Page 39 of Their Virgins Secret

“I appreciate the offer, but I can’t leave the country,” Jessa explained.

Rafe’s handsome face turned down with what Jessa thought was disapproval. He waved a hand toward her, but spoke to Cole and Burke. “You will allow your precious gem to make such a decision unaided? Why is she not tied up? I have rope if you have need of it. ”

“And a gag,” Kade offered. “It would be terrible to close that pretty mouth, but she looks quite capable of screaming. ”

“I bite, too,” Jessa promised. Yeah, she could see why all these guys got along with the Lennox brothers.

“I am sure Cole has his own rope, and I would be shocked if he hadn’t gagged many a woman over the years,” Rafe offered.

Jessa shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, guys. I can’t leave the country or this man will come after my son. I’ll never have my life back until we deal with this bastard. I won’t leave. Now, I would like to know exactly what’s going on. Are we moving? Have we found out anything about where this Marco person is?”

Burke crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s my girl. And Rafe is right about Cole. He’s damn good with a knot. Now, what have you two found out?”

Kade straightened up, suddenly looking more professional. “First off, Cole called earlier about your phone, Jessa. We have confirmed that no one has turned on the tracking device. You should be safe. Now, about Delgado, we have uncovered a few things. We know that he has a private jet. The FAA shows the Delgado jet filed a flight request late last night for a small town outside Albuquerque. They landed. I don’t know where they went from there, but on a short flight, they wouldn’t have to file another request. But you should know that I also discovered Delgado owns several businesses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. ”

Jessa’s heart rate tripled. “He’s here? In the same city as my son?”

Cole held a hand out. “Caleb is safe. Gavin is moving the whole family to his penthouse. They own a floor with a private elevator. They can shut the floor off from the rest of the building and lock down the stairwell, if need be. And if we get really worried about Caleb, Gavin promised to take him to Alaska. No one gets in and out of River Run without the whole town knowing it. It’s going to be okay. ”

But Burke was frowning. “We have friends in Albuquerque. A couple of our old SEAL team members live out there. From Delgado’s perspective, it would be a good bet that we’d run there and potentially stash Jessa with them. ”

Rafe’s fingers tapped along one of the briefcases he’d brought in. “Or it’s a ruse. When I hunt, it is good for the prey to believe you are in one place when you’re really in another. All I’m saying is you should be careful. It would be easy for him to drive here from Albuquerque or to change planes. ”

“I covered our tracks,” Burke argued. “I haven’t used a credit card. The car can’t be traced back to us. He could have followed us from D. C. and figured out we flew to Dallas with Gavin James, but after that, he’d have no way of knowing where we are. Dallas is a big city. ”

“Unless he has someone on the payroll at Black Oak,” Cole mused.

“I’ll talk to Gavin about that. ” Burke frowned, but opened one of the briefcases and pulled out a new phone. He held it up to her. “We have about ten of these now. We’ll toss out the ones that came from our office, just in case one of the bastards gets to Hilary. We use one for a day or so, then we toss it. Stay here with Rafe and Kade for the moment. Cole is going to change the plates on the car. I’m going to scout the area. In a couple of hours, we’re going to leave here and head to Louisiana. We have a Cajun friend there, a real security pro, and a damn fine Dom. He has a place in the swamp. We’re going off the grid, sweetheart. ”

“He has a lot of rope, too,” Cole drawled, selecting a new license plate from those Kade had carried in. In fact, the Middle-Eastern hotties had brought a veritable grab bag of items to help hide a person’s identity. After selecting one, Cole stared, his gaze heavy, somber—completely closed. “I know you’re afraid and angry, Jessa. Just let me get you through this. Then you don’t have to see me again. ”

Well, he’d given up pretty easily. So maybe she’d never meant much to him. Hadn’t she wanted them to go away? Yes. So why did those words make her heart hurt?

Jessa swallowed down the anger and forced herself to shrug, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing that he’d bruised her feelings. “Perfect. ”

Burke’s whole face shut down, and his shoulders squared. “Let’s go, brother. We need to leave tonight. Jessa, stay here. And for god’s sake, eat something. I know you don’t want to. Neither did I, but don’t hold us back because you can’t see past your own misery. We’ve already got one member of the team who seems intent on doing that. I don’t need another. ”

Burke slammed out after his brother.

He was right. As terrible as food sounded to her turning stomach, she needed to stay strong so she could get back to her son. Caleb mattered to her. Cole and Burke didn’t. She had to keep telling herself that.

“So you’re Jessa. ” Kade sat down in the chair at the room’s single table. It was a wobbly thing, but Kade made it seem almost elegant.

“I am. ” She wished one of the twins would have stayed. Suddenly, she was brutally aware that she was alone in a motel room with two very virile strangers who shared their women and all she wore was a robe.

“We’ve been listening to those two moan about you for a solid year,” he explained. “Well, Burke moaned. Cole simply brooded more than usual. ”

She picked up the last sandwich. Her stomach turned. “I thought they were in South America for the last year. Not the Middle East. ”

Rafe stared at her. His easy charm seemed to be gone. “We’re not really the Middle East, at least according to our neighbors. They don’t like our…customs. ” He shrugged. “We hardly care. The Lennox brothers have been in South America. Because of the rescue operation they undertook, we talked to them on a regular basis. You seem to be under the impression that those men have been throwing a party. ”

Talk about accusations. At least the idea of a good argument made it seem easier to eat. She swallowed the first bite and reached for a bottled water. “I realize they were working. ”

Kade leaned forward. “They risked their lives every single day. We hired them, so we feel a bit responsible for the situation they find themselves in. After all, they were looking for our cousin. ”

“Alea. ” She remembered the name they had given her and wondered about the woman. “Is she all right?”

Rafe sighed, a deep sound of regret that filled the room. “She is alive. ”

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