Fatal Honor: Shadow Force International Read Free

bed. Now that he was better, he insisted she take the bed while he dozed in the nearby chair or slept on the floor. He brewed coffee every morning and brought her a cup while she was still in bed.
    Her body ached for him. Not because he was the sexiest man she’d ever been around, or the most honorable. Certainly not because she was alone and on the run from a monster. She was used to being alone, independent. But even in another time, another place, she would have fallen for him. He was an impeccable specimen. Beautiful. Strong. A man worthy of a woman so much more than she could ever be.
    And yet, she saw it in his eyes. He wanted her too.
    She hadn’t told him who she really was—he knew her only by her middle name, Sarah. He hadn’t told her much about his job as a SEAL and hadn’t demanded to know about hers. Early on, she’d seen the suspicion in his eyes. He knew she was more than a single woman living in the woods on the side of a mountain, but he never probed too deeply about her present situation.
    Night was upon them once more, Miles standing at the single window staring out at the snow. A full moon hung low in the sky, its light playing over his rugged features.
    “It’s time to change your bandage,” Charlotte said.
    Every day it was their ritual. He sat on the edge of the bed, she unwrapped the old bandage, rubbed cream on the healing skin, and rewrapped it. She’d discovered he was ticklish and enjoyed teasing him about it.
    Tonight, he shook his head. “I’ll do it myself.”
    His tone was brusque, he wouldn’t look at her. Had she done something to annoy him? “All right. I’ll get you the supplies.”
    When she returned from the bathroom he was in the chair, head in his hands as he leaned his elbows on his knees. She set the basket of fresh cotton strips and salve next to his foot. Without looking at her, he removed the thick, wool sock and began to unwrap the bandage.
    Charlotte made busy work of stoking the fire, getting a glass of water. From the corner of her eye, she watched him toss the used bandage down and slap the salve on, all with a pissed look on his face.
    “I’m sorry if I’ve done something to upset you,” she said softly.
    His hands stilled. He leveled her with a look so intense, she nearly took a step back. “It’s not your fault.”
    The words lacked conviction. “Isolation is challenging for most people.”
    A long silence. Then, “True, but we’re not most people, are we?”
    For half a second, she thought he knew she was an intelligence agent. That maybe he knew everything. “I’m sure, as a SEAL, you’re trained to withstand isolation.”
    “And you seem quite adept at living alone out here in the mountains.”
    It wasn’t her first choice, but it beat being chained up in Nico Bourean’s belowground torture chamber.
    “I don’t know who you’re hiding from,” Miles went on, as if reading her mind, “but I want you to know, your secret is safe with me. I won’t tell anyone you’re here.”
    He thought she was hiding from a partner perhaps. An abusive relationship.
    If only he knew. “I appreciate your discretion.”
    “I need to leave, Sarah. For your sake as well as mine.”
    Leave? The thought made the pulse at the base of her throat fire like a tiny, trapped bird. “You can’t travel until the snows melt.”
    “If I stay…”
    He shook his head, let go of a ragged sigh.
    Her nerves bounced around in her stomach. “If you stay, what ?”
    Again, that intense gaze hit her. It did a slow perusal down her body, back up to her eyes, lighting every point it touched on fire. “If I stay, I can’t promise not to touch you.”
    Her breath caught. Her knees felt loose in her joints. She grabbed onto the fireplace mantel.
    The air between them shimmered and shifted. The hunger in his stormy gray eyes was back, everything he was feeling shining in them like the flames from the fireplace.
    She wanted him to touch her. Longed for the feel of his hands