"Trust me, Glenna..."

One look into Master Sergeant Rafe Marek's piercing blue eyes and Glenna Hastings knew she would survive.  He was one of the best commandos in the legendary Delta Force, and it was his duty to protect her.  As they fled from their hidden jungle prison, nothing could keep Glenna from giving her heart to the wounded soldier.

Rafe was sure that Glenna's passion wasn't real.  How could this beautiful woman desire a man so badly scarred both inside and out?  Rafe had never opened his soul to anyone before, yet he burned for Glenna, and his carefully constructed barriers came crashing down.  But could he prove to himself that he deserved Glenna's love?

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
by Ingrid Weaver
ISBN 0-373-27274-X
Book 1 of the Eagle Squadron Series

.....A muffled clang vibrated through the plane.  It was followed a heartbeat later by the thud-whump of an explosion.
     The pressure of the gun at Glenna's throat eased.  She twisted to look behind her.
     Dark smoke rolled through a hole in the opposite side of the plane.  Glenna coughed, blinking to clear her eyes.  There was a momentary glimpse of blue sky, then the opening was filled with moving figures.  Before Glenna could blink again, a group of men, dressed in black from their boots to the ski masks that covered their faces, burst into the plane, brought their weapons to bear on the hijackers and opened fire.
     After that, everything went by in a fast-forward blur.  Bullets thudded into the seats and clanged into the fuselage as the hijackers fired back.  Several of the black-clad men advanced on the cockpit.  The other half guided the passengers toward the back of the plane where an emergency exit was opened and and inflatable escape chute unfurled.
     They were leaving.  Against all odds, it was actually happening.
     Glenna threw her weight to the side, trying to jerk away from the man who held her.  He hooked his arm around her neck and yanked her back, wedging them both into the doorway.  Using her body to shield himself, he fired at the retreating hostages and their rescuers.  Glenna's ears rang from the noise of the gun and her eyes were streaming from the smoke, but she continued to struggle, doing what she could to throw off his aim.
     More quickly than she could have believed, her fellow hostages had funneled through the opening at the tail and disappeared, leaving her trapped between the hijackers and safety.  Screaming in frustration, the man who held her jammed his gun to her cheek.
     The gun barrel was hot now.  It burned her skin.  Glenna had a flash of awareness, a moment of clarity when she knew she was about to die.
     But the bullet she expected didn't come.  Instead, a staccato burst of gunfire came from the direction of the cockpit and the arm around her throat went slack.  And then Glenna was falling through the air.  She had a split second to brace for the shock, but with the blood that was pumping through her body by her elevated heartbeat, she barely felt the impact with the ground.  On some level, she registered agony as the pavement ripped the skin from her knees and her right ankle crumped beneath her, yet the pain didn't matter.  She was alive.  She was free.
     But for how long?
     Panic that she had managed to suppress until now suddenly surged through her veins.  Whimpering, she dragged herself another yard, only to stop short when her fingertips struck a black-booted foot.
     "Give me your hand," a deep voice said.  "I'll help you.".....