Read Online Behind Enemy Lines by Cindy Dees - Free Book Online Page A

shaved him.
    Stop that!
    Furious with herself, she yanked dry clothes from the scarred armoire in the corner and scrambled into them.
    She breathed a sigh of relief when she was safely clothed once more. Restless, she moved out into the living room and straightened up. She carried Tom’s pack into the bedroom and set it on the chair beside the bed. Maybe tomorrow she’d have better luck keeping him in that bed where he belonged.
    Her breath hitched and her body tingled all of a sudden. Tomorrow Tom might kiss her again in exchange for another day of bed rest. She craved the taste of him. Her palms itched to feel him, and her breasts ached for the weight of his body upon her.
    She jumped as a sound intruded upon her fantasy.
    Someone was knocking on the front door.
    Her heart beat double time as she moved to the entrance. Without opening it, she spoke softly through the flimsy wood.
    “What’s your handle?”
    A drawl she could cut with a knife came from exactly opposite her ear. “Tex, ma’am.”
    She opened the door and stepped back.
    The man edged into the room fast, his back to the wall beside the door. Lean and darkly tanned, he closed it with a soft click and took a hard, assessing look around the apartment. Remembering Tom’s advice to move slowly, she eased away from the dangerous looking man.
    “And who might you be, ma’am?”
    “My name’s Annie.”
    “Hey, aren’t you the lady from the hospital?”
    “That’s right. I’m Tom’s cover. He’s in the bathtub at the moment. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go tell him you’re here.”
    “No need.”
    Startled, Annie looked up. She hadn’t heard him come into the room, let alone get out of the tub and leave the bathroom.
    Her breath caught at the sight that met her eyes. Tom lurked in the doorway to the bedroom, a towel wrapped around his hips and a nasty-looking pistol held low in front of him. He looked every bit as dangerous as the man called Tex. With lethal grace, he waited, poised to do violence.
    “Hey, boss, am I glad to see you!”
    Tom’s posture relaxed and he stepped forward. “Ditto, Tex. Any trouble finding this place?”
    “Are you kidding? I know every inch of this miserable hellhole—excuse me, ma’am—of this town.”
    Annie noticed that Tom looked a little pale around the gills and was beginning to wobble. “Tom, why don’t you get dressed, and I’ll pour some iced tea for all of us.”
    Tex’s eyebrows went up, but he made no comment as Tom nodded and retreated to the bedroom.
    Tom emerged a few moments later, bare-chested and wearing green camouflage pants.
    Annie groaned mentally. He probably couldn’t get a shirt on by himself over his cast and wasn’t going to ask for help in front of one of his guys. But how was she ever going to sit calmly in the same room with him semidressed like that?
    Tex dragged a chair over from the kitchen table and plunked down on it while Tom eased onto one end of the sofa. Annie had no choice but to sit beside him.
    “Where are the others?” Tom asked.
    “Mac’s working in a government warehouse across town. Dutch is posing as an American journalist because he’d never pass for a local. Doc’s got himself a sweet job working as a medic for the rebels, and Howdy and I hang out here and there. I keep an eye on things and stay in contact with the other guys.”
    “What’s the situation?”
    “In a nutshell, the rebels are fixin’ to bust out and attack any second now. They’ve got most of the roads sewed up and they control the airport. Nothing’s moving in or out of the city without their say-so. There’s a major player out there backing them hard. They’ve got more equipment than they can possibly use, and somebody’s trained them on it.”
    “What’s the government doing?”
    “Sitting around with its thumbs up its—” he threw an apologetic glance at Annie “—nose. The army’s got tanks and howitzers rolling around for show, but it lacks the manpower to fight an