Radclyffe - Oath of Honor

“We’re not done talking about this.”

“We will.” Cam kissed her back, slow enough and hard enough

to drown Blair’s anger. “But I want to be with you. Only and always

you.”Blair sighed, surrendering to the need that never lessened, and

rested her cheek against Cam’s shoulder. “I guess it’s a good thing I

married you, then.”

v

Evyn had half an hour before she was due to relieve Gary on the

gate. She found a quiet corner by a bank of windows in a long hallway

at the rear of the house. Below her, the ocean roiled against the shore.

The slashing whitecaps looked nothing like the warm crystalline waves

that broke along the south Florida coast. These surges were gray and

cold and hard, as merciless as the wind buffeting the dunes, freezing the

blood—icing the bones.

“Stunning, isn’t it?” Wesley Masters said from beside Evyn.

Evyn glimpsed Masters’s face in profile, as starkly beautiful

and commanding as the ocean below them, and she was anything but

chilled—a flash of heat enveloped her and she had to catch her breath

to stifle a gasp. Even a simple greeting was beyond her.

“Sorry,” Masters said, stepping away. “I’m intruding.”

“No,” Evyn said quickly. “You’re not at all. I was just…” She was

at a loss to explain, having been caught in a contemplative moment

that was so atypical of her she was embarrassed. Most of her daily

conversation was with her fellow agents, talking about sports and office

gossip and the latest movies—anything to pass the time before those

intense moments when all that mattered was the constant search for

danger, when a split-second’s delay could be disastrous. In the off time,

when the pressure was relieved, all she wanted was to let down her

guard even a little—no demands, no obligations, no one to ask more

than she could give. She waved a hand toward the window. “I was

just…well, daydreaming.”

Wes turned toward her, that intent expression in her eyes. “Were

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you?” She looked deep into Evyn’s eyes for another second, as if she

might find the memory of her imaginings still swimming beneath the

surface. Then she turned to look back out at the ocean. “I’ve always

thought the ocean held all the mysteries of life. I could watch it

forever.”

“Is that why you joined the navy?” Evyn asked, speaking softly

so as not to shatter the strange sensation of having stepped slightly

outside her life. She wanted to preserve this sheltered moment as long

as possible and had no idea why.

Wes laughed shortly. “I suppose—that and I bought into the idea

of traveling the world while doing the work I wanted. All that seems so

whimsical now.”

“You don’t strike me as the whimsical type.”

“No, I was always practical,” Wes said, although there had been

a time, long ago, before her father died—before everything changed—

when she’d dreamed without boundaries. “I knew growing up I’d need

to join the armed forces if I wanted an education. I chose the navy

because of the sea.”

“But you stayed in. You didn’t have to.”

“No, I could have left after I fulfilled my educational obligations,

but the navy needs doctors and teachers, and I was comfortable.”

“Is that what you do mostly, teach?” Evyn came back to earth as

the sinking feeling in her stomach spread. Masters was not only green,

she wasn’t even a front-line medic.

“Yes,” Wes said. “I’m an associate professor at the Uniformed

Services University.”

Evyn watched the frothing water climb higher on the sands,

encroaching on the dunes, and digested that little detail. A professor.

The choice of Wes Masters to replace O’Shaughnessy made even

less sense, but then most government decisions were based on some

complex rubric of politics, power maneuvering, and personal agendas.

She should never have expected any of it to make sense. She looked at

Masters, who was contemplating her again. “This duty is going to be a

lot different than what you’re used to.”

A muscle bunched in Masters’s jaw, but her expression remained

calm, appraising. “I’m aware of that, Agent. I can assure you, I’ll be up

to the task.”

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Oath Of hOnOr

“Oh, I’m certain of that,” Evyn said. “Unless something changes,

it’s my job to see that you are.”

Wes frowned. “I’m sorry? I don’t understand.”

“I don’t really understand, either,” Evyn said. “I don’t understand

why Peter Chang—” She broke off, sucked in a breath. She was about

to lose her cool and complain about Peter being passed over to the last

person who should know she had issues. She never made mistakes like

that. “I’ve been assigned to orient you to the interface between the

Presidential Protective Detail and the White House Medical Unit.”

“I see.”

Evyn sighed. Maybe it was the cold—three years, and she still

wasn’t used to the damn winters. Maybe it was the lack of sleep over

the last few days. Maybe it was the unsettling, unwavering focus in

Wes’s eyes. But something was making her behave like a stranger to

herself as well as an ass. “Look, I’m sorry, Captain. The weather seems

to be affecting my mood. I’m usually not quite so surly—well, not after

my first cup of coffee.”

“No apologies necessary. And it’s Wes,” Wes said, seemingly

willing to accept the change in subject. “Not a Northern girl?”

Evyn snorted. “Miami, born and bred.”

“Ah,” Wes said. “The winter can do funny things to your

perceptions sometimes. Just remember, spring always follows.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind when my ass is freezing off,” Evyn

muttered.

“If you think that’s in danger of happening, you should come in

out of the cold.”

“I’ll take that under advisement,” Evyn said lightly, wondering

if the warmth in Wes’s gaze just might make the cold a little more

bearable. A warning twinge flagged that as a dangerous line of thought,

and she wisely squelched it. “We brief daily at zero seven hundred in

PPD command center in the Old Executive Office Building. You should

plan to be there as soon as you’re officially on board. I imagine all

the bullshi—paperwork and getting moved and such will take a few

days.”“Actually, no. I’ll be in DC tomorrow. I’m riding back on Marine

One today.”

Evyn narrowed her eyes. What the hell? Why hadn’t Tom said

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anything? She hated being out of the loop when anything affecting her

job was at issue. “On whose authority?”

Wes’s face shuttered closed. “Lucinda Washburn’s.”

Evyn bit back a comment—Lucinda’s word was law at the House.

Maybe Tom could shed some light on why the rush to get Masters to

DC. “Good. You should make the briefing tomorrow, then.”

“I’ll do that. Then I have to meet my team.”

“You can do that after we review our schedule for the orientation,”

Evyn said. “Unless we have an away trip or you have a medical

emergency, you’ll be detailed to me until further notice.”

“Thank you, Agent. I’ll report to you in the morning, then.”

Wes turned and walked away and Evyn looked back out the

window. Wes obviously was used to calling the shots, but PPD was

running this show. She’d just have to get used to it. Twilight enveloped

the island, turning the ocean black. The sensation of having slipped out

of time faded and the normal chaos of Evyn’s life crowded back in. She

welcomed the tension and the wariness, feelings she understood.

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Oath Of hOnOr

chapter five

The wedding celebration wound down around 2000 hours, and

after the good-byes had been said, Wes followed the group

returning to Andrews with the president. While the president boarded

Marine One along with Lucinda Washburn, his security chief, staff, and

med unit, Wes ducked under the rotors and clambered up the stairs into

the body of a nearby VH-60N Whitehawk helicopter, one of several

helos identical to Marine One idling on a large expanse of cleared

land behind Whitley Manor. On the flight back, the decoy helos would

fly alongside Marine One in a complex aerial shell game of shifting

positions to obscure which aircraft carried the president, in the event

of an attack.

Wes glanced around, saluted a vice admiral already seated in the

single seat directly behind the cockpit, and took one of the three seats

on the bench along the wall. Two marines in full dress uniform boarded

and sat beside her, followed by Evyn Daniels and the male agent who’d

been at the gate with her earlier. As soon as they were strapped in, the

helicopter lifted away, making conversation impossible. Evyn, in the

jump seat directly across the narrow aisle from Wes, pulled a small

electronic device from the pocket of her black trench coat and started

to scroll.

Looking out the window next to Evyn, Wes watched the lights

of Whitley Island growing fainter and finally disappearing beneath the

low-lying cloud cover as the convoy headed out over water. Wes shifted

her gaze from the night to Evyn, whose profile was softened by the

dim glow of the cabin lights. Her burgundy hair fell forward over her

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cheek in loose, thick waves, and she absently pushed them away as she

focused on the small screen in her hand. The movement was wholly

unconscious and lent her an air of vulnerability Wes suspected she

would disavow. A small frown line bisected the smooth skin between

her arched reddish brown brows. She had that on-the-job look and was

probably getting some kind of status report. She hadn’t looked at Wes

once. Annoyed that she didn’t register on Evyn’s radar and annoyed at

herself for caring, Wes wondered which woman she’d met that day was

the real Evyn Daniels.

USSS SA Evyn Daniels was obviously competent, dedicated, and

all business—that much had been established with their first encounter

at the gate. But Evyn was more than just a suit with a gun and badge.

For a few moments when they’d stood at the windows overlooking the

shore, they’d talked of things that went beyond aimless party chatter.

They’d shared something of themselves, something Wes usually only

did with family and close friends. With everyone else, she discussed

cases and assignments—safe, common ground. She’d been the one to

strike up the conversation with Evyn, also unlike her. But she’d been

drawn to the faraway look on Evyn’s face as she’d stood alone against

a backdrop of sea and sand—looking remote and somehow sad. And

very beautiful. Evyn had been easy to talk to, showing glimmers of

humor and warmth, at least until the subject of Peter Chang had come

up. Then Evyn had revealed a well of anger she’d quickly suppressed.

When Wes had shifted the conversation to safe ground and the subject