A Father's Desperate Rescue (Man on a Mission 5)

“Someone gave Dirk’s cell phone number to the kidnappers,” Mei-li added in an implacable voice. “Only a very few people could have done that. Including you.”

All at once, Mike was holding a snub-nosed pistol in his right hand, pointing it right at Mei-li. “That’s enough,” he snarled.

Dirk started forward and Mike swung the gun toward him. “Don’t even think about it. I could kill you just as soon as look at you.” He turned back to Mei-li. “I should have known the minute you showed up you were bad news,” he said viciously. “I warned Croft, but he—” Mike broke off when he realized he’d betrayed himself.

“Gabe Croft,” Jason said, almost conversationally. “They fingerprinted him after he was arrested, and Interpol identified him early this morning. Thank you, Mike. That’s really all we needed to put the final nail in your coffin.”

Mike cursed, and with his finger on the trigger took aim at Jason. Dirk dived toward Mike’s legs at the same time Rafe tackled him from the right. A shot rang out, but the bullet buried itself harmlessly in the ceiling. Dirk wrestled the gun away while Rafe got Mike in a stranglehold, and suddenly Patrick was there with an electrical cord he’d ripped off one of the living room lamps. Between the three of them, they tied Mike’s hands securely behind his back.

Dirk stood, then turned abruptly and was surprised to see Mei-li’s brother returning a gun to his shoulder holster. “The heroics weren’t necessary,” Jason murmured, his lips twitching as if he wanted to smile but wouldn’t. “But I suppose thanks are in order.”

Dirk couldn’t help it. He laughed. His eyes met Mei-li’s, and hers were brimming over with sudden humor that matched his. “I guess it’s true,” Dirk said. “The Brits do have a talent for understatement.”

Epilogue

Dirk proposed to Mei-li the next day...and she turned him down. “Stockholm syndrome,” she told him gravely. “Have you heard of it?”

“Yeah, but how does that apply here?” he asked, completely at sea. “I wasn’t your hostage.”

“No, but...you’re grateful. That might be coloring your perspective.”

“Hell, yeah, I’m grateful—to you and Jason. But I’m not asking Jason to marry me,” he said with dry humor.

She laughed a little at that, but then said, “Four days, Dirk. Four intense days.” She turned away from him so he couldn’t see her face. “You can’t fall in love with someone in four days.”

“You did.”

She swung back around. “Yes, but...”

Inside, he was ecstatic that she at least acknowledged she loved him, but he couldn’t figure out why—if she loved him—she was turning him down. “But what?”

“But how do you know you really love me? It’s different for me—I’ve had eleven years to get over Sean. Bree hasn’t even been gone two years. What if what you’re feeling is...I don’t know...you being on the rebound? Combined with that gratitude you feel.”

Bree’s name shook him a little, but he said in a low voice, “Loving you doesn’t mean I don’t still love her. I always will. But there’s room in my heart for both of you. Is that wrong? Bree was a big part of my life—the biggest part of my life—for years. But she’s dead. I finally accepted that...when I met you.”

Tears sprang to her eyes, but she blinked them back. “Ask me again when you finish filming your movie with my father. If you still want to marry me then.”

“Are you telling me I can’t see you for ten weeks?”

“No. Oh, no.” She twisted her fingers distractedly, and he was surprised. Mei-li was always so assured. So confident. This really didn’t seem like her at all. “I want to be a part of your life. I want to get to know your daughters. But I...I don’t want to sleep with you again.”

It made him pause for a minute, because their passion had burned white-hot every time they’d touched. Every time they’d kissed. He knew he’d pleased her the night they’d spent together. He knew it, just as he knew she loved him.

Then it came to him. She loved him. And, loving him, she was afraid that if they slept together she wouldn’t be able to bear it if he decided that he didn’t love her, after all.

Tenderness washed through him. “Deal,” he said. “I’ll give you the time you ask for. But when I ask you again in ten weeks’ time, be prepared to say yes. Because I won’t accept no for an answer again.”