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“It’s worse because of the promise he made.”
“What promise?” Juliet’s odd eyes went laser as they re-focused on Dean’s face.
“Before Tim transferred to our squad, he’d witnessed firsthand the result of an IED attack. Maybe he had a premonition, maybe it was just plain bad luck, but Tim agonized over ending up severely injured like this other guy he knew. So he forced a pact on Noah.”
Juliet’s hand crept toward her heart and pressed there, maybe to make sure it was still beating. “What kind of pact?”
“A promise that Noah wouldn’t let him become a vegetable. That if his injuries looked serious, Noah would delay medical help and let him go in peace.”
Juliet paled, and Marlys felt a little clammy herself. She pressed even closer to Dean. “That wasn’t fair.”
Dean shrugged. “Love and war, angel.”
“So Noah feels like he failed his friend,” Juliet mused. Color was returning to her face, and her eyes were so bright Marlys figured those were tears she was blinking away.
“Probably,” Dean admitted. “But really, there was a medical officer on scene, so the choice was out of his hands. It was out of everyone’s hands.”
Setting her mouth in a line, Juliet pushed up from the couch. “I’ll go talk to him.”
Marlys turned to look at Dean. “Shouldn’t it be you?”
His gaze on Juliet, he hugged Marlys close. “I think I’ll stay here. Tell Noah I’ll be ready to put my famous chicken on the barbecue in half an hour.”
The new silence within the walls of the guesthouse only deepened Marlys’s disquiet. Danger. Promises. Injuries. Tears.
Damn it! This was all she didn’t want.
Twisting on Dean’s lap, she glared up at him. “I don’t like feeling this way.”
A smile kicked up one corner of his mouth. “And you think I do? That’s out of our hands, too, angel.”
No, it wasn’t. Marlys had only been powerless twice before—when her parents divorced and when her father had died. Other than that, she took charge of her life, she owned it, and she dealt with its dilemmas with cold-blooded selfishness.
She always did what was right for Marlys Marie Weston, hang how it might affect anyone else.
And right now, Marlys Marie Weston needed to get back to her original plan. She needed to take this man to bed. This minute.
Winding her arms around Dean’s neck, she pressed closer. “Who cares about your famous chicken?” she said against his mouth.
He put two inches between them and smiled. “I’ve had marinating breasts waiting in the refrigerator since three.”
Marlys’s fingers went to the tiny buttons that closed her sweater and she gave him a saucy smile. “Well, let me tell you how long my breasts have been waiting for—”
His kiss stole the last word from her. It stole her breath. Like every other time their flesh met, heat sparked, blood fired, the surface of her skin seemed to drum in time with her double-quick heartbeats. She dug her fingers into his thick biceps and hung on to ride out the thrill.
He lifted his head to stare down into her face. “Tell me again why I wanted to barbecue.”
“Because I hadn’t issued my much better invitation yet.” Her second cat smile didn’t seem to offend him.
He stood, keeping her close, and groaned as her body’s good parts touched all the hard ones of his. “Let me get my coat.”
“And I’ll bid adieu to the others for both of us.” Yeah, this was the way to handle the situation. She’d sex him right out of her head, her life. Practically licking the cream from her lips, she poked her head out the guesthouse door.
Entwined figures were backlit by the greenish glow from the pool. Marlys blinked. Who the hell had invaded Juliet’s backyard?
Then the man groaned, soft and low, and she recognized the couple. Oh, my God. She knew who the two sucking face were now.
Her mind reeled. She stumbled outside, her knees going soft, just as her mind honed to a razor’s edge. Juliet and Noah. Her father’s wife and her father’s aide. Juliet and Noah.
She must have said it out loud, because they broke apart as if cleaved in two. Sickness filled her, making her mouth dry and causing her stomach to pitch and heave like an un-moored boat.
“You…you…” There were a dozen accusations she wanted to hurl at them, but her throat was too tight to release a single one.
“Marlys…” Juliet started.
“You whore!” She found the words and flung them toward the beautiful blonde, the perfect lady her father had adored beyond reason. Beyond Marlys. “You bitch.”
