Page 56 of Mountain Rescue
On the ride to the vet to pick up Blue, then on to the cabin, she’d closed up tighter than a clam. Even Bella’s excitement at having her kitten back hadn’t put a smile on her face.
“Rachel.” He strode into the room. “What’s going on?” She was packing; he could see that. What he didn’t understand was why. What had set her off?
“What does it look like? I’m leaving.”
“The hell you are.” He stepped behind her, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her away from the suitcase she’d put on the bed. “Talk to me, Rachel.”
She deflated in his arms like a balloon losing air. “I’m going to get people killed. I... I can’t live with that.”
“What people?”
“You’re seriously asking me that?” She twisted away from him and poked him in the chest. “You. Jack and Nichole. Noah, maybe even Peyton. That’s what people.” She slapped her hands over her face.
He wrapped his fingers around her wrists and pulled her hands away from her face. “Listen to me. You’re not going to get anyone killed. You have some of the best-trained and deadliest men in the world protecting you. Me, Jack, Noah, TG, and God knows who all he has poking their noses into this. Not a single one of us is going to walk away and leave you to fight this on your own. If you run, I will come after you.” He put his fingers under her chin, lifting her face, forcing her to look at him. “You hearing me?”
“I can’t live with seeing one of you hurt or worse.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Especially you.”
She was killing him. “So you think taking off will keep us safe? Maybe, but probably not. And how do you think your leaving will make us feel, not knowing if you’re safe or not?”
“I’ll disappear somewhere. Change my name and appearance.”
“And be all alone? Do you know why horses are herd animals?”
She shook her head.
“Because there’s safety in a herd. A horse alone is prey. Herding makes them smart. Tell me a horse isn’t smarter than you.”
She didn’t answer, so he grabbed his duffel bag and tossed it on the bed next to her suitcase.
“What are you doing?” she yelled.
He paused with a pair of socks in his hand. “Packing. I’d think that was obvious.”
“You’re going home?”
He tossed the socks into his duffel. “I’m going with you.”
“Dallas.” She sat on the bed. “Please let me disappear. I’ll find someplace that Robert will never think to look for me.”
“Sure, we can do that.” He wadded up a shirt and stuffed it in the duffel. Normally, he would neatly fold his clothes, but he was mad. She didn’t trust them to not only keep her safe, but themselves as well. If she thought any one of them would stand by and let her take off by herself without protection, she had no clue how tenacious a SEAL could be.
Not that he expected her to understand how extensively trained he, Jack, and Noah were, how specialized their skills were. No, what bugged the hell out of him was that she didn’t trust him to stay out of harm’s way. She was willing to sacrifice herself for him, and that wasn’t acceptable.
He glanced at her, and ah, hell, tears were swimming in her eyes. He dropped to his knees in front of her and took her hands in his. “Listen. I can’t let you take off by yourself. I don’t have it in me to do that. We can go, find a place to hide, you and me. Hargrove would probably never find us, but there’s no guarantee on that, so we’ll always be looking over our shoulder. Or we can stay here where we have Jack and Noah watching our six. Those are your two choices.”
“You promise you won’t let him hurt you?”
He wanted to promise her anything she asked for, but he wouldn’t lie to her. “You know I can’t promise that, just like I can’t promise a piece of space junk won’t fall on my head tomorrow.” There was a hint of a smile. “What I can promise is that I’m very good at what I do, as are Jack and Noah. We have no intention of letting Hargrove hurt us. So, what will it be? Are we staying or going?”
“I guess we’re staying.”
“That’s my girl.” He squeezed her hands, then stood. “Oh, almost forgot. Got you something.” He pulled the package out of his pocket and handed it to her.
“What is it?” She held the small envelope up, then shook it.
“Open it and see.”
She tore the end off, peeked inside, and then lifted wide eyes to him. “You got me a paracord bracelet?”
