[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.He’d—”“If it wasn’t for you, he never would’ve had a chance to find one of the men who tortured him.”“Yes, and I killed him.He could’ve told Declan who betrayed him.But no, I had to go in like Wyatt Kidd and blast him to hell.”“Wyatt who?”“You know.” She waved a hand.“That gunfighter.”“Wyatt Earp was a sheriff.Billy the Kid was an outlaw.”“Whatever.” She shrugged, infuriated with herself and with Aidan, who should have shared her fury.“The thing is, if not for me, he wouldn’t be in this predicament.” She was getting ready for another dose of guilt when a fist slammed into her face.“Son of a bitch,” Sabrina snapped.Aidan grabbed the fist that Declan had swung and held him down.When he glanced at Sabrina again, he didn’t even bother to hide his amusement.“While I don’t endorse hitting a woman unless she’s threatening me or mine, I do hope that knocked some sense into you.”A one-eyed glare didn’t have as much impact, but she gave her partner one anyway.The delirious man on the ground had no idea what he had done.They’d cleaned and bandaged the wounds on his arm and thigh, given him an antibiotic and mild sedative for pain.His temp was slightly over one hundred two, and they’d taken turns bathing him with their limited supply of bottled water.And now they could do nothing but wait.They were at least one day’s hard travel to the nearest village.Glad to see that Declan’s movements had stilled and he seemed to be resting easier, Sabrina leaned back against a tree.Aidan sat on the other side of her and took a long swallow of water from his canteen.“So.Before I decide I completely hate this shithead you married and are obviously still crazy about, tell me what he was like before.”She knew why he was asking.When she had taken Declan’s shirt off to treat his wound, her partner had seen the scars.And for the first time Sabrina had seen the ones on his chest and stomach.How had he survived? The irrefutable evidence that Declan had gone through the horrors of hell reinforced her opinion once again of his strength and courage.Aidan’s statement indicated he, having seen the damage, was willing to give Declan another chance.“He’d been with EDJE several years before I met him.Grew up in Scotland.Started with the Agency in his early twenties.”“Scotland? Really? Where’s that Scottish brogue all the girls go crazy over?”Surprised she still had an ounce of amusement in her, Sabrina laughed softly.“When he wants, he can definitely bring it out.” Unbelievably, she found herself blushing.How many times had Declan whispered to her in that beautiful accent while making love to her?Hoping Aidan hadn’t seen her embarrassment, she went on, “Anyway, when I met him, I was greener than a new apple.Had assisted on a few ops, mostly by gathering intel.Was still attending classes.Still had no idea what I’d gotten myself into.Thought I’d already seen everything I needed to see.” She shrugged.“Believe it or not, I was slightly cocky.”“You?” Aidan’s eyes widened in mock disbelief.“Never.”She grinned and continued.“One day I barged in on a meeting between Albert Marks, the head of the Agency, and Declan.Even that early, I was looking at Albert as family.He’d saved me from…” She swallowed.“Let’s just say I didn’t have a very good life before I went to the Agency.I’d been there just long enough to feel like I finally had a family, but still had a chip on my shoulder the size of France.“The first time I saw Declan, I just knew he had to be some kind of a model.” She snorted as she remembered her naïveté and stupidity.“Like a secret government agency was going to do recruiting posters.But he was just so gorgeous.Like James Bond and Jason Bourne wrapped up in the most delectable—”Aidan gave an overloud clearing of his throat.She threw him an embarrassed grin.“Sorry.Anyway, he fascinated me from the start.Albert introduced me to him.Told me he was going to be my new trainer.”Declan had been rough on her…ruthlessly mean to the point of cruelty.She had gone back to her room almost every night and cried.She’d never intended to let him see what he did to her.And each time she had gone back with the same cocky attitude as the day before.He’d done his best to destroy her, and she had refused to let him.“We worked a couple of ops together in the middle of my training.During those missions, he treated me as an equal.I guess I expected that to continue, but when we got back to training, he was just as mean, maybe even meaner.This went on for close to a year.I’d go off on an op, come back for more training, and he’d treat me like shit.I’d give it right back to him.”“What changed?”“I’d walked out the door in a temper and left my weapon.Stupid.I knew from the first day that you never leave your weapon behind.That it was an extension of me.But he had me so frazzled that day I forgot.He came to my room with it, ready to ream me out.I didn’t answer the door, and being the arrogant asshole that he was, he came inside.Heard me having my nightly meltdown in the shower.”He had talked with her as an equal, told her about himself, his family.“And from that moment things were better?”She snorted.“Are you kidding me? The next day he was tougher than ever.” But it had changed her.She had reveled in that toughness, determined to learn all she could and be the best she could be.She didn’t tell Aidan about the other nights he had found her in the shower, picked her up, and just held her while she let all the pain and fury of that day drain from her.Those moments were between her and Declan, precious memories she would hold in her heart forever, no matter what happened in the future.“When did you guys start your relationship?”“About a year later, we were on an op together.My first kill.I lost it and almost got myself killed instead.I did the job, but it wasn’t pretty or neat.I figured he was going to rail at me and then fire me.Or call Uncle Al and have him take me away.Instead, he told me about his first op, about how messy it was.”She swallowed and remembered how he had held her, comforting her as only Declan could
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]