Wade by Jennifer Blake Page A

didn’t sound particularly convinced. “So what’s the plan?”
    â€œI wait. That’s if you can confirm that our transport out of here will do the same?”
    â€œDone. But what if she won’t budge after this deadline? If the hawks in Washington get their way, they’ll be calling in air strikes on Kashi and Ajzukabad any day now.”
    â€œShe’s coming home. It was a promise when I made it, and it’s still a promise.”
    â€œI heard that. But if she’s not too fond of guys now, how’s she going to feel after you bundle her off to the States when she doesn’t want to go.”
    â€œGrateful?”
    â€œWouldn’t bet on it. In my experience, females show gratitude least when you expect it most. Ouch! Maggie, hey! Stop it, woman!”
    Wade grinned briefly as he listened to what sounded like Nat taking his lumps from a pillow being wielded by his wife and bedmate of some twelve or thirteen years. When he thought he might be heard again, he said, “Doesn’t much matter what Chloe Madison thinks. She’ll be safe, and that’s the important thing.”
    Nat apparently lost the battle among the sheets, because it was Maggie Hedley who spoke in Wade’s ear. “You be patient with that girl, you hear me,Wade Benedict. Enough people have pushed her around without you doing the same thing.”
    â€œI can’t just walk away from her.”
    â€œNow why? That precious Old South honor of yours? You gave your word, and that’s it?”
    â€œI promised John.”
    â€œSo what? She didn’t ask you to make promises any more than she asked you to rescue her. And if she makes up her mind to stay, what’s that to you?”
    â€œYou don’t know what it’s like over here. Women have no value, zilch, nada, none. A man can do anything to them and get away with it. Leaving her behind could be a death sentence. Or worse.”
    â€œNothing is worse than death, my darling man. But let me get this straight. You’re worrying yourself to smithereens over what might happen to this woman you’ve barely met?”
    Wade had known Nat and his wife a long time. He was fond of them both, particularly Maggie who made a mean lemon icebox pie and had an unerring instinct for finding the soft underbelly of the tough guys who worked for her husband. Still, he’d learned the hard way to tread warily when she was on the warpath. “I guess you could say that.”
    â€œAttractive, is she?”
    â€œWouldn’t know, though she was a cute kid from her photos.” He gave Nat’s wife the scoop on that part.
    â€œLord, you’re worse off than I thought!”
    â€œNow, Maggie,” he began with exaggerated patience.
    â€œForget it. Bring her home by force, if that’s what you have to do. But remember that you’re supposed to be a gentleman. You can at least act like one, even if being one is too much for you!”
    â€œYes, ma’am,” he said in his most deferential tone. It was a relief to hear Maggie laugh before she handed the phone back to her husband.
    Wade clarified a few more details with Nat, then signed off and tossed the phone back into the top of his duffel. It bounced off a plastic carton of canned chicken with crackers, and he dug out that snack package. He hadn’t eaten before positioning himself to invade Chloe’s living space, and now his stomach thought his throat had been cut. It wasn’t the first meal he’d made out of a can by far. Food wasn’t too high on his list of priorities, and it was less trouble to eat in his room than hunt a restaurant meal. Besides, though he wasn’t overly squeamish, he did have his standards, and the starvation rate in this part of the world made him wonder just what kind of meat might be on the menu.
    Popping the top on the chicken, he fished out a chunk and balanced it on a cracker before wolfing it down. While