Circle of Danger Read Free Page A

Mental scars often didn’t heal like physical ones. There were only a few exceptions to that reasoning.
    He looked at the matted skin along his right arm. The burns had healed years ago but he still remembered the piercing pain. Only a small part of a past he struggled with every day.
    His cell phone vibrated. Being careful not to squeeze Marie, he leaned to one side and pulled it from his jeans pocket.
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œThe bastard got out through a cellar door. He jumped on a motorcycle and headed north and in less than five minutes we lost him in the mountains,” Jack relayed.
    So much for capturing the asshole who harmed his woman.
    He looked up and blinked. No. Not his woman. Never his.
    â€œTell them to keep looking.” Then he pressed a button, cutting short the conversation.
    Marie wiggled in his arms. He shuddered from the electrifying feeling of her buttocks rubbing against his groin. After a slight adjustment, he regained control.
    â€œHoney.” He needed her to look into his face. “Marie, quit moving around. We’ll be at Sector in less than thirty minutes.” He wanted her checked over quickly.
    Once he stepped into the helicopter, still holding her, he sank into the soft leather seat. The hum of the luxury craft escalated as they took off. His jacket had slipped down a little and one perfectly formed breast with a coral-pink areola peeked at him. With trembling fingers he adjusted the jacket and resisted touching the hard tip. He blinked hard to wipe the sight away and glared at the man talking to him.
    â€œSir? You can cover her better with this.” A crew member nodded to the dark-blue blanket he held out with a trembling hand.
    Ryker rubbed the rough material between his thumb and forefinger. The wool would chafe her tender skin. But she needed the warmth and maybe it would help him regain a little sanity.
    Still shaking inside from the thought of someone else mistreating her and the extreme danger she’d been in, he compromised by leaving the jacket on her and wrapping the blanket over it.
    He stared out the window watching the landscape change from steel and concrete to trees and mountains. He forced himself to look anywhere but at Marie during the flight. They were in the air for no more than five minutes when her body became limp. She’d dozed off.
    As soon as they landed and the door banged open, an EMT reached in for her.
    â€œNo. Tell Doc to come to the mansion,” Ryker said, snarling his impatience. He sounded unreasonable. Yet he didn’t care.
    By the time he reached his bedroom, her wiggling and moaning in his arms almost shattered his control. His chest ached with worry. She appeared to be reliving the nightmare of the last few hours as her eyes darted behind closed lids. He kneeled on the bed and placed her in the center.
    With eyes wide open, she batted and pushed at the heavy material. “Let me out of this cocoon.” She squealed and shoved again, fighting the blanket. “I feel like a thousand ants are marching all over me.”
    â€œWait.” Ryker pulled the sheet back. He planned to cover the temptation she presented, protecting some of her modesty. The least he could do was act like a gentleman.
    She burst free from the constraints of the blanket and jacket, slapping away the sheet. Long hair flying around her head, the white of her eyes bright and almost glowing in her fear, she kicked and screamed, “Get them off me!”
    â€œMarie, calm down. I’m trying to help you.”
    He tossed the sheet back over her, but she immediately rose to her knees and clasped his arms, obviously uncaring that she provided a clear view of every glorious inch of her again, especially the exquisite shaven apex of her thighs. As soon as her trembling fingers touched his skin, she changed from crazed maniac to purring kitten.
    Her talented hands massaged his biceps. “Oh, Ryker, thank you for getting me out of there.”