The storm had broken overhead while they talked, rain now thumping roughly on the roof as the wind gusted, slamming things around, and she looked at him with eyes that said she didn't think she could do it on her own.
"You won't help me?"
The crushing disappointment in her voice had him looking away, sure if he held her gaze, he would give in.
"I'll think on it, but probably not. I can't be your show of force and maybe even your attack dog, just because you can't live up to a decades-old promise and are too honest to skip out on it, even after all that's happened. I certainly won't challenge a fellow Marine for those reasons."
Angela nodded, holding back hot tears. "I understand. I'll go my own way come morning…I'm sorry, Brady, for all of it."
She lay down with her back to him, trying not to cry. She just couldn't bring herself to tell him the awful truths about how bad her life had been. He had to see on his own how much she needed him. There was no way guilt would hold him through all they would face.
Marc wanted to talk more, wanted to convince her she didn't have to stay with a man she didn't love, that even after all these years, others were still waiting. He also loathed the idea of being a Jody. No real Marine let himself become the guy that stole a fellow grunt's girl while they were away.
Brady blew out a sigh of frustration, frown growing when the small sound made her flinch. What the hell was he supposed to do? "Whatever she asks!" his heart reproached miserably, already aching at the thought of being split from her again so soon. His emotions insisted she was the real thing, a true damsel in distress, and he went over her words and reactions repeatedly, looking for clues to what he was missing. What hadn't she told him?
5
A short time later, Angela jerked out of a deep sleep, the first she'd had since leaving Cincinnati. Weak alarm bells blared in her head for the second time in the same night, and she pushed herself up, but the door in her mind refused to swing open. She was too tired.
Marc woke the second she sat up, heart thumping at the sight of his dream woman with sleep still on her.
"We have to get out of here."
He began to pull on his boots, not hesitating, and the clink of his dog tag caught her ear as he stood up to fasten the jeans he'd discreetly loosened. The sexy strip of hair that ran from his flat, tanned stomach to his groin kept her attention, and she snatched in a surprised breath at the clear chill of desire that went through her. It had been a long time since she'd felt anything even close to passion.