He wanted to hold Leah but he could tell she was tense, as if struggling to contain all those runaway terrors. She was trying to stuff them way back down into herself once again. Kell wasn’t going to force her into his arms. If she didn’t come of her own volition, he couldn’t help. Leah didn’t know that, though. “I wake up so many times a night,” he told her sincerely, catching her downcast eyes. “SEALs don’t sleep like regular folks. We catnap for five, maybe ten minutes, and then we snap fully awake. And then, we go back into a catnapping cycle again.” He gave her a small smile meant to make her feel better. “No harm, no foul. Okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered brokenly, feeling as if she were falling apart.
“Why don’t you lie down? I’ll get the blanket and cover you up with it.”
Leah nodded and whispered her thanks, lying on her right side. She felt him cover her with it, gently tucking it in around her hunched shoulders like a mother might for a child. Shutting her eyes tightly, biting back a sob, she realized Kell’s touch was stunningly different from Hayden’s. She’d been such a coward. Looking back on that three-year marriage, Leah knew she should have gone to her father. But even now, she wasn’t sure he’d believe her. He still thought of Hayden as the son he’d lost, Leah thought bitterly. Hayden replaced Evan in her father’s world. And Hayden wanted to show him he could one day replace him as commander when he retired.
She heard Kell lie down, the cave going to blackness once more as he turned off the small penlight. The darkness hid her and maybe that was a good thing. Leah figured Kell telling her that Hayden had demanded her immediate return had probably brought up their sordid past. Pushing her face into the scratchy wool blanket, she was so glad Kell had told him no. Leah never wanted to see Hayden again face-to-face. She wasn’t sure what she’d do, there was so much rage built up inside of her from three years of being beaten and raped by him.
She had five more days, possibly, before they had to leave this cave. Hayden couldn’t hang around Bravo forever; he had a squadron to run at Bagram.
Leah prayed he wouldn’t be there once they were picked up by helicopter. She wanted to leave her past behind her.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
