Awareness of her surroundings suddenly returned. The rain pouring down on the roof and outside the open stable door. Horses blowing and shifting around in their stalls.
She heard the rustle of denim and the rasp of a zipper, then a rush of cool air surrounded her as he stepped away. Legs unsteady, she pushed upright and started to turn around, but Marcus caught her, pulling her back to his chest, and slid to the ground with a pained grunt.
She twisted sideways across his lap, pushing her hair out of her face to look up at him. His jaw was set, but there was no anger in his eyes anymore. “Leg hurting?”
He nodded. “Aye. Damn thing,” he muttered, and gathered her to his chest, wrapping those big, strong arms around her. Enveloping her in his warmth and love as he sighed against her hair.
“You still mad?” she whispered. He seemed a lot mellower now.
“Aye.” But there was no heat in his tone, and he stroked her hair and pressed his lips to her temple. When she murmured in pleasure he caught her chin in his fingers and tilted her face up to rain tender kisses all over it.
She relaxed into him with a sigh, rubbing her cheek against his bare chest. Secure in his embrace, and in the knowledge that he would love her no matter what. That there was nothing she could ever do that would make him stop.
She felt the same way about him, but it still awed her. Throughout her life, her body had been a weapon. A means to an end, nothing more.
Until Marcus, she had never known pleasure under a man’s hands. She’d been frozen inside. If not for him, she would have remained that way for however much time she had left.
He had saved her. And, she hoped she had saved him in return.
She kissed the spot over his heart, basking in the closeness between them. “That was… Where has that been all this time?”
A deep, grudging chuckle rumbled in his chest. “You drove me to it.”
“Mmm, and I’m not sorry.”
His arms tightened around her, squeezing. “I can see that.”
The rain on the roof was so soothing. She was more relaxed than she had been in days. “We should probably head back inside,” she murmured regretfully, in no hurry to move anytime soon. “Everyone will wonder where we are.”
“Bloody houseguests,” he muttered.
She tilted her head back to look at him. “Unless you want to stay out here a while longer to show me who’s boss again?”
One side of his mouth lifted. “Not much of a punishment if you’re already wanting more, is it?”
No. But she was already wondering what naughty things she could do to make him give her another demonstration in the near future.
Chapter Eleven
Trinity muttered to herself under her breath as she read through her notes for what felt like the fiftieth time. After all of them working around the clock to get everything ready, the day of the op was finally here.
She’d been up since four to review everything again, make sure it was all nailed down perfectly and to ensure that none of them had missed anything. Lives depended on it, and she felt even more responsible for everyone’s safety because she was still struggling with her guilt about staying behind here at Laidlaw Hall, safe and cozy while everyone else was out putting themselves in danger.
Amber walked into the breakfast room carrying two mugs of fragrant coffee and set one down in front of her before taking the next chair over. “Thanks,” Trinity murmured without looking up.
“Everything okay?” Amber took a sip of her coffee and opened up Lady Ada.
“Yeah. Just want to be sure I’m on top of everything.” She also missed Brody, but couldn’t tell him about anything that was going on.
Amber snorted softly. “You know you are. But let’s go over everything from the top anyway.”
There was something more than the impending ops bothering her though. “Anything more from our mysterious source?”
Amber shook her head, the end of her brown ponytail swishing across her shoulders. “Not a damn thing.”
What did it mean? Trinity was convinced they were all still being hunted. As a precaution they’d all done everything in their power to mitigate the possible risk in case this whole thing was a trap.
Honestly, she would have felt better if they had found evidence for it. Because as careful as they’d been, and no matter how well they were all trained, nothing ever went exactly as planned during an op.
She felt a bit easier after reviewing everything with Amber, who would be running the warehouse op from a mobile command post with Jesse. Trinity would run Eden’s and Kiyomi’s ops from here.
Footsteps came from overhead just as they finished up. The rest of the house was beginning to stir. Everyone except for Eden and Zack, who had spent the past few nights in a Birmingham rental near the yoga studio Tarasov’s guys were planning to nab Eden from.
Seconds later, the sound of an uneven gait came from down the hall, the light tap of a cane becoming clearer, along with the patter of paws. Marcus emerged out of the shadowy hallway and into the sunlit room with Karas at his side.
“Morning,” Trin said to him with a smile. He looked much more like himself today, and the tension between him and Kiyomi seemed to have been resolved. For the most party, anyway. “Sleep okay?”
“Aye.” He glanced at the empty table. “You two eat yet?”
“No, had some work to catch up on first, but we’re done now,” she said, closing her laptop and standing. “We’ll help you get breakfast organized.”
“I placed an order with Huffkins last night. Was just about to head out to pick it up, if you fancy joining Karas and me?”
“Love to.” She could use the break, and she loved the village.
She followed him out to the side of the house where his old Land Rover was parked, slid in the front passenger seat while Karas jumped up nimbly into the back and Marcus got behind the wheel. Pale golden sunlight highlighted everything, burning away the fine layer of mist in the hollows as they turned right out of the gate at the end of the long driveway and started up the hill toward town.
“It’s so quiet here right now,” she murmured as they reached the bottom of Sheep Street. Stow was a major tourist draw, and normally full of people this time of year.
“Aye. Give it a few hours and there won’t be a parking space to be found anywhere.”
They passed the Bell Inn on the left on the way up Sheep Street, and beyond it the road was lined on both sides with honey-stone cottages and shops decorated with flower boxes and baskets bursting with different color blooms. Climbing roses in shades of peach, pink and creamy yellow scrambled along the low stone walls and over doorways.
“I’ve missed it here,” she said, feeling wistful. She had such amazing, complex memories of this place, and of her second family now gathered at Laidlaw Hall.
Marcus glanced at her. “You’ll have to bring your young lad back with you next time you come across the pond, and stay for a proper visit.”
The thought almost made her eyes sting. It was still such an incredible thought that she was going to be a mother soon. A completely different life was waiting for her, with the obstacle of the current mission standing in her way. She prayed her involvement wouldn’t come back to haunt her in the form of the adoption being rejected.