Course of Action: Out of Harm's Way / Any Time, Any Place

Travis grunted and pulled out a penlight and handed it to her. “Can you hold this?”

Madison wasn’t sure. Blood was coming back into her fingers and she felt nothing but throbbing pain in them. Their fingers touched momentarily and she clumsily took the small light. “I think so.”

“Get going up that tunnel.” He pointed to the fork he wanted her to take. “We’ve got to go about half a mile on a gentle climb upward. I’ll catch up.”

She gulped and nodded. Why had he chased the horses away? Why? She moved on shaky knees, watching her step on the worn surface. The tunnel darkened until all she saw was the light ahead of her. Everything echoed eerily as she stumbled once, the sound reverberating endlessly.

Where was Travis? Suddenly, Madison felt terrified again. Alone. He was nowhere around. Halting, she almost turned around and went back down the tunnel, but she remembered the hard look in his eyes, the guttural order to start walking. She had to trust him. But why the hell had he let their horses run away? That was crazy!

Madison sensed more than heard someone approaching her. She turned. A gasp tore out of her as she saw Travis right behind her. Heart pounding, she froze.

“You scared me!”

“Sorry,” he murmured, giving her a sheepish look. “I walk silent.”

Gulping, Madison shook.

“Tell you what,” Travis said softly, taking the penlight from her. “You grab hold of my belt here.” He pointed to his left hip. “And I’ll take us the rest of the way up.”

Sliding her fingers around his web belt, she nodded. Madison was more than willing to let him lead. He knew where he was. He started off slowly, cutting his stride in half for her. She was grateful, since her knees were still wonky and her energy was fading. Madison didn’t know what time it was, only that she hadn’t eaten for a long time.

Travis moved up to the right, taking another tunnel. And then the tunnel got very steep and he branched off into another one. He could feel Madison clinging to his belt, heard her breathing in rasps and he slowed even more. They were near eight thousand feet and the air was more rarefied. Texas was flat as a pancake and at sea level. He imagined her lungs felt as if they were on fire right now from the altitude difference. Still, he was pleased she was a fighter and she kept putting one foot in front of the other.

Madison felt woozy. When Travis suddenly halted, she ran into him. And then, she felt her world coming apart, black dots dancing in front of her eyes. “T-Travis,” she whispered, clinging to his belt, “I don’t feel so good.” That’s the last thing Madison remembered saying, the words echoing as if she were very far, far away from them.

Chapter 3

The prick of a needle in her left arm woke Madison up. Blinking groggily, she realized she was lying down on a cave floor. Her eyes focused on the man kneeling over her, putting an IV into her arm.

“Wh—” she croaked.

Travis taped the IV down on the inside of left arm. “You’re dehydrated,” he explained softly. “Just lie still. We’re safe in this cave for now.”

Sunlight was shining brightly from somewhere. Her mind wasn’t functioning. A cave and it was sunny? Madison felt his closeness, that powerful sense of protection emanating from him toward her. His brow was sweaty, his eyes narrowed and mouth pursed. She could smell the sweat on his cammies. Madison stared up into his darkly sunburned face. His black hair was scraggly, not in a military short haircut. Brow wrinkling, she managed, “Who are you?”

His mouth curved a little. “I’m a Navy SEAL, darlin’. Black ops. You heard of us?” He rested his arm on his knee, absorbing her. She was filthy, but then she’d been kidnapped, given too little water and no food, most likely. Travis saw her dark blue eyes wander a bit and then focus on him. Damn, even now, she could turn any man’s head. He reached out, pushing some of that unruly blond hair of hers away from her cheek.

“SEALs? Really? But...I thought you were at sea, not in a desert.”

He smiled a little and pushed the boonie hat off his brow. “We operate on land, sea and air. I’m land bound for now,” he joked. Looking up, he listened for any sounds echoing down the tunnel to indicate nearby Taliban. Travis heard nothing. He focused on the liter IV of Ringer’s lactate that was feeding her electrolytes in order to quickly get her back into a stable condition.

“I—I must have fainted,” Madison muttered, looking around. The cave was huge. She heard water dripping somewhere. The sunlight pierced only so much of the cave, the rest of it was shadowed or grayish-looking to her.

“How long has it been since you ate?” Travis asked.

Already, Madison was feeling better. Less muddled. More focused. “Umm, noon yesterday? I don’t even know what day or time it is.”

He looked at the watch on his wrist. “0800.” And then he saw her puzzled look. “Eight a.m. You were kidnapped at around eight p.m. yesterday evening. You’ve pretty much been in the saddle and tied up for about eleven of those twelve hours.”

He wanted to touch her again but hauled back on his desire. This woman was scared, she’d been beaten and was clearly in shock. She was his responsibility. It was his duty to protect her and see that she made it out of this mess alive and in one piece. “Did you eat at all during that time?”

“No,” she whispered. Looking up, Madison saw a huge IV bag hanging off the cave wall. “Are you a doctor, too?” She knew nothing about SEALs, about black ops. Her world orbited around horses.

Travis took the boonie hat off and ran his fingers through his damp, sweaty hair. “I’m a sniper and a combat corpsman.” He grinned a little. “I kill and I heal, depending on who it is.”

Madison didn’t find that funny at all. “You killed those five men.”

“I had to, or you and I wouldn’t be sitting here discussing it right now.” Travis saw her face turn florid. Yeah, killing got to everyone. He didn’t enjoy it, but sometimes, it had to be done. He put two fingers on the inside of her left wrist. Her pulse was slowing down. Getting fluids into her was working. Her skin was soft and velvety. God, he’d been out in the badlands too long when he could feel himself responding to just touching a woman’s wrist. He released her. “How are you feeling now?”

“Hungry?”

“That’s a good sign.”

“My parents...do they know I’m okay?”

He nodded. “I called my master chief that I’d rescued you. He’ll make sure your parents know you’ve been recovered. I’m sure they’ll notify your husband, too.” He didn’t add that they weren’t out of the woods by a long shot. But he didn’t want her upset; her eyes still conveyed shock. She’d been through hell and Travis didn’t need to stress her out any more.

Closing her eyes for a moment, suddenly emotional, Madison whispered unsteadily, “I’m not married.” Had been, once, but what had she known at eighteen? Not much. At twenty-six Madison was focused on her father’s breeding farm operation. Her two-year marriage had shown her she didn’t have a clue as to how to choose a decent man. She was far better at evaluating horseflesh than she was at evaluating men.

Madison looked up at Travis. “I was so stupid...so stupid.... They told me to never go outside without a Marine guard.” She wiped the tears away. If she was expecting censure, she didn’t see it in the SEAL’s dark, shadowed eyes. Just having Travis near made her feel safer.

“Look, most civilians don’t understand how dangerous it is out here. Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Travis reached out and smoothed some of her blond hair off her brow. He sure liked touching her.

For whatever reason, Madison pulled him. Hard. But she was too deep in shock and survival mode to do much else right now, although Travis could see the fear ratchet down just a little more every time he did touch her. He tried to tell himself he was just being a compassionate corpsman. Yeah, right. All he wanted to do was stare at her.

“It was a stupid mistake. I put a lot of people at risk doing what I did. All I wanted to do was go out and look at the Afghan horses in the corral. They were only a hundred feet away from the house.” Madison bit her lip, her voice dropping with despair. “I didn’t think it would harm anything. They were so close and I was dying to get a look at them, at their conformation....”

“Horse crazy,” he murmured, smiling a little. “My folks have a cattle ranch in West Texas and I grew up with quarter horses. I understand your excitement.” Travis could see the anguish in her eyes. “Don’t be hard on yourself. No one’s pointing the finger of blame at you.”

She sniffed and shored herself up. Every time Travis reached out with those long, large-knuckled fingers of his and grazed her hair, her scalp prickled with heat and pleasure. The look in his green eyes threw her off. She almost thought he wanted to... No.

She wasn’t emotionally stable right now. It would be easy to misread his face, his intentions. And yet, she felt such coiled power around him. He appeared casual and relaxed, but her senses, as muddled as they were, told her differently. It was as if he were a big, bristling guard dog watching over her. She was grateful beyond words.

What would it be like to kiss this man? Oh, she was really on emotionally rocky ground, for sure.

“Do you feel like getting something in your stomach?”

Nodding, Madison tried to sit up. To her chagrin, she found herself incredibly weak, as if her body had melted down on her and wouldn’t cooperate. “I hate feeling so powerless,” she muttered, pushing herself upright.

“Dehydration will do it,” Travis murmured. “Here, let me help you.” He slid his arm around her shoulders and propped her up against the cave wall. She was usually grateful for her strength. Someone who worked around horses became pretty physically fit.

Travis settled her against the wall as if she were a lightweight. And he was so close, his face inches from hers for those fleeting seconds. She felt his moist breath across her brow and cheek. So incredibly masculine, his scent drove her to distraction. Yeah, he was as sweaty and dirty as she was, but she found herself inhaling his scent as if it were a cologne. And it was doing wild, unbidden things within her.

Travis sat back on his heels, his hands coming to rest on his long thighs, watching her. Madison was aware of their attraction. He could have moved those scant inches and captured that soft mouth of hers. Kissed her. And she’d seen that awareness flare in his eyes when he’d drawn close to her. Damn, why couldn’t she have been less gorgeous? She watched as he hauled his ruck over and pulled out a protein bar. He handed it to her.

“Try this on for size. You’re in shock and shock does funny things to people,” he said. Their fingers met. Heat flared inside her. Travis added, “People get real emotional and they feel out of sorts. You probably will, too.”

“Thanks,” Madison whispered, her whole hand tingling. Travis had a working man’s hands. They were large, powerful and she saw so many new and old scars across them. When he’d handed her the protein bar, she’d noticed the thick calluses on his palm. Inwardly, her breasts tightened and she felt heat plunge into her womb. The man could melt her with his thoughtful green gaze.