Mercenary Trilogy - Willing Part 4

Claire was soft and rounded, and where Josie's hair was a dark reddish brown, Claire's was the color of cooked carrots...or maybe a shade or two darker, but very red nevertheless. It sprang out from her head in curls she'd done nothing to tame. Her clothes looked as though she'd gotten them at a rummage sale. Worn and faded jeans, an oversized Portland State sweatshirt that had seen better days and tennis shoes that would have looked disreputable on a homeless person.

"There was a fire at the mercenary school."

Claire rushed forward and hugged Josie with one arm. "Are you okay? Can I get you anything? A cup of tea. I bought a new apricot blend. Maybe you want a gla.s.s of cold water."

"I'm fine. I just want a shower and bed.""Right. Look, you take your shower, and I'll make you a cup of tea. You don't have to drink it if youdon't want to."

From Josie's description, he'd a.s.sumed Claire would be quiet, but the woman was a chatterbox."I wouldn't mind some if you're making it," he said.Claire and Josie both turned startled eyes on him as if they'd forgotten he was there. It was a new experience for him. He didn't court female attention, but he didn't seem to be able to avoid it either."Of course. My name is Claire." She let go of Josie's shoulder and stuck her hand out.He shook it, impressed by her firm grip and steady brown gaze."Daniel Black Eagle."Claire looked at Josie as if asking for an explanation."It's Nitro."Claire's eyes widened, and she gasped. "Oh."He frowned at Josie."He's dropping me off because my car was destroyed in the fire."Claire's eyes filled with concerned dismay. "Oh, I'm sorry.""It's all right. I'm alive and so is Dad. That's all that really matters.""I'm not just dropping you off, Josette." He liked that name and figured if Claire could use it, so could he. "Until we find out whoever is responsible for the fire, you and me are going to be like Rodgers andHammerstein. Always together."She stared at him with nothing less than shock. "You can't stay here.""Sure I can.""I don't have a spare room."

"Your sofa looks comfortable." If a bit short, but it was longer than average.The overstuffed couch looked a whole lot more amenable to sleep than a lot of beds he'd had over theyears.

"That's not the point. You aren't staying here, Nitro.""I asked you to call me Daniel."She rolled her eyes, her frustration palpable. "Daniel...you cannot stay here."

"Then you are going with me.""You're being ridiculous.""I'm sorry you feel that way."She groaned, and he couldn't help the smile that creased his lips.She was d.a.m.n cute when she was irritated."I'm a trained soldier. I don't need a bodyguard.""Why can't he stay here?" Claire asked as if Josie hadn't spoken."You know why!""It would seem to me that would be the very reason to let him stay.""It's a bad idea." Josie frowned darkly at him.He hadn't understood anything the two women had just said except that Claire thought he should stay.He turned toward her. "Someone tried to kill Josette's dad with the fire, and she could be at risk, too. I'

m going to help her find the culprits."

Claire spun to face Josie again. "Someone tried to kill your dad? Where is he?"

He listened to Josie explain while he found a place in the hall closet for his duffel bag and weapons case.

Claire looked even more worried than she had when Josie arrived looking like a fire survivor, which she

was. "You told me it was always better to have more than one soldier on a mission.""So?""This investigation sounds like a mission to me. I think you should let Daniel stay and help you with it.""He doesn't have to stay in my house to help me.""Yes, I do." He was done discussing it. She could argue until she was hoa.r.s.e with it, but he wasn't going anywhere. "Claire, you said something about tea.""Of course. Josette, take your shower while I make your colleague some breakfast.""He's not my colleague. I'm not a merc anymore.""But you are going to work with him on a mission. That makes him your colleague." Claire's logic seemed to deflate Josie, who started down the hall."I'll take my shower. Why don't you cook Nitro some breakfast, Claire?""I think I'll spare him the pain and pour him a bowl of cereal.""I'd rather you cooked," Josie threw back over her shoulder as she turned into a doorway to her left.Claire just laughed and led Daniel into the kitchen where she pulled out a box of health-food-type cereal and a carton of organic milk from the fridge.

Handing him a bowl and spoon, she smiled wryly. "The last time I cooked, I set the kitchen on fire."

He looked around him. The maple cabinets appeared to be in perfect condition. "It didn't seem to doany lasting damage.""No, but the fire department wasn't amused to be called out to put out a pan of flaming tofu dogs.""You called them to put out the fire?""The neighbors did. I was working on something on the computer and didn't notice the smoke until the fire trucks arrived."

He could not fathom being that unaware of his surroundings and shook his head.

Josie came out of the shower a half an hour later looking clean, but pale with exhaustion. Claire cajoled

her into eating some cereal and then bullied her into bed.

Daniel added his voice to the other woman's arguments, and Josie glared at him. "You're not stayinghere.""Save it for after your nap.""Grown women don't take naps.""You're no good to me or your dad exhausted. Your brain isn't even working well enough to realize my staying makes the most sense."

That brought some more grumbling, but she turned smartly on her heel and stomped off, saying something about knowing when she wasn't wanted.

He could have argued that particular point by the simple expedient of standing up from the table and

revealing evidence to the contrary, but he found himself smiling as he watched the cranky woman disappear around the corner to the hall.

"I'll look, but chances are he's not using plastic for anything and he's got an alternate ident.i.ty set up somewhere."

Daniel knew Hotwire was right, and the chances of tracing Tyler McCall's whereabouts with the computer were slim, but they had to try. Because, frankly, unless Josie saw something in the journals he hadn't, they had no other leads for finding her dad.

He'd been reading them ever since she went to bed and Claire had left for her cla.s.ses. He'd learned a lot, but none of it relevant to the explosion and fire at the compound. So he'd called his friend Hotwire for his input.

"His disappearing act doesn't make sense," Hotwire added. "Why would he leave Josie to fend for herself if he knew the source of the threat and was hiding from it? Wouldn't he take her with him?"

"Maybe Josie isn't at risk."

"Someone willing to blow up his compound to kill him would be willing to use his daughter to get to him."

That's what worried Daniel. "It's not going to happen."

"You said he had Josie call you before he took a powder.""Yes.""Then he didn't leave her to fend for herself, did he? He knew you'd watch her back and better than he could in the state he was in."

"Maybe." But Hotwire was right. Tyler knew Daniel well enough to know he'd never abandon Josie to

investigating the explosion on her own. Just as he had to have known Daniel would call his friends in to help.

"Besides, the guy's brain isn't exactly running on all six cylinders right now. For all we know, he's had a

flashback and is living in some Vietnam jungle in his head.""That's what worries me.""You worried?""This is Josie's dad we're talking about here.""And you don't want Josie hurt?""No.""Now, that's very interestin'. I don't remember you ever being overly worried about a woman's feelings before." The deliberately accentuated southern drawl needled Daniel."Drop it."Hotwire's incredulous laugh irritated Daniel to the point of cursing."Tch, tch, tch...You've got to clean up your mouth. You're staying in a woman's house now. Didn't your mama ever tell you it's not mannerly to swear in front of a lady?"His mother had been cursed at on a regular basis...every time his dad drank. "No.""Then take my advice. Clean up your mouth.""Josie's a soldier, for crying out loud.""Ex-soldier and her roommate is a sheltered little thing."Claire hadn't seemed all that sheltered to him. She had a mind like a computer and even the personality of one at times, but she hadn't seemed particularly naive."Why didn't you tell me Josie was getting out of the business?""Because you bit my head off every time I said her name over the past year.""You're no shrinking violet.""I'm also not stupid.""You've been helping her with her computer studies.""You make it sound like I've been breaking the Sixth Commandment instead of helping a friend change her life.""So now you're friends.""Josie and I have always been friends.""Since when is friendship an automatic by-product of working with another merc?""It isn't.""But you're friends with Josie.""Unlike some people, I realized right off that not only is she a good soldier who can be counted on, but she's also a sweet woman worth knowing.""What's that supposed to mean?""You haven't exactly gone out of your way to make friends with her.""I don't go out of my way to be nice to anybody."Hotwire laughed. "That's true, but I think your lack of enthusiasm for her company has hurt her feelings."He'd come to the same conclusion, and it bothered him. "I don't dislike her, d.a.m.n it.""Whoah...buddy, no need to go ballistic here.""I don't go ballistic anymore.""That's what I thought, but Josie brings out some pretty powerful feelings in you.""Like h.e.l.l." The only feelings he allowed himself to have for women were s.e.xual. He would never give a woman the power to tap the deeply buried root of his temper.

"Whatever you say, but I swear if you don't clean up your mouth while you're staying in Josie's house, I'm going to sic my mama on you. You'll straighten up, or she'll have your guts for garters.""She raised you and let you live. She can't be all that bad.""She's not, but she's h.e.l.l on your conscience if you disappoint her.""Mothers are like that." His certainly weighed on his and probably always would.He would never forget the sight of her, bruised and motionless, in that narrow hospital bed. He would never allow himself to forget it had been his fault either."Josie said you offered her a job," Daniel said to banish the memories and change the subject."Yeah. She's a natural with computers. Wolf and I both think she'd be a real a.s.set to the business.""So your only interest in her is because of her computer skills?""I didn't say that."Daniel's heart actually stopped in his chest. Women fell all over themselves getting to Hotwire. Josie wouldn't be any exception.

"You want her?"Silence at the other end of the phone."Do you?""What difference does it make to you?""Just answer the question, d.a.m.n it.""Whew...Lise said she thought your bad temper covered something totally different, but Wolf and I thought she was sniffing the wrong scent.""What are you talking about?""You want Josie.""We aren't talking about me.""Don't have to. It might have taken me a while to catch on, but I'm no backwoods Georgia farm boy."The temptation to drop the conversation was huge, but Daniel had to know. "Is there anything between you and Josie?""Friendship."He waited in silence, willing his friend to explain.Hotwire laughed. "This is more fun than watching Wolf forget what he is saying when Lise walks into the room.""Hotwire.""I don't want Josie."The relief that went through Daniel was too overwhelming to dismiss. "Good.""That doesn't mean she doesn't want me. I am, after all, a prime specimen of male flesh and have a certain amount of undeniable southern charm."

Daniel's reply was ugly and succinct.

Hotwire was still laughing when Daniel cut the connection.

Daniel relaxed against the overstuffed sofa back. Josie was still sleeping, and he'd decided to skim the earlier journals, hoping they held some clue because he'd found nothing in Tyler's most recent one. So far all he'd accomplished was to get a pretty good picture of Josie's childhood.

When she had said she'd had no choice but to become a soldier, he'd thought she meant her dad had pushed her into it, but it had been a lot more concrete than that. Her choice had been made when she wasn't even old enough to give up playing with dolls.

Tyler McCall had started training his daughter in combat at the tender age of six. The same year her mother died. Some would say the man's mind had finally snapped, and they might be right, but there was no denying he'd had his reasons for raising his daughter the way he did.

Tyler had seen things in Vietnam that would make any man leery of raising a child, particularly a daughter, in today's world.

A furious yell hit his eardrums and cut his musings mid-thought.

Chapter 4.

D aniel met Josie halfway down her hallway, his blood pumping with combat-ready adrenaline, but he

could see no threat.

Unless he counted the small, barefoot woman vibrating with rage, her green eyes shooting retribution fire at him. "I am not a demon!"

"I'm glad to hear it."

The growl that emanated from her throat would have done a grizzly bear proud. She was royally p.i.s.sed, and apparently he was the reason.

Rather than being concerned about that salient fact, it was all he could do not to drag her body against his

and kiss her until he didn't know his own name anymore. She turned him on in pretty much any mood. However, pa.s.sionate anger was too close to pa.s.sionate desire not to impact his hormones like a freight train running full steam ahead without a brake.

Not to mention her clothes, or lack thereof. If she normally slept in tiny T-shirts and short shorts like the pink ones she had on, he was going to expire from l.u.s.t his first night in her place just thinking about it.

From the murderous expression on her pixielike face, he guessed she wasn't on the same wavelength as he was at all.

She smacked his shoulder with her open palm. Hard. "Nor did I attempt to seduce you!""Uh, Josie...Are you all right?" Maybe she had a little of her dad's paranoia. Or a bad dream?"No, I am not all right." She was back to shouting again, but when she went to hit him a second time, he moved to restrain her and found himself on his back with her knee in his chest and her furious face above

his. "I'm mad."He didn't like her getting the better of him, and he reversed their positions, his hands clamping her wristsand his bigger body pinning hers to the hardwood floor. "I noticed, but why?"

Her body felt perfect under his-tone, but soft and warm, too."You called me a succubus!""I did n-" Then he remembered. "I said clinging like a succubus." Not that the semantics appreciably changed the meaning and he'd clearly made a mistake letting his temper control his tongue, even briefly,but a man could try."I wasn't clinging at all," she snarled."No. You weren't."She didn't look in the least mollified by his agreement.

"I apologized already," he reminded her.

She glared up at him, her body tense beneath his. "That was before I knew what succubus meant. Atwo-word apology and instructions to just forget about it don't cut it now."She twisted unexpectedly under him, and he had to maneuver his hips between her legs to keep her flat.

In her current frame of mind, there was no saying what she might do, and she was capable of doing a lot.

But the new position was torture to his already excited body.

His pants and her shorts were no barrier to the heat of her pressing against the hardness of him. Making love to her would be like taking a trip to the sun.

She bucked, sending his temperature spiking. "Get off me, you cretin."He had to keep this light. If he didn't, he was going to lose control, and that was an unacceptable alternative. "See, that's the second time you've called me that, and you don't see me having a tempertantrum because you've questioned my intelligence.""Cretin also means vulgar, and calling me a demon intent on seducing you in your sleep falls in that category, or didn't you realize that?" she asked far too sweetly, her gaze still as sharp as his throwing knife.

"It's still a hurtful thing to call a person."She laughed, the sound far from humorous, her expression one of angry mockery. "An exploding grenadeunder your pillow couldn't hurt you."

Maybe not, but a hundred and twenty pounds of female flesh under him was doing major damage to his nerve centers. His s.e.x ached, and it was only going to get worse if he stayed where he was. A glutton for punishment, he didn't move.

"The point is, I didn't mean to hurt you."

She sighed, her body going limp all of a sudden, her expression turning sad. "I'm sure you didn't. Youcan't help the way you feel about me.""That's true, but I'm trying. Doesn't that count for something?"She shrugged as much as she could with her wrists still restrained. "You can let me up now. I won't take your head off."

He didn't want to. He wanted to make love right there on the hardwood floor, but what he wanted and what he got with Josie were rarely even in the same hemisphere.

Sucking in air, he rolled off her, then stood up and felt the pain of unsatisfied desire arc through him with

debilitating force. Turning away from her, he bent at the waist, breathing heavily.She touched his shoulder. "Are you okay?""I'll be fine. Just give me a sec." He hated her seeing his physical vulnerability to her, but right now even his formidable mental control was no match for his body's urges.He'd never been like this before. No matter how much he wanted s.e.x, he'd never been unable to curbthe desire and hide his reactions when the situation called for it.