Chapter 28

 

Julia ordered food for everyone’s return and organised clothes for Alice. When her gran’s best friend arrived at the hotel, she knew the clothes wouldn’t fit. Alice had lost a lot of weight since Julia had last seen her. She looked gaunt and shaken. Her skin was a strange shade of grey, and her eyes were wider than any possum’s. But her attitude was firmly in place.

“Julia.” Alice held her tight. Physically she was a fragile shadow of her former self, but character-wise, she was still indestructible. “You came to get me and you brought an army.”

“We’re family,” Julia said. “We’re crazy, but we’re always there for each other. How are you holding up?”

“As well as can be expected after being kidnapped and having a finger chopped off.”

Julia didn’t know what to say to that, but she made a mental note to get some sedatives from the hotel doctor, in case Alice needed them. She settled Alice gently on the sofa beside Patricia, who insisted on fussing over her best friend. Julia felt a presence at her back that made her whole body tingle with awareness—Joe.

He placed a hand on the small of her back and leaned in to speak against her ear.

“Babe, I need a minute.”

With everyone watching them, Julia couldn’t exactly say no, but there was no way she wanted to be alone with him. She didn’t trust her resolve. No matter how sensible her reasoning when it came to just how incompatible they were, her arguments crumpled under the weight of his sensuality when he touched her.

“By the window,” she said as firmly as she could manage.

He didn’t argue, leading her over to the corner by the window. Julia pretended that everyone wasn’t watching them while they strained to listen in on their conversation.

“I’m glad you didn’t get hurt.” She stepped away from him, fighting the urge to touch him as a way to reassure herself he was fine.

“We need to work on your confidence when it comes to my abilities. But first we have some unfinished business we need to talk about.”

“No, we don’t.” She backed up against the glass.

He put a palm flat on the window above her head and leaned into her. “Remember when you asked about my faults and I told you I was possessive?”

He seemed to expect an answer, so she nodded. Her mouth was suddenly dry, but she resisted the urge to wet her lips. He didn’t need any encouragement, no matter how small.

“Well”—he toyed with a lock of her hair—“knowing that, do you really think I’d walk away from the woman I love, just because she’s got cold feet?”

“Cold feet?” Her eyebrows shot up her forehead. He did not just say that. “This isn’t cold feet. It’s reality. You seem to think I’m some sort of Disney Princess and I keep telling you that I’m more like Jack Nicholson’s character in As Good As It Gets.” She placed her palm flat on his chest in supplication, realising too late that the heat of his body burned through her defences. Before she could snatch her hand away, he covered it with his and pressed it hard against him. Trapping her. Surrounding her. Making it hard to breathe.

She blinked up at him, wishing he was less handsome, less intense, less open about his feelings. Less everything. He overwhelmed her just by being him.

“This can’t work,” she said. “You must see that.”

“What I see is a beautiful, interesting woman who’s trying to throw away the best thing that’s ever happened to her because she’s scared.”

Julia sucked in a breath. “Not scared. Realistic. We have no future.”

He leaned closer, his musky scent enveloping her. “See, here’s the thing: you’re wrong. You aren’t thinking straight because you don’t see yourself properly. And to a guy like me, that isn’t a deterrent, it’s a challenge. I’m just gonna have to hound you until you see things my way.”

“Joe! You can’t ignore what I’m telling you.”

“I can if you’re talking garbage.”

Julia wanted to stamp her foot and scream. He had to be the world’s most stubborn and infuriating man.

“Jules.” He leaned in to whisper against her ear, making her shiver. “I love you. I’m not going to give up on you, or on us. It’s not how I’m made. I’ve got patience, baby. I’ll wait however long it takes for you to believe that I see all of you and I love every weird little inch. Consider me your shadow until you see reason.”

“That’s stalking!” She pushed at his chest. Although admittedly it wasn’t much of an effort.

“You say potato, I say potahto. I consider it perseverance.”

“What am I going to do with you?” She wanted to lash out in exasperation.

His smile was sensually wicked. “Oh, I can think of a few things.”

Julia felt her cheeks heat. “Stop it. Even if I somehow miraculously managed to believe that you wouldn’t go running sometime in the future when you realise that I’ll never change, there’s still your job. You are the man who runs into a burning building. I’m the woman who runs away from it. I honestly don’t think I can cope with watching you leave time and again and never knowing if it will be the last time I see you.” She shook her head. “I can’t do it. I can’t.”

“You know,” Joe said, suddenly very serious, “this gig isn’t forever. I never planned to work in the field long-term. It was one of the reasons I got out of the Marines. This kind of life is bad for relationships. For family.” His voice lowered, making her heart race. “And I want a family, Julia.”

She forgot how to breathe. He couldn’t mean…?

“I talked to Callum about moving into a training and project management role once we have more staff on board. So”—he stepped even closer until their bodies were touching—“you don’t need to worry about losing me every time I leave on a mission, because there won’t be any more missions.”

Her eyes went wide. “I can’t let you give up your career for me.”

“Babe,” he said against her lips, holding her gaze with a look that was searing, “don’t you know I’d do anything for you?”

“You’ll resent me.” Her words a whisper against his lips.

“Never.” It was a vow. “I want you more than anything. I’m not giving up on adventure, baby—I’m just starting a new one. With you.” He brushed his lips against hers. “If you’ll let me.”

“Why won’t you listen to me? Why won’t you see reason? You’re driving me crazy.”

“Good.” And then he kissed her.

A slow, teasing, sensual kiss that stole her mind and left her breathless. When he pulled away, he rested their foreheads together.

“Mine,” he declared. “You’re mine.”

And then he walked away, heading for Callum in the corner of the room and leaving her weak-kneed watching after him. He moved like a predator, all lean muscle and powerful grace.

“I remember that look.” Her gran broke into her thoughts and made her aware that she was standing mooning after Joe.

“I do too.” Alice sounded wistful. “It meant someone was going to get lucky.”

“Alice!” Julia felt her cheeks burn as she said to her gran, “Why won’t he listen to me?”

“Because you’re talking rubbish, dear.”

“No I’m not!” And she was seriously getting annoyed that no one would listen to her. “I know what I’m talking about. He’ll get fed up with my weird personality and he’ll hurt me. Why am I the only one who sees that?”

Ryan, Elle, Alice and Patricia shared a look before they all said at the same time, “Because you’re talking rubbish, dear.”

Ryan burst into laughter and Julia threw up her hands in disgust. There was no talking to any of them. They were all as pig-headed as Joe.

Alice smiled at Elle. “I can’t thank you enough for coming for me.”

“Anytime,” Elle said with a smile that was quickly replaced by horror. “I mean…”

“I know what you mean.” Alice smiled back. “And I will definitely call Benson Security next time I need rescuing.”

“There won’t be a next time,” Patricia said. “We’re going home to live staid lives, like two old biddies should do.”

Alice gaped at her friend. “What about the treasure?”

“To hell with it! Look at the trouble it’s caused.”

“Exactly,” Alice said. “I lost a finger over it.” She held up her bandaged hand. “The least I should get in return is some Incan gold.”

“What happened to giving away the treasure and publishing a paper on reading Incan textiles?” Julia asked.

Alice waved her undamaged hand. “That was before I was butchered. I liked that finger. It was thinner than the rest and it had a nice nail. Now I have a gap in my hand where it used to be and I’ll never be able to look at garden shears again. In fact”—she turned to Patricia—“when I get home, I’m putting the house on the market and buying a flat on the Thames. One that doesn’t have a garden. But that’s beside the point. I need the treasure money to buy a new finger. I want one of those bionic ones I saw on TV.”

“You saw bionic fingers on TV?” Ryan could barely keep the laughter out of his voice.

“It’s a computerised prosthetic,” Alice told him, managing to look haughty even in her bedraggled state. “It connects with the nerves and takes messages from the brain. And it comes in an assortment of colours.” She looked back at Patricia. “I want blue, like Elle’s hair.”

“Now that sounds like a fun replacement for your missing digit,” Patricia said, with her eyes on Callum as he whispered with Joe in the corner of the room. She turned back to Alice. “How about we talk this over after you’ve had a shower? You smell like the city dump.”

She got to her feet and helped Alice up with her.

“You’d smell too if you’d been living in a cell for about a million years. I had to pee in a bucket. Do you know how easy it is to miss the damn thing? My knees aren’t up to squatting all the time. There were days when I got into position and thought I’d never get out. Don’t even get me started on my bowels. I think I have hysterical constipation. You know, like hysterical blindness, where people go blind due to stress. Well, my bowels stopped working for the same reason.”

“I really don’t need to hear about your bowels,” Patricia said as she held open the door to the room she was sharing with Alice.

“You’ll be hearing all about it in the middle of the night if we don’t get it sorted now.” Alice looked over her shoulder at Julia. “Julia, pet, can you order some prunes? And laxatives. And papaya juice.”

“Papaya juice is for an upset stomach,” Patricia said.

“You think my stomach isn’t upset?” Alice said as the door closed on the two of them.

There was a moment of silence before Ryan said, “I need to get them together with my granddad and his brother. All they talk about is their bad hips and their toilet problems.”

“If that’s me in forty years,” Elle said, “shoot me.”

Once Patricia and Alice had disappeared into their room, Joe and Callum joined the rest of them. Joe’s look was a challenge. A dare for Julia to take him seriously. To take a chance on them. Julia looked away. She ached, torn as she was between trusting him and taking a chance, and the fear of being devastated all over again. Because she knew that getting over Joe Barone would be impossible. If he hurt her, she would remain broken for the rest of her life. How could he expect her to take a chance on that?

Callum positioned his chair in the middle of the room. He was wearing a muscle shirt that flashed biceps, the likes of which should be illegal. But there was still a blanket covering his legs.

“The member of the Lima team who took the copter back to Cusco for us, also took a message to our pilots. They’re going to bring the plane to an old military airfield outside Lima. It’s too risky to fly out of the international airport. Esteban is sure to be watching it. We’ve got about five hours until we need to be at the airport.”

“I checked the surveillance cameras in Cusco,” Elle said. “Esteban and his mini army are still there.”

“That doesn’t mean we should relax,” Callum said. “Esteban has people everywhere.” He looked at his team. “You did a good job—now get some sleep while you can.”

“And showers,” Elle said.

“Food first.” Ryan was already dialling room service.

“You coming?” Joe held a hand out to Julia.

“I can’t.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he told her. “You know where to find me.”

With one last, wicked smile, he turned towards the room they should have shared. Julia’s heart actually hurt to watch him go.

As he passed Elle, Joe stopped. “Before I forget, I have a present for you.” He dug around in his pockets and came out with a tiny Ziploc bag. “It’s from David. He said to give it your best shot.”

Elle grabbed the clear plastic bag. She was bouncing in place with delight. “Is that what I think it is? It is! It’s a hair. With the root attached. DNA, here we come.” She gave Joe a hopeful look. “I don’t suppose he gave me a fingerprint.”

“Not this time, crazy girl.” With a shake of his head, Joe headed into his room—but not before casting one last challenging glance over his shoulder to Julia.