Authors: Sara Craven
Trust her? She had placed her trust in him when trust should have been impossible for her. How could he do any less?
A moment later when she dived through a hole in the
ceiling, he had to question blind trust. Then he shoved forward and dropped headfirst, just as she had done.
He felt around. They landed in a bin of warm, recently dried bed linens ready for the morning pressing. The room was dark as pitch and smelled of detergent and bleach. Dawn lay beside him, but she wasn’t moving.
When he ran his hands over her to see if she was all right, her hand grasped his neck and drew him closer. “We wait right here,” she whispered. He watched her press the dial of her watch, which glowed green for a second. “For at least half an hour,” she continued. “The workers in the next room will be leaving in precisely ten minutes, but we’d better stay put until we’re sure the area’s clear. Then we make our exit.”
“Over the wall?” he asked, tracing her face with his fingers, dying to kiss her.
“Are you crazy? We change into whites like theirs and go out the service entrance.”
“Well, how was I supposed to know your plans? What do you take me for, a mind reader?”
She pinched his cheek. Right through his jogging pants. “Don’t get cute. I know you were telling the truth about that.”
He pinched her back with both hands while pulling her flush against him and loving every subtle squirm she made. “A believer, are you?”
“I found the ring, right where you said it would be, stuck in the drain of the pool where I used to swim.”
“So I can find things. That’s not mind reading, Dawn. I can’t do that any longer.”
“Because of me?” she asked, sounding contrite. And a little defensive, he thought. “Clay said so, too.”
“No, because I don’t
want
to anymore,” he answered truthfully.
Maybe Dawn hadn’t been the primary cause of that loss, but only his motivation to ditch it. What did it matter? All he wanted, he had in his arms right now.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she said with a smile in her voice.
“Yeah? Want to do a little research in that area?” he asked, nipping at her neck. She tasted salty, a little dusty and pretty wonderful. “Tell me and let’s see if you’re on the money.”
“You’re thinking you’d like us to work a little late in the wash room, right?”
“God, Moon, you’re good!”
“Damn straight I am.” She kissed him soundly on the mouth. “You want to take me away from all this, keep me safe and make a wife out of me, that’s what you’re thinking now.”
“Got it in one.” He kissed her back until he had to come up for air.
“I’m not going to let you. You know that, don’t you?” Her hands began to wander, driving every thought from his head except where they were going.
He reached for the hem of her shirt and began to lift it. “Okay, all but the wife part. Gotta insist on that.”
“Fair compromise, I guess,” she said, breathless. “Helluva proposal, Vinland.”
Eric framed her face with his hands and wished with all his heart that he could see her right now, dirty face, wild red hair and all. “Hey, I don’t mess around when it comes to romance. Privacy, a little sweet talk, total commitment, the works.”
“Not to mention clean sheets,” she added. “What more could a girl ask for?”
McLean, Virginia
“I
now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”
Dawn thought she had never heard more beautiful words in her life. She felt beautiful, dressed in ivory satin, hair red as before and gaining back its natural curl.
She couldn’t say that her personality had changed all that much in the three months since their big adventure when she’d reverted to her former appearance. As she had informed Eric last night, she retained entirely too much of Aurora’s meekness. He had laughed out loud.
But now, right now, Eric was kissing her more sweetly than ever, restraining the passion that usually raged between them every time they came together. Anyone
watching the ceremony might think they were pretty conservative lovers, she guessed. Ha.
Eric led her down the aisle of St. John’s chapel, beaming as if his dreams had all come true. Dawn knew that hers had. What a golden treasure he was in any guise he chose! So what if she couldn’t figure him out. She’d just keep him guessing, too. He had risked everything for her, just as she had for him. Love was the ultimate risk, but she was taking it gladly.
Eric’s parents didn’t seem to know what to make of her, but then they didn’t seem to know what to make of Eric, either.
They were a handsome couple, a bit older than she had expected and obviously uptight, which she
had
expected. Eric had said he didn’t mind, that he loved them anyway. Dawn knew she would embrace them, too, whether they were comfortable with that or not.
She wondered if they knew him at all. He’d said he had spent more time in research facilities while growing up than he had at home. His grandmother had been the only one to offer much love and understanding after he began to exhibit his psychic gifts.
Well, he wouldn’t lack for love and understanding from now on, she silently promised him.
Later, at the reception in the church’s social hall, Jack Mercier, his wife Solange, Holly and Will Griffin, Joe and Martine Corda and Clay Senate were congregated at one of the tables. The Sextant team and spouses, Eric’s work family. He danced her over to join them.
“Congratulations, you two,” Jack said as he rose and kissed Dawn lightly on the cheek. “When can we expect him back at work, Mrs. Vinland?”
She noticed Eric’s smile falter a little. He had misjudged Mercier’s intentions in sending him to the clinic in the
Poconos. No one had any idea they would treat Eric the way they had.
He had also been mistaken about Jack’s hiring him for the Sextant team only because of his ability to read minds. He’d been right about the loss. He couldn’t do that anymore and seemed relieved about it. However, he still had other psychic tricks up his sleeve, like locating missing objects and people. Besides, his normal abilities as an agent far outweighed even those psychic tools.
The caring that his fellow agents had shown when he came home had humbled him as much as a guy like Eric could be humbled. She grinned at him just because he was who he was. Hers, with all his quirks.
“You can have him in three weeks, not a day sooner,” Dawn told his boss, accepting a kiss from the rather stoic Clay Senate as she spoke. He offered her a rare smile. She felt a special affinity for the man who had shared the most dangerous day of her life, so she kissed him back. That earned her a comical frown from her new husband and laughter from the others.
“Eric says he needs to show me Greece the way it should be seen. No bullets, no bad guys, no secret plans hidden in my Wonderbra.” She patted her bodice and made a face. George had been wrong. All along, the radar info had been on the flash drive she’d found and was now safely back where it belonged.
Eric slid his arms around her waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Nope, no derring-do on this trip. Just sea, sand and…sightseeing.” He hesitated a full second before the last word and it came out in a flat tone unlike the others.
“Well, I should hope so. Jack says the mission was an unqualified success,” Solange said. “How fortunate that it
brought you two together. Jack and I met on a mission, too. So did Joe and Martine.”
“I’ll be forever grateful we did, too. But I never want to participate in one like it again!” It was enough that Eric had agreed she should continue her work at NSA. She was suited for that, and he would continue to work for Sextant.
“Time to go,” Eric reminded her, pointing at his watch and tugging on her elbow. “We fly in two hours.”
“Cutting it close,” Jack said, reaching out to shake his hand. “Have a great honeymoon, you two.”
Eric nodded his thanks to each of them, looking very serious.
“Are you all right?” Dawn asked him as soon as they got into the limousine. He didn’t seem his usual happy-go-lucky self, certainly not the beaming bridegroom he’d been earlier. He had changed while they were talking to the team. “What’s wrong?”
“I felt something,” he told her. “Back there, when I touched you, put my hands on your waist. For a minute there, I sensed…something. Rapid, like a heartbeat, but too fast.
Way
too fast.” He bit his lips together, then turned to her and grinned. “For an adult, it was too fast. Hey, I know it’s probably too soon to tell for sure, but, do you think…?”
Dawn gasped, meeting his gaze with wonder. “Wow, Vinland, you’re amazing! You just might have located something a lot more precious than my grandmother’s ring!”
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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First published in Great Britain 2011
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
HEART OF A HERO © Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.à.r.l. 2011
The Soldier’s Seduction, The Heart of a Mercenary
and
Straight Through the Heart
were first published in Great Britain by Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited.
The Soldier’s Seduction
© Anne Marie Rodgers 2006
The Heart of a Mercenary
© Loreth Beswetherick 2006
Straight Through the Heart
© Lynda Stone 2006
ISBN: 978-1-408-92089-3
05-0211