Free Princess by Christina Skye

was getting well, his fractured ribs had an odd way of showing it. Jess’s jab with her elbow hadn’t helped the pain, but Hawk didn’t hold that against her. Most women would fight if they were suddenly slammed up against a wall and attacked in the middle of the night.
    Scowling, he sat on the sofa bed, listening to rain hammer at the window. He had simply acted by training. First a noise, then a shadow—and he had shot awake into full attack mode, cutting her off before she could move.
    It was simple ingrained habit now. Recognize a threat and then immobilize it.
    Except that tonight, Hawk wasn’t dealing with a sociopathic assassin or ruthless bioterrorist. Tonight his hands had closed around the neck of a guileless woman without a clue to the dangerous currents sweeping around her.
    He closed his eyes, remembering her moan of panic when he had pinned her against the wall, hands to her throat.
    She’d been terrified beyond what he’d expected.
    Why?
    Not that it was his problem. The woman was trouble, and the sooner he was gone, the better, because he didn’t have even one damned inch of room for
more
trouble in his life.
    Three hours later, the rain was still hammering at the windows.
    As Hawk finished shaving, he looked at the pills Izzy had given him earlier. The headaches were more frequent, almost once a day now, and the other side effects were just as noticeable.
    Having the hormones of a reckless fifteen-year-old boy wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. He was a man who enjoyed being in control—always—and the distraction from the damned meds the Navy had seen fit to give him was a serious annoyance.
    Not to mention the rest of the side effects.
    Thanks to his enhanced libido and markedly extended arousal time, his mood was becoming downright surly. He was dedicated to serving his country, but being a medical guinea pig was taking things a step too far.
    Frowning, Hawk rolled the cool plastic bottle between his fingers. Then he dropped the meds into his backpack.
    After he finished dressing, he checked on Jess. She was sound asleep, one arm wrapped around a pillow, her body curled in a tight ball. With her bare legs dangling over the edge of the bed and the covers askew, Hawk could see the curve of her hip beneath her simple pink nightshirt.
    His body responded with instant, savage force.
    Biting off a curse, he scanned the room, gray in the predawn light. Her clothes were folded neatly on a chair, her notebooks lined up on the desk. She was all packed, ready to leave as soon as she woke. Recalling her anxiety about retaliation for her negative report, Hawk had already taken precautions with Izzy.
    But neither man believed that she was in any real danger. Izzy had checked, and there was no record of her real name anywhere in the hotel database, and there were no internal memos about her inspection.
    Wandering to the closet, Hawk picked up a pair of boots on top of her suitcase. He noticed a hole the size of a quarter in the bottom of one sole. She had wedged a piece of cardboard in place to cover it.
    If she was out of money, why didn’t her sister help out? Or why hadn’t Jess asked?
    Nothing about the woman made any sense.
    Not your problem,
he thought coldly.
And you couldn’t help her even if it were.
    Coffee?
    Yes.
Jess opened her eyes and inhaled deeply, praying that the intoxicating scent filling her lungs wasn’t a by-product of her strange dreams.
    “Are you decent in there?”
    She pulled the covers up hastily at the sound of Hawk’s voice beyond the half-open door. “Decent enough.”
    He opened the door, fully dressed, carrying a tray. There were lines on his face that she hadn’t noticed the day before. “I thought you’d want some breakfast.” He put the tray on the corner of her bed. “Considering all you got from me a few hours ago was a lecture and a granola bar.”
    It wasn’t an apology, but Jess decided it was close enough. “If you’ve got coffee on that tray, I might