it is.”
He looked at the watch on his wrist. “0800.” And then he saw her puzzled look. “Eight a.m. You were kidnapped at around eight p.m. yesterday evening. You’ve pretty much been in the saddle and tied up for about eleven of those twelve hours.”
He wanted to touch her again but hauled back on his desire. This woman was scared, she’d been beaten and was clearly in shock. She was his responsibility. It was his duty to protect her and see that she made it out of this mess alive and in one piece. “Did you eat at all during that time?”
“No,” she whispered. Looking up, Madison saw a huge IV bag hanging off the cave wall. “Are you a doctor, too?” She knew nothing about SEALs, about black ops. Her world orbited around horses.
Travis took the boonie hat off and ran his fingers through his damp, sweaty hair. “I’m a sniper and a combat corpsman.” He grinned a little. “I kill and I heal, depending on who it is.”
Madison didn’t find that funny at all. “You killed those five men.”
“I had to, or you and I wouldn’t be sitting here discussing it right now.” Travis saw her face turn florid. Yeah, killing got to everyone. He didn’t enjoy it, but sometimes, it had to be done. He put two fingers on the inside of her left wrist. Her pulse was slowing down. Getting fluids into her was working. Her skin was soft and velvety. God, he’d been out in the badlands too long when he could feel himself responding to just touching a woman’s wrist. He released her. “How are you feeling now?”
“Hungry?”
“That’s a good sign.”
“My parents...do they know I’m okay?”
He nodded. “I called my master chief that I’d rescued you. He’ll make sure your parents know you’ve been recovered. I’m sure they’ll notify your husband, too.” He didn’t add that they weren’t out of the woods by a long shot. But he didn’t want her upset; her eyes still conveyed shock. She’d been through hell and Travis didn’t need to stress her out any more.
Closing her eyes for a moment, suddenly emotional, Madison whispered unsteadily, “I’m not married.” Had been, once, but what had she known at eighteen? Not much. At twenty-six Madison was focused on her father’s breeding farm operation. Her two-year marriage had shown her she didn’t have a clue as to how to choose a decent man. She was far better at evaluating horseflesh than she was at evaluating men.
Madison looked up at Travis. “I was so stupid...so stupid.... They told me to never go outside without a Marine guard.” She wiped the tears away. If she was expecting censure, she didn’t see it in the SEAL’s dark, shadowed eyes. Just having Travis near made her feel safer.
“Look, most civilians don’t understand how dangerous it is out here. Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Travis reached out and smoothed some of her blond hair off her brow. He sure liked touching her.
For whatever reason, Madison pulled him. Hard. But she was too deep in shock and survival mode to do much else right now, although Travis could see the fear ratchet down just a little more every time he did touch her. He tried to tell himself he was just being a compassionate corpsman. Yeah, right. All he wanted to do was stare at her.
“It was a stupid mistake. I put a lot of people at risk doing what I did. All I wanted to do was go out and look at the Afghan horses in the corral. They were only a hundred feet away from the house.” Madison bit her lip, her voice dropping with despair. “I didn’t think it would harm anything. They were so close and I was dying to get a look at them, at their conformation....”
“Horse crazy,” he murmured, smiling a little. “My folks have a cattle ranch in West Texas and I grew up with quarter horses. I understand your excitement.” Travis could see the anguish in her eyes. “Don’t be hard on yourself. No one’s pointing the finger of blame at you.”
She sniffed and shored herself up. Every time Travis reached out with those long, large-knuckled fingers of his and grazed her hair, her scalp prickled with heat and pleasure. The look in his green eyes threw her off. She almost thought he wanted to... No.
She wasn’t emotionally stable right now. It would be easy to misread his face, his intentions. And yet, she felt such coiled power around him. He appeared casual and relaxed, but her senses, as muddled as they were, told her differently. It was as if he were a big, bristling guard dog watching over her. She was grateful beyond words.
What would it be like to kiss this man? Oh, she was really on emotionally rocky ground, for sure.
“Do you feel like getting something in your stomach?”
Nodding, Madison tried to sit up. To her chagrin, she found herself incredibly weak, as if her body had melted down on her and wouldn’t cooperate. “I hate feeling so powerless,” she muttered, pushing herself upright.
“Dehydration will do it,” Travis murmured. “Here, let me help you.” He slid his arm around her shoulders and propped her up against the cave wall. She was usually grateful for her strength. Someone who worked around horses became pretty physically fit.
Travis settled her against the wall as if she were a lightweight. And he was so close, his face inches from hers for those fleeting seconds. She felt his moist breath across her brow and cheek. So incredibly masculine, his scent drove her to distraction. Yeah, he was as sweaty and dirty as she was, but she found herself inhaling his scent as if it were a cologne. And it was doing wild, unbidden things within her.
Travis sat back on his heels, his hands coming to rest on his long thighs, watching her. Madison was aware of their attraction. He could have moved those scant inches and captured that soft mouth of hers. Kissed her. And she’d seen that awareness flare in his eyes when he’d drawn close to her. Damn, why couldn’t she have been less gorgeous? She watched as he hauled his ruck over and pulled out a protein bar. He handed it to her.
“Try this on for size. You’re in shock and shock does funny things to people,” he said. Their fingers met. Heat flared inside her. Travis added, “People get real emotional and they feel out of sorts. You probably will, too.”
“Thanks,” Madison whispered, her whole hand tingling. Travis had a working man’s hands. They were large, powerful and she saw so many new and old scars across them. When he’d handed her the protein bar, she’d noticed the thick calluses on his palm. Inwardly, her breasts tightened and she felt heat plunge into her womb. The man could melt her with his thoughtful green gaze.
“Take it easy eating it,” Travis warned her, pushing to his feet. He walked over and picked up his M-4 rifle, which was leaning against the wall. “I’m going to check things out and I’ll be back in about half an hour. You rest, okay?” The sunlight was making her blond hair gleam with gold, wheat and tawny highlights. How badly Travis wanted to slide his hand through her hair, feel the weight of it, smell it and allow the strands to glide through his fingers. Disgusted with himself, he left, making his way down the dark tunnel. He knew this area well and didn’t even bother turning on a penlight to show him the way.
What the hell was going on here? His mind spun with its own kind of shock. Okay, he’d been out here with his platoon for four months. There weren’t any opportunities to meet a woman at Camp Bravo, for damn sure. The women at the FOB were either Apache combat pilots or medevac pilots. Being on deployment was like turning into a monk. Until Madison dropped into his life. Hell.
Madison was sleeping when Travis returned. He entered
