“No—” she choked, yanking back with everything she had, but he didn’t budge—didn’t even sway.
Unbreakable.
Daisy clenched her eyes shut and jerked back, smacking her shoulder against the rock.
“Stop,” he ordered, low and controlled. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
The jacket—warm and fragrant—draped over her trembling shoulders. Her fist balled between them, her eyes wildly searching his shadowed features.
“Stand up.”
It wasn’t a request. He pulled her up, but her legs folded as strength abandoned her.
He pulled her closer, and she shoved at his chest, weak and terrified. Her heart tripped into chaos when he refused to let her go.
“Relax,” he said, but she heard those words before.
Her body sagged when he overpowered her, panic swallowing her whole in a wave of darkness that took her away.
Chapter Nineteen
Capture
“Shit,” Jack hissed as her body folded against him, a marionette with severed strings.
He caught her before she hit the ground, one arm hooking beneath her knees, the other bracing her spine as her head lolled against his chest. Dead weight. Breakable as bird bones wrapped in bruised skin.
“Sir?” Cole stepped forward, rain slicking his tactical vest. “Would you like us to take it from here?”
Jack shifted her higher, moving his jacket to drape over her front and shield her from the eyes of men who had no business seeing what lay beneath. The fabric swallowed her.
When he looked up, Cole stood frozen, waiting for instruction. The two officers at his back stared as well.
One officer touched his ear and reported, “Medical team’s standing by at the grotto.”
Cole continued to stare at Jack, uncertainty bleeding through his stiff posture. “Protocol says?—”
“Protocol won’t be necessary.”
Silence.
Rain fell harder, a steady tempo pelting the jacket that covered her limp body as he held her close. The passing storm needled Jack’s face, soaking through the fine wool of his waistcoat until the fabric clung to his chest like a second skin.
Cole exchanged a glance with the two remaining officers. “Sir, she’s injured. The lacerations on her feet alone?—”
“Have medical supplies and towels sent to my suite.”
No one moved.
Jack turned in the opposite direction of the safe zone and headed toward the lodge. Toward the maze of hedges and fog that would swallow them both.
“Sir.” Cole fell into step beside him, boots squelching in the wet grass. “This is irregular.”
Jack was more than aware, but he had no explanation to offer so he kept walking.
The moment the two other men fell into step, Cole turned. “Patrol the perimeter until I radio further instruction.”
The two officers peeled off into the darkness as Jack navigated the labyrinth of gardens through the rain and shadows. He knew this property. Every hidden corridor. Every forgotten acre. Every shortcut carved through overgrown hedgerows.
