being a SEAL would wink out with a flutter of big blue eyes pleading with him.
He risked losing everything. Because he knew he could get lost in those baby blues...swim in their sensual depths, awash in a sea of sexual need and the communion of two people who once knew each other’s secret hopes and dreams.
Hopes and dreams were for romantic fools. He was a navy SEAL and valued duty and honor.
He’d already taken a side, and not even Kelly Denning would sway him from his commitment.
Until she spoke in a pleading whisper.
“Give me a few days, Sam. I know where they are. How many Elemental children must die before all this is over? How many must be sacrificed because of your obeying orders?”
Oh, hell, not fair. But resolve crumbled. He glanced at the road.
Renegade cupped his hands to his mouth and called out. “Yo, Shay. Stop trying to make time with the pretty lightning lady.”
“Shay, what’s the 411?” Dakota asked as they returned.
He looked his friend, and commanding officer, straight in the eye. “I’m not taking her back. Not right away.”
Gratitude shone in Kelly’s eyes. The other SEALs muttered.
“You defying an order?” Dakota asked.
“Amending it.” He dragged in a breath. Rules and orders had kept him in line for years, even though he’d pushed the boundaries several times. Now he was going to bulldoze them.
“I’m going with Kelly to find the children.”
But Dakota shook his head. “If Miss Denning isn’t returned to the Council of Mages, everything is shot to hell. They’ll know something’s up. We can’t risk it.”
“Buy me some time. Radio in that the LZ was compromised and we still don’t have the prisoner—I don’t care. You’re creative, you make the excuse. Those kids deserve the chance.”
He saw the struggle on Dakota’s face. No man ever got left behind. And Kelly Denning was still a prisoner wanted by the council.
“Tell me where they are,” Dakota told Kelly. “Shay and I will conduct the search.”
“Right. While your men return me to Mage custody. No dice. Either I go or no one finds them. If you send me, you’re not just saving lives, Lieutenant. You’re screwing with these Arcanes’ plans. They’ll have to find new, equally strong Phantom children to replace the ones we’ll free.”
If nothing else, her plan bought them much-needed time.
“It might be too late. The kids could be dead,” Dakota pointed out.
Shay shook his head. “We have to take the chance.”
A heavy sigh from Dakota. “Four days. That’s all I’m giving you, Shay. If your ass isn’t back on base by then, you force me to report you as UA and you’ll be subject to disciplinary action.”
His friend looked grim. “There’s too much at stake here, and we can’t afford a political battle with the council and Senator Rogers. Not when we may be needed to stop an all-out Mage war.”
UA, unauthorized absence. A mark on his permanent record. He could even get kicked off the team. A heavy weight compressed his chest.
The team meant everything to him.
But innocents were at stake.
The lieutenant’s gaze never wavered from Shay. “And you maintain constant radio contact. If I don’t hear from you in four days, we’re coming for you.”
The significance of that look said, “But I can’t help you.”
No one could. They were on their own.
Sam never changed his mind when he presented The Chin. Firm as granite, stubborn in his commitment.
The men formed a semicircle, talking in low voices. All five SEALs carried the biggest, baddest-looking guns she’d ever seen, using them with smooth skill. They carried themselves with confidence, knowing they were the biggest, baddest weapon against anyone crossing them.
As they broke up the group, Sam loaded his pack with water and supplies. A hank of his sandy-brown hair fell across his forehead and he automatically brushed it aside.
Kelly’s fingers tingled. The gesture was intimately familiar. Once she’d done the same, running her fingers teasingly through the silk.
Now he’d become a stranger, as intense and deadly as the gun he carried. She’d seen another side of Sam as he’d dropped to one knee, firing with fierce concentration at the shooter on the hill.
He’d help her. That was all that mattered. Kelly wished she’d never dragged Sam into this, risking his career as a SEAL. After all that he’d suffered, she did not want to cause more pain. Sam didn’t deserve this. But she had no one else.
“Thank you for believing me,” she told him as he handed her a bottle of water.
Green blazed in his hazel eyes, searing her with heat.
Wary, she took a step back, her gaze falling to the heavy pack on his shoulder. Her breath faltered.
“Are you afraid of me?” he asked, his voice husky.
Kelly shook her head. “Wary, perhaps. Cautious. I’d be foolish if I weren’t, after what happened.”
“I wouldn’t hurt you.”
“It’s not your gun that I’m afraid of,” she admitted. “It’s being with you, remembering what we once shared.”
For a single moment suspended in time, everything between them evaporated. They were once again bonded, this time by mutual agreement for a cause.
“I’m not going against my principles or values, or asking you to surrender yours. All I ask is for you to set aside your past feelings so we can work together.”
Sam closed his eyes, long dark lashes feathering against those lean cheeks. When he opened his eyes, his gaze was stark. “That’s just it, Kelly. It’s tough as hell to set aside my feelings when it comes to you.”
Her heart did a crazy flip-flop. He still cared. But his look stated the blunt truth.
Just as she had to do what she must.
Something inside Kelly shattered. Her throat closed. She forced a calm smile, despite the ripping feeling in her chest. “I’ll make it easy. I have no more feelings.”
As the others attended to the flat tire, he took his pack, checked it and then removed his shirt.
Her breath caught in her lungs.
An intricate tattoo of ancient Celtic runes swirled from the front of his right shoulder around to his back. Making a circle around him, she studied it. Beneath the blue ink was a large, puckered scar.
She pointed to it.
“Bullet,” he murmured.
“Engaging the enemy?”
“Dakota shot me.” At her incredulous look, he gave a lopsided grin. “We were in Grenada, tracking down a voodoo priestess who was using the locals in her rather nasty ceremonies. I tangled with her, and she tried sucking out my life force.”
He touched another scar on the same shoulder, this one with teeth marks. “Here. I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, totally immobilized. Dakota saw what was happening, took the shot. Blew her away and blew a hole in my shoulder.”
She couldn’t fathom the dangerous assignments he undertook, putting his life on the line every time he deployed. Not only facing enemies armed with metal weapons, but some with fangs, claws and dark, evil magick.
