Guard of Honor by Tracie Delaney

Chapter Fourteen

Mack FaceTimed Loris,angling his phone away from the window to stop the sun from hitting the screen. “I need a favor,” he said the second Loris’s face appeared.

Loris inclined his head and motioned with his hand. “Shoot.”

“It’s a long shot, but do you have a safe house anywhere near here? The closer the better. Or if not, can you get your hands on one?”

“I have a place in Lake Placid, but that’s miles from Manhattan.”

“How many miles?”

“Two hundred and fifty, give or take.”

Mack rubbed a hand over his beard. “Anywhere closer?”

“No.”

“Okay. I’ll have to make it work. Can I use it?”

“It’s yours. Want to clue me in?”

“I need to get Honor away from here for a while, somewhere that’s safe and secure, but that gives her a change of scenery.”

“You want to take the woman who won’t leave her house two hundred and fifty miles away from everything that’s familiar. Her home. Her father. For what purpose?”

“She has left her house. I got her to walk to the end of the street and buy a sandwich. And as for the why, it’s a test of sorts. Weird shit is happening around here, and I want to see if a different location makes things worse or better.”

“What kind of weird shit?”

Mack briefed him on the latest, while Loris listened without interruption apart from the odd agreeable sound and the occasional head nod.

“You think she’s doing this without recollection?”

Mack twisted his lips to one side. “That’s the thing. I don’t know. She very well could be, and if she is, then we need to get her help, stat. But… oh, fuck if I know, Loris. I have a feeling in my gut. Can’t put my finger on it exactly, but my instincts are telling me to get her away from this place for a while.”

“Her father might have a problem with that.”

“Which is why you’re going to call him and persuade him that this is the right thing to do for his daughter. But for fuck’s sake, don’t tell him about the stuff going missing. Honor doesn’t want him to know, and right now I need her to trust me. Make up something plausible.”

The faintest smile touched his lips, and then it was gone. “Toss shit over the fence, why don’t you?”

“Hey, you’re the boss. Comes with the territory.”

“Don’t I fucking know it,” he groused. “You spoken to Crew recently?”

Mack poked his tongue into his cheek to stop the smile that threatened to spread across his face. He already knew what was coming. Loris’s expression said it all.

“Yup.”

“When?”

“Few days ago. He… how can I put this… he was a tad pissed off.”

Loris snorted. “Pissed off? He’s bent my fucking ear over the client at every opportunity. And then I tell him if he hates her that much, I’ll swap him out—and he declines. Like, what the fuck is that all about?”

Mack arched a brow. “You’re asking me to figure out the way Crew’s mind works?”

“Good point. If he calls again whining like a fucking pussy, tell him I’ll send over a pack of tampons for his Mangina and to quit his bitching and man up.”

Mack laughed. “Copy that.”

“I’ll call Alan now and gauge his reaction. Ring you back in a few.”

Loris cut the video. Mack tossed his phone onto the end table beside the couch and let his head rest against the soft cushions. The shock of watching Honor suffer a full-on flashback lingered, and every time he closed his eyes, her wide-eyed terror played on a loop, one that would take a long time for him to quash. No doubt she’d crash for a while. He always had after an episode. The mind, so traumatized by reliving the horrors, simply shut down, almost as a way of the brain protecting itself.

By the time she woke up, he’d hopefully have everything arranged for their trip. Then his challenge would be persuading her to get into a car with him and drive two hundred and fifty miles to a strange house when it had taken every ounce of strength she possessed just to walk to the end of the street and buy a sandwich. She’d fight it, would cling on with all her might to the familiarity of home. But his intuition rarely let him down. Living life on the edge did that to a person, almost as if a sixth sense kicked in and became more powerful than the other five all put together. Over the years spent downrange, he’d learned to rely on that motherfucker, and like he’d said to Loris, it was yelling at him to do this thing. Get her away from here, go somewhere quiet and peaceful, and let her mind figure out the path to recovery in its own time, in a place far from the city where her abduction happened.

His phone rang and he answered. “Good news, I hope.”

“Alan has agreed, albeit reluctantly and with a condition that Honor has to call him every evening and let him know she’s okay.”

“Works for me.”

“I’ll send over everything you’ll need for the house, and a rental car will be dropped off within the hour.”

“You’re the man.”

“Keep me updated on progress.”

“Ten-four.”

Two minutes later, a message arrived via Intrepid’s secure app with the house address as well as entry and alarm codes.

All set. Now he just had to persuade Honor to go.

* * *

“No. Absolutely not.”

Honor planted her hands on her hips and paced in front of the fireplace, shooting the occasional disbelieving glare in Mack’s direction. Anyone would think he’d asked her to strip naked and run down Fifth Avenue making animal noises. He sat quietly and let her get it all out of her system. Fear was at the root of her reaction, not logic.

To her, this house was her security blanket, and to leave it meant taking a scary-as-fuck step into the unknown.

To him, it was her prison and the scene of all the peculiar shit going down. He had a theory, a fucked-up hypothesis, but not one he was willing to share with her just yet. He wanted to prove it to himself first, and only then would he know what next steps he should take.

“Why do you want me to do this? Are you purposely trying to scare me?”

“No.”

“Then why?”

“You have to trust me, Honor. You’re making progress, but I believe you’ll take greater strides if you get the hell out of the city and into a place where you can breathe fresh air and have the time and space to think, to let your mind slowly heal.”

She nipped at the corner of her lip. “Can Lizzie come?”

Over my fucking dead body.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“For one thing, she hates me, and I’m not overly fond of her either. But more than that, I have my reasons for wanting it to be just us.”

Honor dipped her chin and peered at him through her lashes. “So we can get to know each other without distractions?”

That wasn’t the main driver, but he couldn’t deny it was a nice added bonus. He had no intention right now of telling Honor his true motives, but it suited his purposes if she thought them heating up the sheets was one of the goals of their trip.

“I want you to get well and move on with your life, Honor. I happen to believe a change of scenery will speed up that process. But…” Mack rose to his feet and moved in front of her. Gripping her hips, he tugged her closer. Despite her height, he still towered over her by a good half foot, and she had to tilt back her head to meet his eyes.

“But what?” Her vibrant green eyes flicked between his, and she parted her lips in anticipation.

“I’m not the man for you, Honor. There’s no long-term future in it, and if you’re good with that, then I’m sure, as two consenting adults, we can have a little fun along the way. But if you’re looking for something more permanent…” He shook his head. “Then you’re heading for disappointment. I want to lay that out there, front and center, so there’s no room for any misunderstandings. Got it?”

He expected further questions along the lines of “why” and “what if,” all of which he had ready rebuttals prepared. Instead, she grinned and saluted him.

“Sir, yes sir!”

Fuck. This woman.

He trailed the tip of his nose along hers. “Call me that in the bedroom, and see what happens.”

All signs of mirth disappeared, and she gazed at him with an intensity that set the blood in his veins alight and painfully hardened his dick.

“I’ll bear that in mind. Sir.”

Mack groaned and went in for the kill, greedily slamming her mouth in a hard, punishing kiss. He moved both his hands down to her firm arse and tugged her into his groin. “You feel that, Honor?” He harshly nipped her earlobe when she didn’t respond.

“Yes,” she gasped. “God, yes.”

“I’m not a gentle man, or a gentleman. I don’t make love. I don’t sleep with women. I fuck women. And not every woman can handle a man like me.”

Clara could. Until she couldn’t.

No. He refused to go there. He’d changed. He wasn’t that man anymore, and the horrific psychological damage that had brought about the events leading up to the end of his marriage didn’t own him. Not now. He’d gone to hell and back during his recovery, but he’d survived.

Unfortunately, too late to save his marriage.

Honor shoved a veil of flame-red hair out of her face and glanced up at him. “I can. I can handle everything you throw at me. I’m not a child, or a victim. I’m an adult, a strong woman who knows what she wants. And I want you. You might not be the right man, Mack. But you’re the right man for right now.”

Fuck yeah.

His mouth closed over hers, his damn dick jerked about in his jeans like a porn version of Alien, and his control teetered on the edge of a brutal snap.

Not here. Not yet.

He stopped kissing her, and it was fucking hard to do. But he managed it. Tucking her hair behind her ears, he gently pressed his lips to her forehead and waited for his heart to stop thumping against the walls of his chest.

“I’m scared, Mack.”

He shifted back and gently clipped a finger beneath her chin. She didn’t mean them. She meant the trip.

“It’s okay to be scared. Our fear protects us as long as we use it in the right way. But locking yourself in this house is giving in to the fear, not using it to keep you safe and propel you forward. I know you have it in you to overcome your demons. But you have to trust me. Can you?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I trust you.”

“Then let’s go.”