Darkfall by Denise A. Agnew Read Free Book Online

look at you and…” He snagged his words and practically choked on them.
    Shut it, idiot. Now isn’t the time to get randy with her. Maybe never. Rein it in, bastard.
    “Your father was right about me that day,” he said instead. “If I couldn’t control my actions around you, he couldn’t trust me. He was right to fire me.”
    Yeah. Keep telling yourself that. It didn’t matter. He leaned back against the wall, his legs sprawled out and his arms crossed over his chest.
    “So you’re impervious to my enormous charms?” she asked.
    He dared look at her and caught her lopsided smile. Her eyes filled with amusement.
    “Of course not. But I don’t have to do anything about it.”
    Part of him wanted to confess everything. He wrestled with the danger in that. Maybe when they got out of here he’d leave Sentry for good. A hell of a lot less likely he’d run into Penny.
    The Long Valley situation had made him crazy in ways he’d never expected. When Penny had called her father and said she might be in danger, Ian almost volunteered immediately to head to Bangor. Then the General had insisted that Adam Becker go, and it had choked Ian’s response for a few moments. Military discipline from years in the Special Air Service had trained Ian to take orders. But this was different. Penny was more important than military bearing or military orders. And he wasn’t in the SAS anymore. He’d volunteered and eventually the General had agreed. Relief had flooded Ian. Best thing was to keep their relationship strictly professional this time and when he’d escorted her into her father’s hands, he’d find another job.
    If he had to be around her a lot without touching her, he’d lose his ever-lovin’ mind.
    “We were attracted to each other before that day you showed up at Sentry. Emotions ran high,” she said.
    “Heat of the moment,” he said.
    “I thought what we had meant more.”
    He grunted. “Pent-up lust.”
    Right, bastard. Convince yourself that’s all it was.
    Her eyes widened, her soft, pink lips parting. She almost looked hurt. Good. Maybe if she was disappointed in him, she’d accept her father’s protection.
    Ian went on. “I had this vision in my head where maybe we’d have a casual relationship. And yet all the time I knew it wasn’t possible. Because of who your father was. There’s no way to pretty it up. But I wouldn’t have responded to any woman that way. I wanted you and you only.”
    There. He’d given her all the clues she needed to understand. She looked shell-shocked, and he didn’t know if that meant he’d surprised her or he hadn’t.
    When he’d spilled his guts about his sister, he’d still held a lot back. Guilt and pain over his sister’s life and death still roiled in his stomach. When Penny had revealed what that Frank bastard had done to her—damn it he’d do anything if he could time travel and remove that experience from her life. If he could protect her from it. But no. That wouldn’t happen and all he could do is keep her safe now.
    Keep her safe forever.
    To do that he needed to get more weapons and check out his SUV to make sure it was still in one piece. If there were any other feelings to reveal, they should do it later.
    Before he could stand, she asked, “Tell me more about the war. More about your time in the SAS.”
    Oh, hell. The stubborn set to her jaw told him she wouldn’t take no for an answer. He looked at the monitor above the door again. Nothing. They shouldn’t be wasting time, but he never could deny her. He glanced at the video and couldn’t hear the voices anymore. Time to count down and get out of here. He set his internal clock to five minutes.
    “You don’t want to hear about that,” he said about the war and the SAS.
    “Yes, I do.”
    He leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs. He clasped his hands together and stared at the floor. He sighed. “What do you want to know?”
    “Anything.”
    He glared at her.