Her Loyal Seal by Caitlyn O'Leary

family went.” Clint reached over without looking and grasped her hand. He pulled it towards him and rested it on his thigh. It felt good there. The man was all muscle. She savored the warmth. She looked up at his face. He wasn’t smiling anymore; he was grimacing. She smiled. Served him right for putting her hand there.
    “Lydia, protocol states we can’t tell you where they went.” He threaded his fingers through hers. “I can tell you Finn went with your parents.”
    “Who went with Beth?”
    “She’s in safe hands.”
    “You mean she isn’t with one of your men?” For the first time in forever Lydia found herself struggling for air.
    “She’s with another Navy SEAL. He’s someone I respect and admire.” She tried to yank her hand away, but he wouldn’t let her.
    “I don’t care. He’s a stranger. How could you allow that?” She heard her voice rise, and it sounded so loud in the small confines of the vehicle.
    “He’s the right man for the job. You know how I feel about your sister, Lydia. I would never trust her with anyone that wasn’t the best. He will defend her with his life.”
    “But she is too fragile. She still doesn’t trust people, especially men. I was depending on the fact that it would be one of your men. She knows all of you. After what we went through in the jungle, she could handle being with one of you.”
    “I was there when Jack and Beth met. It was fine. He handled her perfectly. I can’t tell you the exact location of where they’re going. But what I can tell you is it’s a ranch and his mother is there.”
    Lydia shut her mouth on the next words she was about to say. She couldn’t have heard Clint correctly. She looked at him again, and saw him nodding his head.
    “Yep, his mom. Seriously Lydia, Beth is going to be fine. Things will work out.”
    She dropped her head back onto the seat.
    Fine. What a weird concept. She’d left fine back in the dust almost half a year ago.
     
    ****
     
    He hated to wake her up. Hell she’d looked healthier that first day back in the jungle. She might have even looked better the second day when the infection started to grab hold. She’d probably weighed fifteen pounds more then. Of course either way she was beautiful.
    They’d been travelling on I-20 for hours and finally arrived in Shreveport, Louisiana. Clint had two sets of reservations waiting for them. One was at one of the riverboat casinos under the alias he used to rent the SUV. There was another reservation he made at a little bed and breakfast under another alias the US Marshalls never heard about.
    He pulled into the dark and crowded parking lot of the riverboat casino.
    “I fucking love, Finn,” he muttered. He stopped the SUV, got out and removed the traffic cone from the parking spot beside the RV in spot EE25. He got back into his car and pulled into the now empty spot. Lydia still hadn’t stirred.
    Clint found the keys to the vehicle on the top of the tire in the rear left wheel well, right where they had it planned. He checked out the interior of the well-appointed motor home before bringing in their things from the trunk of the SUV. When he was done, he opened the passenger side door and traced his fingers down the side of Lydia’s cheek.
    “What?” Her eyes opened slowly. “Hi Clint.” She smiled.
    “Hi Baby. How’re you feeling? Are you about ready for a restroom? For dinner?”
    “Soon. I would like to get out and stretch.” He reached over and unbuckled her seat belt, and then held out his hand to help her out of the car. Her first steps were unsteady.
    “Dammit!”
    “Why don’t you swear in Spanish?”
    “Are you trying to divert my attention from the fact I can barely walk?” Clint supported Lydia as she took shaky steps in the parking lot.
    “A little bit. But I am curious about why your English is so good, hell you even swear in it.”
    “Trust me, it isn’t that good. I’m struggling with the Computer Science texts in English and