Page 39 of Holiday Hostage
I nodded that I understood, and he removed his hand.
“Get dressed.” He slid from the bed in complete silence.
Reed and Tarron stood guard near the door.
All three men were dressed in their combat gear, guns slung across their backs and belted at their waists.
My throat went dry, but I did as Maverick ordered.
Snow fell in thick sheets outside the windows, and the first hints of dawn brightened the tree line.
I’d slept all night, a deep, dreamless sleep, because of them.
I scrambled from beneath the blankets where we’d fallen into bed by the fire and grabbed my clothes, yanking them on as fast as I could without making any noise.
Still tugging my hair from my shirt, I approached the trio.
Maverick turned, though I hadn’t made a sound, and pointed at the window, then at me, and made a slashing gesture through the air.
I narrowed my eyes at him, and he frowned back, pointing at the window, then making slashing motions across his neck.
The grim set of his mouth triggered the warning even more than the death sign he made.
Movement on the other side of the window froze me in place.
Terror clawed up my throat, and I rushed off to the side, going straight to where Tarron stood in the corner.
“What’s going on?” My voice was rough from sex and sleep, and I rubbed my throat.
Tarron handed me a cup filled with water and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “They found us.”
11
TARRON
I hated to be the one to put fear in her eyes. She was strong enough to handle it, and she deserved to know the truth. That didn’t make it easy.
I pulled her close, cradling her head to my chest.
God, but I could do that all day every day, and never grow tired of the way her arms wound around my waist as she held on like I meant something to her. “We’ll get you out. One way or another.”
They’d been discussing it since Maverick woke earlier and dragged them out of bed.
His instincts were better than ever, and they’d spotted the approaching mercenaries the minute they darted along the tree line.
Reed punched a fist into his open palm. “Bunch of motherfucking assholes. Not going to pull one over on us. No, sir.” He bounced on the balls of his feet, that feral side of him rising to the surface.
Payton eyed him with open curiosity.
Questions danced over her face, but she kept quiet as we peered through the thick glass.
A shadow separated from the rest, a lone man easing into the fractured light cast by the rising sun.
He raised a bullhorn to his lips. “We have the place surrounded.” He waited a beat, then continued. “I’m willing to make a deal. Your men can go. I’ll let all three of you walk away. All you have to do is give me the girl.”
My arms locked around Payton. I knew the instant she made up her mind that she wasn’t worth saving, and the demons I kept locked away broke free with a rush of howling nonsense that filled my head.
“Over my dead body.” It was a warning to her, Maverick, and Reed, though I knew they didn’t need to hear my vehement denial as they’d already filled the air with their own.
