Read Online SEAL Under Siege (Men of Valor) by Liz Johnson - Free Book Online Page B

it toward his front door just as Ashley stepped onto the stoop. With both hands on her back, round belly sticking out, she filled the space between the door jambs. When she spotted Staci, Ashley’s eyes lit up, a smile breaking through her tense expression. She tried to hide her discomfort, but he’d noticed the lines around her mouth and wrinkled forehead when she thought he wasn’t looking. Carrying a baby was hard work, and anything that took her mind off it was a treat.
    Especially without her husband by her side during the past month.
    Maybe Staci would be a good diversion.
    “Who’s this?” Ashley’s voice carried across the lawn, her hips swaying gently, her weight shifting from one foot to the other.
    Staci tugged on one of her curls and offered a reserved smile, the warmth he’d known in her eyes all but gone, replaced with a hesitancy he’d never seen her show before.
    “Ash, this is my friend, Staci.”
    His sister’s eyes narrowed and then grew wide, recognition washing over her face. He hadn’t told Ashley what he and her husband, Matt, had been up to the month before. Not a word about the mission. But Staci’s face had been plastered all over the news networks and papers.
    As Staci reached the turn in the flat walkway, Ashley swung the front door wide. “Come on into my igloo.”
    The fans on constant rotation in the living room blew Staci’s long hair around her head, and she wrestled it into place, turning slowly around the room.
    Compared to her pristine white floors and walls, his place had to look like the epitome of the man cave. Big-screen TV, brown leather couches and a recliner with his form clearly imprinted into it.
    Of course, there were no empty cans or crumbs littering the room. Not even before Ashley arrived.
    A clean space connoted discipline. And he knew a thing or two about that.
    Ash closed the door behind them, her gaze never leaving Staci’s face. “I’m Ashley Waterstone. I’m so happy to know you.”
    Staci managed a ginger smile in response. “Staci Hayes.”
    “Yes. I’ve seen your picture in the newspaper. You’ve had a rough couple months, haven’t you?” Ash didn’t wait for Staci’s response before plowing on. “How’d you meet Tristan?”
    From his stance behind Ashley, he caught Staci’s gaze, which was filled with questions. Was it okay to say how they’d met? Should she keep the danger she was in a secret?
    But he didn’t have to respond.
    Ashley whipped her head around so fast she nearly threw herself off balance and had to grab his arm for stability. When her feet were firmly beneath her, she glared at him hard. “Matt said you went on a training mission. He said it wasn’t anything to worry about. He said you’d barely left the country.”
    Tristan looked to the ceiling and searched for an answer that wouldn’t raise her blood pressure any more than it already was. And wouldn’t land him or his best friend in hotter water. He hadn’t considered this repercussion of bringing Staci home. Of course Ashley had put two and two together. “Matt’s a good husband. He was just looking out for you and the baby. He didn’t want to worry you.”
    Just like Tristan wasn’t going to worry her with the details of the threat against Staci.
    Her eyes narrowed and she leaned toward him. “Where is Matt right now?”
    Tristan chuckled, lifting up the hand that wasn’t holding the suitcase. “Right where he said. He’s in Chicago doing demo training.”
    Finally the muscles in her face relaxed and she turned around—slower and more in control than before—and nodded slowly at Staci, whose eyes were bright with concern and confusion.
    “I’m sorry about that,” Ash said. “My husband told me he was going on a last-minute training mission about four weeks ago. But clearly he was with my brother, and I assume you, too. But I’m just glad you’re all safe now.”
    Staci blinked twice, her mouth hanging open.
    “You met Matt for a minute,”