Fishing.
He’d explained that saying before. Carefully coordinated outings where they played the bait and waited to see who would bite. It was a game she had played in the past with Sorrel’s men, and she hadn’t liked it then: she liked it even less now. “It leaves too much to chance,” she argued. “And the risk is too great.”
He rose from the bed, naked and powerful.
Tehya watched as he moved around the bed until he reached her. Gripping her shoulders, he pulled her to her feet and unbelted the robe slowly.
“It’s time to sleep, baby,” he told her gently as he removed the silk and pressed her back down to the bed. “Come on, Tehya, lie with me just a little bit longer. We’ll argue the pros and cons of the game on the way to D.C.”
He pulled the sheet over them after he climbed in beside her and wrapped his arms around her once again.
“We need to discuss this,” she argued helplessly as he held her to him. She had never been very good at arguing with Jordan when he refused to argue back. “Jordan, you’re being too damned stubborn.”
“I’m being logical. I’m really good at that Tehya, I promise.”
She lay there, staring into the darkness, listening to the heavy, sluggish beat of her heart, the panic threatening to choke her, and knew that the final battle she had been putting off all her life was nearing.
But as he said. Jordan always really good when it came to the logic thing and to his plans. He checked every angle, and then every nook and cranny that those angles could present. He was her best chance at survival and she knew it, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.
* * *
Jordan was aware of the fears that haunted Tehya. As he held her close, simply sharing his warmth, he tried to give her the time she needed to come to grips with the operation they were preparing for as well as the past she had been trying so hard to avoid.
He could feel her heart beating hard and heavy as he stroked her back, and he knew the urge to run, to hide, was nearly more than she could fight. That was all Tehya had ever known for safety, to find a hole and dig in.
The time for hiding was over, though. Whoever had found her, whoever had taken the time and the effort, not to mention the danger, of looking into the explosion in Afghanistan, wouldn’t stop.
They had tracked her to Hagerstown, and then had decided to watch her rather than striking. They wanted something from her. Otherwise they would have struck by now. Jordan had run enough ops both as a SEAL and as commander of Elite Ops team, that he recognized the signs.
Tehya wasn’t seeing it for what it was because the memories of the past, the blood and death, were all she could see.
Jordan was considering everything, though, and the fact that there were no answers, that there were no clear avenues to follow, sent a chill racing up his spine. Hiding wasn’t as easy as many thought it should be. Especially when one hired henchmen like Arthur and Tenneyson. Someone somewhere, a rumor, a drunken employee. There should have been some kind of information, at least one name to indicate who was behind it.
“Why are you here now?” she whispered into the darkness, confusion thick in the soft question.
“Why now what?” He allowed a finger to wrap around a silken curl that trailed down her back.
“Why are you in my bed now, Jordan? And why are you so determined to save me?”
The confusion in her voice was genuine, as though she couldn’t understand why he would care. Damn her, he was going to end up with gray hair where she was concerned.
“Why do you think I allowed you into the Elite Ops?” he asked quietly. “You were a civilian, Tehya. The daughter of a known terrorist and white slaver. You could have been a hell of a risk. Why would I allow that?”
He felt her tense in his arms, and hated knowing that the question reminded her of things he realized she wanted to forget.
“Because it was what Kira and Ian wanted.” The decisiveness in her tone indicated that she fully believed that.
He chuckled lightly. “Yes, they definitely pushed for it. But Tehya, I could have said no. They wouldn’t have liked it. They would have been pissed, but they would have still done their jobs.”
He felt her tense marginally, as though she were considering his explanation.
“Then why did you?” Once again her voice echoed with her bemusement.
She truly didn’t know.
“Because I wanted to ensure no other man touched you,” he said, his hand tightening on her hip to drag her back against the hardening shaft between his thighs. “Because Tehya, as much as I fucking hated it, I couldn’t get you out of my head.”
And it was no more than the truth.