Guardian Read Online Free Page B

herself to count the buttons on his service jacket instead of wallowing in the light tug of his fingers sliding through her hair. “How does it look?”
    “You might need a couple of stitches.” His hands slid away. “I can run you to the emergency room.”
    “No!” She yanked free.
    “What?”
    “I mean, I don’t need to go to the hospital.” It would take a lot more than a bump on the head to get her in a hospital with all the memories just waiting to knock her feet out from under her. “Someone around here is bound to have antiseptic and a Band-Aid.”
    “You could have a concussion.” His strong jaw jutted. “I don’t have to spell out how dangerous that can be.”
    She sagged against the bench. He was right.
    Of course she couldn’t take a chance with her health. Her son and grandmother counted on her. “I’m sorry for snapping. Aftershock, I guess. I’m just worried about getting home to relieve Nanny.”
    Her grandmother was starting to slow down, age making her joints ache. She should be enjoying retirement rather than taking care of a kid.
    “Your son’s
nanny
?”
    Why was he hung up on who watched her son? Her head throbbed too much for her to sort it out. “Yes, he’s a bit of a handful for her lately.”
    He nodded briskly. “Sit tight and I’ll bring my car around. If it turns out you have a concussion, I can drive you home as well.”
    The sooner she got her head checked, the sooner she could get home, regroup, and establish the control she would need before seeing him again.
    “Sure, thanks.” She hated giving in but simply didn’t have the energy to battle that stubborn jaw. The ice cream would have to wait. “I wouldn’t want you to go to any trouble.”
    “No trouble. I feel responsible since I was the one whoslammed you to the ground. I mean it, though, when I say it’s no trouble. It’s on my way home.”
    Home. Where he didn’t have a wife any longer. Was there someone else waiting for him?
    Undoubtedly, his single status combined with his rumpled appeal would keep his calendar packed. Not that she was interested. She just wasn’t in the market for a relationship full of dates and front-door good-night kisses.
    Wait a minute. How did he know where she lived?
    *    *    *
    “Slider” studied David Berg damn near hitting on Sophie Campbell over by the bench outside the court hearing. The poor bastard didn’t stand a chance at tapping that, though. She was one cool bitch. Like now, she was bleeding from a head wound and still perched on the edge of the seat like she was sitting at attention in a briefing.
    He pretended to listen to what the rest of the folks were saying as they gathered outside the courthouse a few yards away from Campbell and Berg. The training exercise farther down the road had rattled the hell out of the rest of them. Some idiot had waited until the last minute to post the warning signs. He glanced down at the practice run—one of about a dozen such exercises since the base had come under attack by a lone gunman six months ago.
    He’d been so damn sure no one would notice how he’d played fast and loose with the rules in order to pocket some extra money from testing programs. He understood his flaws, his weaknesses, but he’d never doubted his intelligence, his ability to outthink an opponent. Although even he had never expected gunfire to launch straightinto a civilian’s home. Talk about raining fire down on his plans as well.
    Still, he’d expected the incident to be swept under the rug. This was the kind of high-profile cluster-fuck that smart people preferred to bury as deep and fast as possible. No such luck. Someone with a fucking conscience decided to press for a military trial. This kind of scrutiny could too easily uncover his side dealings.
    He wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone who stood in his way. A firearms “incident” on base would be easy to explain away. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that. Regardless, he could not