BESIEGED

A Special Forces soldier rescues the ambassador’s daughter who holds his heart hostage

When I found out Delilah was pulling together the High Octane Heroes anthology, I knew exactly what I wanted to write. A tough military guy in a situation that was current and resonant for our nation. With the Bengazhi embassy attack fresh on my mind I wanted to depict a soldier sworn to protect the embassy staff during just such a raid. Surrounded by the enemy, a chance to get out alive, could he walk away? Or would he be a hero and go back in to rescue the ambassador’s daughter, the woman he adores? I love writing action and adventure, it makes my fingers fly on the keyboard. I hope you enjoy the excerpt! ~Elle

From “Besieged” by Elle James

Tonight he planned to ask Kate Seward, daughter of the U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the small nation of Trejikistan to marry him and follow him to his next duty station in Italy.

He’d discovered the passageway during his initial week exploring the embassy quarters located in an older, historic district of the capital of Trejikistan. A breakaway country from the Soviet Union, Trejikistan had seen a few years of peace, interspersed with the occasional secular strife and violence. At some time in the past, a former ambassador had been foresighted enough to design and construct several hidden passages known only to the ambassador and his most trusted staff members for use when a silent retreat was called for.

One such passage just happened to be located behind the ambassador’s wing of apartments including the one assigned to him. Max had been given a suite designated for family of the ambassador. Since Ambassador Seward’s wife was deceased and he had only one child, he’d offered the suite to Max upon his arrival, claiming he wanted his bodyguard close by to protect his daughter.

Had Max known that Seward’s daughter was a grown woman and one of the most kind, caring and beautiful women Max had ever known, he might have asked to be placed farther away to keep his distance physically as well as mentally.

From the first day, Kate Seward had been a force Max had to reckon with. Their mutual attraction had launched a game of cat and mouse Max ultimately lost when he realized he’d fallen in love with the confounded woman.

Now, he slipped through the passage connecting his room to hers, like he had on numerous occasion, praying the reflection of love in her eyes wasn’t just a dream. She’d asked him to stop by and check the security of her room after the dinner party.

It was code for a lot more than checking security.

As  he neared the panel that would open into her huge walk-in closet, his groin tightened and he imaged Kate in that simple black dress she’d worn for the dinner party, her long dark hair pulled up in a sexy twist, wearing the pendent he’d given her for her birthday.

Max had sat near the end of the table, resisting the urge to tug at the tight collar of his dress mess uniform. If not for Kate he’d have begged to redeploy to the strife-ridden country of Chad—more comfortable in ACU’s and face camo, training Chadian soldiers on anti-terrorism techniques, than sitting at formal dinner tables.

He pushed aside the panel leading into Kate’s room and stepped through, the ring in his breast pocket burning a hole through to his heart. He loved Kate and he wanted her to be a part of the rest of his life. He’d planned on laying out clues for her to find over the next few weeks until finally he’d take her out to dinner and propose to her.

But today, he’d received his transfer orders, Max knew he couldn’t wait and he couldn’t walk away from Kate. He didn’t want this fantasy to end. Tonight he’d ask her to marry him and he prayed she’d accept.

When he stepped out of her closet into the bedchamber, at first he didn’t see her. “Kate?”

“It took you long enough,” she said, her voice low and sexy. She lay in her bed, the cream-colored sheets pulled only up to her waist, her breasts bare and tempting in the light from a softly glowing lamp on the nightstand.

Max stepped forward. “I hope you were expecting me.”

“Only you, babe. Only you.” She threw back the sheet and quirked her head. “Join me?”

His heart flipped in his chest and his blood pounded through his veins as he ripped through the buttons on his dress mess uniform.

For such a proper ambassador’s daughter, she was mind-blowingly passionate, a fact that still amazed him and made him burn with desire.

Max shrugged out of his jacket, hanging it on the bedpost.

“Let me help, or we’ll be all night.” Kate leaned up on her knees and reached for the buttons on his shirt, flicking them through with quiet efficiency. Then she tugged the tails out of his trousers and pushed the edges over his shoulders, her hands sliding down the muscles of his shoulders and arms. She pressed her lips to his chest, finding and nipping at the little brown nipple over his heart.

Max sucked in a breath and concentrated on control. He unbuckled his belt and slipped the hook free on his trousers, his motions jerky in his haste.

“Uh uh.” Her fingers caught his as he reached for the zipper. “Mine.” Kate dragged the zipper down. “Always in uniform? Right down to the tidy-whiteys.” She clucked her tongue even as she hooked her thumbs on the waistband of his trousers and underwear and pushed them downward until his cock sprang free. “Come to me.” She stroked him, those supple digits sliding over his engorged member, her right hand reaching low to cup his balls and roll them between her fingers.

Patience shattered, Max kicked off his dress shoes and trousers. He grasped Kate’s shoulders and lowered her to her back in the bed, then climbed in over her. “You take my breath away.”

“I try.” She smiled up at him, her full, pink lips puckering. “Aren’t you going to kiss me hello?”

“I’m going to do more than that.” He nudged her knees apart, and slid in between her thighs. “But first…I’ll launch my own assault.”

“Oh, should I be wearing camouflage…” Her calf slid up the back of his leg. “And should I be carrying a weapon?”

“Babe, your are the weapon. You’ve completely pierced my heart and laid it open.”

“Such sweet talk from a grunt.” She wrapped her hands around his neck and drew him down to her. “Shut up and kiss me.”

He lowered himself to her, his mouth claiming hers in a devouring kiss. He braced himself in the front-leaning-rest position so as not to crush her with his weight, the muscles in his arms tight.

When he came up for air, he forced himself to concentrate on pleasing her. If she’d let him, he’d spend a lifetime showing her how much he loved her.

Max started by laying siege to her throat, tracing a path from her chin to the base of her neck where he tongued the spot where her racing pulse beat crazily beneath the skin.

“I thought the dinner would last forever,” she admitted, her hands skimming over his shoulders and down to his waist.

“I couldn’t take my eyes off you.” Max continued his attack, firing kisses and nips over her collarbone and the swell of one breast. He captured her nipple, sinking his teeth in, sucking in a strong hold on the defenseless treat.

Her back arched off the mattress in her surrender to his campaign of lusty torture down the smooth contours of her ribcage, across the field of taut abs to his ultimate target.

Max slipped his fingers between  her folds and flicked the bundle of nerves that never ceased to set her off.

Kate buried her heels in the mattress, her hips rising. “Please, Captain, I surrender. Take me.”

He chuckled. “Not yet. You really should put up a little of a defense.”

“How can I when you do—”

He tongued her clit.

“That!” she cried, her fingers clutching at his ears, pulling him closer. “Oh, please.”

He pressed a finger into her channel and swirled it around. “Please what?”

“Do it again, damn it.”

About the Author:

Elle James aka Myla Jackson spent twenty years livin’ and lovin’ in South Texas, ranching horses, cattle, goats, ostriches and emus. A former IT professional, Elle is proud to be writing full-time, penning intrigues and paranormal adventures that keep her readers on the edge of their seats. She has 39 works with Harlequin, self-published works under pen name Elle James, many other works with other publishers including Samhain, Ellora’s Cave, Kensington and Avon as well as self-published under pen name Myla Jackson. Now living in northwest Arkansas, she isn’t wrangling cattle, she’s wrangling her muses, a malti-poo and yorkie. When she’s not at her computer, she’s traveling, snow-skiing, boating, or riding her ATV, dreaming up new stories.