Page 87 of Duty Bound

Nothing much had changed. The furnishings were still the same, albeit a little more threadbare, but the photos on the mantelpiece were exactly how she remembered.

Pat and his wife on their wedding day. Joe as a baby. A family shot on the beach. Joe in his army uniform. She stared at that for some time. He looked so handsome, so happy.

He’d died doing something he’d loved, being the person he’d wanted to be. That was something, at least.

She poured Pat a fresh cup of coffee and took it into his office. He seemed to enjoy having her there, and she didn’t mind. It was better than being alone, and this place had happy memories for her.

“Thanks, Lily.” He shot her a sad smile as she set the mug down on the desk.

“Anything?”

He shook his head.

They’d spent the evenings talking about the situation in the Middle East, about the role of the armed forces, about his time in the Navy SEALs. He’d been captured once and managed to escape, so he was under no illusions about what Blade might be going through.

“It took me a month to get away,” he told her, his gaze knowing. “You just have to hang in there, and hope for the best.”

Easier said than done.

Even after two weeks, Lily wasn’t sure exactly what Pat did for a living. He was in and out, sometimes flying to D.C. for meetings, other times spending long hours in his study on secretive phone calls. Occasionally men in suits came to visit, but they never stayed long.

Pat was an enigma.

One evening, they were sitting in the garden together as had become their habit. Lily was scanning the Internet on her laptop, looking for any news of a captured American soldier, while Pat read the newspaper.

“You know, Lily?—”

She glanced up.

“We might never know.”

A chill swept over her. She didn’t want to acknowledge that he might not be coming back. It had been three weeks with no news. Interminable to her, but not long for a Green Beret who’d escaped and was in hiding.

“Don’t.” She shook her head.

He put down the paper. “Sweetheart, sometimes they don’t come home.”

A red-hot poker stabbed her in the heart. She couldn’t handle it. Couldn’t let herself think along those lines.

“Don’t say that,” she croaked.

Pat studied her. “You care for him, don’t you?”

Lily hesitated. How could she tell him?

Would he be upset that she’d moved on from his son? That she’d fallen in love with Joe’s best friend?

He nodded at her laptop. “You’re barely off that thing, you jump every time the phone rings, and you’re the first one outside when a car pulls up. We’re both desperate for information, but it strikes me this goes a little deeper for you.”

A sob escaped her. “He sacrificed his life for mine.” She couldn’t meet his gaze. “I thought it was because he’d rescued me, that it was just infatuation and it would pass, but—” She sniffed. “I can’t handle the thought of life without him.”

He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I understand. It was an intense situation.”

“You do?” Her eyes filled with tears.

“Of course. Blade’s a great guy. I understand why you might have feelings for him.”

“But I feel so guilty.” She took a shaky breath. “What about Joe?”

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