Page 60 of Operation: Silent Angel
Shepherd heard him out. Then he retrieved his phone from his pocket and dialed Cooper. Cooper answered on the second ring. “Coop, I need you and Miller here.”
“We’ll be on the road in less than an hour.” He didn’t ask why. Shepherd had given him the heads-up before he and Diana left to drive to Galena.
“Thank you,” Shepherd said. He turned back to Mac. “It’ll take them about three hours to arrive.”
“I’ll have covers worked out for them by the time they arrive,” Mac said. “Thank you, Shep. I appreciate the assist.”
Shepherd finished his drink and then returned to the room. He felt bad that he’d be dropping this on Diana. She had really been looking forward to this weekend away. She married him knowing about the twenty-four-by-seven work the agency did, its importance, the missions, and the people he was responsiblefor. She knew that agency business would always be there and take priority over their personal life. And she always accepted it and understood.
She rose when he walked into the room.
“Did the fire help to warm you?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around her. He smiled as he gazed over her beautiful face and into her sparkling blue eyes. He ran his fingers through her soft blond locks.
“Yes, the chill is gone. So, who was the operator and what’s going to interfere with our weekend?” she asked with a knowing, small smile.
“His name is Seth Makris, Mac. If you recall, he helped us in Mykonos last year, and he came to us for help a few months ago, the Cancun Mission,” he began. He only continued when Diana nodded. “He needs our assistance.” He told her what Mac had shared about the couple who would attend the masquerade ball that evening and what he needed from them. “I promise the danger level should be minimal. I’d never have agreed to help with you involved if there was even a slight chance of any danger to you.”
“Sam, I know,” she said. “So, your presence here, is that why I was given the tickets to this ball?” She watched the telltale slight tip up of one side of his lips confirm that was true. She ran her fingers through his black hair and then caressed his cheek. “I love you, and I will gladly share you with a mission during the ball. Are Cooper and Madison already on their way?”
Shepherd kissed her lips. He loved how she knew him well enough to anticipate his next move. “I love you too. Thank you for always understanding. And yes, they are.”
Diana glanced at the sofa she’d been sitting on. “The hotel is fully booked. That does pull out into a bed.”
“For one night only. I promise we will stay Saturday night alone and have our getaway.”
Diana kissed him again and then said, “I’m holding you to that, Colonel.”
“Have I told you lately that I am the luckiest man alive to have met and married you?”
“Not often enough,” she said with a smile.
“I thank God for you every day.” He kissed her again and held her tightly. He was lucky and grateful that she was in his life and understood the job he did. She had also healed him from what was misdiagnosed as partial paralysis and had confined him to a wheelchair for several years.
“Do you have to go confer with Mac?”
“Now, no,” he said with an amorous smile. He drew her by the hand over to the bed. “We have a few hours before I’ll be pulled away.” After putting their bags onto the floor, he began stripping her clothes from her while pressing wet kisses along her jaw, down her neck, and over her collarbone. “Now, let me warm youup properly,” he said on a breath. He was rewarded with moans of pleasure from her.
Intense kisses, sensual caresses, and his body heat not only warmed her, but heated her to an erotic frenzy. As his job interrupted their lovemaking often, they were used to seizing and enjoying any moments they had. A full uninterrupted hour later, they lay tangled in each other’s limbs, their bodies still entwined, bare flesh against bare flesh, sated and relaxed in the afterglow of incredible releases fueled by both a powerful passion and a deep love.
Shepherd allowed his eyes to remain closed and let his thoughts drift. He didn’t often have the luxury of an afternoon of lounging in bed while holding his naked wife in his arms. They were both busy people. That was one of the things he loved about her, that she had her own career. She ran a successful chiropractic and physical therapy clinic where she, too, put in long hours. She was a strong , independent, and capable woman , an equal. He’d once thought he didn’t need love, didn’t need to have a woman be a part of his life, didn’t think it could work with the demands Shepherd Security put on him. But he’d been wrong. She was a perfect fit in his life, and he hoped that he, too, was a perfect fit in hers.
Diana pressed a kiss to his lips, knowing he wasn’t asleep. His breathing wasn’t deep enough. “We should get in the shower. You have a meeting in about a half an hour,” she whispered, even though right there in bed is where she’d prefer to stay.
Shepherd opened his eyes and gazed into her beautiful blues, always amazed at how they focused on him with love, trust, and respect. “I love you,” he said. “I love us.”
“Me too,” she said. And she did.
She knew he’d been worried that his job would be too much for her when they’d first gotten together. And she would admit, it took time to get used to the twenty-four-by-seven demands on him. But getting used to the danger his people routinely were in was harder because she knew them all, and their significant others. The team was a family, her family, and she cared about all of them. When one was injured, she couldn’t stop herself from feeling their pain as if it had been Sam who was injured.
The one thing that still bothered her, though, was how much the various intelligence agencies knew about them and interfered in their lives, and how deceptive they were. Wading through the subterfuge was nothing she had experience with. Sam, on the other hand, usually outplayed them at their own games.
“There’s something on your mind,” he said, while softly stroking over her silky skin. He cleared a stray lock of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.
“It’s no coincidence that she’s the same size as I am. I hate feeling like we were set up. How come they can’t be honest and straightforward?”
Shepherd chuckled. “It’s the nature of the business. And we were set up. As I told you, Mac called me a few days before you weregiven the tickets and the dress. I was sworn to secrecy, State secrets, Diana. It is no coincidence, and I didn’t even know the mission before we got here, with good reason.”
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