After a quick field check for major injuries, Ethan hauled Robert to his feet. Angels got the blast doors open. Take the stairs.
Robert swiped a hand across a bloody gash on his cheek. Bugger that. Wheres my wife?
Though Robert and Evangelines relationship had been bumpy since hed returned from the dead, Ethan heard the raw grief in the other mans voice. Trying not to resent Roberts right to that grief, Ethan turned away. Lets go find her.
The men ducked out of Roberts office, crossed the short distance to Evangelines door and stopped dead.
A low groan rattled in Roberts chest.
Beyond the door, dust and smoke blurred the sight of the mountains in the distance. There was no outer wall. Hell, there was no office. It had become a crater in the side of the building. Heat radiated from the remnants of walls, floor and ceiling. Black soot smeared the carpeting beneath their feet, and the floor beyond fell away to air.
Robert sagged against the door frame.
God, Ethan rasped. Im so
Dont say it, Robert snapped. Dont even think it. Shes not dead. She cant be dead, not when weve just found each other again.
You knew where she was all along, you selfishbastard. An angry ball congealed in Ethans gut, alongside the grief. You have no idea what it was likefor her, what it feels like to lose someone you love.
But because Ethan did know, he said, Lets check the other offices, and the break rooms. The bathroom. Maybe He broke off when he heard a faint sound.
Robert heard it, too. He spun and bolted down the hall, shouting, Evangeline? Evangeline, damn it, answer me! He skidded to a halt outside the small kitchenette they used as a break room. Shes in here!
Then he cursed viciously enough to jab fear into Ethans gut.
When he reached the doorway, Ethan saw that the floor tilted away from them and down, as though all the support beams were gone. The refrigerator had tipped over, spilling its contents onto the floor. The chairs and tables were all lodged against the far wall, with Evangeline trapped beneath them.
The tall, forty-something blonde was bleeding but conscious. She and Robert locked eyes and she smiled with relief. Youre okay.
He made an unintelligible sound, and when he reached out a hand as though he could touch her across the distance separating them, his fingers trembled.
Dark emotion rose up to clog Ethans throat, a blend of relief, resentment and hell, yes, jealousy. Not because he wanted Evangeline, but because he hadnt gotten a second chance with the woman hed loved, and Prescott seemed to get nothing but second chances.
Ill get her, Robert said. You check the rest of the offices. Ethan nodded shortly and turned away, but before hed gone more than a few steps, Prescott called, Did your client get out okay?
Ethan stopped and looked back. Im not scheduled to see anyone today.
Angel left a message a few minutes ago on my voice mail, Robert said. She said a client was on her way up to see you.
Ethan didnt bother asking why shed left the info with RobertAngel lost half their messages and garbled the other half, but she was one of Evangelines projects, so firing her wasnt an option.
I havent met with anyone all morning, he said now, a faint alarm stirring in the back of his skull. Did you get a name?
I think she said Nicole Benedict. Ring any bells?
The faint alarm became a war whoop as the name did more than ring a bell. It sent a lightning bolt through Ethans midsection, a mixture of guilt, regret and pure, unadulterated lust.
Air hissed between his teeth at the thought of the woman whod helped him forget himself for a night, then disappeared. Yeah. I know her. And if she was on the way up He broke off on a second hiss of breath as logic overtook emotion and he remembered that the track for the glass elevator ran along the outside of the building, right beside Evangelines office. It wouldve been right in the path of the explosion.
He took off at a dead run, hoping to hell he wasnt already too late.
NICOLE REGAINED fuzzy consciousness to the feel of something cold and hard beneath her face. For half a second, she wondered what the hell she was doing lying on her kitchen floor. And why were her ears ringing? Was she hungover?
But that wasnt right. Shed never been much of a partyer, and wasnt drinking at all these days because of
The connection sparked in her brain and clenched her stomach in an instant. The baby. Ethan. PrescottPersonal Securities. Images blinked through her mind in rapid successionthe office building, the helicopter, the rocket launcher
The explosion.
Her eyes flew open and she found herself facedown on the floor of the glassed-in elevator. She saw the street far below. Then a thin stream of blackish- gray smoke obscured her view for a moment, and the contrast showed her something far worse than the height. There was a crack in the glass beneath her.
As she watched, it grew longer and branched into two cracks that gave birth to two more in a growing spiderweb that weakened the only thing separating her from a fatal fall.
Help me, she whispered, half-afraid the small sound might send her crashing through. When it didnt, she filled her lungs and screamed, Help me!
Incredibly, a mans voice answered from above. Hang on, Nicole. Im almost there.
Ethan? She wasnt sure how she recognized his voice, ten weeks after theyd spent the night together doing everything but talking, but she knew him instantly, and the recognition brought a fierce rush of relief edged with fear.
Dont move. His words sounded clearer than they ought to, and she heard the whistle of wind.
Fearing what she might see, Nic held her breath and tried to keep her body still as she turned her head to the side. She saw more glass, more cracks, and a gaping hole in the side of the elevator car, where the glass was gone. Beyond that was blue sky, a smudge of smoke and a dangling climbers rope. She heard masculine shouts from higher up, a mixture of suggestions and curses from whoever was anchoring the line.
She remembered him saying something about rock climbing in his free time. Now he was shimmying down to rescue her. God.
As she watched, a pair of sturdy, brown leather hiking boots swung into her limited slice of view, followed by a hint of tube sock and a pair of strong, muscular legs encased in tough-looking cargo pants and a makeshift climbers harness. The button-down front of a formerly white oxford shirt appeared next, gaping where a couple of buttons had torn away to reveal a lean, muscular torso.
Then he twisted through the broken section of glass, and she got a clear look at the edgy, masculine face shed imagined all too often since realizing her period was late.
Hell, she thought, lets be honest here. Youvethought about him just about every day since thatnight at Hitchins. And shed remembered him just right. His dark brown hair was lighter at the ends, signaling an outdoor lifestyle. His face was chiseled, his features as sharp and forbidding as shed remembered. Now, though, the brown eyes she remembered as being coolly logical and almost sardonic, radiated tension as they locked on hers and he said, Stay calm. We can do this, but youve got to trust me, okay? He waited until she nodded, then said, I want you to keep yourself flat and distribute your weight as evenly as possible. Then I need you to slide toward me. Were going to get you out of there.
Nics breath hissed out. She glanced down and saw emergency vehicles gathering far below. I cant I wont She stopped and sucked in a breath. Cant you open the doors from inside the building?
Not a chance. Youre He broke off, looked up as the rescue personnel shouted something she didnt quite catch, and muttered a curse. Look, the explosion knocked the elevator off its track, okay? Its hanging by a single cable right now. It looks stable enough, but
A loud crackling noise cut him off, and the floor shifted beneath Nic. She whimpered deep in her throat and tears stung her eyes. Ethan, please, she whispered. The floors going to go. I dont want to die.
Slide over, he repeated, speaking softly. Go easy, but keep moving, no matter what happens.
Heart pounding in her ears, Nic closed her eyes, pressed her cheek to the floor and slid an inch, then another. She heard crackling, but didnt look at the glass beneath her.
Thats it. Youre almost there.
He sounded closer, prompting Nic to open her eyes. Hed dropped lower on the rope, so their faces were level through the broken panel.
His voice might be utterly calm, but his eyes held a strange, dark emotion she couldnt quite define.
An answering surge tugged in her chest, the same feeling shed had when shed offered to buy him a drink and hed turned to refuse, then accepted instead. Now, though, there was an added layer between them, the echoing heat of sexand a baby hed never know about if she fell.
Ethan, Nic whispered, heart pounding. I came to tell you Im pregnant.
She mightve imagined the wince, but there was no mistaking his low curse, or the look that flashed through his eyes before he shuttered his expression to one of utter determination and stretched his arm through the broken side of the elevator car. We need to get you on solid ground. Take my hand.
She looked from him to the ground and back again. When her weight shifted, the glass beneath her cracked further.
Come on. His eyes were steady on hers, his outstretched hand unwavering. Trust me.
Heart pounding loud in her ears, she reached out and grabbed his forearm, just as the crackling noise crescendoed
And the glass gave way beneath her.
Nic screamed as she fell and then jerked to a suspended halt, dangling in Ethans grip, held only by their joined hands. Sobbing, terrified, she grabbed for him with her free hand as a roaring, crumbling noise built overhead, counterpointed by pinging metal.
She looked up and shrieked, Ethan! The cable!
Overhead, the elevator mechanism was coming apart.
He twisted his head and shouted to the men leaning out of a window two floors up. Pull us in, damn it! His expression remained impassive, but his voice was sharp when he said, Youre going to have to climb up through the hole in the elevator floor before it goes. Watch the broken glass.
The next two minutes were a blur as Nic scrambled, fighting for purchase as he pulled her up and out, helped by the uniformed rescue personnel two floors up, who were cursing and hauling on the rope as fast as they dared.
Then she was out! She lunged through the open panel and launched herself against Ethan just as the elevator gave way with a horrendous crack and plummeted down, trailing broken cables. Momentum sent them spinning, and Nic hung on tightly as they swung away from the building. She felt Ethans strong body against hers, felt his heart drum fast through the fabric of his shirt. Then the arc reversed and they went flying back toward the building.
Hang on! Ethan swung them so hed bear the brunt, but an errant wind gust caught them and diverted the spin, changing their angle of impact.
Nic hit first, and she hit hard. The blow drove the breath from her lungs. Her neck whiplashed and her head slammed into the side of the building.
Starbursts flashed in her head, and then every sensation was abruptly sucked into a black void. Every sensation, that is, except the feel of the man who held her tight.
Chapter Two
Ethans muscles worked automatically, stabilizing them against the side of the building and cradling Nicoles unconscious body as the rescue personnel hauled them up, but his brain was jammed full. One part of him cataloged her injuriesshed taken a hell of a whack to the headwhile another, deeper part of him processed her announcement.
The last thing hed expectedor wantedto hear was that she was pregnant.
Then again, hed never actually figured hed see her again. The morning after their night together, hed filed the memory in the tiny Pleasant Interludes section of his brain and walked away. Maybe hed thought of her once or twice in the months since. And maybe hed stuck his head into Hitchins a couple of times since. But a baby? God, no. Theyd been careful. Hed used a condom, damn it.
But there was that whole ninety-nine-point-nine- percent-effective thing. Apparently, hed stepped straight into that point-oh-one of oh, hell.
Weve got her, a male voice said, breaking into Ethans thoughts. He was startled to realize theyd reached the place where a bank of broken windows had allowed him to climb down to the elevator. The rescue personnel almost hadnt let him go, but he was the one with the rock-climbing equipment and the skills, and there hadnt been time to wait for the real search-and-rescue team.
It was just dumb luck hed had his gear in the office, dumb luck thatd hed been able to save Nicoles life.
Suited firefighters leaned through, reaching to grab her unconscious form and ease her to relative safety indoors.
Careful, Ethan said unnecessarily. Shes Pregnant, he thought, but couldnt say the word. She banged her head pretty hard.
Itd happened so fast he hadnt been able to protect her from slamming into the building. She was breathing fine, but she was still unconscious. What had it been, two minutes? Five? Too long.
Jaw set, he climbed through, shucked off his harness and stowed his gear, then jogged to catch up with the group of paramedics who were carrying Nicole down the stairs, strapped to a backboard.
As the small group emerged into the early-afternoon sunlight, one of the paramedics glanced up at the smoke that continued to pour from the ruined PPS offices. Looks like the building will hold, thank the Lord.
There was a murmur of agreement from the others, but Ethan didnt join in. Instead, he scanned the street, which was a scene of barely controlled chaos. Most of the evacuees and onlookers had been pushed back, away from the damaged office building, but dazed-looking people continued to stream from the stairwells. Nearby, several wickedly jagged cement chunks were embedded in a cracked section of sidewalk, surrounded by the glitter of reflective glass shards. Off to one side, a scattering of first aid supplies ringed a dark stain.
The explosion had taken victims outside the building as well as in, Ethan thought, feeling the acid burn of anger in his gut.
Ethan!
He turned at the sound of Roberts voice, and saw PPSs founder loping across the deserted street toward him. The men gripped each others forearms in greeting, the first friendly contact Ethan could remember between them. Hows Evangeline? he asked.
Shell need a few stitches, but is fine otherwise. Shes spitting mad. Wants to take a chunk out of the bomber. The last was said with a touch of pride.