Saved by Lorhainne Eckhart Page B

contractions faded, and at dawn, she fell asleep. Eric had watched her and felt such overwhelming peace. No matter how he fought it, he realized he was beginning to care a lot for her. She was amazing, and he wanted nothing bad to ever touch her again. She wasn’t like other women he had dated. She didn’t appear to have a selfish bone in her body or a mind that worked overtime, scheming and planning or plotting for her own means. This scared the hell out of him. He was alone for a reason. He wasn’t made like Joe, to have a family. He did his own thing, and he liked that. So why was the carefully structured world he had created crumbling now?
    The cabin door shook at a knock. Eric was startled, and that didn’t happen often. “What!” he barked.
    Joe snapped open the door and closed it behind him, carrying another one of his damn files. He pulled out a chair on the other side of the desk and sank into it. “You look like shit. I heard about Abby. Is she all right? Did the labor stop?”
    The sincerity in his voice was enough to take the edge off Eric’s irritation. What Eric really wanted at that moment, as he squeezed the tight muscles clenching up the back of his neck, was to lie down and get some sleep for a few hours. A headache was beginning to dig in at the back of his head.
    “She’s resting now. Her labor seems to have stopped.” The words softened somewhat, but he heard the gruffness still in his voice.
    “You look tired. Would you rather I came back later?”
    Shaking his head, Eric ran his fingers over his raw, overworked eyes as he attempted to refocus. “Nope. Sorry, Joe, I’m just really tired. What is it?”
    “I just heard back from Edwin, unofficially of course. It appears that Mister Seyed Hossein, our illustrious captain, appears to be looking for someone or something.”
    “It’s Abby!” Eric shouted, slamming his fist down on the solid desk. “God dammit.” His weariness fled as adrenaline pulsed through his veins, pumping him faster than any shot of high-octane caffeine would. Reaching across the desk, he ripped the report from Joe. “This is un-fucking-believable. Can you believe he has the unmitigated gall to be looking for her, that motherfucker?” Eric cursed again, reading the rest of the report. “Is this information for real?”
    Joe nodded slowly, eyeing Eric. “Yup, he knows how important this is. You may not like this next little bit: Edwin said the CIA suspects that Abby knows something more than she’s saying about this guy. He kind of indicated off the record that the CIA is baffled about her disappearance. They want some answers, and he said they will be talking to her. They’re aware you’re keeping her here on board, by the way.” Joe paused, looking directly at Eric before continuing. “Edwin also said this guy may be involved with a local terrorist group—you know, boats running into our boats to blow them up—and maybe Abby knows a whole lot more about it. Could even be involved.”
    That last had his gut sinking as if a boulder had been dumped into it. An icy chill raced up his spine because he knew the CIA were famous for using the innocent, and he was truly afraid of what they’d do to her. “Shit!” Eric pushed out of his chair, feeling as if he had aged ten years. Panic threatened to nip at his heels, so he started pacing around his desk and stopped in front of Joe, then tossed the file he squeezed in his hands back on the desk.
    Walking over to the couch, he flopped heavily and sank back into the leather cushion. He sank all ten fingers into his short dark hair and fingered it back until he was positive it standing on its ends.
    “You know she needs protection,” Joe said. “Have you thought about maybe moving her to the base in Bahrain? They could protect her there.”
    Eric didn’t look up when he said, “No, she’s staying here. This is the safest place for her.” He waved a hand to stop any further talk on the subject. “I spoke with