Heart of the Hunter Read online

  The tears leaked from her eyes and down her flushed cheeks. With his thumbs he removed them. “Marry me? Be my mate for life? My best friend?”

  “In a heartbeat,” Casey whispered brokenly. “You won’t have to ask me twice. And I won’t leave you standing at the altar, either.”

  Reid believed her as he heard the low, fiercely spoken words slip from her lips. Leaning down, he cherished her mouth in gentle adoration. “No altar this time,” he said against her wet, soft lips. “Let’s get married here, in this beautiful old, antique house with an old-fashioned woman who has stolen my heart.”

  She nodded her head, unable to trust her voice as they stood in one another’s arms, their brows pressed together. “I like it… .”

  “You name the date, I’ll be there, princess.”

  Just then, the phone rang. Casey jumped.

  Reid scowled and his gaze shot to a red phone that hung near the kitchen door. “Who?” he demanded.

  Hesitating, Casey said, “It’s my office. The red phone is only used if there’s a problem. Usually on biohazard level four, the hot zone. I have to get it… .” She felt his arms fall away as she hurried over to the phone.

  Reid rested his hips against the drain board, his arms wrapped across his chest as he watched Casey talk in a low tone on the phone. He saw the flush drain from her cheeks. Her fingers pressed to her mouth. And then she turned to him. Her green eyes were dark.

  “Morgan Trayhern is on the phone. He just got done talking to my immediate boss, Dr. Jonas Hawthorn. This is about your brother Ty and Dr. Catt Alborak… .” She choked. “It sounds like all hell’s breaking loose down in Brazil.” She held the phone toward him. “Morgan wants to speak with you… .”

  Casey stepped aside. She felt fear for Ty and Catt. Worriedly, she remained at Reid’s elbow as he talked in a low, dark tone with Morgan. From the man she’d known minutes earlier, Reid had switched back into his military officer mode once again. But Casey understood the need for him to assume that role.

  Sighing, she turned and moved woodenly back to the drain board. Right now, she knew, they both needed a fortifying cup of coffee. As she poured the steaming black brew, she heard Reid say a terse goodbye and hang up the phone. Turning, she handed him a mug of coffee. His brow was wrinkled. His eyes were a flat, dark gray. She felt his anguish and worry.

  “Thanks,” he murmured, and took a quick sip. Casting a look at Casey, he saw the fear lurking in her eyes. “Morgan was calling to update me. He was trying to contact Ty to let him know I’m among the living, and he finally got ahold of him.”

  “Yes,” she said hollowly, “Jonas said Ty and Catt were working in a small village three hours south of Manaus, in Brazil. He said the village had a bad outbreak. They still don’t know what they’re dealing with down there. No one has been able to identify the virus. It’s killing people right and left.” She gripped the mug with both hands and looked over the rim at him. “What are you going to do?”

  Raggedly, he said, “Pray? Ty is good at what he does. And from what you’ve said about Catt, she’s the best in her field. You couldn’t have two better people in the breach as far as I’m concerned.”

  “What about Black Dawn? Any hint they’re around the outbreak area?”

  “Morgan said there’s nothing conclusive so far. He thinks they’re trying to work with the drug lords in South America now, since scientific labs around the world refuse to sell them the bacteria and viruses they want. Now they’ll go to the black market, he thinks.” Grimly, he added, “And Morgan suspects they’re trying to get in touch with Eduardo Escovar right now.”

  “The man Mike Houston is up against in Peru?”

  “Yeah, the same.” He sighed softly. “Morgan just said that Dr. Ann Parsons is missing… .”

  “What?” Casey tried to sound less strident. “You mean kidnapped?”

  “Morgan doesn’t know yet. The nuns at the clinic in Lima called him. Ann didn’t show up for work this morning. They’re worried. Mike’s not around. He’s chasing some of Escovar’s men up in the highlands far north of the capital city.”

  Hearing the frustration in Reid’s tone, Casey wrapped one arm around his waist and led him out of the kitchen toward the living room. “I know enough about Morgan to know he won’t let one of his men or women be taken like that, Reid. Perseus is a very tight, family-oriented agency. Everyone knows everyone else. He cares deeply for his people. They aren’t just employees to him, they’re family. He’ll rip up earth and heaven to find them. I know he will. And I know Mike and Ann. They’re resourceful people. What an awful situation, though.”

  “Yeah, and it’s worsening in Brazil and Peru simultaneously,” Reid said worriedly. “Morgan’s really concerned that a vial of that unknown killer virus from Brazil will fall into Black Dawn’s hands. They want that virus in order to sow their ugly seeds of destruction somewhere else in the world. And if Black Dawn is serious about making a pact with drug lords… well, that’s one helluva powerful alliance for any government or agency in this world to battle.”

  Casey felt some of her happiness returning despite the somber news. How like Morgan to keep Reid in touch about his brother. She admired his loyalty to all his people.

  Moving across the living room, Reid placed his arm comfortingly around Casey’s slumped shoulders. “Morgan knows I’m here,” he rasped. “He’ll call us if there’s any news, or a change in the situation down in Brazil with Catt and Ty.”

  Nodding, Casey slid down on the couch beside Reid. Elbows on his thighs, hands locked around his coffee cup he sat there, staring straight ahead, lost in thought. She saw pain in the way his mouth had tightened up. “After we drink our coffee, maybe you want to call your family, let them know what’s going on?”

  “Yes, I will,” he said, sounding preoccupied. Sipping the coffee, he straightened and then leaned back on the couch. Giving Casey a warm look, he said, “One thing about all of this, we got lucky. Black Dawn didn’t hit us.”

  Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the warmth of the cup between her cool, damp hands. “Yes… just a snake bite was all… .”

  Reid reached over and moved his hand up and down her bare thigh where it peeked out of the silk robe she wore. “Ty won’t go down easy. He’s a fighter. I’ve got to think they will outwit the terrorists… .”

  Managing a partial smile, Casey added, “Catt is no weak sister, either, Reid. She’s one helluva fighter when the chips are down.”

  “Better than you?”

  She placed her hand over his where it rested on her thigh. “Listen, you know what her nickname around biohazard four is?”

  “No. What?”

  ”Valkyrie.”

  He raised his brows and clung to her feisty gaze. “Then there’s hope… . Ty’s not someone you want to come up against, because he’ll take you down with his last dying breath.”

  Shivering, Casey placed her cup on the antique coffee table in front of them. She leaned back and wrapped her arm around Reid’s taut shoulders. She could feel the tension, the anguish, thrumming through him, though he was trying so hard not to show it. Gently running her hand across his neck, she laid her head on his shoulder and whispered, “I love you, Reid Hunter. Hell can freeze over, but nothing is going to take how I feel about you away from me.” She kissed his cheek. “When Ty and Catt get back, let’s set a wedding date, okay? What do you say?”

  Reid loved her fiercely for her courage. For her faith. Right now, his military mind was running at the speed of sound with possibilities. With worry, with anguish. Just the fierce light in Casey’s eyes made him feel something else: hope. “Do you always hold out hope for the hopeless, good doctor?”

  She grinned carelessly and ruffled his short hair. “That’s what docs do best, isn’t it? Feed hope to the hopeless? Help them heal? Help them renew their faith in themselves and the fact that they can heal?” Her voice grew husky. “I’ve stared death in the face too many times myself, Reid. I know the value of l
ife, just like you do. And so does Catt. She worked with me on Ebola. She knows the risks. She’s just as much a fighter as your brother Ty.” Sliding her hand down his cheek, Casey caught and held his stormy gaze. “No, life’s too precious to Catt. She’s seen death. She’s faced it too often herself. Believe me, Ty couldn’t have a better partner to face Black Dawn with than Catt. She may not be a trained mercenary, but she’s smart and doesn’t miss a trick.”

  Buoyed by Casey’s care and nurturing, Reid heaved a sigh, set the mug aside and took her into his arms. One moment he was on top of the world, the next, shattered. Still, he had more than most men would ever have. Bussing her hair as she lay against him, he rasped, “Life’s precious—you’re precious. We’ll get through this together, princess… and at the end of this dark tunnel, we’re getting married.”

  “Promise?” Casey whispered, closing her eyes and savoring his heartbeat against her ear, his strong, protective arms.

  “I promise I’m going to love you forever and one day after that… .” And he would.

  *