Page 2 of The Billionaire's Angel

After Anthony, I’d never wanted to be this close to a managain.

In a rush of awareness, I knew this wasn’t Aiden. Aiden had always been careful to preserve a polite, formal distance between us. If he caught me skulking around the house in the middle of the night, he’d never grab me from behind. Heck, with the way Aiden adored Amelia he’d probably volunteer to finish the prankhimself.

If it wasn’t Aiden. It had to be Gage. Aiden’s cousin had arrived two days before, when Amelia and I had been out on a shopping trip, picking up construction paper and tape. I met him briefly at the family dinner to celebrate his homecoming, but I hadn’t seen him since. Hoping my guess was right, I said, “I’m Sophie. Amelia’snurse.”

A grunt in my ear, but the arms around me didn’t loosen. Shoot. I knew better than to struggle. Fighting back only made them hurt you more. My breath shallow, body still, I triedagain.

“I’m allowed to be here. I’m not doing anything wrong. Please let mego.”

I felt his head drop to my shoulder, the heat of his forehead pressing into my bare neck. He drew in a deepbreath.

Was hesmellingme?

Panic sliced through meagain.

No. Please, no. Please don’t make me have to leave thisplace.

I’d thought I was safe here. For the first time in years, I was safe. I didn’t want to have toleave.

His heart jackhammered, the echo of its frantic beats fluttering against my back where his chest pressed tightly tome.

“Please,” I whispered. The arms around me loosened. I stayed frozen. I was too cautious to move until I’d truly been set free. This could be a trap, and I was too smart to fall for it. Anthony had trained mewell.

Warm lips brushed the side of my neck. Another deep inhale. Hewassmelling me. The urge to flee was almost impossible to resist, but I knew in my gut running was the worst mistake I couldmake.

I wracked my brain for everything I knew of Gage. He was the oldest son of James and Anna Winters, Aiden’s aunt and uncle. James and Anna had been brutally murdered when Gage was a child. When Aiden’s parents had been killed in an identical crime eight years later, Gage had been eighteen. The day after their funeral he’d joined the army. Until today, he’d never really comehome.

Details of his military service were scarce, but Amelia had told me everything she knew. He’d enlisted, gone to college, then through officer training school, before he’d joined the Rangers. After that he’d moved into special forces, his missions and teams so top secret his family hadn’t been sure he was still with the army until they’d called to tell Aiden that Gage wasmissing.

For months the family had been stuck in limbo, swinging between grief and hope, right up until a second call had informed Aiden that Gage had escaped captivity. He was coming home as soon as the military hospital released him, but they’d warned Aiden that the months of imprisonment had taken atoll.

Gage was no longer the man his familyremembered.

Aiden had commented dryly that Gage had been gone so long, they barely knew him at all. No matter what the circumstances of his homecoming, to his family, Gage was a stranger. As my panic ebbed, I realized the man holding me captive might possibly be more freaked out than Iwas.

He probably had some form of post-traumatic stress if he’d been held captive for months. Finding an intruder in his home was just the kind of thing that would set him off, especially when his home must seem like a foreign place after so many yearsaway.

Logic told me that a former special forces soldier suffering from PTSD wasmoredangerous, not less, but my guess at what might be going through his head put me back in control. As a woman alone in the dark, I was terrified. As a nurse, and a woman used to dealing with volatile men, I knew what I needed todo.

“Gage?” I asked, careful to keep my voice low and soothing. “Gage, it’s okay. You can let go. I’m Amelia’s nurse. I’m allowed to be here. It’sokay.”

I kept talking in the same soothing voice, feeling the tension slip from his body. Eventually, he lifted his head and stepped back, setting me free. With an odd sense of triumph, I crossed the room before I turned around. I thought he was steady, but I wanted some space between us, just incase.

“I’m going to turn on the lamp,” I warned just before I reached beneath the shade and turned the knob. Light flared, blinding me for a moment. A deep chuckle rumbled from across theroom.

“Whose idea was it?” heasked.

His voice distracted me for a second, so deep and calm, at odds with the tension that had seized his muscles only a few minutes before. I glanced at the light and saw the shadow of an enormous spider lurking on the inside of theshade.

I stepped away with a shiver before I realized what I was doing. Silly, since I was the one who had taped the bugs in place, but I hadn’t expected them to look so real. Amelia wasgood.

Clearing my throat, I said, “Amelia’s. It’s always Amelia’s idea.” I wanted to ask if he was okay, but I held mytongue.

“Clever,” hesaid.

“That’s Amelia,” Iagreed.

“Is this the only room youdid?”