Protecting His Kidnapped Family (Southern Soldiers of Fortune 2)

She didn’t respond for a while, just rested against him. The sound of palm fronds swaying in the breeze mixed with the low song of locusts outside. Even with the windows closed, the air carried the scent of rain and fresh growing things.

Finally, Serena placed her hand over his heart and pressed herself up to meet his gaze. “You know, now that I think about it, I did hear some of the staff whispering one time about a gringo.”

“Gringo?” Noah frowned. “You mean like a criminal or outlaw?”

“No. From the little I overheard, it sounded more to me like they were discussing an American.”

Huh. Up until now, Noah had been focused on the idea of a local perpetrator. Maybe one of the cartels, perhaps planning to call in a ransom at some point. Except no one had ever called to request money for her safe return.

His mind spun with the new information, his analytical brain ticking off new scenarios. If an American person or persons was behind this, why go after Serena?

The first thing that popped into his head was her family’s company. As he’d learned from her dossier, put together by the SSoF researchers, after her parents had died, she’d become the CEO of Carson’s Candies. It was a huge multi-billion-dollar company with operations around the world. He didn’t know squat about chocolate, other than he liked to eat it, but he’d bet good money you didn’t get to the pinnacle of international business without some competition along the way. Could a business rival be behind all this?

He reached down to pull out his phone and shot off a quick text to the guys to look into it. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was more than they’d had before.

“What are you doing?” she asked, sliding off his lap to sit on the cushion next to him. He missed the warm weight of her immediately, but forced himself not to pull her back to where she’d been. “Calling your team?”

“Just sending them a message about what you told me,” he said, clicking his phone off again and setting it aside. “Maybe they’ll find something out by morning before we leave.”

“Right.” She sat back into the corner of the sofa and tucked her legs under her. “So, lots of walking again tomorrow. We should probably get some sleep.”

“We should,” he said, yawning. He was beat, no question there.

A tiny squeak issued from the cot across the room. Serena exhaled slowly and pushed to her feet. “Sounds like someone’s awake.”

Noah reached up and grabbed her wrist, stopping her after one step. For some reason he couldn’t name and didn’t want to think too much about at present, he wanted to hold his daughter. Needed to hold her. “Can I get her? I mean, if it’s okay with you?”

“Uh.” The weight of Serena’s stare prickled on the side of his face even though he wasn’t looking up at her, afraid of what he might see there. “Sure. Yes. Come on over and meet Gracie up close.”

He followed her to the side of the cot, dazed and definitely nervous. What if he messed this up? What if he hurt her? She was so tiny and he was so big. Maybe this was a colossal mistake.

Serena bent and scooped up Gracie, smiling and cooing to her before turning to Noah. “Hold out your arms, pretend she’s a football you’re cradling. Yep, like that. Good.”

Noah froze as the tiny baby’s weight settled on his forearm, like nothing and everything all at once. Then he was staring down into a pair of blue eyes so like his own it was like gazing into a mirror. Unsure what to do, he bounced her slightly up and down like he’d seen Serena do, and smiled what he hoped was a good dad smile. “Hey, baby girl. I’m Noah. I’m your daddy.”

And somehow, saying that made it all real. There were no takebacks now, not that there ever were really. Not for him. Gracie squealed and grinned up at him. Or maybe it was gas. Who knew? Whatever it was, he was delighted and deeply moved, and he reached out one finger to stroke her downy little cheek. She latched on to him, wrapping her tiny hand around his finger, and he was a goner.

Gracie had his heart, totally, completely, irrevocably. From that time forward, he would do everything in his power to keep her safe, no matter what it took.

6

Serena trudged along after Noah through the St. Dourdane rainforest the next day, her feet screaming inside her too large boots. At the time, stuffing them with scraps from sheets to make them fit had sounded like a good idea. Now? Not so much. Her blisters had blisters and her neck felt permanently cricked from the weight of the baby sling across her chest. All she wanted at this point was a big glass of ice water and a long nap.

What she got instead was Noah acting like a Universal Studios tour guide while they hiked through the ass end of nowhere. And yes, perhaps she was a bit cranky, but she was doing the best she could here. At least the baby was sleeping soundly after a full meal at 6 a.m.

“See that tree there?” he said, pointing to a trunk that looked exactly like the other three thousand and fifty other trunks to her. “That’s a rubber tree. It’s where latex comes from.”

She almost said Thanks, Professor Proton but bit the words back at the last second. Just because she was miserable and exhausted, didn’t mean she should take it out on him. He had saved her and Gracie’s lives the day before, so…

Still trying to think of a response that didn’t involve lethal doses of sarcasm, Serena didn’t say anything right away. After a few more steps, Noah looked back at her over his shoulder, his frown troubled. Great. He’d obviously mistaken her silence for something else.

Noah stopped and turned around, blocking her path and forcing her to halt. “Everything okay?”

A million answers zipped through her mind at that moment, but the one she settled for was, “Fine.”

She wasn’t a whiner by nature and considering how much more awful her situation could be right now, she didn’t want to start complaining—regardless of how her cramped toes might disagree.

He narrowed his gaze on her and sighed. “I’ve been with enough women to know that means the exact opposite. Here, give me the knapsack.”