WILL SAT UP WITH A JERK. The nightmare was back. His men blown to bits before his eyes. Heart racing, he forced himself to inhale slowly. When his phone rang, he jumped.
Easy there, Marine.
He checked the ID of the caller and answered.
“Rafe? It’s five a.m. I’ve been asleep exactly two hours. This had better be good.”
“I have a way for you to make up with Hannah.”
Will wished he weren’t so interested. He’d hated the way he treated her but he’d only been doing his job. A girl’s life was at stake and there wasn’t time to waste on guesses. Though, of course, Hannah had been right on the money. Damn. He owed her. “Tell me.”
“Tag and his officers found the clothing. They made a significant bust. Seems these Hags you were talking about weren’t so careful about hiding the stuff. Tag found the warehouse where they were storing everything and then played one against the others to get full confessions out of all of them.”
Will smiled. “What happens with the clothes?”
Rafe grunted. “There’s a small catch there. The clothes are in evidence and will be for the next forty-eight hours. Then Tag says they can be released.”
“Tell Tag I said thanks. And Rafe…”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you for calling in the favor and for what you did for the girl last night.”
“No problem. So are you heading over to Hannah’s?”
Will was a marine and could go for days without sleep but he was exhausted. “Soon,” he said.
He lay back against the headboard. Marine or not, he was a chicken. He didn’t want to face the disappointment Hannah must feel about him. She’d been right about everything. And there was no way they would have found Regan so fast if she hadn’t been following her intuition.
“That’s one hell of a woman you’ve met. You might want to keep her happy,” his father had warned him last night after they found the girl safe. “She has a good head on her shoulders and a successful business. You could do worse.”
That was as close as his father would get to admitting he approved of Hannah—something he didn’t think would be possible. His mother had also gone on for more than half an hour about how impressed she was that a lovely girl like Hannah could have survived her parents’ obvious dislike of her chosen profession.
“I don’t like to talk rudely about anyone, but that mother of hers. I mean, it’s hard for me to believe Hannah is related to that woman.”
She had a point.
But he’d blown it big-time.
Running a hand through his hair, he knew he could never go back to sleep. He had to talk to her. To touch her. To smell her. He was off duty for the next twenty-four hours. Once the summit began he didn’t know if he would even have time to see Hannah before he shipped out again. Was he really going to waste time he could spend with her because he was afraid she was mad?
Thirty minutes later he stood outside her building in an old sweater and jeans. His bomber jacket was covered in snow but he didn’t care. He thought about using the code he’d seen her punch in, but it was early morning and he didn’t want to scare her by just showing up in her penthouse. But before he touched the panel, the door buzzed open.
After locking the door again he waited as the elevator churned its way to the bottom floor. When the doors opened, Hannah threw herself at him so hard he had to lean against the wall for support.
“I’m so happy you’re okay.” She wore a hoodie and sweatpants and her hair was a wild nest on top of her head.
“Why were you worried? You were right about everything.”
She lifted her head off his chest. “I’m glad, but I also realized you could be right. I worried about your safety.”
He squeezed her tighter and sniffed her sweet vanilla-and-honeysuckle scent. The warmth of her was something that would never grow old.
“Trust me, that kid Jeremy was more than happy to turn her over to her father. He had no idea how complicated his life was about to be, but he was a fast learner.”
“So much for true love. Is Regan okay? She must be crushed.” Hannah stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.
He started to put his lips to hers but stopped. Shifting, he carefully moved away from her.
“She will be fine. Though, she cried most of the way home. She refused to ride in the car with the ambassador. He’d given her and the boy a hard time. Rafe and I took her in our vehicle and he told her that all men were toads. That she would have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a Prince Charming and that Jeremy was definitely a frog.
“The tears stopped about halfway home. She asked Rafe if he was a toad and he told her yes. Sometimes he was. Then he made frog sounds and she started laughing. Like I said, she’ll live. I think she might have the beginnings of a crush on him.”
“You guys seem to have a knack for saying the right thing at the right time.”
“Not always.” He held her shoulders. “I have to apologize for the way I treated you last night.”
She pursed her lips. “The way I see it, you were doing your job. You didn’t know she’d confided in me.” After the look she’d given him last night, this was not the response he expected.
“Yes, but I should have taken you more seriously from the beginning.”
She tugged on his hand and led him into the elevator. “I’m just glad Regan’s safe. I bet she’s really mad at me right now.”
He chuckled. “No, you’re in the clear. No one ever said a word about you being the one who spilled the news. She assumed we had been watching her. Evidently, they’d only been in the boy’s apartment ten or fifteen minutes.
“In fact, she was upset that you’d left by the time she’d returned. She wanted to thank you for the dress and I think talk to you about her boy troubles. I feel sorry for that Jeremy kid. She let him have it for not standing up for her. I’ve spent the last three days looking after that family and I’ve never seen her go off like that.”
“She’s a punk girl hiding behind a preppy facade. She was bound to jump out of that shell at some point,” Hannah said as the doors opened.
Will followed her into the apartment. “There’s something else.”
Hannah sat on the couch and motioned for him to sit down. That’s when he noticed the shadows around her eyes.
“Hey, did you get any rest? Come to think of it, how did you know I was downstairs?”
She crossed her legs and put a pillow in her lap. “I’ve been on a creative binge. Desk’s by the window and I saw you. What’s the other news?”
“They found your clothes.”
She jumped up suddenly, sending the pillow to the coffee table and knocking the wineglass that had been there onto the floor. A maroon stain spread across the white rug, but she didn’t seem to care.
Will sprinted to the kitchen in search of some towels or a cloth but only found a roll of paper towels. He quickly blotted the spot.
“What are you doing?”
“You spilled your wine. It’ll stain your rug.”
She took the towels away from him. “It’s okay. Don’t bother.”
He didn’t understand how she could stand to let the stain spread and his look must have said it.
“Okay, okay. I’m blotting, Mr. Neat-nick. Now tell me who stole my clothes.”
“Technically, I shouldn’t as it is a pending case but it was as we suspected—the Hags.”
Hannah sat back on her knees. “I don’t believe it. Those bitches.”
It was the first time he’d heard her use language like that and it was kind of cute.
“They’ve all confessed and it looks like they’re involved in some messy international trade issues. They may be spending a long time in jail.” He frowned. “The catch is, the clothes are in evidence. They have to keep them for forty-eight hours.”
Her smile had enough wattage to light the room. “I’ll have them in time for the show.” She pumped a fist. “We would have had the new ones made by then, but now we can focus more on the new designs. What a relief. Anne Marie and Jesse are going to be so happy.”
Will watched as she blotted the carpet. The stain would take some heavy-duty cleaner. He would find her some later in the day.
“What’s wrong?”
She shook her head.
“Hannah?”
He drew her up off the floor with the paper towels still in her hand. “Hey, why are you upset?”
A tear fell to her cheek. “A lot’s happened in the last few hours. That’s all.”
“There’s more to it than that. Tell me, please.”
Using the heel of her hand she shoved the tear away. “No. That’s all.”
Whatever it was, she didn’t want him to push. “You’re exhausted.” He guided her from the living room to the bedroom, tossing the dirty paper towels into the trash bin. Neither of them had slept much. “Let’s get you into bed.”
“Can you stay?” she asked as she climbed into the bed fully clothed.
He pulled the comforter up to her chin and walked to the other side. “Yes.” He stripped down to his boxers and climbed in bed. Wrapping his arms around her, he shifted her so that her head was on his chest. “We should—”
He squeezed her tight. “We will. Later.”
She yawned and snuggled against him. His body had an instant reaction but he shifted so she wouldn’t feel it.
Before drifting off to sleep Will understood something that should have shaken him to his core, but it didn’t.
He loved Hannah.