Operation: Midnight Guardian by Linda Castillo Page A

tears. “Thank you.”
    “Don’t thank me,” he said. “I’m not doing this for you.”
    “Then why—”
    “If you’re innocent, then the person who sold those secrets to The Jaguar is still out there. We both know it’s only a matter of time before he does it again.”
     
     

 
    Chapter Eight
     
    “You’re going to have to let me take a look at that bullet wound.” The last thing Mattie wanted to do was clean up a bloody bullet wound, but she figured they both knew that once they left the cabin they likely wouldn’t get another chance.
    Cutter glanced her way from his sentry post at the window. “It’ll keep.”
    “It bled a lot.”
    “It’s only a graze.”
    “Grazes get infected, too.” She could tell by his expression that he knew she was right.
    Looking none too happy at the prospect of her administering first aid, he crossed to the chair near the fire and sat down. “Fine. If it will make you happy, take a look.”
    “What will make me happy is getting off this godforsaken mountain so I can clear my name and get my life back.”
    He watched her as she crossed to him, and Mattie felt a tinge of self-consciousness. He had the most penetrating stare of any person she’d ever met.
    “I know it’s cold in here, but you’re going to have to take off your shirt,” she said.
    His expression was impassive as his fingers worked the buttons of his flannel shirt. But rather than remove it, he simply opened it.
    All thoughts about bullet wounds and terrorists and clearing her name fled the instant his chest loomed into view. Mattie had seen plenty of male chests in her thirty-one years, but she had never seen one as perfect as Sean Cutter’s. It was a work of art carved into stone by an artisan with an eye for male beauty.
    “So am I going to live?” he asked.
    His words drew her from her momentary stupor. Mattie reached out and slid one side of the shirt down his injured shoulder. The sight of the wound made her gasp. The bullet had cut a jagged, two-inch-long path through his flesh. The surrounding skin was the color of eggplant and covered with dried blood.
    “If this is a graze, I’d hate to see your idea of a serious wound,” she said.
    “I’ve had my tetanus shot.”
    “What about rabies?”
    “I don’t bite.” His smile was wan. “Most of the time, anyway.”
    “That remains to be seen.”
    The wound was on his left triceps. Raising his arm, he looked at it. “All we can do now is scrub it clean and hope infection doesn’t set in.”
    Her hands trembled as she reached for the lye soap. She dipped the tiny bar into the water, worked up some lather and then set her fingers against the wound. “Hurt?” she asked.
    “What do you think?”
    “I think that was probably a silly question.”
    When she began to rub her fingertips against the wound in small, circular motions, she could feel his muscles tightening. She knew the soap was stinging the wound, that the pressure she was applying was causing pain. But there was no way around it, so she continued with the cleansing.
    “Tell me about Daniel Savage.”
    She froze for an instant. “He was my coworker.”
    “Was he your boss?”
    “I was his boss.”
    He nodded. “Were you friends?”
    “Yes.”
    “Were you more than friends?”
    “Yes,” she said after a moment.
    “Okay.”
    She didn’t know what he meant by that simple acknowledgment, but she wasn’t going to elaborate. She didn’t want to talk about Daniel or just how big a fool she’d been to let him into her heart.
    “Do you have any proof he set you up, or is your theory conjecture?”
    “My theory is based on logic. I’ve had a lot of time to think about everything that happened. Cutter, I’m sure of it. Every piece of evidence that was used against me points to him.” She sighed and was surprised to hear a shudder. “I think your graze is as clean as it’s going to get.”
    “Thanks.” Grimacing, he pulled his shirt back over his shoulder and