Read Online Challenging Gabriel (Knight Security 2) by Carole Mortimer - Free Book Online Page A

for the cause. The girls are given to the army as sexual playthings, some as young as—”
    “Stop!”
    “They’re just babies, Angel. Little girls who should still be playing with their toys rather than—”
    “I’m going to be sick!” Angel slammed the glass down on the coffee table before running out of the room.
    Gabriel slowly followed her down the hallway to the bathroom, his expression softening slightly as he saw her sitting on the tiled floor, bent over the porcelain, as she noisily expelled the contents of her stomach.
    He collected a towel from the warming rail after she had flushed the toilet, wetting the towel beneath the tap and then moving to place the cool towel against her forehead. “I didn’t enjoy telling you any of that stuff, I only did it so that you realize how much danger you’re actually in. Sinclair really isn’t your usual disgruntled ex-husband.”
    “I was married to him. I should have realized what sort of man he was before this. Should have done something to try to stop him.” Her expression was fierce as she took the towel from Gabriel and wiped her face before discarding it. “I was married to that—to that bastard for seven years.” The last came out as a sob as she began to cry. “Oh God, Oh God, those poor children!” Her arms were wrapped protectively about her waist as she began to rock backward and forward, eyes so wide, the whites showed completely about her irises. “My God… Daniel…?”
    Gabriel sat beside her and took her in his arms. “You said it yourself, Sinclair considers Daniel his heir. He won’t harm him.” He hoped to God that was the truth, because if Sinclair harmed one hair on his son’s head, then Gabriel was going to tear the other man apart limb from limb. Slowly. And then he would start inflicting the real pain. “I’m sorry, Angel.”
    Angel looked at him uncomprehendingly as her head lay against his bare chest, not sure what he was apologizing for. The fact that Clive was even more evil than she had originally thought? Or for what had happened between the two of them earlier. Maybe both.
    “Sinclair obviously kept the…seedier side of his life away from you and Daniel, but nonetheless, I don’t suppose it was a bed of roses living with such an egotistical bastard.” His chest moved beneath her cheek as he breathed deeply. “The way I behaved toward you earlier was… I was angry, and I should know better. My father and the training I received in the army taught me never to act in anger.” He gave a self-disgusted shake of his head.
    Ah, so the apology was because of what had happened between the two of them earlier. “Why didn’t you come back eight years ago, Gabriel?”
    He glanced down at her. “Obviously, I did come back.”
    “Not to me.” Angel had started this conversation now, and she was going to see it through to the end. No matter what the answer was. “Why didn’t you at least come and say goodbye to me?”
    Gabriel rested his head back against the door of the cupboard under the porcelain sink. “Because I couldn’t.”
    “Why not?”
    “Do you really want to have this conversation sitting on the floor of the bathroom?”
    She pulled out of his arms to sit back and look at him. “Considering it’s eight years overdue, I don’t think it matters where we have it. Where did you go?”
    “Afghanistan.”
    “Officially?”
    “No.”
    “Why didn’t you come back to me?”
    He released a heavy sigh, resting his forearms on his bent knees. “The mission took longer than I thought it would, and then when I tried to get out, we were caught up in some hand-to-hand fighting.”
    “The new scar on your back?”
    He nodded. “Caleb managed to get me out, but it was touch and go for a while. The knife had pierced one of my lungs, and I spent several weeks in intensive care. Then several more weeks recuperating.”
    “Caleb was there too?”
    “He was the reason I went. He was serving out there at the time, and