Hero Duty by Jenny Schwartz

that his silence normally hid, and couldn’t stand the pain of imagining him wounded or killed. ‘He’s a civilian, now, with a new life to build.’
    ‘That’s the truth of it.’ He stood and pulled her off the sofa and into a loose embrace with her back to him, and them both facing Sonia. It was as if they were a couple.
    Jessica covered his arms with her hands as they rested at her waist.
    Fleetingly, Sonia’s driven personality cracked and displayed something shockingly like envy before she smiled. ‘Be happy. You both deserve it.’ She let herself out of the suite.
    Jessica stared at the door, absorbing the intense intimacy of the moment with Brodie. ‘Did she really offer you a mercenary job?’
    ‘Grieg’s vice-president of an international security firm. We’ve met. He was talking at the conference Sonia’s attending. Apparently he mentioned recruiting me. Sonia thought I should have a heads up that the offer was coming my way.’
    ‘But you don’t want it?’
    His arms shifted around her as he shrugged. ‘Talking with you and Vera today confirmed something for me. There are other battles, important ones, that don’t include the violence of killing people.’
    She shivered.
    He bent, and his head rested against his hair. ‘Does it frighten you, disgust you, that I’ve killed men?’
    Men. Plural.
    ‘You were a soldier.’ But that wasn’t an answer. His question had come from the heart — perhaps could only be asked when they stood so close, but couldn’t see the pain in each other’s eyes — and deserved an answer from her heart. ‘I trust your strength, Brodie. You lived with the reality of killing or being killed, and survived. Mercy and justice, two sides of the same blade. You didn’t kill with joy. You love your brother and grandfather. It’s in your voice when you talk of them. That capacity for love is the heart of you.’
    She turned within his arms, reached up and brought his head down to hers. Her hand lay along the curve of his jaw, fingers skimming his cheekbone. ‘I told you in the beginning. You’re a hero.’ She kissed him briefly on the mouth, a chaste kiss. ‘I trust you.’
    The gold in his hazel eyes seemed to blaze. He covered her mouth with his, and this kiss was neither brief nor chaste.
    Everything Brodie gave the world was tightly controlled. Disciplined. His kiss was hunger, need and gift.
    Jessica couldn’t get close enough as his tongue invaded her mouth and woke her own desire to possess and be possessed. She tasted him and wanted more. She sucked his tongue.
    He dug his fingers into her butt and lifted her into his arousal. She released his tongue to moan her pleasure, then whisper his name.
    He bit her throat, teeth light. ‘All day, this buttoned-up shirt.’ He slid the top three buttons free and his mouth traced the revealed skin.
    Her skin had never been so sensitive. The cotton of her bra tormented her hardening nipples. When his mouth replaced the bra, she’d melt. She wanted to melt, now. She dragged at her shirt and a fourth button popped free.
    ‘Off. Completely off.’
    But he backed her against a wall before she could comply with the raw command and then she couldn’t think at all because he was thrusting against her, making love to her with their clothes on, and she was coming apart, anticipating and meeting his rhythm, their mouths joined once more, feeding on one another.
    Outside, in the corridor, the lift pinged. Two men talking loudly of their plans for the weekend walked past the door.
    Brodie and Jessica froze.
    For an instant he stared into her eyes, then his lashes swept down, shutting her out.
    It was more chilling than a bucket of cold water.
    She slid her arms from around him and found she didn’t know what to do with her hands. She rested them on his chest.
    His heart hammered and his hard body trapped her against the wall. ‘Jessica, I’m sorry.’
    She couldn’t find words. She pushed against his chest, and that said