Chapter 47

“Kimber might have stayed if you’d been decent to her. She offered you her—”

“I wasn’t taking her virginity. It didn’t belong to me, just like she didn’t!” The fact that the girl and her virginity belonged to the smiling crooner in the picture didn’t exactly thrill him. Correction: it made him want to tear McCall apart slowly, with his bare hands, and inflict maximum pain.

Lord knew the army had trained him to do it.

Luc pointed an accusing finger in his face. “You made her believe she didn’t belong with us. If you had admitted your feelings and just made love to the girl—”

“Yeah, then what? How long before she wound up like Heather?”

“She’s not Heather,” Luc insisted. “Kimber is stronger and she would have survived. I think she loved you.”

Bittersweet. That possibility made joy burst through his chest, even as fear gripped his belly and yanked hard. Damn, he was one fucked-up bastard. He wanted her, but couldn’t have her. If she’d stayed, it was only a