The Secret Soldier. Jennifer Morey
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think she’d make it three steps.
Their host watched but made no comment as Rudy climbed a narrow stairway. Down a hallway carpeted in a red mosaic pattern, Rudy stopped at a door and put her down on her feet. Her eyes felt heavy and she couldn’t wait to lie down on a real bed. Rudy wrapped an arm around her waist and helped her walk inside. Two twin beds on top of a raised platform were covered in white blankets. The walls were adorned with hand-carved lutes and lyres, unique musical instruments that gave a charming clue to the culture of the people here. It was simple but clean and inviting.
Sabine looked to her right and spotted a bathroom. A small sound escaped her. A private bathroom. She tentatively stepped away from Rudy’s sturdy support then stumbled toward it. Breathless, she leaned with her hands on the white pedestal sink and saw there was only a small shower. Standing would be a challenge, but she hadn’t bathed in two weeks. The thought of a shower charged her with energy she didn’t think she had. Determination to be clean fired through her.
Rudy peered into the bathroom, saw the shower with no tub and frowned. “Maybe we should just give you a sponge bath.”
Sabine shook her head. “I want a shower.”
He turned and met her gaze. Without arguing, he went back into the room and returned with some clothes.
“Leave the door open,” he said, and left.
She looked down at the clothes he’d dropped on the floor, wondering where he’d gotten them. Just a white T-shirt, dark blue lounge pants, and underwear, but it would be divine to get out of the clothes she’d been wearing for so long.
“You can sleep in this if you want.”
Sabine took the bigger T-shirt he held, watching him go back into the room. He sat in a chair across from the bathroom where he could still see her.
Gripping the edge of the sink with one hand, she pushed the bathroom door with the other until it blocked his view of her, then undressed. She hoped her legs would hold her long enough to get clean. Rudy carrying her the rest of the way to the village had helped some, but what she really needed was rest. Turning on the faucet, she waited for the water to warm before she stepped inside.
Water showered over her head and caressed her battered body. Sabine closed her eyes and moaned. Standing, however, made her legs shake uncontrollably and water trickled into the open wounds on her shins, stinging her. She braced her hands against the shower wall but didn’t think it would be enough to keep her upright. When she tried to turn in the shower, her knees gave and she collapsed. Sitting on her hip with her hands flat in front of her, she hung her head and let the water spray fall on her.
Hearing a curse, she looked up to find Rudy holding the shower curtain aside, his mouth in a hard line and his eyes fierce with something more than concern.
Chapter 3
Sabine’s pulse jumped faster when Rudy stepped fully dressed into the shower. He leaned down and put his hands under her arms, lifting her easily. She didn’t want to see in his eyes the purely instinctual male response to holding a naked woman, so she stood there staring at his broad chest, where her hands were spread.
Anchoring her around her waist, he reached for a small container of shampoo and put some on her head. Sabine wearily lifted her hands and began to wash her hair. Her breath came harder with the effort, but it felt so delicious she closed her eyes and let her head fall back a bit, bringing it more under the spray. She tried not to think about Rudy watching her.
His wet T-shirt heightened her awareness of her body against him. Hard muscle compressed her soft breasts. After she rinsed her hair, he reached behind her and retrieved a bar of soap. Readjusting his hold to support her with one of his powerful arms, he began to wash her back. It felt too good to stop him. She let her head fall to his wet T-shirt-covered chest.
“Turn around.”
He sounded raspy. Sabine lifted her head and found her eyes trapped by his unreadable ones. She moved her legs but wouldn’t have been able to turn on her own without falling. Now with her back against him, she took the bar of soap and moved it over her skin. She lost herself to the pleasure of feeling clean again. When she finished, she was shaking and short of breath.
Shutting off the water, Rudy lifted her dripping wet in his arms. Sabine pulled a towel from a rack above the toilet when he stopped there and held it to her body as he carried her out of the bathroom. In the other room, he sat in the chair and draped her legs over his. Sabine dried herself on his lap.
“Lean forward,” he said, taking the towel from her.
She did and froze. Beneath her, a hard ridge told her just how much the shower had affected him. Seeming not to notice her sudden change, he wrapped her hair in the towel. Then he cradled her, stood and put her back onto the chair, by herself.
Slumping against the chair, she watched him go into the bathroom for the big T-shirt and return. His expression was stern as he gripped the shirt in his hands and pulled it over her towel-covered head. A couple of unceremonious yanks, and the top fell down over her body.
“Thank you,” she murmured, glad to be covered again.
He said nothing in response and just lifted her and took her to one of the twin beds, where he’d already pulled the covers down. Before covering her with those, he opened the rucksack and pulled out a roll of bandages and a tube of ointment.
Propped by two fluffy pillows, she shut her eyes and bit her lower lip to keep from crying out when the ointment touched the raw flesh of her shins. Her fingers gripped the sheet and blankets while he wrapped her legs. When he finished, her legs were throbbing so much her mind swam with pain and dizziness.
“I’m sorry,” Rudy said.
She couldn’t respond with more than a single nod.
He left her and went into the bathroom with the rucksack. When he returned, he was shirtless and in a pair of lounge pants. Sabine caught his profile as he passed the bed and couldn’t look away from his broad back. Hard muscles tapered to a trim, fit waist. His butt was tight and perfectly shaped. She held her breath when he leaned over the table and retrieved a bottle of water. Opening it, he faced her and sat on one of the chairs with a long sigh. Lifting the bottle of water he held, he drained half its contents. Sabine forgot the stinging pain in her legs. Smooth skin and a light covering of hair followed the rippling muscles of his chest and abdomen. He sat with his knees spread and his big body slouched lazily in the chair. It gave her a shock to notice him like this, a man with overpowering masculinity that appealed to her on a level she had never experienced.
He lowered the bottle and she stared at his big hand. His other hand lay over the opposite arm of the chair. Those hands had touched her in the shower. Heat began to stir in her. She raised her eyes. He watched her. There was something erotic in his gaze. Leashed interest. Maybe even unwanted desire.
The first shiver of something other than fear raised bumps on her arms. She was alone with him on a Greek island. What would tomorrow be like, she wondered, waking to the Aegean Sea and this mysterious man who’d saved her life?
Cullen sipped a cup of strong Greek coffee and looked out across the turquoise waters of the Aegean Sea. Of all the places to crash-land a DeHavilland, this had to be the best. Under any other circumstances, he’d have enjoyed it. He’d known this rescue would be among the most dangerous he’d ever done, and he’d taken as few men as he could to avoid risking more lives than necessary, but no one should have died. That helicopter had been waiting for them. Anger simmered close to a boil inside him. Only someone close to Noah could have leaked their plans.
He’d give Noah every resource he had to find out who and why, and whoever was responsible would pay with their lives.
Hearing a sound, he glanced at the door of the room. He couldn’t see her but knew Sabine had moved on the bed. She’d slept on and off for two days now. He’d decided to let her and had only disturbed her to make sure she drank water and ate and had clean bandages. Letting her sleep this long made