s he restaked his claim all over again.
Slowly he ran his hands down her body, then underneath to cup her behind. He held her in place, positioning her for his thrusts as he worked deeper.
“Don’t ever risk yourself like that again,” he admonished. “You can’t save everyone, and I won’t lose you so that you can save one more person. Maybe that’s selfish of me, but I don’t really give a damn.”
She smiled at the gruffness of his tone because underneath was a layer of fear. Fear for her. Fear that he’d lose her. She kissed him again as the first waves of her orgasm rolled over her.
She held on to him, her anchor, the person who’d taken her from death’s grasp more than once. He’d protect her. She had absolute faith in him. How could she not? He’d faced death down for her and won.
CHAPTEnada etersonR 29
“YOU better have something good to report,” Farnsworth growled into the phone. “With what I’m paying you, you should have had Grace Peterson to me weeks ago.”
“I don’t respond well to threats, Mr. Farnsworth. You’d do well to remember that.”
Farnsworth froze at the icy implication in Hancock’s voice. He hated that this man intimidated him. And he didn’t simply intimidate him. He bloody well terrified him, and that pissed him off because he feared no one. People feared him.
Except this man who headed up Titan. Farnsworth was certain there wasn’t a man alive that Hancock feared.
“Well? Have you located her yet?”
“I have,” Hancock said simply. “Rumor is she healed a child in a village on the Belize River and that it nearly killed her. Nothing is known of her current condition, but I have a lock on her location. My contact there says they’re moving her out soon. If I’m patient, they’ll come to me.”
Farnsworth swore savagely. “I can’t afford to wait a minute longer. What if the little fool had killed herself trying to heal this other child? If she’s going to die healing someone, it’s damn well going to be my daughter.”
“I understand your impatience,” Hancock said in a mild tone. “But impatience won’t get you what you want any faster. You hired me to do a job. I’ve never failed a mission yet. Think about that when you’re issuing idle threats because my next mission will be to come after you if you continue your present line of discussion.”
“Just get her here. I’m running out of time. I’ll double your price. I don’t care what it takes. You can have all I have because if my daughter dies, I’ll have nothing anyway.”
“Your devotion to your daughter is admirable and I’ve already said that I would have Grace Peterson delivered to your daughter’s bedside in a timely manner. She won’t escape. I know the man who protects her far too well. I know how he thinks.
I know his next move. I should. He taught me everything I know.”
The line went dead and Farnsworth threw it across the room. He hated how this mercenary reduced him to feeling insignificant and powerless. As if Hancock held all the cards and he knew it.
Time was running out. The doctor had seen her again today and had faced Farnsworth with a grim expression and a shake of his head. She didn’t have long. She was growing weaker. Her body could no longer fight off the cancer. It was insidious, growing and multiplying at an alarming rate. There was simply nothing to be done.
She had days, maybe weeks, but nothing more. She could die tonight or she could die next week. He was afraid to enter her bedroom for fear that he’d find her already gone.
He slumped into his chair and buried his face in his hands, and for the first time since learning of his daughter’s illness, he wept.
CHAPTER 30
“RIO, I’m perfectly capable of walking,” Grace protested as he carried her out of the bedroom and into the living room.
He ignored her and she sighed, though she really didn’t mind him carrying her. She was still living in the new and shiny revelation of knowing this man cared so much for her. It was a little frightening and yet it made her giddy, like a teenage girl with her first crush.
She was deathly afraid of having that bubble burst. They were not living in a dream world. Not everything was hearts and roses. They’d hollowed out a little niche, a temporary break from reality, but the real world waited like a predator. Teeth gnashing, evil. Those who pursued her hadn’t given up. And they wouldn’t.
Soon they’d go back into that harsh, cold reality, a place where people died, a place where people gave no thought to humanity. She’d be caged, used, the equivalent of a monkey taken out when it was time to perform and then shoved back into her cold, impersonal prison.
“Grace.”
Rio’s impatient voice cut through her maudlin thoughts and she realized it wasn’t the first time he’d called her name. She blinked, also realizing that he’d already put her on the couch and apparently he’d been trying to get her attention for some time.
“What the hell is going on in that head of yours?”
His frown was deep, his lips set into a firm line. It was clear he had no liking for her expression, or perhaps the darkness of her thoughts had transmitted themselves to him. He looked worried and a little pissed.
She closed her mouth mutinously, not wanting to be a huge damper. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know all of what she’d been thinking anyway. It was a reality he lived with each and every day. He didn’t need her adding to his worry with her whining.