The drive back to her cottage was the hardest journey she had made. Parking the four-wheel-drive in the staff car park, she grabbed her bag and headed to her own quiet sanctuary.
For the next four days, she kept to herself, only leaving the privacy of her cottage to walk alone on the beach. On the fifth day, she reported for work.
“Plans didn’t quite turn out how I wanted. If you don’t mind, I’ll keep those extra days for another time.”
“Sure, we can use the help. Heidi called in sick today and we’re down and busy as all heck out there.” Her manager smiled. “You know I’m here if you need to talk too, Cass. We’ve worked together for a long time and I thought we were friends.”
“Thanks, Helen. I really don’t want to discuss it at the moment, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure. Anyway, I’m here if you need me.”
Cass headed out to reception and got back into her job selling tours of the island. Staying busy was the only thing that kept her sane.
For the rest of the week she showed up for work, living in hope that the pain in her chest would eventually fade but it didn’t, it got worse. If anything, she stressed out more than she had the last time he’d gone away. Was he alive? Hurt or captured? Was he thinking about her? What would he say when he read her letter? Would he come after her or leave her alone?
The wind was no more than a small puff of air on a hot day that didn’t do anyone a lick of good. Tempers were short as a storm built up out to sea and everyone prayed for a good dose of rain to cool things down. A particularly fussy tourist demanded she go through every tour on the books, and when he finally chose a beach tour for the following morning around the island, Cass breathed a sigh of relief.
“Next please.”
“Cass?”
She looked up into the eyes of a tall blond-haired man with a painful-looking scar running across one cheek from his temple to his nose. Her stomach rolled as she recognized the same look in his eyes Hawk had—the constant search for danger, the body ready at any sign of attack.
“What is it? Is he alright?” Her blood ran cold as her mind raced ahead, envisaging all or any of the things that could have happened to Hawk.
“You need to come with me.” He reached for her arm and she stepped back.
“Larry, I need to take a break. Call Helen if you need any more help, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She grabbed her handbag from under the counter and looked at the man watching her. The corner of his mouth twitched and she saw a flicker of humor in his eyes. He didn’t look funny; he scared the crap out of her. Bigger than Hawk, he had muscles most men could only dream about. He had to be one of Hawk’s men.
“I can give you five minutes, that’s all.” She walked past him, and headed outside to the back of the resort where they could speak. He followed her, his mouth grim. When she stopped by the pathway leading down to the beach, he stood over her. “Right, tell me what you have to say and go. I need to get back to work.”
“He needs you. You’re coming with me.”
“No!” She took a step backwards. “It’s over. There’s nothing more to say.”
“Wrong answer.” He stepped forward and scooped her up in his arms. With Cass frozen in fear, he walked down the path to the beach where a four-wheel-drive was parked. He dumped her in the front passenger seat and clipped in her safety belt. “Stay.”
Trembling more with rage than fear, Cass watched him climb in the driver’s seat. “We’re done, it’s over.”
He headed down to the low tide line and drove without looking at her again. “He needs you and in my book that means Hawk gets you.”
“You can’t do this. It’s kidnapping.”
A muscle in his scarred cheek twitched. “He’s hurt. The only thing that kept him going was seeing you again. He even refused to go to hospital in Germany as is the normal rule.”
“Hurt, how bad is he?”
“Pretty bad but he’ll live this time. Stupid fool tried to get himself home. No wonder the boss didn’t want him to hook up with you.”
“What? He told me the boss said…” She looked out the window, his words coming back to her.
“He said he could but only after Hawk handed in his notice.” The blond shook his head and laughed. “The unit would fall apart without him so there was no choice. But that doesn’t change things. He still needs you.”
Cass was confused and her mind was in turmoil. “How badly is he hurt?”
“Gunshot wound to his leg, broke a bone and he lost a heap of blood.” He turned the four-wheel-drive up the track toward the house. “He needs rest but he needs you more.”
“What happened?” She glanced over.
“You know I can’t tell you the details.”
“I need to know.” She watched the man’s mouth turn down in a grim line before he glanced at and made his decision.
“We had to go and rescue a family being held by insurgents. No ransom was ever going to be paid so you can guess the outcome if we hadn’t been sent in.” He pulled over at the gate and looked at her. “There were children involved. That never goes down well with any of the team. Kids involved in war … that’s just wrong, Ma’am. Anyway, we thought we had them all when one of the kids panicked and ran back.”
“Oh no.” Cass had a moment of breathlessness waiting for the rest of the story.
“Hawk ran after him.
