Read Online Unmasking the Mercenary by Jennifer Morey - Free Book Online Page A

It was still too painful to face.
    She was glad for the dim lighting in the small but open dwelling. Rem hadn’t moved. He still leaned his head back on the chair, bottle of whiskey in his hand and resting on one thigh.
    “I was on assignment in Argentina about three months ago,” he said. The sound of his voice was low and gruff but a little vulnerable. Odd for a man his size and with his demeanor. “We were supposed to be guarding a cattle ranch that was having trouble with rebels. At least, that’s what I was told. I never did see any sign of rebel activity while I was there.”
    He paused and she wondered if he’d continue. “It sounds dangerous,” she said.
    “Dane made it worth my while.”
    “You made a lot of money?”
    He sipped some whiskey and put the bottle back on his thigh. Of course, she knew he had. His villa proved it.
    “Who is Dane?”
    “One night I was on patrol when I caught one of the ranch workers raping a woman,” he said without answering. “When the guy fought me, I shot and killed him. Dane Charter, the one behind Charter Security, reprimanded me for it. He said whatever the ranch workers did was none of our business. That’s when I started to get suspicious about him. It wasn’t the first time I’d noticed something odd on assignments. When I got back to the States, I stopped working for him.”
    “You stopped working for him because you were suspicious?” It didn’t seem like enough of a reason.
    “He was into drug dealing. Cocaine.”
    She searched his face. Why did she get the feeling he wasn’t telling her something? “Is that what the ranchers were doing?”
    “Yes.”
    “How do you know?”
    “I saw the drugs.”
    “Where? When?”
    “On that last assignment.”
    Was he being deliberately vague? “What did you do?”
    “What was I supposed to do?”
    Not walk away. She hadn’t known him long, but Rem walking away from anything didn’t wash.
    “How does your sister fit into all this?” she asked.
    “The man raping the woman in Argentina was someone Ammar knew, a business partner. In retaliation, he had a couple of his friends pay a visit to my sister.” He hesitated. “They killed her.”
    Haley closed her eyes to the horror she could so imagine. He didn’t have to tell her details. She knew them. When she opened her eyes, she saw Rem had put the bottle of booze aside. He stood with that fluid movement of his and came over to the bed. Sitting down on the other side of it, he lay on his back. When he opened his arm in silent invitation, she hesitated. If he was withholding information from her, should she trust him? If she wasn’t so tired, maybe not. But she was, and thinking about Iraq had her dreading the night. Putting her questions aside for now, she lay against him.
    The warmth that enveloped her came from more than his body heat. How could it feel so right being so close to him? She didn’t want to analyze it. Tonight she’d let herself fall into this contentment. Tomorrow, she’d listen to her mind.
     
    Haley sat with her feet on the chair, holding a cup of coffee in front of her bent knees, unable to stop looking at Rem. He leaned against the wall next to a window, staring across the street, surveying the road and the tangle of jungle beyond. She was supposed to be distancing herself today. But the feelings from last night still circled her heart. They’d shared something intensely personal. And now they were closer.
    His defensiveness against men of Cullen McQueen’s caliber made a convincing argument that was what he craved most in life. To be honored. To be honorable. But the truth couldn’t be changed. He was a drug dealer turned mercenary. Where was the honor in that background?
    He was the epitome of the kind of man who usually frightened her. Who ought to frighten her now. And yet…something drew her to him. Was it the tragic loss of his sister? Had the experience changed him and that was what she saw? He’d come here to hunt down