SEAL's RESOLVE - Rebecca Deel Page 0,22
you hadn’t reached her in time.”
“I’m glad I was close enough to help.”
Alan looked at Kristi. “When are you coming home? I want to see you in person.”
She glanced at Rafe and received a slight head shake in response to her silent question of how much to reveal. “I’m not sure yet. Rafe and his friends want to give me a chance to recover before we return.”
“Good job,” Rafe murmured.
Her father scowled. “Are you sure you’re okay, sweetheart?”
“Yes. Please, don’t worry.”
“I can’t help it. You and I are a team and have been since we lost your mother in the other kidnapping. I love you, Kristi.”
“I love you, too, Dad.”
“I’m not the only one who’s worried about you. Hugh has been calling me every hour, wanting information.”
Rafe turned to stare at Kristi.
Great. Just great. She didn’t want to talk about Hugh Ward with her father in front of a room full of security people. “You can tell him I’m fine.”
“Call him.”
Her cheeks burned. “I don’t know when I’ll have a chance.”
“He wants to release a statement to the press soon, honey. You can’t blame him for being worried.”
Oh, man. That’s not what she wanted to hear. “This isn’t the time, Dad. We’ll talk later.”
“You can’t delay the announcement forever.”
That’s exactly what she intended to do. “I’ll talk to Hugh as soon as I can.”
“When Fortress brings you home, I want you to stay with me at the estate. I have great security. You’ll be safe.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Rafe’s hand clench again. Guess he wasn’t in favor of her staying with her father. Suited her. She needed to be in her own home with her supplies. Working from home did have some advantages. “I’ll see what Fortress recommends,” she hedged.
That’s as much as she was willing to concede. The truth was, she didn’t intend to stay with her father. She needed to work to keep the nightmares at bay. She had plenty from childhood. Now, she had a whole host of new nightmares to add to the toxic brew. Thankfully, Rafe had been close last night. Each time she woke in a cold sweat, he reassured Kristi that she was safe.
Alan Stewart’s expression hardened. “I’ll talk to Brent,” he said, as if that settled the matter. Her father was in for an unpleasant surprise. Brent Maddox didn’t seem like the kind of man to cave to demands if a client’s life was at stake.
He shifted his gaze to Rafe. “Keep my daughter safe.”
“I’ll guard her with my life, sir.”
A nod, then, “See you soon, Kristi.” Her father moved away from the screen, and Brent returned. “Update me in six hours.” The screen went black.
The members of Wolf Pack turned to stare at Kristi. “Who is Hugh Ward, and what does he want to announce?” Rafe demanded.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Somewhere in the back of Rafe’s mind, he remembered Callie talking about Hugh Ward although he couldn’t remember her exact words. Regret welled inside him. Those memory lapses had been happening more frequently of late. A natural occurrence, he supposed. The woman he loved had been gone for more than three years.
Shoving his morbid thoughts aside to deal with later, he focused on what he did remember about Callie’s assessment of Ward. She hadn’t been impressed with the man which said something about him. Callie had looked for the best in everybody, even a street rat like Rafe. He could never understand what she saw in him, but had been grateful she’d loved him anyway.
Locking the past away for the moment, he focused on Kristi and noticed the color in her cheeks deepening. He frowned. Had he missed something? “Kristi?”
She sighed. “Hugh is a friend who wants to be more.”
His suspicions rose. “How much more?”
“He proposed last month.”
Shock reverberated through his system. “You’re getting married?”
She shook her head. “He proposed, but I haven’t accepted, and I won’t.”
“He seems to think you are. Even your father is anticipating a positive response to the proposal.”
“He wants me to be happy and thinks Hugh is the answer. He’s not.”
“Does Hugh suspect you’re going to turn him down?” Cal asked.
“He’s an idiot if he doesn’t,” Eli said. “She hasn’t given him an answer to his proposal for a month. My wife took about two seconds to say yes.”
“Same for mine,” Jon said.
“How will Ward react to the bad news?” Rafe asked. If the woman he’d been dating had turned him down after thinking about his proposal for a month, he wouldn’t be happy about