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Moments passed and the doorbell did not sound again. She sighed in relief—and then there was a hard knock. She swallowed. The person hadn’t gone away. Either she answered it or continued to pretend she wasn’t there. Since the latter hadn’t worked so far, she rushed into her bedroom and grabbed her revolver out of the nightstand drawer.
She’d grown up around guns, and thanks to Bane she knew how to use one. This neighborhood was pretty safe, and even though she’d figured she’d never need to use it, she had bought the gun anyway. A woman living alone needed to be cautious.
By the time she’d made it back to the living room, there was a second knock. She moved toward the door, but stopped five feet away. She called out, “Who is it?” and tightened her hands on the revolver.
There was a moment of silence. And then a voice said, “It’s me, Crystal. Bane.”
Two (#ulink_bb6d09b1-3586-5e65-97d5-d5fb64259d84)
The revolver Crystal held almost fell from her hand.
Bane?My Bane? No way, she thought, backing up. It had to be an impostor. It didn’t even sound like Bane. This voice was deeper, huskier.
If it was a trick, who knew of her relationship with Brisbane Westmoreland? And if it really was Bane, why had he shown up on her doorstep now? Why tonight of all nights?
It just wasn’t logical for her to have been thinking about him only moments ago and for him to be here now. She would go with her first assumption. The person at the door claiming to be Bane wasn’t him.
“You aren’t Bane. Go away or I’ll call the police,” she threatened loudly. “I have a gun and will shoot if I have to.”
“Crystal Gayle, it is me. Honest. It’s Bane.”
Crystal Gayle? She sucked in a deep breath. Nobody called her that but her parents...and Bane. When she was young, she had hated being called by her first and middle names, which her father had given her, naming her after his favorite country singer. But Bane had made her like it when he’d called her that on occasion. Could it really be him at the door?
Lowering the gun, she looked out the peephole. Her gaze connected to a gorgeous pair of hazel eyes with a greenish tint. They were eyes she knew. It was Bane.
She was about to open the door when she remembered the note. Trust no one. But this wasn’t just anyone, she reasoned with herself. This was Bane.
She unlocked the door and stepped back. Soft porch light poured into her foyer as Bane eased open the door. He’d always been tall and lanky, but the man entering her house appeared a lot taller than she remembered. And he was no longer slender. He was all muscles and they were in perfect proportion to his height and weight. It was obvious he worked out a lot to stay in shape. His body exemplified endurance and strength. And when her gaze settled on his face, she drew in a deep, sharp breath. He even looked different. Rougher. Tougher.
The eyes were the same but she’d never seen him with facial hair before. He’d always been handsome in a boyish sort of way, but his features now were perfectly masculine. They appeared chiseled, his lips sculpted. She was looking into the most handsome face she’d ever seen.
He not only looked older and more mature, but he also looked military—even while wearing jeans, a chambray shirt, a leather bomber jacket, Western boots and a Stetson. There was something about the way he stood, upright and straight. And all this transformation had come from being in the navy?
He closed the door behind him, staring at her just as she was staring at him. Her heart pounded. A part of her wanted to race over to him, tell him how glad she was to see him, how much she had missed him...but she couldn’t. Her legs refused to move and she knew why. This Bane was like a stranger to her.
“Crystal.”
She hadn’t imagined it. His voice had gotten deeper. Sounded purely sexy to her ears. “Bane.”
“You look good.”
She blinked at his words and said the first thing that came to her mind. “You look good, too. And different.”
He smiled and her breath caught. He still had that Brisbane Westmoreland smile. The one that spread across a full mouth and showed teeth that were perfectly even and sparkling white against mocha-colored skin. The familiarity warmed her inside.
“I am different. I’m not the same Bane. The military has a way of doing that to you,” he said, in that husky voice she was trying to get used to hearing.
He was admitting to being different.
Was this his way of saying his transformation had changed his preferences? Like his taste in women? He was older now, five years older, in fact. Had he shown up on her doorstep tonight of all nights to let her know that he wanted a divorce?
Fine, she would deal with it. She had no choice. Besides, she wasn’t sure if she would like the new Bane anyway. He was probably doing her a favor.
“Okay,” she said, placing her revolver on the coffee table. “If you brought any papers with you that require my signature, then give them to me.”
He lifted a brow. “Papers?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of papers?”
Instead of answering, she glanced at her watch. She needed to call a cab to the airport. The plane to the Bahamas would take off in three hours.
“Crystal? What kind of papers are you talking about?”
She glanced back over at him. And why did her gaze automatically go to his mouth, the same mouth that had taught her how to kiss and given her so much pleasure? And why was she recalling a lot of those kisses right now? She drew in a deep, shallow breath. “Divorce papers.”
“Is that why you think I’m here?”
Was she imagining things or had his voice sounded brisk? She shrugged. Why were they even having this conversation? Why couldn’t he just give her the papers and be on his way so she could be on hers? After all, it had been five years. She got that. Did it matter that she had spent all that time waiting for him to show up?
“Crystal? Is that why you think I’m here? To ask for a divorce?” He repeated the question and she noticed his tone still had a brusque edge.
She held his gaze. “What other reason could there be?”
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and braced his legs apart in a stance that was as daunting as it was sexy. It definitely brought emphasis to his massive shoulders, the solidness of chest and his chiseled good looks.
“Did you consider that maybe I’m here to keep that promise I made about coming back for you?”
She blinked, not sure she’d heard him correctly. “You aren’t here to ask for a divorce?”
“No. What makes you think I’d want to divorce you?”
She could give him a number of reasons once her head stopped spinning. Instead, she said what was in the forefront of her mind. “Well, it has been five years, Bane.”
“I told you I’d come back for you.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “Yes, but I hadn’t counted on it being five years. Five years without a single word from you. Besides, you just said you’ve changed.”
The look in his eyes indicated he was having a hard time keeping up with her. “I have changed, Crystal. Being a SEAL has a way of changing you, but that has nothing to do—”
“SEAL? You’re a navy SEAL?”
“Yes.”
Now she was the one having a hard time keeping up. “I knew you’d joined the navy, but I figured you’d been assigned to a ship somewhere.”
He nodded. “I would have been if my captain in boot camp hadn’t thought I would be a good fit for the SEALs. He cut through a lot of red tape for me to go to the naval academy.”
That was another surprise. “You attended the naval academy?”
“Yes.”
Jeez. She was realizing just how little she knew about what he’d been doing over the past five years. “I didn’t know.”
He shifted his stance and her gaze followed the movement, taking in his long, denim-clad, boot-wearing legs.
“Bailey said the two of you lost contact with each other a couple of years ago,” he said.
Now was the time to come clean and say losing contact with Bailey had been a deliberate move. The periodic calls from his cousin had become depressing since they’d agreed Crystal wouldn’t ask about Bane. Just as he wouldn’t ask Bailey any questions about Crystal.
That had been Bane’s idea. He’d figured the less they knew about the other’s lives, the less chance they had of reneging on their promise not to seek the other out before he could meet his goals.
During one of those conversations Bailey had informed her Bane had set up a bank account for her, in case she ever needed anything. She never had and to this day she’d never withdrawn any funds.
“Even if Bailey and I had kept in touch, she would not have told me what you were doing, just how you were doing. That was the agreement, remember, Bane?”
“You could have called Dil,” he said as he raked his gaze over her.
He was probably taking note of how she’d changed as she’d done with him. He could clearly see she was no longer the eighteen-year-old he’d married, but was now a twenty-three-year-old woman. Her birthday had been two weeks ago. She wondered if he’d remembered.
“No, I couldn’t call your brother, or any other member of your family for that matter, and you know why. They blamed me for you getting into trouble.”
Crystal glanced at her watch again. He’d said he was here to fulfill his promise. If he was doing it because he felt obligated then she would release him from it. Although asking for a divorce might not have been his original intent, she was certain it was crossing his mind now. Why wouldn’t it? They were acting like strangers instead of two people who’d once been so obsessed with each other they’d eloped. Why weren’t they all over each other? Why was he over there and she still standing over here? The answer to both questions was so brutally clear she had to force tears from her eyes.
Like he said, he had changed. He was a SEAL. Something other than her was number one in his life now. More than likely it had been his missions that had kept him away all this time. He’d chosen what he really wanted.
“Crystal, I have a question for you.”
His words interrupted her thoughts. “What?”
“Why did you come to the door with a gun?”
* * *
It had taken every ounce of Bane’s control not to cross the room and pull his wife into his arms. How often had he dreamed of this moment, wished for it, yearned for it? But things weren’t playing out like he’d hoped.
Although he’d taken heed to Zane’s warning and not swept her off her feet and headed for the nearest bedroom, he hadn’t counted on not getting at least a kiss, a hug...something. But she stood there as if she wasn’t sure what to make of his appearance here tonight. And he still couldn’t grasp why she assumed he wanted a divorce just because he’d told her he’d changed. He’d changed for the better, not only for himself but also for her. Now he had something to offer her. He could give her the life she deserved.
Crystal nibbled her bottom lip, which had always been an indication she was nervous about something. Damn, she looked good. Time had only enhanced her beauty, and where in the hell had all those curves come from?
She had changed into a pair of skinny jeans, a pullover sweater and boots. She looked all soft and feminine. So gorgeous. Her hair was not as long as it used to be. Instead of flowing past her shoulders it barely touched them. The new style suited her. How had she managed to keep the guys away? He was certain that with her beauty there had been a number of men who’d come around over the years.
Even now Bane’s hands itched to touch her all over like he used to. He would give anything to run his fingers across the curve of her hips and buttocks and cup her breasts.
“The gun?”
Her question pulled his concentration back to their conversation. Probably for the best, since the thought of what he wanted to do with his hands was turning him on big-time. “Yes. I watched you get out of your car to come into the house and you seemed nervous. Is something going on? Is some man harassing you or stalking you?”
She lifted a brow. “A man stalking me? What makes you think that?”
He held her gaze. “I told you. I noticed you were nervous and—”
“Yes, I got that part,” she interrupted to say. “But what makes you think any man would stalk me?”
Had she looked in the mirror lately? If she’d asked him why he thought she was being stalked, then he could have told her that his SEAL training had taught him how to zero in on certain things. But her question had been what made him think any man would want to stalk her. That was a different question altogether. He could see a man becoming obsessed with her. Hadn’t Bane?
“You’re a very beautiful woman. You’ve always been beautiful, Crystal. You’re even more so now.”
She shook her head. “Beautiful? You’re laying it on thick, aren’t you, Bane?”
“No, I don’t think so. Level with me. Is there some man stalking you? Is that why you had the gun? And what’s with the luggage? You’re going someplace?”
She broke eye contact with him to shrug. “The gun is to protect myself.”
Bane had a feeling that wasn’t all there was to it. When he’d first walked into her house he’d seen the luggage, but his mind had been solely on her, entranced with her beauty. This older version of Crystal sent his heart pounding into overdrive. It had been a long time. Too long.
He turned his concentration back to what she’d just told him. “You have the gun to protect yourself... I can buy that, although this seems to be a pretty safe neighborhood,” he said. “But that doesn’t explain why you were ready to shoot. Has your home been broken into before?”
“No.”
“Then what’s going on?”
Even after all this time he still could read her like a book. She had a tendency to lick her lips when she was nervous, and unconsciously shift her body from side to side while standing on the balls of her feet. He could tell she was trying to decide how to answer his question. That didn’t sit well with him. In the past, he and Crystal never kept secrets from each other. So why was she doing so now?
“After all this time, you don’t have the right to ask me anything, Bane.”
You’re wrong about that, sweetheart.
Without thinking about what he was doing, he closed the distance separating them to stand directly in front of her. “I believe I do have that right. As long as we’re still legally married, Crystal, I have every right.”
She lifted her chin and pinched her lips together. “Fine. Then, we can get a divorce.”
“Not happening.” He rubbed his hand down his face. What the hell was going on here? Not only was this reunion not going the way he’d wanted, it had just taken a bad turn.
He looked at her, somewhat bewildered by her refusal to answer his question. “I’m asking again, Crystal. What’s going on with you? Why the gun and the packed luggage?”
When she didn’t answer, standing there with a mutinous expression on her face, he then asked the one question he hadn’t wanted to ask, but needed to know. And he hoped like hell he was wrong.
“Are you involved with someone who’s causing you problems?”
Three (#ulink_b6976e87-c9da-5a23-add5-10772faa4019)
That question set Crystal off. She took the final step to completely close the distance between them. “Involved with someone? Are you accusing me of being unfaithful?”
“Not accusing you of anything,” he said in a tone that let her know her outrage had fueled his. “But I find it odd you won’t answer my question. Why are you acting so secretive? You’ve never acted that way with me before.”
No, she hadn’t. But then the Bane she used to know, the one she’d loved more than life itself, would not have forgotten her for five years. He would have moved heaven, hell and any place in between to have her with him so the two of them could be together.
