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With his arm around her, their sides pressed together, and her lips touching his skin, the night was filled with light. She could see a bright future like a tunnel opening to a sunny day. If only she could walk through that tunnel with Hays.
No.
Sunshine, happiness, a future with the person she loved? None of that was in the cards for her, but maybe for Jacey and Quaid if she could warn them. She had to stay focused on her objective.
His fingers closed around her hand and the note. “Knock knock,” he murmured, his lips brushing her cheek.
Her heart leaped and her skin sizzled with his touch. “Who’s there?”
“A knee.”
“A knee who?”
“A knee thing you want or need, Liz.”
She didn’t laugh. If only that could be true. Hays as her guard, her companion, her man, her love, her husband …
A fairytale.
The sound of heavy footfalls on the rocks and Cade’s bark of, “Hays,” drew her attention. She cried out as Peter sprung at Hays’s back to rip him away from her.
Hays released her, spun, and faced Peter.
The guard actually stopped. Surprising. Hays was obviously strong, but he appeared too relaxed and happy for Peter to consider him a serious threat.
“Step away from Miss Oliver,” Peter commanded.
“Never,” Hays said.
It was only one word, but the weight and the depth of it reverberated in her chest and made her believe she might have an advocate, a protector, a safe space.
No one spoke or moved as the two men faced off. Hays turned slightly away, a natural posture, which hid his back pocket and the hand that slid her note in. Elizabeth couldn’t see their faces clearly in the darkness with the truck headlights angled below them, but she could feel the determination and confidence radiating from Hays.
Elizabeth shifted. She had to stop this battle. She despised pain; it was all she’d known and seen in her life. No one could stop her father’s mercenaries. Peter was more deadly, underhanded, and devoted than any of her father’s guards. He was a true monstrosity, never to be underestimated. She’d challenged him twice today, but never before.
Hays was tougher than tough, his success on the battlefield and confidence in his skills obvious, but he was too nice of a guy to go beast mode on Peter. She couldn’t risk Peter maiming or killing him. Not for her sake.
“You do remind me of Clark Kent,” Peter said, obviously having listened in when Elizabeth had called Hays Superman, “but I don’t believe you have any power. You think you can stop me with your Mr. Rogers permagrin?”
Hays didn’t even flinch at the insult. “Easily.”
“If that is your decision, I will remove you from her side,” Peter snarled.
Elizabeth had to stop this. Nobody else was saying a word or moving to step in.
“Try it,” Hays said, all confidence and poise.
Peter lunged at Hays before Elizabeth could do more than squeak out, “No!”
Chapter
Five
The battle was immediately underway. Elizabeth was terrified for Hays’s safety. Hays was a battle-savvy soldier, but Peter was a brute who lived to inflict pain. She scuttled closer to try to protect Hays.
Quaid lifted her off her feet and deftly pulled her up to the higher ledge with him and Anna.
“No, please,” she begged her brother. “He’ll kill him.”
