Protecting His Kidnapped Family (Southern Soldiers of Fortune 2)

“Serena? Hey, darling?” Noah had cupped her cheeks again, forcing to meet his blue, blue eyes. He was the only steady thing, the only rock in her shattered, flustered universe. She clung to his wrists, digging her nails into his skin. Some small part of her mind registered that she must be hurting him, but he didn’t even flinch. Just kept hold of her, kept focused on her, until his words slowly calmed the raging storm in her head. “Baby, darling? Just breathe. Just relax. I’m here and you’re safe. Gracie’s safe. Everything going to be okay. No one’s going to hurt you again. Never again. Not while I’m here.”

Time narrowed to just this man, just this moment, until finally the weight on her chest lifted and the pounding of her blood in her ears eased. All the fight went out of Serena and she slumped against him once more, boneless, weightless, breathing in his scent of soap and safety.

“Thank you,” she said, closing her eyes—not to sleep, just to rest in this sense of comfort and security she’d been missing for so long.

5

Noah sat there in the dark, holding Serena, for a long while after, his own mind racing despite his outward calm. Shit. That had been the mother of all panic attacks. He’d seen enough of them on the battlefield to know. He’d not really had much time to think about what her time in captivity had been like, but now he wondered.

Wondered and worried.

He slipped his fingers through the silky mass of her hair and sighed against her scalp. “Was it awful?”

“What?” she whispered through the shadows.

“Being held hostage,” he said at last, needing to know. “Did they hurt you? Torture you?”

She hesitated, then shook her head against his chest. “No. No one hurt me. Not physically. It was just hard, being alone so much, especially with the baby coming and me not knowing what to expect. I knew they wanted me dead, but I guess they wanted to wait until after the baby was born.” She gave a sad little snort. “Like that made it better somehow, what they were doing to me. Anyway, it was like slow torture. Waking up and wondering if today was the day I died.”

His arms tightened around her of their own volition. The thought of Serena by herself, pregnant with his child and scared, dug claws deep into his gut. She should have had all the good things for herself and their baby—pink nurseries and lots of baby showers and gifts. Instead, she’d had a gilded cage, solitary confinement, and suffocating fear. He wanted to punch something, namely the bastard who’d taken her. Instead, he just held her close and vowed to find the person responsible and make sure they never hurt anyone else again.

The longer they sat there together, the more questions arose in his mind and so he asked, a strange intimacy forming between them. “What about the delivery? Did you have a doctor?”

“A midwife,” she said, shifting slightly so she could look up at him. “They brought her in from the village for regular visits.”

“Do you have any idea who was behind your abduction?” he asked, frowning. He’d been kind of hoping she did, since he and his team had precious little intel to go on themselves. They had that message she’d apparently sent from the midwife’s cell phone, but that was about it. It had been an Argentinian phone number, which had prolonged the search for her whereabouts. That country was on the other side of the South American continent from where Serena had actually been located. Whoever her abductor had been, they’d know

n what they were doing, throwing everyone off their scent.

Assholes.

He growled before he could stop himself and Serena chuckled.

“Everything okay, big guy?”

“No.” He smiled despite himself, loving her names for him. He’d always been a huge fan of the Hulk in the Avengers movies, relating to the gentle giant with a heart of gold and a fist made for crushing. “But it’s getting better now that you and Gracie are here, and safe.”

“Same.” Her answering grin radiated through her tone. “And to answer your question, no. I have no idea who took me.” She traced idle patterns on his bare chest with her fingers. “Believe me, I spent hours trying to figure it out, but came up with nothing so far. And there was no contact with anyone who seemed to be in charge the whole time I was at the villa. The only people I saw were the staff.” Her hands stilled against him. “I paid attention, though, befriended some of the maids. Learned from them. Plotted my own escape. If you hadn’t shown up when you did, I was going to leave myself as soon as I could. That’s why I had the knapsack ready.”

Right. He’d forgotten about that in the midst of everything else that had happened that day. “What did you have in there?”

“Some cash—the equivalent of about two hundred American bucks. Some food, water. A map.” She shrugged. “Not much, but at least something to keep me going. Figured if I could get to the American Embassy, I could figure out my next steps from there.”

“Hmm.” He took a deep breath. As plans went, it wasn’t the worst one he’d ever heard. But it wasn’t the best either. “Probably good I showed up when I did. Who knows where these guys are? They could have eyes on the embassy—maybe even spies on the inside. You might’ve been walking right into their trap again.”

She shuddered against him and he tucked her closer, resting his chin atop her head. “Shit. I didn’t even think about that. I should have, though. Seems everyone on this island is corrupt.”

“Except me,” Noah reminded her.

“Except you,” she repeated, then laughed. “As far as I know right now.”

“No.” He nudged her side gently, then grinned when she squirmed. “As far as you know always.”

“Yeah, I get it. I’m just saying, give me some time, all right? I’m used to dealing with things on my own. Having you around will take some getting used to.”

No doubt there. Noah still had to pinch himself sometimes to remember that he’d found Serena again, in the last place he ever would have expected. Seemed fate had thrown them together once more and added a baby to boot.

“Same here,” he said, then kissed the top of her head. “But we’re in this together now, for better or worse, so if you do remember anything at all that might be a clue about your captor’s identity, let me know. I’ll have my team investigate and see what we come up with. You don’t have to do this alone anymore. Deal?”