of his arms. With the wall against her back, she couldn’t escape.
Strangely, she didn’t want to escape anymore. Her belly clenched as he leaned down, his face closing the distance, and she thought maybe, finally, she was going to get her first kiss. She breathed shakily and rose up on her toes to meet him halfway, her eyes closing as she waited for the first touch of his mouth on hers.
Terror jerked away suddenly and pushed her behind him. Realizing he had heard something that made him stiffen with alarm, she stayed where he had put her. His hand moved to the sidearm holstered at his hip, but his flexed fingers eventually relaxed. Slowly, he turned back to her and lifted his hand. Her eyes closed as his rough, hot palm touched her cheek. When his thumb swept her lower lip, her eyelids fluttered apart, and she reached up to hold his wrist between her smaller hands. Aching for his touch, she leaned into his palm and wished she could stay just like this, safe and protected by him.
He tapped her chin to make sure she was paying attention before he spoke. “The two pilots who crashed earlier have just arrived. I need to speak with them. Go find a place to rest.”
She nodded dutifully and stayed in the hall while he left to meet with the pilots. Needing to do something to settle her nerves, she found her scavenged boots on the old metal tray by the front door where she had left them. The mud had dried, and she worried it would leave a trail that would dirty up the very nice hand scraped floors. Taking the boots in one hand and the stiff bristled brush dangling from a nearby hook in the other, she carried them both outside. She braced herself against one of the porch rails and began to meticulously scrub the dried muck from the soles.
Worried thoughts tried to take hold, but she forced them out of her mind. Right now, inside the Ryderwood compound, she was the safest she had been in weeks. Danger awaited her, but she refused to dwell on it or worry needlessly. She had made it this far, mostly alone and relying only on herself. With Terror at her side, she figured she had a fair chance of surviving at least another day. Maybe even two if her luck held.
Fay appeared from the shadows of the porch, and Maisie nodded in her direction to let her know she had seen her. When Fay took the brush from her hand, Maise frowned and shot a questioning glance her friend’s way. Fay set the brush on the porch railing and said, “You should go inside and get some sleep. My room is upstairs, last door on the right.” She gestured with her head toward the house. “Go.”
After weeks of sleeping on dirt and concrete, a real bed would be as wonderful as sleeping on a cloud. Unable to turn down what was likely to be her last chance for proper rest, Maisie nodded and handed over her boot. Fay picked up the brush, and she re-entered the cabin, crossing the main floor of the house and taking the stairs to the second floor where the family bedrooms were.
At the top of the stairs, she noticed Terror watching her from down below and paused for a moment, catching and holding his gaze. He touched his forefinger to his lips and then brought his palm down to his other fist. It was a simple sign that said so much. “I promise.”
Taken aback, she could only nod. The fact that he had asked someone to teach him—probably Fay, if she had to guess—confirmed her belief in him. She wasn’t sure what the near future would bring, but she was certain that if she went with Terror, she would be all right.
Chapter Seven
Elbows on his knees, Terror held his aching head in his hands and rubbed his temples. The headache had started before they reached the cabin and wouldn’t stop even after he had taken a handful of minor pain meds from his first aid kit. The source of the headache was obvious, but he didn’t know how to handle it. Lifting his head, he glanced toward the second floor where Maisie slept. The pain behind his eye throbbed even more intensely as the guilt of how he was treating her twisted his gut.
“I must have misunderstood the whole point of this mission when I agreed