The Reunion Mission (10 page)

Pilar giggled and shook her head.
“No creo.”

Nicole kicked herself mentally. Hello? The guy had worked undercover in Colombia for who-knows-how-long. Of course he spoke Spanish.

He met her stunned, somewhat embarrassed look with a smug grin. “I told her I hoped my ugly scar didn’t scare away all the pretty girls. She said it wouldn’t.”

“I’m sorry. I forgot you would know Spanish because of your work in South America.”

“Instead, you assumed I couldn’t understand her. Why?”

She blinked, taken aback by the bitterness behind his question. “Well...most people wouldn’t have.”

“Most
Cajuns
wouldn’t? Is that what you mean?”

She bristled. “What is that supposed to mean? I’m not a bigot!”

He waved her off. “Forget it.”

Nicole tensed and leaned toward him. “No, explain. Why do you think I would make any judgments about you based on your heritage?”

“You have before.”

She sputtered a laugh. “What? When?”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head, frowning. “Are you kidding me?”

Nicole spread her hands. “No. Please enlighten me.”

A muscle jumped in his jaw. “The night we spent together, five years ago.”

Her pulse sped up, remembering the sensual glide of his body against hers, the heat of his kisses and the breathy moans of satisfaction they’d both made. But she couldn’t recall anything he could have misconstrued as bigotry. She shook her head. “Still clueless. What did I do?”

He glanced at Pilar, and Nicole noticed the girl’s worried frown for the first time. Even if she couldn’t understand the words, Pilar could obviously tell from the tone of their voices and their expressions that the conversation had turned angry and personal.

“Dang it,” Nicole fussed under her breath then flashed the girl a forced smile. “
Todo está bien.
Everything’s all right,
mija.
”

Pilar looked skeptical and shifted her gaze to Daniel.

With a lopsided grin, he turned up a palm and shrugged.
“Alguien debe haber puesto un insecto en su desayuno.”

Again Pilar giggled.

“What did you tell her? Something about breakfast.”

Daniel gave Nicole a nonchalant glance. “That someone must have put an insect in yours.”

Rolling her eyes heavenward, she leaned closer to Daniel. “We’re not through with this conversation.” She kept her volume low and shot Daniel a pointed look. “We have to talk about it eventually... Soon, preferably.”

“Let it go,” he returned flatly.

Gritting her teeth, Nicole huffed her exasperation, then met Pilar’s gaze and pointed at Daniel.
“Él está loco.”

“Sí, loco.”
Daniel wiggled his fingers on either side of his head and crossed his eyes.

Pilar laughed and snuggled closer to Daniel’s side.
“Sí.”

Nicole grinned, touched by Daniel’s attempts to bring Pilar out of her shell. “Well, it seems we’re all in agreement.”

Daniel grunted and returned his gaze to the still waters of the bayou. “Pilar, my dear, have you ever been fishing?” He met the girl’s eyes and repeated the question in Spanish.

When she shook her head, Daniel seized his crutches and hoisted himself out of his chair. “Then I’m going to teach you.”

He limped to the other end of the porch and grabbed two cane poles that leaned against the house. Leaving one of the crutches behind, Daniel started down the porch steps and hitched his head, signaling Pilar to follow. “Come on, tadpole. Let’s catch dinner.”

Pilar’s glance asked approval from Nicole.

“Go on.” She waved her away with her fingers.
“Te puedes ir.”

Her expression curious, Pilar rose from her seat and joined Daniel on the lawn, taking the fishing pole he handed her.

“Be careful,” Nicole called, not sure if she was more worried about Pilar, experiencing the wildlife of the bayou for the first time, or Daniel, dealing with his injured leg on uneven, sometimes murky terrain.

Daniel tapped the walkie-talkie clipped to his hip. Jake had purchased the short-distance radios for just this type of circumstance. At the moment, Nicole’s was still sitting in the charging cradle plugged in the kitchen outlet.

He leveled a penetrating gaze on Nicole. “Keep your radio close. If anything seems off, if you so much as think a mosquito has gotten in the house, call me.”

Nicole straightened. “I thought we were here because it is so remote, so safe. Do you really think—?”

“No. I think you’ll be fine. And I’m only going a few yards down the bank to my old pirogue dock.” His eyebrows lowered, deepening his scowl. “But I’d rather not take any chances. There’s a gun in the first kitchen drawer. If you need it, don’t hesitate to use it.”

* * *

After Daniel and Pilar left, Nicole carried Daniel’s encrypted cell phone out to the porch, hoping to get more than one bar of reception so she could check in again with her father. The connection was marginally better outside, so she settled in the rocking chair Daniel had vacated and held the phone to her ear.

After assuring her father that she was fine and refusing once more to tell him where they were, Nicole asked if Ramon Diaz had been in touch.

“He’s called every day, Nic. He’s getting pressure from his government to bring Pilar home before this turns into a political issue. You are holding the child of an important Colombian official, you know.”

“I know, Dad, but Daniel thinks we—”

“LeCroix? He shouldn’t even be involved in this! He’s trouble, Nic. He’s up to something. I know he is.”

“He protecting us the best way he knows how.”

“He has an ulterior motive. Just a few months ago, he swore to my face that he’d destroy me. How can you trust him?”

“Daddy, stop. Please?” Nicole rubbed her eyes and groaned. “Can’t you two put your differences behind you and realize that we’re all on the same side? This bickering and hostility between you two...” She opened her eyes in time to see a turtle scuttle from a log into the brown bayou. “Well, it hurts me. I care about you both. Deeply. And—” She stopped abruptly when she realized what she’d said.

She had deep feelings for Daniel. But what feelings? Gratitude, certainly. He had saved her life several times. Admiration, yes. Daniel had risen far in a short time and made a difference in the fight against terrorism. Lust? Definitely. In spades.

“Nicole.” Her father’s wary tone intruded on her reflection. “Are you telling me you’re in love with this man?”

A tremor shot to her core. “I...don’t know. He’s changed since I knew him before.”

He scoffed. “Did you ever
really
know him?”

Nicole scowled. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you had a reckless one-night fling with him a few years ago, but then he left town and... I thought that had been the end of it.”

Out of habit, Nicole bristled a bit at the word
reckless.
When she did something impromptu—like leaving her nursing job to help at a medical mission camp in a poverty stricken area of Colombia—she was reckless. When her father made snap decisions, he was bold and daring.

Then the rest of his comment resonated inside her. “What do you know about his leaving town?”

Her father hesitated. “Only what you’ve told me.”

“I never said he left town. Even when I left for Colombia, I still had no clue what happened to him. The Navy wouldn’t tell me anything, and he never called. I...” A chill of suspicion slithered through her. “Daddy...what...” She took a slow breath for courage. “What did you do?”

“Do? I don’t know what you mean, what did
I
do?” Her father might be good at bluffing with reporters and his colleagues, but she heard the slight wobble in his tone.

Acid pooled in her stomach. What part had her father played in keeping her and Daniel apart? Was her father behind the bitterness that Daniel felt toward her? “How did you know he left town?”

“Like I said, I thought you told me that. But it’s been years, honey.” He laughed stiffly. “I’ve slept since then.”

“Fine. I’ll ask Daniel.” Nicole rolled her eyes. Liked he’d tell her! Keeping mum about the past was one thing Daniel had in common with her father.

“Nicole, I just don’t want to see you get hurt again. I remember how you felt when he walked out on you last time. Who’s to say he won’t abandon you like that again?”

His question cut her to the quick, because he’d hit on the very fear she’d been skirting around for days.
Don’t fall for him again. Don’t let yourself form those old attachments to him,
she’d warned herself. Not only had he made no promises for the future, he sometimes acted like he couldn’t wait to be rid of her. So why was he here with her at all? She’d give anything to be able to read that enigmatic mind of Daniel’s, see past his shuttered expression. Years ago, he’d worn his heart on his sleeve. He’d been open about his passion for her, his hope for the future, his zest for life.

His black ops work, she realized with a sinking heart. They’d trained him to hide his thoughts, show no emotion.

“Nicole?”

When her father spoke, she yanked herself from the silence into which she’d lapsed. “I don’t know what will come of my relationship with Daniel, Daddy. But for my sake, if you two could put your differences to rest and at least be civil...” She sighed, wondering if such a truce was even possible.

“So...you are looking for a future with him? You have feelings for him? Real feelings? Because any adoration you have for his heroics in rescuing you is not enough to build a relationship on.”

Nicole pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m aware of that.”

She heard her father blow out a breath. “All right. I’ll do my best to accept him. For your sake.”

She opened her mouth to tell him his concession might be premature, that there was nothing between her and Daniel to accept. But the murmur of voices called her attention to the bank of the bayou where Daniel and Pilar were making their way back up to the house.

Just the sight of Daniel, his skin a deeper bronze after only an hour in the sun, made her pulse stutter and her breath snag in her lungs. The bright daylight accentuated his ebony eyes and the masculine cut of his cheeks and square jaw. He flashed Pilar a white smile as they crossed the yard, and a bayou breeze ruffled his black hair. Her fingers twitched around the cell phone, remembering the silky feeling of his hair threading through her fingers as they’d made love. His dark Cajun features easily topped her list of reasons to love his heritage.

“I just want what’s best for you,” her father said, interrupting her ogling and sensual memories of Daniel.

Nicole cleared her throat. “Thank you, Dad. I’ve got to go now.” She started to disconnect then added, “I love you.”

“Same here, sweetheart. Be careful. And call again soon so I know you’re okay.”

“I’ll try.” She tapped the disconnect button and set Daniel’s phone aside just as he and Pilar reached the foot of the porch steps.

He sent her a dubious look. “Who was that?”

She shook her head, dismissing the call as trivial, and focused her attention on the fish dangling from the line Pilar held. “You caught some!”

The girl’s face lit with excitement, and she held up their catch—two good-size catfish and one very small fish Nicole couldn’t identify. Keeping her tone cheerful and bright, she asked Daniel, “Isn’t that third one too small to keep?”

He smiled back, keeping up the pretense. “Yeah. But there was no way I was going to make her throw back the first fish she’d ever reeled in. That’d just be mean.”

“Cena!”
Pilar said, beaming.
Dinner.

Nicole braced a hand on her hip. “I hope you don’t think I’m cleaning those!”

“Squeamish, are we?” Daniel asked, using the porch railing and one crutch to help him hop up the steps on his good leg.

“Just sayin’.”

When he reached the porch, he stepped toward her, so that she had to angle her chin up to meet his eyes. So that he was near enough for her to feel his body heat, near enough to smell traces of the soap he’d used in the shower that morning. His proximity caused a quiver deep in her core. The intensity of his gaze as he hovered over her shot longing through her like liquid fire.

For the first time in days, she saw a vibrance and...
life
in his expression that had been missing since he’d woken up in the hospital. Here at his grandmother’s home by the bayou, he was in his element. More than that, teaching Pilar to fish, seeing the girl’s joy, clearly fed his soul. Though he’d never admit it to her, she could imagine how his injury and the loss of his job with the black ops team had bruised his ego and his sense of purpose. For an alpha male control freak like Daniel, those blows had to have been crushing.

Still holding her gaze, his wide chest so close that he brushed against her when she took a deep breath for composure, he asked, “You know how to make hush puppies and slaw?”

Sarah Beth made the best hush puppies Nicole had ever put in her mouth. Maybe she could call her father’s housekeeper for help. “I can try.”

Daniel arched a skeptical eyebrow, then shrugged. “Then I’ll take care of the fish. Cleaning. Seasoning. Frying. Deal?”

She twitched a grin. “You’re on.”

With a satisfied nod, he moved away, and Nicole felt the loss to her marrow. Like losing her bedcovers on a winter night, she felt a cool emptiness course through her.

“You okay with her helping me clean the fish?” he asked, taking the string of fish from Pilar.

Nicole frowned. “I’ll leave it up to her if she wants to watch, but I don’t like the idea of her using a knife.”

Daniel glanced toward the bayou before facing Nicole again. “I was her age when
mon père
learned me how to cut up
la barbue.
”

Nicole folded her arms over her chest and gave Daniel a measuring scrutiny. Had his thick Cajun accent, mixed Louisiana French and English, and blatant use of a common, though grammatically incorrect, Southernism been for her benefit? With a prickle of uneasiness, she recalled his earlier accusation that she held a negative bias against Cajuns. On the contrary, she admired the resilience, traditions and sense of community in the Cajun population. She envied Daniel the unconditional love and support he’d had from his family, while she’d struggled to win her father’s approval or five undistracted minutes of his time.