Free Accidental Commando by Ingrid Weaver Page A

couldn’t be involved. They’d been wrung dry by her experience with Christopher.
    She dropped her head into her hands. She no longer wanted a man. Any man. She knew better than that.
    “Hey, junior,” Jack said. “I thought you got lost.”
    “Had a few details to take care of. What’s the latest?”
    At the sound of Tyler’s voice, Emily raised her head and shoved her hair out of her eyes. He was walking past the fountain toward the bench where she sat, and in spite of what she’d just told herself, she felt a tickling thrill as she watched him approach.
    He was holding his jacket over his shoulder by two fingers. His tie was gone, his shirt was unbuttoned to the center of his chest and his sleeves were rolled back, revealing tantalizing expanses of taut skin. The deepening shadows made him look larger somehow, accentuating his athletic body and the chiseled contours of his face. He’d looked sexy in his suit. He looked even better with the suit messed up, as if he were coming home to her at the end of a hard day.
    Stop it, she told herself. The man had just finished disabling a bomb. Of course he’d look messed up. What was wrong with her?
    “The envoy’s back in her quarters,” Jack said. He pushed away from the orange tree he’d been leaning against. “The major’s running interference with the Rocamans.”
    “Why?”
    “Some of Gorrell’s cabinet kicked up a fuss during the lockdown. They wanted to evacuate. Guess they don’t know you the way we do.”
    “They’ll get over it.”
    “Dunk and Kurt are in the plaza, trying their luck at cat hunting.”
    “I don’t think they’ll find him.”
    “Yeah. El Gato would have disappeared when he didn’t hear a bang.”
    “Sorry to disappoint him.” Tyler finally looked at Emily. “I’ll take over from here, Jack.”
    Tension tightened the lines beside his mouth, although the rest of his face gave nothing away. She had a crazy urge to pull him into her arms. Was none of the men willing to acknowledge what a heroic thing he’d just done? She waited until Jack turned to go, then wiped her palms on her dress and stood. “I’m glad everything went all right, Sergeant Matheson,” she said.
    “So am I, ma’am.”
    She lifted her hand toward him, meaning to push back a lock of hair that had fallen across his forehead, before she realized what she was doing. She picked up her notebook instead.
    A muscle twitched in his cheek. “Chief Esposito wants to see you.”
    “What about?”
    “He has some palace security tapes he’d like you to look through. They’re in our briefing room.” He put his hand under her elbow and guided her to a wooden door in the wall. “We can get there faster this way.”
    Though Tyler’s touch was light, she could feel the same tension in his fingers that she’d seen around his mouth. “Don’t you want to rest for a while?” she asked. “Why?”
    “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you look as if you just ran a marathon in your suit?”
    “I was only doing my job.”
    “Right. It’s all in a day’s work for you. Getting shot at and disarming bombs.”
    “I didn’t get shot at today,” he pointed out.
    “This isn’t funny.”
    “I’m glad you realize that. I hope that means the next time you’re asked to stay put, you’ll do it.” He released her arm to open the door and silently gestured for her to precede him.
    A flight of narrow stairs rose in front of them. Evidently, the renovations hadn’t gotten this far. Unlike the wide, airy staircase she’d used to get to and from her room, this one was lit by only a few dim fixtures along the walls and barely had space for two people to pass. It had probably been designed for servants to go about their business invisibly, and hadn’t seen much change since the palace had been built more than two centuries ago.
    She placed her palm on the wooden rail that served as a banister and started climbing. “Listen, Sergeant Matheson, I realize you might be