Bound by Honor by Diana Palmer Page B

unproductive.”
    Her soft, worried eyes searched his scarred face quietly.
    â€œWhat are you thinking?” he asked with a faint smile.
    She shrugged. “I was thinking what a false picture I had of you all those years ago,” she admitted. “I suppose I was living in a dream world.”
    â€œAnd I was living in a nightmare,” he replied. “That unforgettable spring day six years ago, I’d just come home from a bloodbath in Africa, trying to help an incumbent government fight off a military coup by a very nasty native communist general. I lost most of my unit, including several friends, and the incumbent president’s office was blown up, with him in it. It wasn’t a good time.”
    She named the country, to his surprise. “We were studying that in a political science class at the time,” she said. “I had no idea what you did for a living, or that you were involved. But we all thought it was an idealistic resistance,” she added with a smile.
    â€œIdealistic,” he agreed. “And very costly, as most ideas are when you try to put them into practice.” His eyes were very old as they met hers. “After that, I began to concentrate on intelligence and tactics. War isn’t noble. Only the resolution of it is that.”
    She recalled the fresh scars on his face that day, scarsthat she’d attributed to ranch work. She studied him with obvious interest, smiling sheepishly when one of his eyebrows levered up.
    â€œSorry,” she murmured.
    He moved a step closer to her, forcing her to raise her chin so that she could see his face. The contact, barely perceptible, made her heart race. It wasn’t so much the proximity as the way he was looking at her, as if he’d like to press her against him and kiss her until she couldn’t stand up.
    She moved a step back, her gaze going involuntarily to her cousin, who was giving the punching bag a hard time.
    â€œI hadn’t forgotten he was there,” Eb said in a velvety tone. His pale eyes fell to her mouth and lingered. Even without makeup and with her long hair disheveled, she was pretty. “One night soon I’m going to take you out to dinner. Dallas can keep an eye on Jess and Stevie while you’re away.”
    Until he said that, she’d actually forgotten the danger for a few delightful minutes. It all came rushing back.
    He smoothed out the frown between her thin eyebrows. “Don’t brood. I’ve got everything under control.”
    â€œI hope so,” she said uneasily. “Does Mr. Parks know that Lopez is out of prison?”
    â€œHe knows,” Eb replied. He ran a hand through his thick hair. “He’s the one loose cannon I’m going to have to watch. Even in the old days, Cy never had much patience. He and his wife weren’t much of a pair, but he loved that boy to death. He won’t rest until Lopez is caught, and if he gets to him first, we can forgetabout a trial. You can’t ever afford to act in anger,” he added quietly. “Anger clouds reason. It can get you killed.”
    â€œYou can’t really blame him for the way he feels. Poor man,” she sympathized.
    â€œPity would be wasted on him,” he murmured with a smile. “Even crippled, he’s more man than most.”
    â€œI don’t think of him as crippled,” she said genuinely. “He’s very attractive.”
    He glared down at her. “You’re off-limits.”
    Her eyes widened. “What?”
    â€œYou heard me.”
    â€œI’m not property,” she began.
    â€œNeither am I, but don’t start thinking about Cy, nevertheless. You can concentrate on me.” He took one of her hands in his and looked at it, turning it over gently to study it. “Nice hands,” he said. “Short nails, well-kept. No rings.”
    â€œI have several of them, mostly silver and turquoise, but I don’t wear them very