Elizabeth felt Dash’s body tighten in surprise.
“A unit?” He frowned. “What the hell for?”
“Caught wind of what you were up to here.” He shrugged as he leaned down carefully and retrieved the weapon he had dropped. He holstered it immediately. “Taking that bastard won’t be easy, Dash. I’ve pulled my old team together and we’re here to help.”
Despite the soft, pleasant drawl, Elizabeth glimpsed a stubbornness in the man Dash called Simon that warned her he wouldn’t back off easily.
Dash was watching him, not suspiciously, but in confusion.
“Why?” Dash shook his head. “This isn’t your fight, Simon. Or your units. And I sure as hell can’t afford your fee.”
Simon’s full, sensual lips quirked mockingly. “Consider it a freebie,” he said softly. “Let’s head back to your cabin. I have Stephanie making coffee. Hope you don’t mind. And the others are waiting impatiently.”
There was a long tense silence then.
“Oh hell. You pulled the Ladies in,” Dash groaned as though pained. “Simon, dammit, those women are vicious.”
“Best kind.” Simon nodded. “And they’ve been damned worried about your sorry ass since hearing about this fool’s mission you’re on. Don’t you know better, Dash? Grange will have an Army waiting on this pretty thing you’ve got. And if he gets her, you know damned good and well he’ll have the kid eventually.”
The lazy drawl, the redneck attitude and sinfully good looks were a combination that could have been devastating if it weren’t for the fact her body and her heart belonged to Dash. Simon was the least likely-looking soldier she could have imagined. He looked like a good ole boy playing at being a warrior.
“Is he for real?” Elizabeth asked Dash.
“Unfortunately, he is.” Dash sighed. “Come on, you can meet Simon’s Ladies.”
“His Ladies?” she asked suspiciously.
Dash glanced down at her with something akin to resignation. “Yeah. His Ladies.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dash had some strange friends. Ex-C.I.A. agents as ranchers, Special Forces types who baited Feline Breeds, and a smooth-talking southern boy with a harem all his own. A very dangerous, lethal harem, if Elizabeth wasn’t wrong.
The small cabin was filled with estrogen and female hormones and it was all directed one way. Toward the soft-spoken fallen angel that very obviously enjoyed them all.
“This is Stephanie, my little lady of passion.” He drew the nearest woman into his arms as they entered the cabin. She was tall, slender and stacked. The woman showed an excessive amount of cafe au lait skin in the snug bra-type gray top and form-fitting black leggings. She had a gun strapped to her hips, a dagger sheathed on her thigh and a gleam of laughter in her dark, chocolate-brown eyes.
“Or so he likes to think.” She looked up at the man with a mocking smile. “It’s good to meet you.”
“This is my little Danica. She takes care of all our…uhh social engagements.” Long black hair and wearing form-fitting black, weapons in place and stacked. Her blue eyes glowed with adoration as she stared up at Simon.
“Nice to see you again, Dash.” Danica greeted him before nodding at Elizabeth. “I’m pleased to meet you.”
“Glori, baby.” He drew the smaller brunette into his arms. “This is my humble baby, Gloria.” He dropped a kiss to her lips as she snuggled against his side after Stephanie moved away.
“Hi, Dash.” She flashed Dash a wide smile. “You training her?” She nodded at Elizabeth. “You need to buy her some better clothes than jeans.” She ran her hand over the hip of her snug spandex leggings. “This is freer.”
Dash cleared his throat but didn’t say anything.
“Janette, Oleta and Kimberly.” Janette had a pair of handcuffs dangling from the wide belt that crossed her hips. She was a blonde siren. Stacked. Oleta was a vibrant brunette with subtle hints of dark blonde highlights and Kimberly was a redhead with a definite gleam in her eyes when she looked at Dash.
Elizabeth frowned as she glanced up at her lover. Dash looked down at her with a wry gleam of amusement, which only made her more suspicious. The women were just a little bit too familiar with Dash to suit her.
“We’ll have dinner soon,” Stephanie called from the open kitchen. “Coffee’s on now. Good thing we brought supplies with us. You guys actually think that stuff you called food was healthy?”
Elizabeth frowned. She rather liked the stews and chili that Dash had been putting together.
“My Steph is a whiz in the kitchen.” Simon beamed. “We’ll have a meal you’ll not soon forget.”
Elizabeth kept silent. The women were moving around the kitchen and living room now; a few were cleaning weapons, two were cooking and the other two had taken watchful positions at each window.
Dash sighed. “Elizabeth and I are going to go shower. Make yourselves at home, Simon. We’ll talk later.”
“That we will.” Simon leaned lazily against the wall, his arm going around one of the redheads that moved in against him. “You go on. I have some things to show you this evening and then we can plan.”
Elizabeth followed Dash into the bedroom, waiting until he closed then, strangely enough, locked the door behind him. He moved the straight-back chair from the side of the wall and propped it under the doorknob. She lifted her brow mockingly.
“Don’t trust him?” she asked softly.
Dash stared up at her in surprise. “I trust him well enough, I just know him too damned well.” He raked his fingers through his hair in a gesture of obvious irritation. “Damn, I wasn’t expecting this.” He seemed more than bemused by the turn of events.
“I thought you said you didn’t have friends.” She kept her voice low as she watched him curiously.
Dash was frowning. He glanced to the door, then back at her.
“Simon’s an anomaly. Ignore him.” He glanced back at the door, appearing more confused by the second.
“What?” Elizabeth asked him.
He shook his head. “Damned man. I have no idea what the hell he thinks he’s doing here.”
“Sounds to me like he’s here to help you.” She sat down on the bed and began unlacing her boots. “For a man who claims he doesn’t have friends, you keep accumulating a bunch of them.”
He didn’t answer her, just stood watching her with a dark, wary expression.
“Dash, you’re worrying me.” She removed her boots before standing up and pulling her T-shirt over her head.
She hadn’t bothered with a bra that morning. The damned things were too restricting and uncomfortable when trying to move about the forest. Then she unsnapped her jeans, pulled the zipper and drew them from her body. When she looked up at Dash, he didn’t appear concerned anymore. He looked hungry.
“I don’t think so,” she snorted. “There’s no way you’re going to make me scream with all those women standing in there listening. They would attack you the minute you left the bedroom.”
Unfortunately, he didn’t deny it. Instead, he began to strip himself as she headed for the bathroom. He caught up with her as she was adjusting the water, gloriously naked and more than a little aroused.
“Elizabeth.” He caught her against him as she moved to step beneath the spray, staring down at her with those golden eyes that never failed to make her breath catch. “I love you because you hold my soul,” he told her simply. “I’ve always loved you. I just haven’t always known you.”
Damn him. Just when she thought she had one or two defenses left against him he pulled something like this on her.
She laid her head on his chest, because she knew if she continued to watch him she would end up crying again. He broke her heart sometimes. She had never been loved, been accepted so deeply, as Dash loved and accepted her.
“I love you for the same reasons, Dash.” She finally admitted what she had known when he was no more than a weekly letter, a ray of sunshine into her and Cassie’s dark life. “For the same reasons.”