Page 36 of Her Honorable Hero

He bent down and brushed a kiss against her lips.

How in the hell could she be laughing and responding to a kiss in the middle of hell?

“You stay safe. Now let me get this secured.” He started to bend down to tie the leash on her ankle, when she gripped his wrist.

“It’s not long enough.”

“It’s plenty long enough.” He cupped her cheeks and stared deep into her eyes. “I’m going to be hanging out the window holding onto the leash, I’m six foot two, add the length of my arm, and that’s plenty of extra length.”

“You can’t come outside. If she sees you, she’ll freak. This is all predicated on you staying out of sight. Just your long-assed arm can be outside. So, I’m telling you, the leash is too short.”

“Under no circumstances do you take off the leash, are we clear?”

At least this time she remembered not to bite her lip. “Do you want me to lie to you, Griffin?”

“What?” His voice was a low rumble.

“I’ll lie if I have to. Is that what you want?”

“No.”

“Good, because I’ll do anything to save this girl. Please trust me to do what’s smart. Put the leash on me. But know this, if push comes to shove and I need to untie this damn thing in order to save that little girl, I’m going to damn well untie it.”

She’d never seen dark eyes shimmer with such heat. “Fine,” he ground out. “But you know this, I’ll come after you.” And somehow, she did know it. Here in the middle of all this uncertainty, Miranda was absolutely positive that Griffin Porter would move heaven and earth to reach her if she should need him.

She put her hand on his shoulders and he got down on his knees as he securely fastened the nylon around her ankle. He helped her out the window, after ensuring that all of the glass had been removed. As soon as she got a good look outside, her heart sank. The toddler had moved even farther away from the train.

Miranda crawled just a little, then she propped herself cross-legged on the ground, like she had seen day care teachers do on television. “Sweetie,” she crooned. “Can you come here?” The toddler looked at her with a lost and frightened stare. Carefully and slowly, so as not to scare her, she held out her arms in the universal gesture of welcome. “Your mommy’s waiting for you. We have milk. Aren’t you thirsty?”

Finally she got a small nod.

Success!

“Can you come closer?”

The little girl moved slightly toward her, but then stopped as she slipped in the sand. She held out one chubby little hand.

“Well okay then, Sweetheart, I’ll come to you.”

Miranda used her elbows to propel herself forward. She was feeling claustrophobic with the side of the train just a mere foot above her head.

Don’t think about it, Slade.

Sand was getting inside her blouse, and underneath the top of her skirt. Everything about this was making her skin crawl.

“Milk,” Hope said as she continued to hold out her arms and snap her hands open and shut.

“Yes, your mommy has milk waiting for you,” Miranda lied easily. She would promise anything to keep the girl happy.

“Wan’ Mama.”

“Stay right there, and I’ll get you and take you to your Mama.”

Miranda continued to use her elbows to crawl toward Hope, but then the little girl got anxious and decided to move in Miranda’s direction. She plopped down on her hands and knees and tried to go forward, but she was having trouble gaining traction in the sand and sea grass.

“Stop. Hope, wait for me.”

The little girl got a stubborn look on her face and grabbed some of the grass and tried to use it to pull herself forward. Yanking the grass pulled it out of the ground and splattered sand and dirt up into her small face.