SEALs of Honor: Dane (11 page)

As he walked out of the room, he found a big thick housecoat and slippers at the back of the door. He grabbed both up and threw them in. Out in the living room, he took a close look to see if there was a book she was reading or a second laptop, the first was already packed, or anything else she might want. In the kitchen he did the same perfunctory check, but there was nothing. It helped that she’d cleaned up for her trip already. Outside the apartment, he found Shadow leaving the two women next door. He had the mail keys and had collected the mail for both apartments. Dane shoved Marielle’s into her bag, smiled at the two women, one who was the spitting image of Marielle if a little unfocused in her gaze, nodded to the guard standing to the one side, and with Mason and Shadow at his side, walked out.

“Let’s go.”

Chapter 15

A
FTER THE COFFEE
was gone, and the television failed to keep her attention, she started to pace. And pace. And pace. Then she dropped to the living room floor and started in on crunches. When fifty of those did little to stem the nervous energy flowing through her, she decided to try a different tack and set out to revitalize her body and mind with yoga. She was a little rusty, but her body thrived on the positions. When she finally settled into a final resting pose, her mind was calm and her body at peace.

Until she looked up and saw Dane in the doorway.

Her heart exploded as she raced toward him. She never thought twice about throwing herself into his arms, and as his opened and closed tightly around her, she figured it was the right thing to do. He twirled her around then set her on her feet to eye her critically.

“I’m fine.”

“You look great,” he admitted with a big grin. “Nice to see. No headache? No lingering pain?”

“No. I’ve been hyper and having trouble settling but the yoga helped.”

Then she spied her suitcase. “You brought my clothes.” She laughed and grabbed the bag to lug upstairs, but he grabbed it out of her hand.

“I’d say hi,” Mason called from behind her, “but apparently the suitcase has more importance than the other people in your life.”

She gasped, spun and launched herself into his arms.

He chuckled and gave her a big hug.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so happy to see you. Of course if you’d been here earlier I might have been more likely to have slugged you instead.” She grinned. “But time and distance and understanding…”

“And a suitcase?” He smirked.

Swede’s head popped up behind Mason. “Geesh and I thought I’d get a little appreciation for bringing your laptop.”

“Oh my laptop,” she cried. Mason stepped aside in time for her to hug the big man and snatch the laptop out of his hands. “I’ve been wanting this all day.” She shot them a guilty look and added, “Actually all week. I use my phone for most things, but it’s not the same.”

Swede still had his arm around her when Shadow walked up and tilted her chin so he could check her head wound.

She chuckled. “A couple of hours ago I figured I was all alone, and you guys had dumped me forever.”

“Never,” he dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Glad to see you looking so much better.”

Hawk was the last one inside. He lifted the two bags he carried and asked her, “Hungry? I believe someone mentioned food.”

The aroma hit her first.

“Chinese?” He was hugged with the same fervor that the others had received. Laughing and talking, they all moved into the kitchen where she dug out plates for everyone. Dane returned to find all the chairs full and everyone busy scarfing food.

The others took one look and grinned at his sour expression.

“Sorry you were too late,” Hawk said.

“We can make room for you,” Marielle said, standing up and trying to figure out how. The men completely dwarfed the small room, taking up the whole kitchen. “Somehow…” but her voice trailed off.

“I have a solution to that,” Dane said. He quickly took Marielle’s spot and tugged her down onto his lap. Then he grabbed the last plate and dumped food onto it. With the last fork, he shifted her slightly to the side, picked up his plate and proceeded to eat.

Marielle wasn’t too sure how to handle the new situation. She hadn’t considered this option, but as a solution, it worked for her. And she quickly lost her sense of discomfort as everyone accepted the situation as normal.

It was far from normal, but if this was the “new normal,” she was more than happy with it.

They polished off all the Chinese food with the men looking at the empty containers with sad expressions. She laughed. “If someone puts on coffee, I’ll share the pack of cookies I found today.”

There was a mad scramble as everyone raced to clean up and get coffee on. When she brought the package over, it lasted about three seconds.

“Boy, you guys can eat.”

Swede snorted. “Hasn’t been any food to eat yet.” He stretched up his fingers to spread across the ceiling. “Down home we’d eat real food. Good stuff there.”

“Where’s there?” She looked at him as she walked into the living room with a cup of coffee. She knew by the time everyone got a cup the last person was going to have to put on a new pot, and she wasn’t going to be it. “I presume Sweden.”

“Hell no. I’m from Denmark.”

She shook her head. “That makes no sense.” She motioned to Dane. “I’d have thought he was from Denmark with his name and you from Sweden from your name.”

“Nicknames aren’t from location,” Dane explained as he sprawled across the love seat. “He’s got a great reason for his nickname, right Swede?”

“Says you. If there were some here and now, I’d make that nickname stick all over again.”

Mason laughed. “Marielle, he’s called Swede for winning at a Swedish meatball eating contest we held back when we were still in training.”

“Eating meatballs? I’m scared to ask, how many did you eat?”

He shrugged. “Two hundred twenty-four.”

She blinked. “In one sitting?”

He nodded.

“Not possible.”

Swede laughed. “Hell, Dane here ate over two hundred. Shadow came in not far behind.”

“And Hawk and Mason, how did they do?”

“Hawk counted and Mason timed.”

“I’d have loved to see that.” And she would have. The men were a great bunch of guys. She walked over to the couch but with no place to set her coffee down, she was at a loss as to where to put it.

“Give it to me,” Dane said, holding out his hand. He placed it on the coffee table in front of him. Then tugged her down beside him, her back to the window. “Then if you want a drink you can reach from here.”

She smiled. He looked like a lazy cat. And the grin on his face just added to his Cheshire appearance.

Sitting as she was, she was tucked up against his side, and almost wrapped in a Dane blanket as he curled around her giving her enough room to sit but with himself taking the rest of the available space.

The rest of the men had all taken up spots that ranged from the other couch to the floor to Shadow who’d grabbed a kitchen chair and was sitting on the hearth and using the kitchen chair to work on his laptop.

She had no idea what he was doing now. She thought about asking but wasn’t sure she wanted to bring up the topic. It was peaceful here. Work was going to change that energy. Mason turned on the television and checked the news stations for updates.

When there was talk of a serial killer on the loose, he changed it. When there was talk of an uprising in a local prison, he changed it. When a rapist got off with less than six months for his crimes, he changed it. But not fast enough.

“Is there ever anything nice on the news,” she cried. “Or happy?”

“No. That’s not why the news is on.”

“And that’s why I don’t know any women who watch the news. It’s depressing. You’d never go outside if you listened to all the crazy stories.” She shivered and rubbed her arms.

“Easy. You’re safe here, and hopefully you’ve met all the crazies you’re ever going to meet,” Dane said. He reached out and grabbed her hand. “It’s not all bad news.”

She nodded, not convinced, but willing to let him make her feel better. She leaned forward for her cup of coffee when an odd sound rang out. She was slammed to the floor, Dane’s big body covering hers.

“What happened?” she cried out.

“Someone just shot at you.”

*

A
ND THAT WAS
why she shouldn’t be at a safe house. Like who determined it was safe? Much better to blend into the urban jungle. This was too damn predictable.

He held Marielle beneath him while his team scattered. He never heard a door open but knew his men were already searching outside for answers. The vehicle had taken off in a scream of tires and backfires. Interesting that they used an obvious vehicle. Then again like the other attempts, they’d probably tried to change tactics and hired a local thug. Drive by shootings were very hands off. Of course, not knowing if there was someone even now trying to sneak in, he’d hold judgment. But first he had to get Marielle to a safe place. Too bad there wasn’t a garage with a parked vehicle in it. It would be easier to sneak her out that way.

“Go,” she whispered. “Go find this bastard. Don’t worry about me.”

He snorted. “Like hell.” He lifted his weight up off her incredibly soft body and hauled her up with him. Keeping low, he led her through the living room into the kitchen, with her hidden by his body, he searched the gloom around the outside of the house. Mason’s call through the window told him it was safe. He gave an answering call.

Mason entered silently. He gave Dane a hard look, saw Marielle tucked behind him and gave a curt nod. “Nothing outside around the house.”

“Drive by?”

“Not random, targeted.”

Dane nodded. “Ready to leave?”

Mason snorted. “Past ready.”

The others filtered in slowly. Shadow came up behind them. “I’ve already loaded her bags up.”

“Masters?” Marielle asked.

Shadow grinned. “Yeah, he’s as happy to leave as we are.”

“Let’s move.” Dane shuffled Marielle ahead of him and out into the night. She’d barely spoken since the shooting but seemed as willing as the rest of them to leave. They couldn’t stay here now that the location was compromised and how that happened he’d take great pleasure in finding out. The local policewoman had left when they’d arrived.

They were in the vehicles and on the road in minutes. Riding convoy style they ran through several practiced maneuvers to make sure no one was tailing them.

Dane headed straight to a house they’d used before. They were lucky enough to have several at their disposal that they’d been forced to use at odd times. Never more than once in a year and with any luck never twice at the same place in a row. But shit happened and even SEALs needed a place to lay low.

By the time he pulled into the garage in the back of the large acreage and turned off the engine, Marielle was asleep. Shadow had been riding shotgun. He unloaded Marielle’s bags and Masters and went ahead of them. Dane walked around the vehicle, opened the passenger door and carefully lifted her out. Using his hip, he closed the door and walked into the house. It was set back on the lot and surrounded by huge trees. And was empty as they’d expected. Shadow had left the door open and was doing a quick search of the premises.

Dane carried Marielle upstairs to the back bedroom that had a deck with a set of stairs leading to the backyard. Easy escape for them if trouble came calling and if it came calling up that set of stairs then they’d get a surprise – him. He had no intention of leaving her here alone.

He lay her down on the covers and flipped the spare material over top of her.

She never woke.

Needing to make sure, he watched her steady slow breathing. She had to be still affected by her injuries. And she was exhausted.

And so damn innocent. He stroked a finger down her cheek.

“Sleep,” he whispered. “You’re safe.”

She murmured something unintelligible and curled deeper into the covers.

Dane took up a position at the windows. A shadow slipped through the trees. One he recognized. Shadow on patrol. That meant the house was empty and he was out checking on the night.

Dane wanted to go downstairs but wasn’t going to leave Marielle alone. Leaving the door open, he checked the hallway to see what else was upstairs. Two more bedrooms. Two more bathrooms. Several closets, all empty. He returned to Marielle’s bedroom and slipped out on the deck, leaving the door open.

He waited for the morning to come.

Chapter 16

S
HE WOKE TO
fresh air wafting over her, and sunlight, light airy morning sunlight dappling across her bed. She stretched and yawned. She studied the ceiling above her and frowned. This wasn’t the room she’d been in yesterday? Then again she hadn’t been in it very long. She rolled over and looked at the rest of the room. And bolted upright.

The old room didn’t have a deck or an open door. Nor did it have this luxurious decor. This was a beautiful house. She slipped off the bed and stared down. She was fully dressed. Only her shoes were off, and they’d been placed on the floor beside her. The white carpet wasn’t conducive to wearing shoes. An open door on the other side revealed a small bathroom. She made her way over and stopped in surprise. There was nothing small about this bathroom. Like the bedroom, it was stunning in both opulence and classiness. It was almost a shame to mar the beauty by using the facilities. But it had been a long night. Afterwards she washed her hands and face and looked longingly at the shower. Except there was no way she was stripping down in a strange house at this point. Was she a prisoner? Or were the guys here?

Time to find out. She opened the door and stepped out.

The room was still empty. She walked across to the deck door and peered out. Dane sat there watching her. She glanced back at the bedroom and realized he’d known the moment she woke up.

For some reason that didn’t sound creepy to her. Instead it reassured her he was taking such great care.

Then she remembered the bullets firing into the house. And the wild escape. She had no recollection of reaching this destination.