Page 90 of Duty Bound

Lily held her breath.

“Stitch told me the translator had been coerced. His family had been threatened, so even if I had vetted him more thoroughly, it wouldn’t have made any difference.”

She smiled, glad he’d forgiven himself.

“I know Spade would have wanted you to be happy.” He chuckled to himself. “I’m not sure he had me in mind, but if you’ll have me, I promise to take care of you.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “Of course I’ll have you. Joe gave us a gift when he died. If it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t have felt duty bound to come and get me. You saved my life, Blade.”

He kissed her, long and slow. When he broke away, she was breathless. Damn, she’d never get tired of him doing that to her.

“How can this be wrong?” he murmured.

She looked in his eyes and saw such tenderness, it made her melt. “It’s not wrong. I think we both know that.”

He smiled slowly.

Could a girl melt twice?

“How do you feel about going for a ride?”

“On that?”

He nodded.

“Er, yeah. Why not?” She’d never been on a motorcycle before.

“Hold that thought,” he said, as Pat strode into the room.

“Fucking hell, Blade. About time you showed up.” He pumped Blade’s hand and thumped him on the shoulder.

Blade grimaced.

“You okay?”

“I am now.”

Pat chuckled. “Glad to hear it. Are you going to tell us how the hell you got out?” He glanced at Lily. “Or have you already done that?”

“No, I was just going to.” He met Lily’s eye and winked.

She grinned. Now that she knew how he felt, she didn’t mind waiting. They’d have time to catch up later.

Blade gave Pat the rundown on his capture, skipping the brutal highlights—no need to spook Lily with those.

Pat laughed. “You rode that motorcycle all the way to Kabul?”

“Not Kabul. Pakistan.”

Pat’s eyes widened. “You’re serious?”

“Taliban closed the road into Kabul, put checkpoints every which way. I couldn’t risk it.”

“Were they looking for me?” Lily asked, her voice a whisper.

“Yeah. They put two and two together and realized I was the one who’d rescued you from the cave. That city shut down tighter than Fort Knox. Nothing was getting in or out of there.”

“That’s why you took so long,” muttered Pat.

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