Nori's Delta (Delta Team Three #1) - Lori Ryan Page 0,28

morning meeting with her team but now he needed to separate her from the group so anyone intending to harm her wouldn’t realize she wasn’t in the main caravan heading to the compound.

“Yes, Eleanor. I need you covered while I get you to the negotiations.”

She crossed her arms and leveled him with a look. “Absolutely not. Demir and his people are Arab Christians, not Muslims. If I show up to the negotiations dressed in that, I look like I don’t know who I’m dealing with and what I’m doing. I’ll look like an amateur who assumes because I’m in a Middle Eastern country, I’m expected to wear that by default. I won’t weaken myself at the start of this by going in there like that.”

He growled again. Damn, he was really making a habit of that. “I don’t care if you take it off when we make it to the compound, but you need to put it on now.”

“Not happening.”

He looked at her. She had her hair pulled back in a tight knot at the nape of her neck and wore trim khaki pants and a white buttoned-down shirt with a leather belt. She had on ankle boots that, thankfully, weren’t for fashion. They were laced up and functional, ready for her to run if she needed to. He loved her for all of that.

But what he didn’t love was that she wouldn’t let him do his job.

He moved in close, towering over her and not caring one damned bit that he was using his size to intimidate her. If it meant keeping her safe, he’d do it. “When we step foot onto that compound, you can be in charge—” at least so far as the negotiations were concerned, he added to himself, “but my job is to get you there safely. If I tell you to put this on, you’ll put it on. If I tell you to get down, you’ll get down. If I tell you to run, you’ll run. Got it? That’s the way this works, Eleanor.”

Her eyes said no. They were, in fact, impressively murderous at the moment. “I’ll wear it out of the hotel and halfway to the compound, but then it’s coming off. I won’t have any of Demir’s people see me wearing the wrong damned clothes.”

He slid his jaw back and forth, trying to crack the tension he felt. “Fine.”

He shoved the dark fabric at her and stepped back, watching as she donned the Abaya and expertly wrapped the Hijab like she’d done it dozens of times before.

She caught him looking as she tucked it into place. “I’ve worn them before. It’s not the clothes I object to, Heath. And I respect you have to do your job, but I have to do mine. That means walking into this negotiation from a place of strength. Making sure Demir respects me. If I look like I don’t know what I’m doing, we might as well go home right now.”

He wanted to take her home. He’d been all in favor of letting her complete this mission and then getting her home safely, but today, he was all about getting her out of here. If it were up to him, he’d scoop her up and run like hell for home.

And then what? Then he’d never see her again. She’d go her way and he’d go his and she’d be out of his life again.

He rubbed at his chest. The thought gave him heartburn. At least, he’d tell himself that’s what it was. Because anything else, like the fact he was falling for this woman, was too fucking much for him to handle right now.

A knock on the door told them it was time. They’d be moving her down to a car without her people and leaving ahead of the others. He and Zip were going with her. The others would take her people over.

Heath opened the door and he and Zip ushered Eleanor out and into the stairwell where Merlin and Duff had cleared the way and were standing sentry.

They moved with practiced precision and were down in the parking garage in minutes and then Zip was behind the wheel and Eleanor and Heath were in the back as they pulled out.

Heath welcomed the steely calm that came over him when he was in his element. He’d spent the night worrying about this move, worrying that he couldn’t keep Eleanor safe. But now that they were under way, training and instinct took over as he scanned