Page 35 of Beautiful Vengeance

He hadn’t wanted to live, but she hadn’t listened, had refused to let him wallow in self-loathing and pity. He’d managed to shoot two guards dead on their way out, but she’d done the rest. Somehow she’d got them out through the gates and made contact with a nearby British army unit to extract them.

On the helicopter, he’d raged and cursed and hated her for saving him. Now he was grateful for what she’d done, the extreme risks she’d taken to help him. If not for her he would have died in that hellhole. He would never have had this time with her here at Laidlaw Hall, or met any of the others.

Including Kiyomi, the woman who had snuck past all his defenses and left him tied in knots.

What the hell was he supposed to do about her? Like Megan, she’d always treated him as a whole man, as an equal. She didn’t look at him like he was a cripple or a victim. She looked at him with admiration and desire.

Arousal stirred again, even as he tried to suppress it. Before his injuries he’d never been short of female company if he’d wanted it, but he’d never wanted anyone as badly as Kiyomi. Except with her he couldn’t follow the instincts that had never led him wrong before.

All the men before him had used and traumatized her. He couldn’t take the lead like he was accustomed to doing, he had to take things slow, and she would be leaving soon, probably after they returned from Damascus. While he and the others went on the coming op, the remaining team members were already dispersing to rented properties around Coventry, about an hour away.

Time was running out for them. In a few short hours they would be on a plane to Damascus, and once they finished with Rahman, Kiyomi and the others would be gone. He’d be left alone here with only his dog, Mrs. Biddington, the stableman and gardener for company.

He couldn’t ask Kiyomi to stay, it would be selfish and unsafe. She and the other Valkyries had been here a while now, and after the Bonfire Night incident there might be more interest about him and his property from curious locals. It was for the best that she and the others leave. But he couldn’t stop hoping that she would come back to him when this was all over.

He turned his head toward the door when the old wood floors creaked down the hall outside his room. Eden and Zack, heading into their room.

Letting out a deep breath, he glanced around, listening to the crackle of the flames in the hearth while the wind gusted against the windowpanes. This old place had seemed like a millstone around his neck when he’d first inherited it, but he’d become attached to it over the years.

Whenever he’d stayed here as a lad growing up, he’d dreamed about owning something so grand one day, never knowing his great-uncle would bequeath it to him upon his death.

Turned out the reality of owning an estate like this was far less romantic than what he’d imagined. It was a mountain of never-ending bills and work to keep it in good repair.

And yet…it was part of him now, in his bones and blood. He couldn’t imagine selling it. It had belonged to his family for ten generations. He had a duty to his forebears to be Laidlaw Hall’s custodian. This was his home. He had to stay.

Just as Kiyomi had no choice but to leave.

Giving up on sleep, he sat up against the headboard and reached for the half-finished paperback on his nightstand. The fire gave him plenty of light to read, and maybe it would keep his mind off losing Kiyomi.

You never had her to begin with.

Aye. Hard enough to let her go as it was. If they crossed the line they’d been flirting with, losing her might break him.

He struggled to focus on the words on the page, his mind stubbornly refusing to get into the story he’d found so absorbing just last night. The floor creaked in the hall. He stopped, listening. Another creak, softer this time. Closer.

The door handle began to turn slowly.

Marcus tossed the book aside and yanked the covers up to make sure he was decent. Who the hell would barge into his room in the middle of the night?

The breath stuck in his lungs when Kiyomi stepped inside and shut the door, her legs bare to mid-thigh beneath the hem of a kimono-style, satin robe.

Chapter Eleven

Kiyomi straightened as she released the doorknob, then faced Marcus. Her pulse skipped, then quickened. What a view.

He was sitting up in bed, naked from the waist up, his dark eyes searing her where she stood. The raw power of his body was finally revealed to her in the flickering firelight.

His chest, arms and shoulders were sculpted with muscle, the swirling burn marks scattered down the left side of his neck and chest stopping part way down his ribs. He was beautiful, even more so because of the scars.

A mix of anticipation and nerves danced in her belly as she met his gaze once more. She could read most men easily. Could figure out within a matter of minutes what role she needed to play in order to get their attention and keep it. How to be their fantasy.

Except with Marcus. She still wasn’t sure what he liked sexually, but she was guessing someone strong. Confident. Bold. That was why she was standing here in his room in her robe in the middle of the night.

Her time with him was running out fast. She couldn’t leave without fully exploring what was between them. No matter what happened after tonight, no matter what fate threw at her next, she would always have this one beautiful memory of him to hold close.

She wanted to feel. Just once, she wanted to feel with a man who wasn’t using her. A man she felt safe with and was attracted to. She might never get another chance. There was no way she would let this opportunity pass her by.

Marcus hadn’t moved, watching her with a closed expression.

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