with mascara. Her full lower lip quivered for half a second before she bit down on it.

She looked like a somewhat frightened and helpless woman, and yet he knew she was a deadly assassin. The same as he was. She was like one of those startlingly beautiful creatures in the wild—colorful and attractive, but deadly when touched.

“We aren’t Delta,” Nick said. “And the weaponry wasn’t for you.”

He didn’t bother looking at the two men lying on the ground, blood pooling beneath their heads and turning the sand black. They’d arrived just in time, and his heart was still thumping over how close they’d cut it.

Victoria pulled in a breath. “Well, thanks for rescuing me, whoever y’all are. Guess I’ll be on my way.”

Nick snorted. “Guess you won’t.” He stepped back and thrust his chin at the van. “Get in, Victoria.”

She let her gaze slide over the men surrounding her, and then she lifted her chin and walked over to Nick. She had to tilt her head back to look up at him, but she met his gaze evenly.

“Another mystery ride? Sounds fun… especially if you’re there, Preacher Boy.”

He wanted to slap a hand over her mouth—or better yet, his mouth over hers—to stop her from calling him that. He didn’t know why it rankled when she said it, but it did. Like a tiny splinter that ached whenever you accidentally pressed your finger against where it wedged beneath your skin.
 

No one called him that but Victoria. He couldn’t even remember how she’d learned his father was a minister. It wasn’t the kind of thing he talked about often, but he must have said something when they were in school together. It wasn’t a secret… it just wasn’t something he was especially keen on people knowing, either.

“Get in, Victoria.”

She sighed and walked over to the van. Big Mac was closest and he offered his hand. She took it and climbed up. Nick’s heart nearly stopped as her skirt lifted higher, revealing long, shapely legs. Her skin was the color of fresh cream, pale and delicate, but she was lean and muscled in a way that proclaimed her an athlete.
 

Iceman lifted an eyebrow as he walked by Nick. Then he winked and made a clicking sound with his tongue. Nick wanted to smack him. Flash also grinned and waggled both brows.
 

Jesus.

Nick was last in the van—and those bastards had left him a seat beside Victoria. He flopped down into it as the door slammed shut and the van lurched into gear. He knew what they were up to. Ever since Billy “the Kid” Blake had been the third to fall prey to Cupid’s arrow, the guys had started to take the whole “who’s next” thing far too seriously, making bets and throwing each other under the bus in an effort not to be the one.

First, Matt “Richie Rich” Girard went home on leave and returned with a fiancée. Then Sam “Knight Rider” McKnight fell for his best friend’s little sister. Two was a coincidence, but three—which happened when Billy reunited with an old flame, helped her expose a dirty defense contractor, and fell in love—was a trend.

Right after Billy, Kev fell hard for Lucky. Then Jack “Hawk” Hunter got himself hitched to a pop star. Someone was next, but damned if it was going to be Nick. Victoria Royal was hot, and he was definitely interested in a little horizontal action with her—but she didn’t like him and he didn’t like her. So in spite of a sizzling attraction—at least on his part—horizontal was out.

Not to mention the fact she’d threatened to shoot him at least twice now. That kind of thing ought to dampen a man’s enthusiasm, though he had to admit his dick hadn’t quite gotten the message where she was concerned. Even now, the sight of her encased in a sweet little dress was wreaking havoc on his imagination.

Victoria let her gaze wander over the guys, finally turning to him. “Where are we going, Preacher Boy?”

Nick ground his teeth. “If you don’t stop calling me that, I’m opening this door and throwing you out.”

She laughed. “Sounds good to me. I doubt I’m going to like where we’re going, anyway.”

Nick let his gaze slam into hers. She was putting on a brave face, but she looked troubled. Those bastards had nearly killed her, after all, and she hadn’t been expecting rescue. He’d expect anyone to be shaken after that kind of close call.

Instinctively, he put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. She didn’t try to pull away. If anything, the tension in her body seemed to melt for just a moment.

But then it was back again, and he dropped his arm away. She brought her hands up and rubbed her bare forearms, scrubbing him off her skin. His gut burned.

“We aren’t going to hurt you, Vic. We’re the good guys, in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t.”

Iceman held out a bottle of water to her. Victoria hesitated, but then she took it, twisting off the cap and taking a long drink.

“Thanks,” she said.

“You bet,” Ice replied.

Nick tried not to let the smile she gave Iceman bother him, but there was no doubt the other man was a whiz with the ladies. In fact, Nick wasn’t sure there was a smoother operator on the whole team when it came to women. Hawk and Big Mac used to be the ones to beat when it came to charming the women—but none of them had realized the full potential lurking in Iceman’s six-foot-four frame until he’d suddenly turned it on a few months ago.

Up until then, Nick would have sworn the dude was celibate. Nick didn’t know what had happened to the guy, but the rest of them could probably learn a thing or two from him these days.

“How did you know they were going to kill me?” Victoria asked of no one in particular.

The guys shifted, but no one spoke. Dammit, they were leaving it to him.
 

“Chatter,” Nick said, and she swung her head around to look at him.

She knew as well as he did that the intelligence services listened to the chatter of known and suspected terror organizations as well as myriad other targets.
 

Including Black Security.

“Ian Black sent you to your execution, sweetheart,” Nick said mercilessly. “Tied you up and handed you over with a pretty bow.”

Okay, so they didn’t know that for certain, but Black had sent her to Akhira alone, with no backup and no protection. So far as Nick was concerned, that made him a bastard.

Pain flickered in her eyes, and something very like jealousy stabbed into him. She cared about Black—and the asshole hadn’t protected her the way he should have.

“I don’t believe that,” she said. “You’re lying.”

“Believe what you like. But you’re here because we stopped it, so remember that when the colonel talks to you.”

“The colonel?”

The van slowed to pass through a checkpoint, and then they were rolling down the highway at high speed as they headed toward Baq. Nick glanced out the window at the flat sand and shimmering heat of the desert.

“You’ll meet him soon enough.”
 

“I’m not sure I want to,” she grumbled.
 

“Too bad, sweetheart. You landed in it when you let bin Yusuf get away. Time to face the consequences.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Victoria was still reeling from the accusation that Ian had set her up when the van slowed and then stopped. A man in full battle gear peeked into the interior. The driver chatted for a few seconds, and then they were moving again, much slower this time.
 

Victoria realized they’d entered a military base. The American base near the Baq airport, no doubt. She scrubbed her hands up and down her arms, a shiver moving through her despite the heat.

Zaran bin Yusuf wanted her dead. Had Ian really known that, or was Nick fucking with her? She didn’t like to think Ian could be so cold and unfeeling after the past couple of years, but she didn’t really know him all that well, did she? He was strangely enigmatic about everything. And he’d shown no emotion whatsoever about Jonah.

But Jonah had been an asshole. Ian knew it as well as she did, so why would he show any regret over Jonah’s loss? The dumb bastard had gotten himself killed, and she’d been relieved more than anything.

She lowered her head and sucked back the uncertainty rolling through her. She’d nearly been killed today, she had no idea if her boss had known what would happen when he gave her the information on the meeting place, and she was no closer to finding Emily.

Victoria was used to being alone, used to feeling alone and having to take care of herself, but this time she just wanted to lean into the big body of the man beside her and have him put his arm around her again.

It had felt so nice when he’d done that. But the heat prickling her skin had surprised her. Worried her. Since when did any man make her feel like she was missing something in her life? Sex was not something she’d ever cared about in the past. She firmed her jaw. It wasn’t something she cared about
now
.

Nick Brandon might be sexy and prickly in a way that made her want to get under his skin, but that didn’t mean a thing. She felt drawn to him because he was from the past, and she had precious little contact with anyone from her life before she’d lost Emily and gone to work for Ian.

Ian, who’d betrayed her.

You don’t know that.

It was true she didn’t know that for a fact. Nick could be making it up. This colonel of his could be making it up. Anything to separate her from Black Security and make her willing to talk.