âPut me down!â
She fought him the best she could, a hundred and twenty pounds of wriggling fury. âDonât do this. Whatever you think you are doing, I know you are going to regret it.â
He did already.
âAre you crazy?â
He could get them out of there, away from the grenade blast site, in a hurry. He fitted his free hand to her shapely behind to hold her place. Smooth skin, lean limbs, dangerous curves. He tried not to touch more than was absolutely necessary. Yeah, she could probably make him do a couple of crazy things without half trying.
And if they made it out alive heâd be tempted to find out what those were.
Available in October 2009from Mills & Boon® Intrigue
Babyâs Watch by Justine Davis &A Hero of Her Own by Carla Cassidy
Christmas Spirit by Rebecca York &Beast of Desire
by Lisa Renee Jones
Beneath the Badge by Rita Herron &Match Play by Merline Lovelace
The Heiressâs 2-Week Affair by Marie Ferrarella
Veiled Truth by Vivi Anna
Tall, Dark and Lethal by Dana Marton
He would kill a man before the day was out. AndâGod help himâCade Palmer hoped this would be the last time.
Heâd done the job before and didnât like the strange heaviness that settled on him. Not guilt or second thoughtsâheâd been a soldier too long for that. But still, something grim and somber that made little sense, especially today. Heâd been waiting for this moment for months. Today he would put an old nightmare to rest and fulfill a promise.
In an hour, Abhi would hand him information on David Smithâs whereabouts, and there was no place on earth he couldnât reach by the end of the day. Heâd hire a private jet if he had to. Whatever it took. Before the sun comes up tomorrow, David Smith will be gone.
He headed up the stairs to his cell phone as it rang on his nightstand. Wiping the last of the gun oil on his worn jeans, he crossed into his bedroom. He was about to reach for the phone when he caught sight of the unmarked van parked across the road from his house.
The van hadnât been there thirty minutes ago. Nor had he seen it before. He made it his business to pay attention to things like that. At six in the morning on Saturday, his new suburban Pennsylvania neighborhood was still asleep, the small, uniform yards deserted. Nothing was out of placeâexcept the van, which made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
The only handgun he kept inside the houseâa SIG P228âwas downstairs on the kitchen table in pieces, half-cleaned. He swore. Trouble had found him once againâpar for the course in his line of work. Just because he was willing to let go of his old enemiesâexcept David Smithâdidnât mean they were willing to let go of him.
âHappy blasted retirement,â he said under his breath as he turned to get the rifle he kept in the hallway closet. From the corner of his eye, he caught movement. The rear door of the van inched open, and with a sick sense of dread, he knew what he was going to see a split second before the man in the back was revealed, lifting a grenade launcher to his shoulder.
Instinct and experience. Cade had plenty of both and put them to good use, shoving the still-ringing phone into his back pocket as he lunged for the hallway.
Had he been alone in the house, his plan would have been simple: get out and make those bastards rue the day they were born. But he wasnât alone, which meant he had to alter his battle plan to include grabbing the most obnoxious woman in the universeâaka his neighbor, who lived in the other half of his duplexâand dragging her from the kill zone.
He darted through his bare guest bedroom and busted open the door that led to the small balcony in the back, crashing out into the muggy August morning. Heat, humidity and birdsong.
At least the birds in the jungle knew when danger was afoot. These twittered on, clueless. Proximity to civilization dulled their instincts. And his. He should have known that trouble was coming before it got here. Should have removed himself to some cabin in the woods, someplace with a warning system set up and an arsenal at his fingertips, a battleground where civilians wouldnât have been endangered. But he was where he was, so he turned his thoughts to escape and evasion as he moved forward.