Her Daring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 5) by Caitlyn O'Leary

deep breath and was back to being Sylvia.  She straightened her shoulders. 
    “Darling Dare, one of our major jade antiquity sellers is attempting to back out at the last minute.  It’s my job to make sure it doesn’t impact the auction we have planned.  I’ll be back tomorrow.  Hopefully in the morning.”  She breathed out a sigh.
    “How did that sound?  Was it believable?” she asked him.
    “Yes, it was believable.  Is that the lie Albert thinks you’ve told me?”
    She nodded.
    Darius’ eyes narrowed.  “Rylie, I don’t like this.  I don’t like this one fucking bit!  How much danger are you going to be in?”  His grip tightened on her shoulders.  “I’m going with you.”
    “You have the cover story.  Dare Lawrence can’t go with me, and Dare Stanton can’t follow me because he needs to remain here with our hosts.”  She looked into brown eyes that were no longer calm.  He was worried for her.  Really worried, and it made her warm inside.
    “Fine, then tell me where you’re going because you’ll have back up, you can be damn sure of that.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You don’t think we’re up here alone, do you?  As soon as we knew this operation was happening, we sent Finn and Drake up here.  They’re in Vancouver right now.”
    “You were supposed to tell me everything,” she accused.  “But I’m too relieved to be mad.”  She reached out and touched the side of his face, he took her hand and brushed a warm kiss in her palm.  She felt it in her heart, in her toes.
    Rylie stared at Darius for a moment, then turned back to her suitcase. 
    “A seaplane is taking me to Victoria, on Vancouver Island.  I don’t know if they’re in the city, or where they are exactly, so I don’t know how your men will find me.”
    “Easy enough.”  Darius pulled a small silver charm out of his pocket.  “Give me your wrist.  I meant to do this last night, I forgot.”
    She held out her hand and watched as he took off her charm bracelet and placed a silver Harp Seal on it. 
    “The seal has a miniature tracker in it.  Finn and Drake will be able to find you.”  He placed the bracelet back on her wrist, and Rylie felt a sense of comfort.
    “So basically I’ll have a SEAL tracking me.”
    “Bet your ass.” He grinned.  Darius zipped up the suitcase.  “I’ll walk out with you.  It’s what Mr. Lawrence would do.”
    ***
    R ylie looked out of the seaplane window as the plane made its descent into the harbor near Victoria.  She had seen pictures of Vancouver Island but had only stayed on the mainland in the city of Vancouver.  What she knew about the city of Victoria would fill a thimble.  She’d heard they served high tea and had lovely gardens.  Then it suddenly hit her, this would be just the sort of spot Albert would love to have the auction, he would make it a garden party.  She felt like gagging.
    The pilot was good, they landed smoothly, and hardly bumped into the dock.  A huge man of Asian descent walked up to her and bowed his head. 
    “Ms. Hessman, my name is Huan.  If you will come with me, I have a car waiting.”  The pilot handed her bag to the man while Rylie kept her laptop case and purse.  Going up the walkway, she surreptitiously searched for the familiar faces of Drake and Finn.  She’d met Drake before, but only seen photographs and videos of Finn.  She didn’t see either of them by the time Huan escorted her to the limousine.
    Rylie sat in the backseat, and she pulled out her phone so she could track where they were going while also watching out the window.  Not that it would matter, Liu would probably change the location of the girls after she met with them, she realized bitterly.  She was anxious to see them.  Now she had time to think about things, Rylie wondered if Ursula had really committed suicide.  The girl had not been unstable at all, she had actually been more of a leader for the others.  No, the more Rylie