Seal of Honor(97)
“Audrey!”
He spotted her, curled into a ball on the floor, fire raging around her, licking closer and closer.
Flames blistered his legs. He didn’t notice. He scooped her into his arms and tried not to think about how limp she was, tried not to worry about whether she was breathing. He just hugged her close and got her out of that hell.
Outside, Gabe carried her to the edge of the beach and sat her down where the waves rolled up and kissed the sand. No doubt the salt would sting like a bitch in her burns, but he had to get the chemicals he smelled on her off her skin. She moaned when the ocean rolled over her and struggled against his hold.
“I got you, Aud. Shh, honey. I know it hurts, but I’m here.”
Her lashes, caked with soot and ash, fluttered open. “Gabe?”
Scooping water over her singed hair, he tried to smile. “Hi, honey.”
“You’re okay. He didn’t…hurt you. I thought…”
“No, he didn’t hurt me.” But he was still out there somewhere, and Gabe raised his head to scan the thick tangle of jungle abutting the beach. Shit, he could be three feet in there and Gabe wouldn’t see him. “Audrey, honey, where is he? Where did Rorro go after he set the fire?”
“Rorro?” In that instant, her eyes cleared. She looked at her burning house. “He’s dead. I started the fire. I threw his lighter at him and he… He’s dead.”
Bile surged up Gabe’s throat. She lit a fire knowing she was soaked in flammable chemicals. She was lucky she hadn’t gone up in flames the moment the spark flared.
“Christ.” His whole body started to shake like a palsy victim’s from the mix of adrenaline after-burn and gut-wrenching fear. He couldn’t stop it, couldn’t control it. Gathering her up, he held her tight. “Don’t do that again.”
“Didn’t want to…first time. He was going to kill me. Why?” Her voice broke. “What did I do to him? He kidnapped my brother!”
“Later, honey. I’ll explain it later.” He just wanted to hold her now. And never, ever let her go.
“My house is gone,” she sobbed.
“We can build another. Bigger, with a workshop for you and an office for me. Maybe a guesthouse for when your brother and nephews come visit. Or, God help us, for when Raffi comes to visit.”
“But my paintings…”
“You can paint more.”
“I guess so.” She sounded unconvinced.
“Audrey…”
“No, no, you’re right. I know you’re right. Just all that work—gone.” She let go a ragged breath and snuggled against his chest. “But that doesn’t matter because I’m safe and you’re safe and we’ll build a new life together.”
“Absolutely. We’ll make this work, okay? I promise.”
He felt her lips curve in a small smile against his shoulder. “And my SEAL never makes promises he can’t keep.”
As they sat there on the beach watching her house burn, Gabe heard the unmistakable beat of a helo’s rotor over the crackle of flames. The bird swung in low over the treetops and hovered over the beach nearby.
Audrey squinted and raised a hand to shield her eyes against the prop-wash of sand. “Is that…?”
A rope fell from the chopper and one by one, six men slid down, armed for war.
“Yeah.” Gabe grinned and helped her stand as Quinn and the others ran toward them. “Our knights in shining armor have arrived.”
Epilogue
DOMINICAL, COSTA RICA
“I still like HORNET.”
“No,” Gabe told Jean-Luc for the hundredth time. But he had to raise his beer to his lips to hide a smile. He’d missed the guys and was glad they’d all made it to the housewarming party Audrey had somehow thrown together. Even Bryson and his boys had shown. Danny Giancarelli also put in an appearance with his stunning wife. And, of course, no party would be complete without Raffi.
Gabe hadn’t had much time over the past month to hang out with the guys, what with them attending constant training exercises, him buying the new house, setting up the international team office, and dealing with all the incoming contracts and resumes. Not to mention the way Audrey had thrown herself into her career and constantly spirited him off to Paris or New York or Tokyo for showings. He still wasn’t sure how he felt that her most popular painting was Sunday Liberty, a watercolor of him lying in a hammock in nothing but cargo shorts and his dog tags. Sure, the figure in the painting was faceless, but everyone knew it was him. It even said so on Audrey’s website.
The guys had given him grief about it for weeks.