“I contacted Mike last night.” Simon was talking again. “I know you have a few of his boys out here, and I found out Callan has dispatched several Felines, as well as a couple of the Tyler brothers to help you. We have a small army going here, Dash. Let’s get this done fast and right and take the bastard out this time.” There was suddenly a dangerous flare of anticipation glowing in the other man’s eyes. Elizabeth glanced at Dash again. He was fingering several of the papers, his gaze reflective as he pretended to read one.
“Look, Dash.” Simon leaned forward. “I know how you feel, man, after losing your unit. The more people involved the bigger the risk of losing more than just yourself. But you saved my ass and my girls too many times to count. I’m not letting you take your woman in there alone. I know she has to go. I understand that need, if nothing else, from her standpoint. But alone isn’t the way to do it.”
Dash stood up from the table and for the first time Elizabeth noticed the tense, wary set of his shoulders.
“I saved your ass and those girls because I didn’t want you dead, Simon,” he snapped. “This isn’t a job you were hired for and it’s not your fight. You have no business here.”
Simon turned to Elizabeth then. She watched the somber glint in his eye for a second before he hid it with cool laughter. “He’s a stubborn bastard,” he drawled. “Has he told you yet he doesn’t have friends?”
Elizabeth cleared her throat. “He mentioned that.”
“He likes to lie to himself.” Simon leaned back in his chair. “We’ve had more than a dozen calls regarding half that many units he’s fought with that have b made themselves available to join in. That boy has a load of friends chewing their fingernails to the quick worrying about his ‘John Wayne do-it-myself’
attitude. Thinks everyone needs help but him.”
“Shut up, Simon,” Dash growled. He didn’t sound amused. He sounded worried and pissed.
“’Another thing about Dash I’ve always noted.” Simon smiled a bit sadly. “He always thinks it’s his fault when one of those non-friends gets their ass in a sling or ends up resting eternally. Doesn’t matter to him if he was there, involved or knew what the hell was going on or not. Always thinks it’s his fault. Has he told you about Afghanistan yet? He lost his brothers there…”
“Goddammit, I said to shut the f**k up.” Elizabeth flinched in surprise and fear as Dash’s rough, desperate voice seemed to echo around the room.
Silence filled the small cabin as all eyes turned to Dash. He turned from them, raking his fingers through his hair, the muscles in his back rippling with tension.
“Yeah, sure Dash.” Simon’s voice was curiously gentle as he stood to his feet. “We have the cabin at the base of the mountain. We’ll head back now. Here’s my cell number.” He scribbled the numbers on one of the papers. “We’ll be back in the morning first thing for breakfast. Steph thinks the two of you might be undernourished or something. Come on, ladies.”
They gathered around the tall dark-haired man, all of them casting Dash quiet looks so filled with caring and pain, for his sake, that it broke Elizabeth’s heart.
“Thank you, Simon.” She moved to him, giving him a hard, brief hug as he opened his arms easily to her. He had grown on her in the space of a few short hours. Equal parts hard edged warrior and playful immaturity that endeared him to her.
“Take care of the stubborn ass,” he finally sighed. “Talk some sense into him maybe. He listens when he has to.”
Dash ignored them all until Simon and his Ladies left. No sooner had the door closed than he moved. Elizabeth gasped as she was pushed roughly against the wall, his eyes blazing down at her, his hands hard, almost hurting, as he held her pinned to the rough wall.
“Never,” he snarled, his eyes blazing furiously. “Never f**king touch another man in my presence, Elizabeth. Never, do you hear me?” His lips were drawn back, his expression so explosively enraged her heart jumped in fear for one hard minute.
Then anger filled her. Furious blinding anger that ripped through her stomach, her chest. Before she knew what she was doing her leg came up, her knee contacting hard and fast between his thighs as he suddenly paled and swayed.
Jerking away from him, shaking with her fury, she turned back to him.
“Don’t you ever manhandle me like that, Dash. Never again. And don’t you dare try to pretend to know anything about me when you can’t face your own truths. Now I’m going to bed. I’ve had about all I can stand of your churlishness and your refusal to accept yourself, let alone those around you.”
She stomped away from him, confident that he would recover from the blow that was, at best, light. She could have put him to the floor. She also knew he would follow her. Aware and waiting. By God, she’d put his balls in his throat the next time.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The lights were out and Elizabeth was lying stiffly in the bed an hour later when Dash finally slipped into the room. He removed his clothes in the dark then eased beneath the blankets.
“I’m sorry.” His voice wrapped around her, filled with regret. “I had no right to act that way.”
Elizabeth sighed wearily. “So why did you, Dash? Simon came to help you, and I appreciate that. Besides, he’s harmless…”
Dash snorted. “Elizabeth, Simon is the least harmless man I know. But I know he would never touch you with anything other than respect. The hug was harmless, a part of who you are, and I know that. I don’t have an excuse for what I did.”
She stared up at the ceiling, letting the scene replay in her mind once again. Dash had been on the edge of his control. Something had triggered a ragged fury inside him that she thought confused even him.
“Why don’t you admit to having friends, Dash?” She knew that had been the key to his anger.
“Everyone has friends somewhere. Everyone accepts that. Why not you? Why does the thought of having them make you so angry?”