Bound by Honor by Diana Palmer

glanced at her as he drove. “You’ve got a lot to learn. I suppose now is as good a time as any to teach you.”
    When he parked the truck at the front door, he led her inside, parking Stevie at the kitchen table with Carl, his cook, who dished up some ice cream for the child while Eb led Sally down the long hall and into a huge room literally crammed with electronic equipment.
    He motioned her into a chair and keyed his security camera to a distant view of two cowboys working on a piece of machinery halfway down a rutted path in the meadow.
    He flipped a switch and she heard one cowboy muttering to the other about the sorry state of modern toolsand how even rusted files were better than what passed for a file today.
    They weren’t even talking loud, and if there was a microphone, it must be mounted on the barn wall outside. She looked at Eb with wide, frankly disbelieving eyes.
    He flipped the switch and the screen was silent again. “Most modern sound equipment can pick up a whisper several hundred yards away.” He indicated a shelf upon which sat several pairs of odd-looking binoculars. “Night vision. I can see anything on a moonless night with those, and I’ve got others that detect heat patterns in the dark.”
    â€œYou have got to be kidding!”
    â€œWe have cameras hidden in books and cigarette packs, we have weapons that can be broken down and hidden in boots,” he continued. “Not to mention this.”
    He indicated his watch, a quite normal looking one with all sorts of dials. Normal until he adjusted it and a nasty-looking little blade popped out. Her gasp was audible.
    He could see the realization in her eyes as the purpose of the blade registered there. She looked up at him and saw the past. His past.
    His green eyes narrowed as they searched hers. “You hadn’t really thought about exactly what sort of work I did, had you?”
    She shook her head. She was a little paler now.
    â€œI lived in dangerous places, in dangerous times. It’s only in recent years that I’ve stopped looking over my shoulder and sitting with my back against a wall.” He touched her face. “Lopez’s men can hear you througha wall, with the television on. Don’t ever forget. Say nothing that you don’t want recorded for posterity.”
    â€œThis Lopez man is very dangerous, isn’t he?” she asked.
    â€œHe’s the most dangerous man I know. He hires killers. He has no compassion, no mercy, and he’ll do absolutely anything for profit. If his henchman hadn’t sold him out, he’d never have been taken into custody in this country. It was a fluke.”
    She looked around her curiously. “Could he overhear you in here?”
    He smiled gently. “Not a chance in hell.”
    â€œIt looks like something out of Star Wars, ” she mused.
    He grinned. “Speaking of movies, how would you and Stevie like to go see a new science fiction flick with me Saturday?”
    â€œCould we?” she asked.
    â€œSure.” His eyes danced wickedly at the idea of sitting in a darkened theater with her….

CHAPTER SIX
    S ALLY FOUND THE WORKOUTS easier to do as they progressed from falls to defensive moves. Not only was it exciting to learn such skills, but the constant physical contact with Eb was delightful. She couldn’t really hide that from him. He saw right through her diversionary tactics, grinning when she asked for short breaks.
    Stevie was also taking to the exercise with enthusiasm. It wasn’t hard to teach him that such things had no place at school, either. Even at his young age, he seemed to understand that martial arts were for recreation after school and never for the playground.
    â€œIt goes with the discipline,” Eb informed her when she told him about it. “Most people who watch martial arts films automatically assume that we teach children to hurt each other. It’s not like that.