The Protector by Marliss Melton Page A

while they were on the subject.
     
    She fought to swallow the bite she’d taken. “Not really. It was dusk. I couldn’t make out his face, just the fact that he wore glasses.”
     
    “Didn’t anyone get the plates?”
     
    She shook her head again. “No one even noticed. They would have gotten away with it if Itzak hadn’t changed his mind.” She bit her trembling lower lip. “He saved my life.”
     
    Poor kid was probably half in love with her.  
     
    “Did he say anything that could help identify the driver?”  
     
    All color slipped from her face as she gave a nod. “He told me to run, that the driver of the taxi would find me, and... he would take my head.”
     
    The stew in Ike’s gut threatened a return. He stared at Eryn , aghast. Beheading the enemy was a fun little game that fundamentalists liked to play overseas. To date, it wasn’t a pastime of homegrown terrorists. That meant they were probably acting at the behest of the Taliban or al Qaeda. Had the FBI considered that?  
     
    Feeling thoroughly worked up, he thrust his chair back and crossed to the woodstove where he busied himself stoking the flames, adding enough firewood to last till midnight.
     
    “Why did my father send you, Ike?”  
     
    The soft question, spoken just over his shoulder, startled him. He hadn’t heard Eryn leave the table.  
     
    Shutting the iron door, he brushed dirt off his hands and rose to face her. His first impulse was to shelter her from the truth, but then he decided it was best that she knew. “He figured the FBI was using you as bait.”  
     
    Air whooshed from her lungs but she didn’t look too surprised. “That’s what it felt like,” she admitted, proving herself more astute than he’d given her credit for. As he watched, she hugged herself in an effort to quell the tremors shook her entire body. He started to reach for her, then thought better of it.   
     
    “I’m scared,” she whispered. The pleading look in her violet-blue eyes begged for his comfort.  
     
    Ike’s heart trotted. All this touchy-feely stuff awakened emotions in him he’d spent the last twelve months—a lifetime maybe—trying to deny.   She made him want what he could never have  
     
    “Give your dinner to the dog,” he said, fleeing for the door. What he needed right now was fresh air and a clearer perspective.       
     
    “Where are you going?” she asked, whirling with a panicked look.  
     
    “Not far.” He couldn’t get out fast enough.
     
    “Ike?”
     
    With one foot out the door, he glanced back.  
     
    “I’m sorry,” she said, unsettling him further.  
     
    “For what?”  
     
    “For intruding on your space.”
     
    He didn’t want her feeling bad for him, not after the way he’d treated her today. Not when he looked at her and thought about sex.   
     
    Not going to happen. Without a word, he kept right on going, pushing into sharply cooler air, shutting the door behind him.   
     
    The sun was starting to set behind the adjacent landmasses, Green Mountain and Lairds Knob. Stalking up the trail he’d extended for his survival course, Ike hiked through the sparse, shadowed woods to the man-sized boulder that marked the first tenth of a mile. Climbing onto its lichen-covered surface, he dangled his feet off the edge and admired the burnished horizon.  
     
    Eryn’s struggle was a manifestation of the war he wanted no more part of. Recruiting Ike had been Stanley’s way of getting him back into the game, the sonofabitch.
     
    It wasn’t like Ike had a choice, either. He’d do anything to make up for the mistake that had cost four teammates their lives. Stanley knew that. He knew Ike wouldn’t fuck up again. He knew he’d keep Eryn safe from any threat that might come up his mountain.  
     
    Keeping her safe from himself ? Now that was going to be the real test.   
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
     
    “Okay, so the UPS man didn’t martyr