Page 50 of Killer Secrets (Tempting SEALs 5)

She was furious at the thought that Daniel would go behind her back and contact the team. She was even angrier to realize that he would have had to go behind her back to find out enough about this operation to think they were needed.

He blew out a hard breath. "I don't lie to you, Kira, so can the 'Mr. Calloway' crap and the threats. I suspect they're here, but I don't know where, and I'm not bothering to find out. Extra security wouldn't hurt any of us."

"You suspected and you didn't tell me?" She glanced quickly back to the room she shared with Ian. "He knows they're here, Daniel. And if they're here, there's only one reason for it. To take him out."

"Has he gone rogue?" The question was a legitimate one, she knew.

"Hell no, he hasn't gone rogue, nor is he a traitor. Ian doesn't have a rogue bone in his body and you know it. But that's not the point. The point is, he can't afford even the slightest hint that he isn't rogue. What the hell are they thinking to come in here like this?" She kept her voice low, so low that she knew Daniel was reading lips more than actually hearing the words. "Do you think DHS isn't covering his ass? I knew it when they sent me in to protect Diego. They won't admit it, but trust me, Daniel, Ian is sanctioned."

"Have you seen them?" he asked her carefully.

She shot her bodyguard an irritated glare. "You know better than that."

"Has he?"

She shook her head quickly.

"Then don't worry about them. If they're here, they're here for their own reasons. Let's see what happens."

And he had still kept from saying, one way or the other, if he was in any way involved in their arrival.

"Warn them." Her smile was icy. "To make damned sure they don't put him in harm's way. Damned sure, Daniel. Or a lot of heads are going to roll. Do you understand me?" His would be one of them. "Anything happens to Ian, and I swear to you, as God is my witness, they'll pay for it."

His lips quirked, and in that flash of amusement she could almost see why his wife thought so much of him. Almost. Right now she was too damned mad to make the effort.

"You're like a lioness protecting a cub." He folded his arms over his chest as he leaned against the balustrade of the railing. "He's a fully grown male, Kira, he can take care of himself."

"That's not the point."

"It's very much the point. Keep trying to protect and control him, and he'll turn on you."

She stared back up at him in shock. "I'm doing no such thing."

For a moment, his expression was hesitant, then it smoothed out and became determined, assured.

"Yes, you are. And he won't like it. He's pissed you're in this to begin with. He believes it's his job to protect you. To keep you out of harm's way. This isn't a man who can accept the danger you live with. Remember that. Ian will always believe it's his duty to stand in the line of fire and your duty to patch up the wounds whether you like it or not."

And she didn't like it, not in the least, but she had a feeling Daniel was right. Ian wasn't very accepting at all of the fact that Martin Missern had attempted to do no more than strike her the night before. Hell, she had taken worse than that on a New York City street by a would-be mugger.

Her lips pressed together firmly as she crossed her arms over her breasts and stared at the wooden floor of the balcony before lifting her head and giving him her lips to read as she whispered. "If you know where they are, you better warn them. He knows they're here."

And he knew. He hadn't outright lied to her, but she knew him well enough to know he would continue the evasive double-talk to protect that knowledge.

He nodded slowly before asking in a soft voice, "What are you going to do when he sends me packing, Kira?"

"Accept it." Ian's voice was throttled with fury.

Kira whirled around, staring back at his shirtless body framed in the balcony entrance, his dark eyes lit with burgundy depths, his expression tight, controlled.

"Daniel isn't going anywhere," she informed him as he stepped out, pacing closer to them, dressed in nothing more than white slacks and anger.

Muscle rippled beneath dark flesh, flexing powerfully as he stepped closer to her, his gaze hard.

"He leaves today or you risk his life," he informed her coldly. "There are no neutral parties here, Kira. Do you understand me?"

"Daniel's loyal to me, Ian," she snapped. "This is not negotiable."

"You made it negotiable when you stuck your nose in my business," he growled, his eyes going to Daniel. "I want you to leave."

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