Page 25 of Delta Force Defender

She strained her ears, but there was nothing but the oppressive weight of the silence. Outside, the Maine night seemed to press down hard on this little cottage far away from anything. There had been no lights anywhere as they’d come down the hill, except the stars. That told her that even if there were neighbors, or other houses set around this same lake, none of them were awake at this hour.

Caradine was smack down in the middle of another dark night of the soul, and she could do nothing but flick off the safety, wait, and remind herself that she’d practiced—and practiced and practiced—for this.

The worst thing she could do was start imagining things.

Like what it would mean if Isaac wasn’t the man who came to the door.

“Stop it,” she hissed. Out loud.

An eternity passed. Then another.

She stayed where Isaac had left her, frozen solid, as if his command were some kind of spell she had no choice but to obey.

That notion was comforting. It was almost as good as his being here, with all that brooding intensity, strength, and power he wore so carelessly.

Another eternity rolled by.

Then she heard something.

Adrenaline and panic fused, then exploded inside of her. Her hearthurtand her stomach turned inside out, but all she did was straighten against the wall where he’d left her. It was possible she would see wooden boats and red canoes in her dreams for the rest of her life.

Assuming there was going to be a rest of her life.

The noise came again, from the back door off thekitchen, and she shifted around to face it. She lifted the gun and waited.

The door flew open.

A man she didn’t recognize stumbled in, bent in half, and she remembered what Isaac had said.

Inhale.She firmed her grip. She aimed.

But then Isaac stepped in behind the stranger and kicked the door shut behind him.

His gaze found hers, steel gray and intense.

Caradine exhaled. His gaze stayed on hers.

She lowered the gun.

She started to move, swaying toward him. But before she took a step out of the small hall, he stopped her. He didn’t actually shake his head, but he stopped her as surely as if he’d thrust a hand out. He shoved the man before him into a chair at the kitchen table, putting his back at an angle to Caradine.

If she didn’t come out of the hallway, he might not even know that she was standing there.

Isaac slapped on the kitchen light. Then stood there, unblinking, as the man before him screwed up his face against the sudden glare. Caradine felt a little teary herself.

It was the light, obviously. Not the fact that Isaac was safe and in control. Or that the man in that chair still wasn’t someone she recognized. No matter how much she frowned at him in the overhead glare, when she’d been so sure she would know who he was.

Who did you expect it would be?a voice inside asked her, but she wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.

Isaac widened his stance. He crossed his arms in a way that made his impressive chest seem even bigger, one hand still gripping his gun, which was far bigger and deadlier-looking than hers.

And then he smiled down at the man before him.

Not at all genially.

“I told you,” the man said, with a thick Boston accentthat made Caradine’s blood run cold. Because accents like that haunted her nightmares. “This was a misunderstanding.”

“I don’t think I misunderstood you trying to break into my house,” Isaac said in his friendliest tone. It sent a shiver down Caradine’s spine, but that wasn’t where the sensation pooled. “Just like I didn’t misunderstand you following me here, on back roads, through rural Maine in the middle of the night. You want to tell me why? Because I have to tell you, much as I like to be pursued, a girl does like to be asked to dance first.”

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