A SEAL Wolf Christmas

transporting the little girl. He still didn’t like that he’d have to let Anna fend for herself, no matter how good she was at her job.

When he returned to the group, Hunter gave him a quizzical look. Bjornolf couldn’t tell him in front of the family how they had overheard that the men knew something about the Wentworth’s kidnapping. Bjornolf instead gave Hunter a thumbs-up, and he took the girl in his arms again. First chance they had, either he or Anna would let Hunter know what had happened.

The team traveled with the family for four more days through the jungle in the same manner as before— sleeping with guards posted, eating and drinking all together, and keeping a low profile. At the end of the fourth day, they reached the outskirts of a village and, before anyone saw them, they scrubbed the camo paint off of each other with soap and water from a nearby river, not wanting to give the villagers the impression that they might be trouble.

Anna smiled when Elsie scrubbed the paint off Bjornolf’s face, dragging a wet soapy cloth this way and that over his skin. He exaggerated his expressions of pain and surprise, groaning and moaning, making Elsie giggle. He caught Anna’s gaze and grinned at her. Leaving the girl to her mother, Bjornolf advanced on Anna.

As he closed in on her with a feral gray wolf’s heated look, she felt her body temperature elevate in the steamy heat.

“You didn’t quite get all your makeup off,” he said, pulling a cloth out of his sack and soaking it with a container of soapy water. He stood too close—way too close.

She gave him a skeptical look, not wanting to believe him, but since she didn’t have a mirror, she wasn’t certain. The parents were washing their kids’ faces and Wentworth’s brother was working on his own, but her team watched Bjornolf as he washed her face.

Feeling her cheeks heat, she folded her arms and silently entreated him to hurry it up.

But he didn’t. He took his time wiping every inch of her face, her lips, her ears, and neck so gently, she didn’t think he could have removed anything.

When he was done, she said, “Let me see the cloth.”

His eyes widened a bit. “You don’t trust me?” he asked with feigned innocence.

She knew he was all pretend when he was balking at showing her the cloth. She stretched out her hand, raised her brows, and waited.

He let out an exaggerated sigh and handed the cloth to her. “See, what did I tell you?”

A faint green cast covered a section of the white cloth, and one dark brown smudge colored another spot. This time she sighed audibly. “Thanks. Good job.”

“You’ve got to learn to trust your partner,” he said.

She looked at him, trying to read the meaning behind his words. She swore he was trying to tell her something.

The show over, Hunter moved the group through the village to a couple of cabanas that he had rented—all the buildings decked out in Christmas lights, decorated Christmas trees sitting in front of some of the windows. Despite the Christmas decorations, the jungle atmosphere reminded them they were still far from home.

“Anna, you’ll stay with the mother and the kids tonight. Paul, Allan, the two of you also. The Wentworth brothers will stay with Bjornolf, Finn, and me,” Hunter said. “Better protection for all concerned.”

“I want to stay with my wife,” Wentworth said, looking cross and obviously used to getting his way.

“Sorry, Mr. Wentworth,” Hunter said, his tone curt, not the least bit sorry. “You’re under my orders until we drop you off safely at the embassy. After that, it’s your decision.”

“Honey, do as he says,” his wife said as she held her kids’ hands. “They got us this far without any of us being hurt.”

He gave her a murderous look. Anna saw a flicker of relief on the woman’s face when her husband didn’t get his way.

Hunter was clearly giving Anna a chance to question the mother without the husband being present. Paul and Allan slid looks in Bjornolf’s direction. His expression was neutral, but he was totally annoyed. Bjornolf couldn’t stop thinking about staying with Anna at the hut, and he definitely didn’t like the idea of being in a separate cabana away from her. All his protective instincts were on overdrive.

He loathed the idea of Anna being out of his sight, and that was beginning to annoy him, too. Bjornolf thought of himself as a quintessential loner, and now he was anticipating a mission with a partner. If that wasn’t bad enough, the partner was someone he was getting way too personally interested in.

Before bedding down for the night, Hunter sent Bjornolf and Anna to buy meals from a local eatery. The owner of the cabanas had recommended three of them. Eating at the others was at the customers’ risk. They chose one that looked a little less rustic than the others. Small wooden tables filled a flagstone patio surrounded by rough, yellow stone walls topped with white Christmas lights. More lights wound around vines and hanging plants, while the smell of arepas wafted outside. Friendly chatter and the clinking of bottles of beer filled the air. Chickens clucked and pecked at bugs scurrying around on the pavers. A donkey brayed in the distance—adding to the South American– style holiday ambience.

Anna surveyed the surrounding area again, watching for any sign of danger while they waited for their meals. Bjornolf caught Anna looking at him, which made him smile a little. Garbed in civilian clothes to fit in with the other tourists, Anna wore a jungle-print, see-through blouse over a green tank top. A pair of black jeans and heeled boots were a lot sexier than the combat ones she’d had on, though he knew she could use those boots as weapons. He had to admit anything she wore looked damned good on her. She appeared as beautiful as the colorful birds and flowers of the jungle, he thought.

She quickly looked at the patrons again. Like any good operative, she’d been observing the patrons as well as the jungle. When their gazes collided, he watched her cheeks flush. All fresh and clean, she fairly sparkled. Her auburn hair hung in damp curls around her face, her green eyes widened a bit when Bjornolf continued to look at her, taking her in, every delicious part of her.

He’d never seen her dress in anything but camouflaged clothes, or on that last mission when he’d first run into her—close-fitting black for cat burglar–type operations—so this was a new look for him. The colors were still dark, but he couldn’t pass up another look at the sheer blouse that hinted at a playful suggestiveness. She might not be suggesting anything, but he liked to believe she was teasing him a bit.

“What?” she said, casting him an annoyed glance, arms folding defensively over her chest.

“You look nice.”

Her mouth opened as if she was about to give him a smart-assed reply, then she closed it, eyes narrowing.

“Really,” he said. He wanted to tell her that it was okay to accept the compliment, that it wasn’t demeaning or anything for someone who tried so hard to be just one of the guys. “Really nice,” he said, in a way that meant his appreciation of her beauty had nothing to do with wanting to get her into the sack.

Not that he wouldn’t love that, but he hadn’t meant the compliment in that way.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice sounding a little suspicious.

Okay, so maybe the appreciative look he gave her did border on lingering, and definitely indicated that he was interested.

“Senor?” a young dark-haired woman called, coming up to him and handing him the bags of food, the spicy scent making his stomach rumble with anticipation.

“Muchas gracias,” he said, thanking her.

His mouth was watering, too, but that had more to do with the way Anna looked than anything to do with the food.

Anna quickly took some of the bags, then they left the eatery.

“So… about the sleeping arrangements…” Bjornolf began.

She glanced his way before they crossed the narrow dirt road. “What about them?”

“I couldn’t help but notice that both Allan and Paul jumped right in to protect the woman and her children,” he said, unable to keep the sarcasm from his voice. He knew they also wanted to protect Anna, though he wouldn’t say so because he figured that wouldn’t set well with her.

She smiled at him, the warmth of that wicked expression going straight to his groin.

“Hunter made the assignments. But… you wanted the job?” Her brows were raised, her eyes wide with