Mackenzie's Pleasure

The flight took less than an hour and a half. The transport landed with a hard thump that jerked her in the web seat, then taxied for what seemed like an interminable length of time. Finally it rolled to a stop, and Major Hodson stood, plainly relieved to be free of his unpleasant burden.

A door was slid open, and a flight of steps rolled up to it. Clutching the black robe around her, Barrie stepped out into the bright Athens sunlight. It was full morning now, the heat already building. She blinked and lifted a hand to shield her eyes. It felt like forever since she'd been inthe sunshine.

A gray limousine with darkly tinted windows was waiting on the tarmac. The door was shoved open, and her father bounded out, dignity forgotten as he ran forward. 'Barrie!' Two days of worry and fear lined his face, but there was an almost desperate reliefin his expression as he hurried up the steps to fold her in his arms.

She started crying again, or maybe she had never stopped. She buried her face against his suit, clutching him with desperate hands. 'I've got to go back,' she sobbed, the words barely intelligible.

He tightened his arms around her. 'There, there, baby,' he breathed. 'You're safe now, and I won't let anything else happen to you, I swear. I'll take you home—'

Wildly she shook her head, trying to pull away from him. 'No,' she choked out. 'I've got to get back to the Montgomery. Zane—he was shot. He might die. Oh, God, I've got to go back now!'

'Everything will be all right,' he crooned, hustling her down the steps with an arm locked around her shoulders. 'I have a doctor waiting—'

'I don't need a doctor!' she said fiercely, jerking away fromhim. She'd never done that before, and his face went blank with shock. She shoved her hair out ofher face. The tangled mass hadn't been combed in two days, and it was matted withsweat and sea spray. 'Listen to me! The manwho rescued me was shot. He might die. He was still in surgery when Major Hodson forced me on board this plane. I want to go back to the ship. I want to make sure Zane is okay.'

William Lovejoy firmly took hold of his daughter's shoulders again, leading her across the tarmac to the waiting limo. 'You don't have to go back to the ship, sweetheart,' he said soothingly. 'I'll ask Admiral Lind-ley to find out how his man is doing. He is one of the SEAL team, I presume?'

Numbly she nodded.

'There wouldn't be any point in going back to the ship, I'm sure you can see that. If he survived surgery, he'll be airlifted to a military hospital.'

If he survived surgery. The words were like a knife, hot and slicing, going through her. She balled her hands into fists, every cell in her body screaming for heir to ignore logic, ignore the attempts to soothe her. She needed to get to Zane.

Three days later, she stood in her father's office with her chin high and her eyes colder than he'd ever seen them. 'You told Admiral Lindley to block my requests,' she accused.

The ambassador sighed. He removed his reading glasses and carefully placed them on the inlaid walnut desk. 'Barrie, you know I've denied you very little that you've asked for, but you're being unreasonable about this man. You know that he's recovering, and that's all you need to know. What point would there be in rushing to his bedside? Some tabloid might find out about it, and then your ordeal would be plastered in sleazy newspapers allover the world. Is that what you want?'

'My ordeal?' she echoed. 'My ordeal? What about his? He nearly died! That's assuming Admiral Lindley told me the truth, and he really is still alive!'

'Of course he is. I only asked Joshua to block any inquiries you made about his location.' He unfolded his tall form from the chair and came around to lean against the desk and take her resistant hands in his. 'Barrie, give yourself time to get over the trauma. I know you've invested this... this guerrilla fighter with all sorts of heroic characteristics, and that's only normal. After a while, when you've regained your perspective, you'll be glad you didn't embarrass yourself by chasing after him.'

It was almost impossible to contain the volcanic fury rising in her. Nobody was listening; no one wanted to listen. They kept going on and on about her ordeal, how she would heal in time, until she wanted to pull her hair out. She had insisted over and over that she hadn't been raped, but she had fiercely refused to be examined by a doctor, which of course had only fueled speculation that the kidnappers had indeed raped her. But she'd known her body bore the marks of Zane's lovemaking, marks and traces that were precious and private, for no one else's eyes. Everyone was treating her as if she was made of crystal, carefully not mentioning the kidnapping, until she thought she would go mad.

She wanted to see Zane. That was all. Just see him, assure herself that he would be all right. But when she'd asked one of the Marine officers stationed at the embassy to make some inquiries about Zane, it was AdmiralLindley who had gotten back to her instead of the captain.

The dignified, distinguished admiral had come to the ambassador's private quarters less than an hour before. Barrie hadn't yet returned to her minor job in the embassy, feeling that she couldn't keep her mind on paperwork, so she had received the admiral in the beautifully appointed parlor.

After polite conversation about her health and the weather, the admiral came to the point of his visit. 'You've been making some inquiries about Zane Mackenzie,' he said kindly. 'I've kept abreast of his condition, and I can tellyou now with complete confidence that he'llfully recover. The ship's surgeonwas able to stop the bleeding, and it wasn't necessary to remove his spleen. His condition was stabilized, and he was transferred to a hospital. When he's able, he'll be sent Stateside for the remainder of his convalescence.'

'Where is he?' Barrie had demanded, her eyes burning. She'd scarcely slept in three days. Though she was once more impeccably clothed and coifed, the strain she'd been under had left huge dark circles under her eyes, and she was losingweight fast, because her nerves wouldn't let her eat.

Admiral Lindley sighed. 'William asked me to keep that information from you, Barrie, and I have to say, I think he's right. I've known Zane a long time. He's an extraordinary warrior. But SEALs are a breed apart, and the characteristics that make them such great warriors don't, as a whole, make them model citizens. They're trained weapons, to put it bluntly. They don't keep high profiles, and most information about them is restricted.'

'I don't want to know about his training,' she said, her voice strained. 'I don't want to know about his missions. I just want to see him.'

The admiral shook his head. 'I'm sorry.'

Nothing she said budged him. He refused to give her even one more iota of information. Still, Zane was alive; he would be all right. Just knowing that made her feel weak inside, as the unbearable tension finally relaxed.

That didn't mean she would forgive her father for interfering.

'I love him,' she now said deliberately. 'You have no right to keep me from seeing him.'

'Love?' Her father gave her a pitying look. 'Barrie, what you feel isn't love, it's hero-worship. It will fade, I promise you.'

'Do you think I haven't considered that?' she fired back. 'I'm not a teenager with a crush on a rock star. Yes, I met him under dangerous, stressful circumstances. Yes, he saved my life—and he nearly died doing it. I know what infatuation is, and I know what love is, but even if I didn't, the decision isn't yours to make.'

'You've always been reasonable,' he argued. 'At least concede that your judgment may not be at its sharpest right now. What if you acted impulsively, married this man—I'm sure he'd jump at the chance —and then realized that you really didn't love him? Think what a mess it would be. I know it sounds snobbish, but he isn't our kind. He's a sailor, and a trained killer. You've dined with kings and danced with princes. What could the two of you have in common?'

'First, that doesn't just sound snobbish, it is snobbish. Second, you must not think much of me as a person if you consider your money my only attraction.'

'You know that isn't what I meant,' he said, genuinely shocked. 'You're a wonderful person. But how could someone like that appreciate the life you live? How do you know he wouldn't have his eye on the main chance?'

'Because I know him,' she declared. 'I know him in a way I never would have if I'd met him at an embassy party. According to you, a SEAL couldn't be kind and considerate, but he was. They all were, for that matter. Dad, I've told you over and over that I wasn't raped. I know you don't believe me, and I know you've suffered, worrying about me. But I swear to you—I swear— that I wasn't. They were planning to, the next day, but they were waiting for someone. So, though I was terrified and upset, I haven't been through the trauma of a gang rape the way you keep thinking. Seeing Zane lying in a pool of blood was a hell of a lot more traumatic than anything those kidnappers did!'

'Barrie!' It was the first time her father had ever heard her curse. Come to think of it, she had never cursed at all, until rough men had grabbed her off the street and subjected her to hours of terror. She had cursed them, and meant it. She had cursed Major Hodson, and meant that, too.

With an effort, she regulated her tone. 'You know that the first attempt to get me out didn't quite work.'

He