Challenging Gabriel (Knight Security 2) (17 page)

“You bastard!”

“Exactly.” He released her abruptly. “Now go back to your seat.”

“But—”

“I don’t want to hurt you, Angel,” he spoke quietly. “Physically or emotionally. I just want… I want to be left in peace. Is that too much to ask?” He sighed deeply.

“No.” She didn’t want to hurt him either, but it seemed they both succeeded in doing that without even trying. When they tried, it was even worse. And destructive. Totally destructive.

Gabriel was right. They couldn’t talk about this now. Maybe they never would be able to.

She nodded, holding on to the back of the seat in front as she stood up, not sure her legs were strong enough to support her after their hurtful conversation. They certainly shook as she made her way down the plane to where Caleb was sitting beside a still-sleeping Daniel.

Caleb stood to allow her to resume her seat. “It isn’t you he’s angry with,” he spoke softly.

“Yes, he is.” Angel nodded. “And he has every right to be. Some things are unforgivable.” She glanced at Daniel. “I denied him the first seven years of his son’s life, Caleb.”

“You were very young and very frightened for the future, and Gabriel was off rescuing me.”

She glanced up at him. “Gabriel told you that’s what happened?”

He gave a half smile. “Gabriel and I are close. Always have been. Besides, I asked.”

Angel’s smile was tearful. “It hasn’t been my experience that Gabriel always answers.”

Caleb placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. “He’s slightly high on adrenaline right now. More than a little concerned for what’s going to happen in the future. Give him time, hmm?” He nodded before walking back to his own seat.

Angel was very much afraid that no amount of time
was going to change how Gabriel now felt toward her.

Clive was a bastard. A lying bastard. Their sex life had been vanilla at best, and in the last few years, it hadn’t even been that. Publicly, their marriage had remained a happy one; privately, Angel had seen very little of him. She had hoped it was because he had taken a mistress. As long as he left her alone, she hadn’t really cared.

And she should have cared.

Should have looked more deeply into why Clive was away so much and always so preoccupied when he was at home.

Preoccupied selling illegal drugs and weapons.

Selling young women’s
lives
.

Lena.

No matter what else happened, whether she and Gabriel ever worked things out, she had to find Lena and return her to her family. She had to make that right, at least.

Even if it felt as if nothing else in her life would ever be
right
again.

Chapter 10

“We aren’t going to London?”

“No.”

Angel was very aware of Daniel sitting in the back of the black SUV Gabriel had commandeered at the airport for the three of them. Daniel had fallen asleep again almost as soon as Gabriel drove the vehicle out of the private airport.

There had been several consultations in the cockpit of the plane between the Knight brothers during the flight back to England. None of the other brothers had raised an eyebrow as Gabriel put Angel and Daniel into the SUV once they landed at the private airport, so obviously, wherever they were going had been discussed and decided by all four of the brothers.

But not Angel.

Gabriel had barely acknowledged her presence during the remainder of the flight or once they landed. An attitude she had accepted because she had no idea how to even begin to break through the emotional barriers Gabriel now had in place.

He spoke easily enough with Daniel as he secured his seat belt in the back of the SUV, leaving Angel to climb into the passenger seat up front before he settled in beside her.

She realized as soon as they left the tiny airport that they weren’t going toward London. “Am I allowed to ask where we’re going? And why?”

“No, to the former, and yes to the latter.” Gabriel gave Daniel a pointed glance in the rearview mirror. “I’m taking you to a safe house,” he told Angel. “And you know why.” He was taking them somewhere Sinclair wouldn’t be able to find them.

Just because they had escaped Sinclair in Majorca didn’t mean he wouldn’t come after them. In fact, Gabriel was sure he would. He had Angel and Daniel, after all.

“Taking us,” she repeated slowly. “Does that mean you don’t intend staying there with us?”

“Yes.”

“Then who will be staying with us?”

“Initially, Jonas.” He shrugged. “Ash knows what to do if any change is necessary.”

“And where are you going to be, Gabriel? I don’t want—”

“What you want, what I want, isn’t of paramount importance right now,” Gabriel bit out. “I need to know that you and Daniel are safe.”

“And then what?”

“Then I intend to finish this,” he stated with certainty. One way or another, he intended Sinclair would never be able to bother Angel or Daniel ever again.

Alarm jolted through Angel’s body at the grim determination she heard in Gabriel’s tone. “Clive?”

“Yes. Cut off the head of the snake,” he continued as she gasped softly, “and the rest of the body will die too. We’ll dismantle his illegal empire piece by piece if we have to.”

Likening Clive to a reptile was more than apt, but he had proven himself to be of the deadly variety, and Angel couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to Gabriel. Not because she believed there was any sort of future for the two of them, but because, having seen him again, made love with him again, she couldn’t bear the thought of not knowing Gabriel was alive in the world, even if it wasn’t with her.

“We can hand the evidence over to the police now we have Daniel back safely,” she reasoned.

“What about Lena? And all the other girls the bastard has kidnapped and made disappear? Don’t you think they deserve to have their lives back?”

“Of course they do! I didn’t mean— What if something happens to you? You have a son now,” she reminded him softly, knowing it wasn’t only Daniel she was thinking of. Gabriel might not want her, but she didn’t want anything happening to him, knew his death would leave a void in her life that could never be filled.

His hands tightened about the steering wheel until the knuckles showed stark white beneath his skin. “He has you. He’s always had you.”

“Gabriel—”

“I’m going to kill the bastard! Wipe his illegal empire off the face of the earth!” He glanced at her, eyes glittering. “Can you deny that needs doing?”

“No…” she groaned. “But that doesn’t mean you have to be the one to do it.”

“Yes, it does.”

Angel looked at his profile as he concentrated on the road ahead—steely eyes, starkly etched cheekbones, tensed jaw—and knew there was nothing she could do or say to dissuade him. Gabriel was going after Clive.

“You aren’t going to do this alone?” she prompted worriedly.

“Caleb is coming with me.”

“Only Caleb?”

Gabriel’s smile was rueful. “He’s become slightly obsessed with finding Lena.”

Angel’s eyes widened. “He doesn’t even know her.”

“He doesn’t need to know her.” Gabriel shrugged. “It’s the code, Angel,
no one gets left behind
.”

“Are you sure Caleb is the right… Isn’t he slightly…”

“Intense and focused,” Gabriel stated firmly. “I trust him with my life. And anyone else’s.” He had, several times, and he didn’t hesitate to do so again.

There was no denying that Caleb had been badly affected by his experience eight years ago, but Gabriel would still rather have Caleb at his back than anyone else. As he had no doubts that Caleb would find Lena, no matter how long it took him to do it. Lena might not know it yet, but she had a warrior who was coming to her rescue.

“I didn’t mean to imply—” Angel shook her head. “I like Caleb, I really do. He’s been nothing but kind to me. But I would hate for any of you to get hurt because of my mistake.”

Gabriel’s expression softened as he glanced at her. “Sinclair made the mistake when he tried to mess with a member of the Knight family.”

It warmed Angel to know that Daniel had been accepted by the Knight brothers so wholeheartedly. Not a single one of them had questioned that loyalty when they went to rescue Daniel. They had simply acted to protect one of their own. Gabriel said their sister, Jonas’s wife, felt exactly the same way. They were an incredibly united family, and Daniel was lucky to have them.

She swallowed. “How long do you think it will take Clive to follow us to England?”

Gabriel’s jaw tensed. “Not long. My men will let us know when he makes a move. He’ll already have his own men in England watching Knight Security, assessing the enemy. Which is why you’ll be with Jonas. He’s a consultant to the company, not an employee, so on the surface, it will look as if only Caleb and I are missing. Sinclair will assume we’re with you and Daniel.”

“You hope.”

“I’ve worked against greater odds.”

She knew Gabriel’s body was covered in scars from the wounds he had received while working against those greater odds. One day, his luck—and fighting skills—weren’t going to be enough.

That would be the day Angel’s heart broke completely.

She loved this man. Had never stopped loving him.
Would
never stop loving him.

She placed a hand on his forearm. “You’ll be careful?”

He gave a hard grin. “I always am.”

Not if those scars were an indication. “Gabriel—”

“Angel, I’ll do what needs to be done.” He glanced in the rearview mirror again. “Besides, I have something to live for now.”

Thank God for Daniel.

“You aren’t at all what I thought you would be.” Lily Grayfeather laughed softly.

Angel gave the other woman a quizzical glance. “What did you think I would be?”

To her surprise, Gabriel’s safe house turned out to be the Grayfeathers’ home set in the midst of private and secluded woods an hour’s drive outside London. It wasn’t even accessible by road. The three of them had to walk the final half mile to where the house had been built in such a way that there were dense, high trees all around that prevented the house being seen from above. Gabriel had carried Daniel piggyback style most of the way, much to her son’s delight.

Gabriel had introduced them to his sister, Lily, and then disappeared outside with Jonas for several minutes, which was when Angel had realized Gabriel’s sister was the actress, Lily Knight, darling of the London stage. It was often rumored Hollywood was trying to lure this beautiful young woman to the States to star in a movie over there. A lure she had consistently resisted, having publicly stated that her husband and baby daughter always came first with her.

Angel glanced across to where Daniel was now sitting on the floor playing with the Grayfeather’s six-month-old daughter, Amelia. The baby was adorable, with the blue-black hair of her Native American father, and the green eyes which most of the Knight family seemed to have in one shade or another. “It’s very kind of you to let us stay here.”

“We’re family.” Lily smiled reassuringly.

“Daniel—”

“You’re the mother of Gabriel’s son, so of course you’re family too.” Lily spoke over Angel’s protest. “And to answer your question, I actually have no idea what I expected. Jonas said you were elegant. Ethan said you were gorgeous. Asher called you sexy. Caleb described you as a devoted mother. You try to make sense of that! Men!” She laughed, a woman completely secure in the love of her husband and brothers. “Didn’t really matter who or what you are, Angel.” She sobered. “You and Daniel are Gabriel’s. That’s all any of us needs to know.”

Tears stung Angel’s eyes as the other woman gathered her into her arms for a hug.

God, how Angel wished it was true, wished she truly did belong to Gabriel. That his family was her own. But she had given up the right to any of that eight years ago.

She blinked back those tears as Lily released her. “I really hope our being here hasn’t brought any danger to you and your family.”

Lily smiled confidently. “Did you see my husband?”

She nodded. “I met him in Majorca.” Jonas Grayfeather was at least as tall as Gabriel, and powerfully muscled. But that height and those muscles would be no protection against a bullet.

“Jonas is a security freak,” Lily confided. “Very few people even know about this place, and no one steps onto Jonas’s land without him knowing about it. For instance, he tracked every step of your arrival a few minutes ago. Don’t worry, Angel, you and Daniel will be perfectly safe here with us.”

Angel wasn’t worried for herself. She was worried for Daniel and the Grayfeathers.

And Gabriel.

“My big brother can take care of himself,” Lily assured her as she seemed to read Angel’s thoughts. “Besides, he has Caleb with him.” Her expression softened as Angel frowned. “Caleb is…different since he came back from Afghanistan,” she allowed. “But never doubt he’s a trained killing machine. They both are.”

And, if it came to it, Angel had no doubt Gabriel and Caleb would kill Clive.