“That’s a blessing.”

“Poor Blake. If Neil knocks her up I’ll have to remind you that he’s the weapons expert.”

“Doesn’t mean I won’t insist on a shotgun wedding.”

“Neil’s an honorable man. He’s not that guy.”

“He is if he’s knocking up my little sister.”

Samantha laughed so hard she could hardly talk. “Your little sister is older than me.”

Blake growled. “Can we talk about something else now?”

Sam kept laughing. “OK, how about morning sickness. Remember how much fun that was? And diapers. Oh, joy…the fun we get to have.”

Blake found his smile and kept it.

Chapter Twenty

The air was a lot cooler in the mountains than it was on the desert floor of Nevada and Utah. Neil kept an eye on the clouds. The last thing they needed was bad weather. The tent was dime store quality and meant for perfect weather conditions and not for a deluge of rain. He’d watched the weather report at the hotel, but that was several hundred miles away, and the mountains were known to have their own weather patterns.

Gwen had fallen silent after he’d revealed some of his past. He was surprised at how often she thought logically and came to some of the same conclusions he did.

He’d thought briefly about Raven having a brother…that or terrorist scum like he had been was gunning after them. Neil dismissed the idea almost immediately. Terrorists were great at taking out big targets and creating mass panic. One-on-one wasn’t their style. Not enough airplay on the global platform for their taste.

As for Rick or Mickey holding a grudge…Mickey was out of reach. Probably deep inside again and halfway across the globe. Rick was the one who came to him. Weren’t they both working to find the one responsible for Billy’s death?

Neil knew there was the slight possibility that Rick or Mickey could harbor an issue with him. Billy didn’t take the shot and Neil knew he didn’t make the call. Both outcomes might make Billy or himself a target with the other guys.

Neil wanted to think longer, work through every possible angle before he gave his cards to anyone. Even Rick.

Neil told himself he hadn’t called Rick the minute his plans changed because he needed to work things out alone. Neil worked solo now. No one else was on his team to depend on. No one else to get killed.

His eyes traveled beyond the spot Gwen had disappeared behind to find some privacy in the woods.

“You’re not solo, Mac,” he told himself. There was someone he cared about depending on him. In harm’s way because of him. I’m not solo at all. Only this time when the mission was completed they would both walk away.

He kicked away a few rocks that would make it difficult to relax inside the tent before returning to the car to gather their things. A couple of nights camping in the middle of nowhere with Gwen. Could be worse. He thought of her the night before. He’d fantasized about her more times than he could count. Never did he picture her as responsive as she’d been. He’d made love to his share of women, some he quickly forgot, which probably made him all kinds of a bastard. There were a few he remembered with fondness. But none had left him feeling empty inside when they were gone.

Gwen would change that. He knew that from the beginning. His emotions were involved before he ever touched her. That made his mission even more dangerous. The one after them knew it and would exploit it.

The best thing for Neil to do was grasp the situation with both hands, solidify it, and deal. Once Gwen sat in the ivory tower, he could nail the mother shut and move on.

A twig behind him snapped. His body tensed.

“Setting up the tent?”

Neil sighed. Dropped his hand that reached for his weapon on impulse. He’d pulled a gun on Gwen once. Damn if he’d let it happen again. There was no one out there except them and the deer. “Yeah.”

He emptied the contents of the bag onto the ground and lined up the poles for the tent.

“It’s beautiful up here. Have you been before?”

“Been a few years, but yeah.”

“It’s so quiet. Even more than the desert.”

Neil pulled the deep scent of the pines into his nose. “The highway noise travels for miles in the desert. Up here, the forest muddles the sound.” He closed his eyes and listened. He moved his face away from the sun. “Listen.”

He opened his eyes to find Gwen looking at him with a smile. He walked to her and turned her toward the east. “Close your eyes.”

“What is it?”

“Shhh.” He rested his hands on her shoulders and leaned down to her ear. “Take a few slow deep breaths and just listen.”

Gwen followed his instructions and he joined her in silence. When he closed his eyes, the world of sound opened like a flood.

“Now…what do you hear?”

“Birds. Maybe a chipmunk chirping.”

He heard those too. “What else?” He watched her now, the smile on her face as she listened to the sounds of the forest.

“The wind in the top of the trees…and something else.” She opened her eyes and pointed east. “Over there.”

“A stream if it’s close, a river if it’s farther away.”

“How lovely. We should find it.”

He rubbed the coolness from her arms. “Tomorrow. We need to set up camp before dark.”

“All right.”

“But first. Close your eyes again and tell me what you don’t hear.”

Her eyes drifted close again. Neil glanced at the ground at his feet and saw a twig.

“No cars. No distant horns or sounds of people other than us. No air traffic. Nothing mechanical.”

Neil lifted his foot over the branch and waited. “Anything else?”

She hesitated and started to shake her head.

Neil snapped the twig and she jumped.

“What was that?”

She watched him now, hand to her chest.

“Just a branch. But you heard it because you removed one of your senses. Listen to how I walk, memorize it. And if anyone else approaches you, you’ll know it before you see them.”

Gwen turned and circled his waist with her arms. “No one would dare get close to me with you around, Neil.”

“You can never be too careful out here.”

She grinned, lifted on her tiptoes and kissed him briefly, and settled back to her feet. “I’ll practice. Now, why don’t you set up the tent while I find some firewood?”

He kept an eye on her as she foraged about, gathering wood. It didn’t take him long to construct the tent and set up their sleeping gear.