Page 16 of The Hero
Bob shook his head and rested it against the wall behind him. He really needed to stop thinking like that. Marlowe would go her own way once they were back home.
She couldn’t be his. This wasn’t fate. She wasn’t his soulmate.
But no matter how many times he told himself those things, the feeling that he was destined to be right where he was, right this second, wouldn’t rest.
Not able to look away from Marlowe for long, Bob lowered his head and stroked her hair. The strands were filthy, she was covered in dirt ... but he’d never seen a more beautiful woman in his life.
He was in big trouble. This woman had him wrapped around her little finger after a total of a few hours ... and she had no clue.
When he got home, he’d call his friend Tex and have him keep tabs on her. Scrub her fugitive status, if possible. Make sure she was safe when she went on future archaeological digs. Maybe he’d even see if the former SEAL could covertly put a tracker on her.
Shaking his head, Bob snorted. He wouldn’t do that to Marlowe. What was he thinking? Track her without her knowledge? No, only psychos did that kind of crap. Besides, if Tex let anything slip, and Chappy, Cal, or JJ found out about his little extracurricular rescue trips, he’d have his hands full trying to explain and earning back their trust.
He’d have to let Marlowe go. Had a feeling it would be the hardest thing he’d done in his life so far ... even more difficult than surviving his time as a POW. But he’d do it, because Marlowe deserved her freedom too.
Chapter Four
The next two nights went by much the same as their first. And Kendric hadn’t lied: they were traveling extremely slowly. A big part of Marlowe wanted to race as fast as they could on a straight path to the border, to get out of this country. But she understood the need to stay under the radar, to try to avoid coming into contact with anyone who might identify them.
So they traveled a somewhat meandering path by night, sticking to back roads and trails, and stopped at safe houses before dawn. They hadn’t come across any more roadblocks, and the farther they got from Bangkok, the more Marlowe’s hopes rose.
She was beginning to think she might just make it to the border without being caught. But there was still the issue of getting into Cambodia. It wasn’t as if they could just go through one of the official crossings. She wasn’t sure what Kendric’s plan was, but she was confident he had one.
Ever since he’d found her, he’d taken care of everything. It was a relief to put her trust in someone. She didn’t have to think about anything other than holding on to him while he drove them farther and farther away from the hell she’d experienced.
It should’ve scared her how fast she’d given up control to Kendric, but it didn’t, simply because he made her feel protected. While Marlowe liked her job, she didn’t enjoy going into some of the more dangerous countries she’d visited. Feeling safe was sometimes a rarity.
It was rather funny that she was an archaeologist at all. She’d kind of fallen into it when she’d been in college. Her roommate her freshman year had been interested in the field, and since Marlowe hadn’t known what she wanted to do, she’d basically latched on to her friend, taking a lot of the same courses. The friendship eventually ended after a couple of years, but by then, Marlowe found she enjoyed her studies.
Archaeology wasn’t really her passion, but it had allowed her to see the world. In fact, she hadn’t stayed in one place for years. Ironic, considering what shereallywanted to do. Something that wasn’t always respected by society any longer, especially since she was a single woman.
She wanted to be a mom.
Because she had neither a boyfriend nor a husband, she wanted to adopt children in the state’s system. Those who didn’t have a parent to love them. She knew it would be an extremely difficult road to adopt a child as a single woman, but it was what she longed for.
Of course, she couldn’t exactly be a single parent without a job, and that’s what had kept her doing what she was good at, even if she didn’t love it like she should.
But after this experience, Marlowe was more determined than ever to do whatshewanted to do. She didn’t know how she’d afford it, but she had no doubt Tony would help her figure it out.
For now, her attention returned to the man sitting in front of her. The farther they got from Bangkok, the more Marlowe worried about Kendric. He’d admitted that first day that he didn’t sleep well, but she wasn’t sure he was sleeping at all. At least nothing more than catnaps. When he got her settled after they ate, most of the time using him as a pillow, he was always in the same position when she woke up hours later. She wanted to insist that he lie down, but every time she brought it up, he’d brush off her concerns, insisting he was fine, that he slept while she did.
She was determined to get him to lie down today, as they slowed near a surprisingly nice-looking house, a two-story cinder block structure with a well-maintained yard. The other places they’d stopped atwere run down and looked like they were on the verge of collapsing, but this house was in a city that was fairly well populated. They’d seen more people on the way to this safe house than in the last two days combined, which made Marlowe very nervous. She could feel Kendric tense up every time they spotted a member of the Royal Thai Police.
“Are you sure this is where we’re supposed to stop?” she asked as he drove the scooter around to the back of the house.
“I’m sure,” he said confidently. “We’re getting close to the border, and Willis figured we needed a more comfortable place to regroup before the stress of crossing.”
Kendric had told Marlowe only a little about the mysterious contact responsible for setting up the network of people helping them get across Thailand, though he’d called him more than once during their journey.
She swung her leg over the seat, pleased at how she was holding up, now that she was more used to straddling the bike. She took off the backpack they’d received at the second house. Kendric insisted on taking it from her the second they stopped anywhere. He couldn’t exactly wear it while driving, with her plastered to his back, and Marlowe actually liked that she had some kind of responsibility on their journey.
“Come on, I have it on good authority that the owner of this place has a shower we can use.”
“A shower?” Marlowe asked excitedly. They’d been making do with bowls filled with warm water, cleansing a bit before setting out again each night. She couldn’t wait to take the hated wig off and scrub her hair. Not to mention the rest of her as well.
“Yes. A shower,” he said with a grin.
He reached for her hand as naturally as if they’d been holding hands for years, rather than a couple of days. It was hard to believe she’d just met this man. Maybe it was because of the circumstances, but already, Marlowe couldn’t imagine not having him in her life.
