She got stiffer. “I just...can’t... There’s so much... What if...”
When she couldn’t get any more words out, Ren did what his body had been begging him to do since they’d lain down. Heflipped her on her side so she was facing the fire, slid one arm under her so it cradled her head and wrapped the other around her abdomen and pulled her back until she was firmly tucked against his front.
And damned if her body didn’t fit perfectly with his. He wanted to groan and curse at the same time.
“You’ve been through a trauma,” he whispered in her ear. “Your body needs rest. I’m not going to let anything happen to you while you’re asleep, okay?” He pulled her a little closer to his body. “Anything that’s going to try to get to you has to go through me and that’s...”
Ren trailed off. She was already asleep.
Chapter Seven
Damien walked from room to room inside the large Santa Barbara beach house.
Natalie—his Natalie—had been here. He breathed the air from the house deep into his lungs, as if he could inhale her very scent. Natalie was alive.
To discover this wondrous news after all this time was nothing short of a miracle. Ironically, he had Omega Sector, the very people he’d been trying to punish for taking his Natalie away in the first place, to thank for the information. Even though Damien’s mole inside Omega was gone, he still had one small channel of information open to him that they hadn’t found.
It was what had allowed him to discover and obtain the biological warfare canisters. He was sure they’d discover the tiny leak soon, but it didn’t matter, because the most important information he could’ve ever discovered already had been.
Natalie was alive.
He’d gotten the canisters where they’d needed to go, then flew directly to California as soon as Omega agents—his old nemeses Brandon and Andrea—had been brought in to make contact with Natalie. He wasn’t sure how long he’d missed them by, but it was long enough. Now he had no idea where Natalie was, again. He’d have to wait for another phone call to trigger more information.
Damien’s fingers strolled along the top of the couch, imagining her sitting here with her feet propped up on the table. She’d always been sloppy like that until he’d come along andcared enough about her to teach her proper behavior. How to be the perfect wife.
Their marriage had been perfect, everything either of them could ever want. He’d helped her become a flawless model of what a wife could be and she’d loved him for it.
He wasn’t sure exactly what had happened six years ago. Natalie had obviously been hurt—some sort of head trauma that had caused her to forget their marriage. Forget their perfect life together.
Because the alternative—that she’d run from him on purpose—was impossible.
He walked into the master bedroom, straight up to the bed, pulling back the covers. He bent low so he could smell the pillowcases, wanting to catch even the faintest hint of her essence. Did she still wear the perfume he’d picked out for her during their marriage?
He liked the thought of that. Maybe a subconscious urge she’d had that she didn’t even understand because of her memory loss. But deep inside, her brain knew, because like her body and her heart it still belonged to him.
He sniffed again, ripping the pillows off the bed and throwing them to the floor when he couldn’t smell anything remotely resembling his Natalie.
He stared at the bed. She had slept here. Without him.
Had someone else joined her in it?
Rage rose in him like a savage wave. His teeth clenched as he forced himself to take a calming breath.
If someone had so much as even touched her, that man would die. And she would need to be punished. He didn’t enjoy punishing her, of course. That would make him a monster. But he understood the necessity for it. It helped make her perfect. She’d always understood that, too.
He didn’t know how long it would be before he received word of where Natalie was. And he refused to always be a step behind in something this important. So he would take matters into his own hands as he waited.
This house wasn’t in Natalie’s name, so it belonged to someone else. Damien would find them and have a talk with them about what they knew. Every single thing they knew.
And then he would find the love of his life once more. It would be like they had never been apart.
* * *
NATALIEWOKEUPSLOWLY, stretching her arm out above her. She’d dreamed of sheep farms and train crashes and caves and sleeping wrapped in...
“Careful there, Peaches. Don’t want you to stretch too far and accidentally elbow me in the nose.”
Oh. Sweet. Heaven.
