Nyght's Eve (2 page)

And he felt the loss of each and every
patient under his care.

What he couldn’t tell Hammer was that the
last few years he’d been working with an international anti-terrorist agency
that very few people even knew existed. Tired of always seeing his friends in
danger, Dare had jumped at the chance to join the elite taskforce to help stop
the threats before they turned into mass violence. What he hadn’t realized was
that being at ground zero would be like walking into hell.

And not many men could come back from that.

Dare could tell Hammer what he couldn’t say
to anyone else. Even though there were details he couldn’t tell his friend
about his clandestine work, dealing with the aftermath alone wasn’t a good
idea. He'd tried that over the last few months and it had been an epic failure.
That was why he had come to Breakers. To try and figure out what to do with his
life now that he had retired.

“I’m tired,” Dare said quietly after a long
minute. “I’m really fucking tired.”

Hammer sat down on one of the benches and
watched him with more sympathy than Dare was comfortable with. “Can you tell
me?”

“Some, but I don’t think I’m ready to just
yet. I’ll just say that my stay in Colorado wasn’t as restful as I thought it
was going to be. I took my time coming here to clear my head...” He paused for
a moment before he said, “Before that I was in Spain.”

Hammer sucked in a harsh breath that sounded
overly loud in the silence of the room. Dare knew that the news had been filled
with the bombings that had happened in Spain for weeks now. A terrorist group
headed by a fanatical leader had targeted several churches in a brutal
self-proclaimed war. The taskforce Dare worked with had taken down the group,
but the terrorists had blown up two churches before they had put a stop to
their senseless violence.

And the experience had left Dare with chilling
memories that would haunt him forever.

“Jesus. That’s rough,” Hammer said softly. “Listen,
I was gonna suggest we go grab something to eat, but why don’t you just take
tonight and settle in? You know you’re always welcome at my place—”

“No.”

“Which is what I thought you would say,”
Hammer responded with a soft chuckle. “So, I booked you a room at my cousin’s
boarding house. Open ended for however long you want to stay.”

Dare frowned at him, not liking the sound of
that. “I can just go to a hotel or—”

“It’s not what you think. My cousin Evie
converted Beaumont Manor—her old plantation house—into a sort of bed and
breakfast for service men and women who need a little peace and quiet before
they go back to their real lives. Some of our rehab patients also stay there. You
remember my stepbrother Hunter, right? He lives in an apartment on the main
level. It’s a good place. I think you’ll like it.”

 
He
wanted to decline the offer, but found himself nodding. “That works…thanks.”

“I’ll call ahead and make sure someone meets
you with the keys.” Hammer paused for a moment. “I'm really glad you're here,
Nyght. I hope you’ll consider staying.”

“I can’t think that far ahead right now.”

Hammer nodded in understanding. They said
their goodbyes. Dare breathed a sigh of relief as he left the Fight Hard
building, stepping out into the cool evening breeze. After Hammer had given him
the directions to the Beaumont estate, Dare promised that he’d stop by the gym
again after he’d gotten some rest. He just wasn’t in the mood for friendly
visitations at the moment, even if Hammer was like a brother to him.

Hell, he hadn’t been fit for human
interaction for weeks now...and still wasn’t.

Not yet.

He straddled his Harley and started it up, pleased
by the low, throaty growl the engine made. Driving out of town, Dare let his
mind drift. Since he’d been back in the States, he’d been traveling light. He’d
made the mistake of going home to Atlanta when he’d first come back stateside.
It had been good to see his mother, but it had been the same old story with his
dad and brother.

The Nyght’s were a powerful family that
traced their lineage back to medieval Scotland. They had been one of the
wealthiest families to settle in the new world, and Dare’s father, William
Nyght, took their heritage very seriously, going as far to hang the family
crest in a place of prominence in their mansion located in Atlanta. Dare’s
great-grandfather had been a founding partner in one of the world’s largest
international law firms, and it had become tradition for all of the Nyght men
to join the practice.

Until Dare.

William was a man who stuck to very strict
ideals of what it meant to be a Nyght, and joining the military was not
acceptable to him. Dare still remembered the heated argument that had taken
place when he told his family that he had enlisted and had decided to go to
medical school instead of studying law. His mother had done what she always
did. She agreed with whatever her husband decreed. She loved her life too much
the way it was, and Dare had learned to accept that she would never be strong
enough to stand against William.

The divide between Dare and his father had
gotten even worse when his younger brother, Peter, had enrolled in law school
and prepared to join the family firm like a proper Nyght. When William finally
realized that Dare would never fall into the family fold, he had disowned him,
ruthlessly cutting him off.

At first it had hurt, but Dare knew that he’d
made the right choice. Being a doctor was what he had been meant to do. He had
an aptitude for cutting and had soaked up knowledge like a sponge. Being able
to assess a situation instantly and having a steady hand no matter where he was
made him an asset in the field. It had been a constant struggle against his
commanding officers who had tried to keep Dare on base where he would remain
safe, when all he wanted to do was be out where he was needed most.

When the opportunity came to join the elite taskforce,
Dare had been ready and willing to join the action. It had given him a sense of
pride to know that he was saving lives on a daily basis, but the threat level
the taskforce dealt with had been enough to scare the shit out of him despite
his training and background. His time working with them had hardened him. Had
given him a combat awareness that could only be attained through experience.

But he hadn’t been ready for what happened in
Spain.

Dare had waded through the blood of the
victims of the two bombings, doing all he could to help the few survivors they’d
found. He couldn’t even put the horrors of what he’d seen into words. Still, he
had kept a cool head while his heart had wept for the victims. It was such a
senseless act of violence that Dare would never understand the levels of
cruelty humans could perpetrate on one another. However, dealing with the
aftermath of those first two bombings wasn’t what had made Dare decide to walk
away.

No, that decision had been made the second
he’d been forced to take a life.

For as long as he could remember, he’d wanted
to heal people. Dare had taken an oath when he had become a doctor, but doing
no harm wasn’t always possible when facing war. Still, he had done his best to
fulfill his pledge whenever he could. He had been in firefights before. It was
an inevitable reality of combat to draw one’s weapon, and it had never bothered
him that much when it was kill or be killed, fighting side by side with his
friends and fellow soldiers.

That was until he had come face to face with
the terrorist leader who had been fleeing the scene of the third bombing.

The taskforce had discovered the third target
of the terrorist group, and had converged on the location in time to evacuate
the people inside the church before the bomb could go off. Dare had stayed back
in a van filled with medical supplies in case he was needed when he’d seen the
leader they had been searching for fleeing the scene. With all the other agents
occupied, Dare had chased after the terrorist, and had been forced to take him
out.

During his time in the Army, Dare had never
had to kill someone while looking them dead in the eye. He had returned fire at
a nameless, faceless enemy when fired upon, but this...damn, this had been
completely different. The fanatical leader had been carrying a remote trigger for
the bomb and had been prepared to use it, forcing Dare to kill him. He knew he
had done what he’d needed to. Countless of lives would have been lost if he
hadn’t killed the man, but watching the light of life leave the other man’s
eyes—knowing he was the one who had taken that life—had done something to Dare.

How the fuck was he supposed to tell people
that sight of blood now made him sick?

Dare was a doctor for Christ’s sake. Having
an aversion to seeing blood was something he couldn’t afford to deal with, and
frankly, it was embarrassing as hell. He knew it was a mental block—one that he
would eventually get over as soon as he came to terms with what he had done—but
he wasn’t there yet. He needed time. Time to allow himself to heal and clear
his mind of the fatigue that had been plaguing him.

Time to figure out what the hell to do now
that he no longer wanted to be a soldier.

Following the directions Hammer had given
him, Dare rode his bike further from town into the quiet of the countryside.
While the rest of the country was dealing with fickle weather conditions, spring
had come full force to Breakers, Texas, making the evening drive pleasant.

It was like entering into a different world
as Dare turned his bike onto the long road that led toward the Beaumont estate.
Tall trees lined the paved driveway, and the large expanse of manicured lawn
made Dare absently wonder what poor bastard took care of so much damn land.

Off in the distance he could see a large barn
the size of a warehouse sitting on one side of a big pond that glittered in the
red and gold rays of the setting sun. There was a massive residence made of
stone and glass on the other side of the pond that gleamed in the sunlight,
looking like something right out of a fairytale. But what had Dare slowing down
was the sight of the large white plantation house he was approaching.

Columns lined the large front porch of both
the second and main floors of the buildings, making it look like he had stepped
back in time to the grand old south. From the description he’d been given, Dare
knew this was the residence that Hammer’s cousin had grown up in. He couldn’t
help but wonder why she had given up living in the impressive house in order to
use it as a boarding house. Still, he was glad that she had, whatever her
reasoning. The quiet atmosphere immediately appealed to him as he pulled into
the small parking lot off to the side of the house.

Maybe he would finally be able to get some
rest and relax a little.

Dare parked his bike next to another Harley
and took a moment to admire the sleek beast. He also noticed there was a large
medically equipped van parked in the lot along with a few big trucks. All but
swaying with fatigue, he got off his bike. The last few hours had taken on a
surreal feeling that only happened when he finally hit the wall. The drive had
felt like he was maneuvering through a video game or something, and he was damn
lucky he’d arrived before he crashed.

Fuck, at thirty-four he was getting too old
for this shit. As a doctor, he was used to sleep deprivation, but knew he had
pushed his system to its limits. It had been foolish to drive while in this
condition. He knew it, and was now looking forward to getting some rest. Maybe
a week’s worth if he was lucky. Yeah, he’d feel better if he could sleep for a
week, surrounded by nothing but peace and quiet.

Shaking off the fatigue for a few more
minutes, he unlatched his saddlebag from the back of his bike. He hefted it
onto one shoulder, then readjusted as it smacked up against his backpack
already secured on his back. Striding toward the building, he looked up and
skidded to a halt as the front door to the plantation house opened and a vision
walked out.

Sweet Jesus, she was absolutely stunning.

Her long blonde hair shimmered to burnished gold
in the fading sunlight. She was tall, around five-eight if his gauge was
accurate, and had a face of such classic beauty that it belonged on the covers
of magazines. She was dressed in dark jeans with a cream-colored cardigan over
a matching undershirt that showed some of the tanned skin of her stomach. Something
about seeing that small strip of flesh had Dare’s blood heating and the muscles
of his body tensing.

Sure, he loved seeing scantily clad women as
much as the next guy, like those women in the gym earlier. He was a man after
all. But there was something about the classy blonde standing before him in
that stupid sweater set that stirred his interest in a way that hadn’t happened
in longer than he could remember. Dare let his gaze drift up and felt a visceral
reaction as his eyes met the clear blue of hers as she moved closer.

“Hello, welcome to the Beaumont Boarding
House. You must be Dr. Nyght.”

All he could do was blink at the vision standing
in front of him and try to remember how to speak. All the blood in his body
seemed to have drained straight down to his dick, making it almost impossible
for him to think. She had an almost regal bearing as she stood there staring
down at him. God, she was the type of woman men went down on their knees for…the
kind they dreamed about.