“I know.” As they started back toward the house, Blair added, “Cam’s going to figure out a way to help Valerie, too.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself. I have to believe it, because I can’t stand to think of anything else.”

“Sometimes it’s better not to think.” Blair stiffened. “Did you hear a car door slam just then?” She hurried up the stairs, tugging Diane behind her, and rushed past Hara into the kitchen. The room was empty. She raced toward the front of the house, Diane right behind her. “Paula, is someone here? Is Cam…oh my God!”

Blair skidded to a halt, barely stopping herself from throwing her arms around a beaming Mac Phillips. He was unnaturally pale, and whereas he’d always been slim and muscular, now he was simply thin. But his gaunt face was still handsome and his blue eyes bright and mercifully pain-free. She hadn’t seen him for several weeks, and he had still been in the rehab center then, recovering from the gunshot wound that he had sustained while protecting her during the attack on the Aerie. “Oh my God. What are you doing here?”

Mac clasped Blair’s hand, half shaking it, half holding it. “I got a call late this morning from the commander to pack my bags, and I’d barely finished when a Humvee with two of Tanner’s people showed up, and…here I am.”

“Did you know about this?” Blair asked Paula.

“No.” Paula tried to look serious and in-charge, but she couldn’t help grinning at their old team member. “Apparently it was arranged after we left DC.” She carefully clasped Mac’s shoulder. “How are you doing?”

“A hell of a lot better than I was yesterday. I’m officially cleared for light duty starting next week, but I’ve been sitting around all this week doing nothing but going crazy.” He reached down for his suitcase but Wozinski grabbed it first.

“I have that, sir.”

Mac raised an eyebrow. “Jesus, Greg. I’m not your boss.”

Greg’s face was totally serious. “No sir. Anything you need, just let me know, sir.”

Mac looked perplexed, but Blair understood. Mac had almost died trying to save her, and when an agent was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, other agents considered them heroes. The same thing had happened to Cam when Cam had been shot in the line of duty, and Cam was just as uncomfortable with the adulation as Mac seemed to be. Blair hooked her arm through Mac’s and gave him a little hug. “Does Felicia know you’re coming?”

“I’m not sure,” Mac said, blushing and looking even more handsome. “She told me about her new posting with the commander.” He met Paula’s gaze. “And Renée’s.”

Paula nodded, realizing that they had more in common than ever. She and Mac were all that remained of the original team. They’d been together before the commander took over, and now they were the veterans. And they shared something else, something almost more critical…the women they loved were both part of the commander’s OHS team. Renée and Felicia were involved in something potentially more dangerous than any of them had ever experienced. She squared her shoulders. “She’s really happy about it, and I think it’s exactly where she belongs.”

“Yeah.” Mac nodded. “Felicia too.”

“Come on back to the kitchen,” Blair said. “Are you hungry?”

“I could—” Mac broke off at the sound of footsteps on the front porch, and both he and Paula automatically stepped between Blair and the door, their shoulders touching, shielding her.

“It’s Tanner,” a voice called as a knock sounded.

Paula opened the door just enough to check outside, blocking the view into the room. After a second, she swung the door open and Tanner Whitley strode in with her characteristic saunter, a strikingly beautiful blonde in a naval uniform by her side.

“Mac,” Tanner said. “I trust the trip went all right?” Without waiting for an answer, she kissed Blair soundly on the mouth. “You look terrific.”

“You don’t look too shabby either,” Blair said, thinking that with her windblown dark hair, piercing dark eyes, and muscular build Tanner looked every inch the playgirl she had once been, rather than the head of a huge corporate conglomerate and the owner of Whitley Island. As usual, she was dressed in casual pants, an open collar shirt, and well-worn black boots. Blair smiled at the blonde who held Tanner’s hand. Adrienne was more than a decade older than Tanner, and Blair had only to see Tanner with Adrienne to know that the new peace in Tanner’s eyes was entirely due to Adrienne’s presence in her life. The gold wedding bands they wore only affirmed what was obvious from seeing them together.

“Hello, Adrienne. How are you?” The last time Blair had seen Adrienne had been immediately after 9/11. Adrienne had been spending almost all of her time at the nearby naval base where she was stationed.

“Slightly less crazy than last time we met.”

“I wish we weren’t always dropping in on you quite so unexpectedly.”

Adrienne’s calm blue eyes held Blair’s. “We’re happy to have you, anytime, under any circumstances.”

Blair was certain that Cam would not have confided any of the details surrounding their precipitous return to Whitley Point to Tanner, and she knew that Tanner would not have asked, but she understood Adrienne’s message. Without even knowing the circumstances, Adrienne and Tanner would be there for them, whenever they were needed. To her horror, Blair felt her eyes sting with tears. “Thank you.”

“Tanner, darling,” Diane said, kissing Tanner’s cheek. “Thank you for the wine and other essentials in the guest house.” She extended her hand to Adrienne. “Thanks for taking such good care of us.”

“If you need anything else that our security people can’t get for you, just let us know. We’ll see to it.”

“How are you at pinochle?” Blair asked.

Stark groaned. Adrienne smiled.

Just after midnight, the door to Blair’s bedroom opened slowly and a thin shaft of pale yellow light slashed across the room.

“Cam?”

“Hi baby,” Cam said. “Did I wake you?”

Blair rolled onto her side and turned on the bedside lamp. She canted the shade so that most of the light angled away from the bed and then sat up. “No. I wasn’t sleeping. Are you all right?”

“Beat, but okay.” Cam sighed as she crossed to the bed. “I’m going to take a shower and talk to Stark for a while, then I’ll—”

“You don’t have to shower and you can wait until tomorrow to talk to Stark. I want you to just come to bed.”

Cam hesitated. “Okay. I’ll wait until the morning briefing to check in with Stark. But the shower isn’t optional.”

“I like the way you smell,” Blair said, folding back the covers and patting the bed beside her. “If you don’t get in here soon, I’m going to think you’re avoiding me.”

“The only thing I’ve been thinking about for the last twelve hours is you.” Cam kissed Blair, put her weapon in the top drawer of the bedside table, and undressed rapidly. “But I’m still going to shower. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Blair waited until she heard the shower running and then followed Cam into the bathroom. When Cam stepped out of the enclosure and reached for the towel that Blair held, Blair shook her head. “You just stand still. I’ll do this.”

“You know what I’d really like?” Cam said as Blair toweled her hair and then wiped her face and neck.

“No, darling, what?” Blair bit back a murmur of concern when she saw that the bruises on Cam’s shoulder and hip had spread, darkening in the centers to almost black.

“I’d like that massage. I’m too damn tall to sleep in the back of an SUV.”

Blair knew that if Cam was asking, she was more than stiff from sleeping in the car. She was hurting. “I think that can be arranged.” She dried Cam’s chest and stomach, then her back. Kneeling, she gently smoothed the towel over Cam’s buttocks, down the outside of her legs, over her calves, and up her inner thighs. “Turn around, darling.”

Slowly, Cam turned. She skimmed her fingers through Blair’s hair and then over her cheek. “Feels good.”

Tenderly, Blair dried Cam’s thighs and hips, taking care with the bruise on the right side. “You’re so beautiful.”

“Let’s go to bed,” Cam said thickly.

Blair rose, her nipples tight beneath the T-shirt she had worn to bed. “Come on, I’m not done yet.” She took Cam’s hand and led her into the bedroom. “Lie on your stomach and get comfortable.”

Cam complied, pillowing her head on her folded arms. When Blair knelt next to her, she said, “Aren’t you getting undressed?”

“Not just yet.” Blair decided it was safer if she kept her T-shirt and panties on. Although her only intention was to help Cam relax, she became aroused any time she touched her, for any reason. Starting at the back of Cam’s neck, she worked her way down, pausing when she found the clusters of knotted muscles along the way and gently massaging them until they softened.

“Jesus,” Cam muttered at one point, “that feels great.”

Blair smiled. “Good. Now turn over.”

Cam carefully flipped over. Her limbs felt loose, her mind more than a little hazy. She was also wet. Blair knelt beside her in a short T-shirt and skimpy panties, her hair down, her face void of any makeup. Her full breasts pressed against the thin cotton as she leaned forward, her hard nipples clearly visible. Cam swept her hand up Blair’s side and cupped her breast.

“Stop that,” Blair protested with more determination than she felt.

“I want to touch you,” Cam murmured.

“Tonight is for you. Just relax.”

Cam sighed but she felt so good she couldn’t argue. She moved her hand to Blair’s side and left it there as Blair worked.

Staying away from the bruise on Cam’s right shoulder, Blair circled her thumbs along the muscles under her collarbone. Cam had a warrior’s body—her sleek muscles long and tight, her breasts small and round. Her nipples were neat pink circles, as compact and hard as the rest of her body. Scars marked her chest and thigh—the gunshot wounds she had earned in battle. “I love you very much.”