Page 51 of Wicked Obsession

She looked up at him, her normally shiny brown hair snarled, her face grimy but resolute, and he finally got it.Reallygot it. This woman was nobody’s princess. Her money didn’t fucking matter. Only she mattered, and if she didn’t care that he couldn’t jet her off to the south of France on a whim, then why was he hung up on it? Langley Canfieldwashis person, and he loved her enough to fight for forever with her.

He couldn’t tell her that, not now, so instead he studied the terrain in front of them, trying to view it from Langley’s perspective. Too much cover, but it might help. If she couldn’t see them clearly, she could fire at the bastards without freezing up.

“Ski,” Stony said, “get her ready. The clock’s ticking, dude.”

Going down on his belly near the entrance, Ryder shifted around until he found a small gap in the bushes that would allow her to see out but keep her behind as much rock as possible. It was a riskier location than he wanted for her.

Ryder turned to look at Langley. “See where I’m at? When I get up, you try it.”

She nodded and he pushed to his feet, watching her lay almost exactly where he’d been.

“There’s a gap in the bushes. You got it?” he asked. “It’s small, but it’ll allow you to monitor the approach.”

“Found it,” she reported.

Stony had gotten into position on the side Ryder had assigned him, but he hesitated. “Call out what you see. How many men, what they’re doing, things like that. We’ll do the same.” And they’d have to avoid using a lot of their normal shorthand because Langley wouldn’t understand it. “If you get overwhelmed or need help, say that, too. Don’t make me have to keep an eye on you.”

“I’ll let you know if I need assistance. I promise.”

“Good.” He lingered although he believed her. She’d actually filled him in on the condition of her legs earlier, communicating with him honestly, and he trusted her to be telling him the truth now.

He couldn’t make himself move and Ryder knew he had to watch the other flank. Langley looked up at him and smiled. Not an I-got-this smile, it was a you-got-this smile. As if he were the novice.

His lips twitched, but he suppressed the grin. She’d nearly made him laugh before a firefight. Damn, he loved this woman.

Crossing to his side, Ryder settled on his stomach and lined himself up on one of the cracks between stones. The next gap over wasblocked by the bushes and this location gave the best angle on that approach. One of the fuckers might try breaching the oval that way. He couldn’t see the complete area, though, and that worried him, but they weren’t getting in here. They weren’t taking Langley.

With his heightened senses, the light buzz of a phone on vibrate sounded incredibly loud. Stony had Ryder’s mobile—it had to be his phone—and waited for his buddy to read the text message, half holding his breath.

“Backup is twenty minutes out,” Rowland reported quietly.

Well, shit. It was about what he’d expected given the location of the vacation home, the size of the property, and their position deep into the acreage, but he’d been hoping for a shorter timeframe. At least they had one huge advantage—the bastards wanted Langley alive. That meant they weren’t going to be tossing a grenade in here or using a rocket launcher.

“Motion,” she said softly. “See one, no two.”

“Distance?” he asked.

“At the thicker trees.”

He grunted. That put them more than thirty yards out. “When they poke their heads out, aim and fire. Don’t shoot off a million rounds. One or two is enough.”

With the amount of ammo Stony hadbrought, they’d be okay for a while, but there was no sense wasting bullets and spraying fire everywhere was amateur hour anyway. Ryder continued to scan the landscape. The mercs needed to get around their flanks and he and Rowland needed to stop them because they were vulnerable at the rear.

It remained silent. She wasn’t shooting. Had she locked up?

On the heels of that worry, Langley fired.

He’d told her to do it, but Ryder almost came out of his skin. He struggled with the adrenaline spike, fought to hang on to battle calm, but damn it, this was his woman. He wanted to be in front of her, protecting her, not listening to her shoot at those motherfuckers.

Stay in position, dumb fuck. That’s the best way to protect Langley.

They returned fire. Instinct warred with training. Training won. Barely. But shit, hearing Langley engage with the enemy while he waited nearly destroyed him.

The exchange lasted long enough to pull his nerves taut. Why the hell were they focusing on her?

They didn’t know it was her, he realized in the next instant.

Harper might have been with them in Puerto Jardin, but until the day he left the teams, he’dbelieved Langley was a nearly helpless princess—just as Ryder had. The bastards thought they had either him or Stony occupied. Two shooters. Four unaccounted for.

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