Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Every muscle in her body ached. Her head still throbbed despite all the pain killers they’d given her.
“Ian, why don’t you talk to Boomer, and I’ll check in on Mae,” Hutch began.
Ian’s head shook. “No, I think I’ll leave the Boom man to you. You two go and have lunch. There’s not a big enough kitchen on the jet to handle Boomer. I need to talk to Mae about her training schedule.”
I know Taggart trains you all, but not the way I was trained. Trust me. Taggart is a preschool teacher compared to my handlers. And I bet Kyle protects you so you don’t ever have to fight for your life. That’s your fault. Don’t ever expect a man to protect you. When he says he will, he’s lying, and what he really wants is for you to be weaker than him.
She’d agreed to stay on with McKay-Taggart if and only if Ian would train her. Not to simply protect herself but to become the baddest of the badasses.
She wasn’t going to be weak again.
Boomer wrapped her up in a gentle hug and whispered in her ear. “I know what I’m supposed to know. But I am sorry I couldn’t fix it for you. Please don’t leave us.”
Tears sprang, quick and bittersweet. She loved these people. Did she have to lose everything because she’d been a fool? “I won’t.”
She wouldn’t until she had the training she needed. No one could prepare her for the fight that was to come the way Ian Taggart could. She stepped back and Boomer and Hutch disappeared out the door, talking about where they could find a buffet.
“All right. I need one more agreement from you.” Big Tag stood there, towering over her. There was a weariness to him that tugged at her. He’d been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours, and she hadn’t made it easy for him. “Can we agree there’s a wall between us when it comes to Kyle?”
“Like you insist he’s dead when I know damn well he’s alive?”
“You can’t be sure.”
She stared at him for a moment and then he cursed.
“You checked his tracker?”
How did she want to play this? Did she want to be the woman who constantly reminded everyone of how she’d been hurt? Or did she take the punch to the gut and learn how to not get punched again? Did she constantly cry about the why or did she simply move forward? “Do you want the wall, Ian? Or not?”
Ian’s eyes closed, and she wondered how hard it was for him. If he genuinely cared about her, then she was asking him to choose between his nephew and her. Kyle had already put him in that position. Was she going to do the same thing? He’d been kind to her, stepping in when her family failed her.
“Ian, Kyle is dead and I won’t ever say anything different, and I don’t want you to say anything different to me, either. This is not a fight between the two of us. I thank you for everything you’ve done for me, for what you’re willing to do for me.”
Ian looked at her, his relief plain. “And I thank you for being the most reasonable of my… I don’t know what to call you anymore. You’re not merely an employee.”
“And I’m not quite family. I’m something in between, and I have to stay that way because he is family.”
“I can honor my family and still treat the others in my life with the love and respect they deserve.”
He needed the same love and respect. And she would give it to him. “In the future if things change, I can’t promise I wouldn’t need to find another situation.”
Ian’s hands went to his pockets, big shoulders shrugging. “We’ll deal with that, if it comes to it. And you should understand, the Agency fully believes that this is now in their hands, and I’m going to stay out of anything to do with Julia Ennis.”
So Kyle wanted them all out of it, not simply her. Did he understand his uncle at all? “Well, you’re known for being a good boy, boss.”
His lips quirked up in an approximation of a smile. “I was thinking you might like to work with Adam and Chelsea to see what you can find out about our opponent. Part of protecting yourself is having all the intel you can find on the enemy. I know that Kyle wanted to keep you out of everything. He was worried about how delicate you are.”
“And his solution was to hide me away. But that’s not yours. Or mine.”
“No, it is not,” Ian agreed. “If Julia Ennis wants a fight, we’ll give her one. So what is rule number one in the Taggart family rules of war?”
She knew that one. “We don’t fight fair.”