a Touch of Intrigue (18 page)

He brushed my jaw with his knuckles, love shining in those gorgeous blue eyes. “Whatever. We’ll deal. Together.”

My heart swelled, and it took a minute before I could breathe. I turned my head, kissing his palm. “There are no words to tell you how much I love you. And I don’t regret a second of what we just shared, condom or not.”

He brought my hand to his lips, returned the palm-kiss. “Agreed. Let’s not do it again…”

I helped him get the words out. “Until we plan to make a baby?”

“Yeah. That.” He nodded at his phone. “Parents are fifteen minutes out. Need to take off. You ready to monitor the alarms?”

“Yes, sir. Clipboard, list of the alarms you’re going to trigger, and a pen are on the kitchen counter. I do need some clothes though.”

He ogled my body, and gave me a lascivious wink. “Not on my account.”

Heat spread over my chest, up my neck, and into my cheeks. “Parents.” The single word about choked me. “My pseudo in-laws will be here soon.”

“Uh-huh. You can handle it, Hot Shot. Later.”

And he was gone. I stood in front of the mirror, stuck my tongue out at myself.
“Get a grip Everly Gray Hunt. You love Siofra and Lorcán.”
My words sounded hollow. I tried again.
“You handled Jayne. This will be easy.”
No go. One more time.
“Siofra and Lorcán
love
you.”
I grinned at myself. That worked.

I dressed in a long skirt and tank top, left my wet hair loose to dry, and put on some dangly earrings. Pierce would bring the soup back with his parents, so I didn’t have to do anything but monitor the alarms, and heat the soup after they got here. Right. I could do this, no problem.

Snagging the clipboard off the counter, I planted myself in front of the security monitor and stared making notes while Pierce tripped the alarms. The good thing: they all worked perfectly. The bad thing: it was a slow, painstaking process, and I had way too much time to think…and fret.

After the last alarm had been catalogued, I paced, so focused on counting steps that it startled the heck out of me when they walked in the door, juggling suitcases, laughing, happy, totally comfortable. I smiled, brittle. What the hell was wrong with me?

Siofra spotted me, set the pot of soup on the floor, covered the distance between us in three fast strides, and wrapped me in a hug. “I’m so very happy to see you, Daughter.”

And everything in my world righted itself. There was no power on earth like a mother’s hug.

Lorcán, being the size of a sturdy tree, gathered both of us into his arms. “Daughter of mine,” he whispered in my ear.

Make that no power on earth like a father’s whisper.

“That’s my woman you’re mauling.” Laughter mixed with a gentle warning in Tynan’s voice.

Lorcán slapped him on the back. “And
ár n-iníon
. Where do you want this luggage?”

My eyes opened wide, and I pointed an unsteady finger down the hallway. I seriously had to learn Gaelic. “Wow. How’d you carry all that from the plane?” And then I noticed that both Pierce and Lorcán were covered in a layer of glistening sweat. My heart picked up to a frantic beat. “You’re moving in with us?”

Siofra shrugged. “
Aon
. But necessities. I have a hand-fasting to plan.”

Panic flared, hollowing my insides. “Hand-fasting?” Pierce had said something about that.

My almost mother-in-law patted my arm. “Of course, dear. Your soul merged with my son’s when you visited Tuatha Dé Danann. We’ll figure out that formula of
do mháthair’s
well before the ceremony. I’m sure of it.”

My muscles wilted. Merged souls. Siofra got that right, but I wasn’t so sure about nullifying the formula that quickly. I shot a sideways glance at the folders, sitting so innocently on the coffee table. “I hope so. There’s a lot riding on it.”

She winked at me. “Together we are formidable. Now let’s heat that soup and make some plans.”

Pierce picked up the pot, carried it to the stove, and then came back into the living area and laid a scrumptious kiss on my mouth. “You look sexy as hell.”

It was exactly what I needed to hear. “I’ll just go repossess my kitchen before Siofra gets too far ahead of me in her plans. Your mamma moves like wildfire.”

Lorcán let out a belly laugh. “And you haven’t seen the best of it, Daughter.” He turned to Pierce. “Show me where this luggage goes while the women establish kitchen rights.”

They headed down the hall, loaded like pack mules. I shook my head, readjusting my brain cells. Time to get to work. I hustled to the kitchen area, and got bowls out of the cupboard. “I’m glad you’re here, Siofra. Grateful for your help.”

She lowered the heat under the soup, gave it one last stir, and faced me. “You’re our family now,
mo iníon.
Where else would we be?”

Thank goodness it was a rhetorical question. She cared about me, and the truth of her feelings rang through every word. It was scary, thrilling, and left me at a loss. I honestly wasn’t sure what to do with…parents. And when Siofra called me
her daughter
in Gaelic, it turned me inside out.

We sat around the table, steaming bowls of fragrant soup filling the kitchen with the scent of tomatoes and basil. Siofra and Lorcán had papers strewed between them, reading intently between bites of food. Siofra caught my eye. “Your
máthair
made excellent notes. It would be helpful to have a sample of this spy dust she mentions.”

I zeroed in on Pierce. “Can we do that?”

“It’ll take planning, unless you can convince Fred to hand some over.” There was doubt in his eyes. “It’s not about the spy dust.”

Annoyance, or maybe it was fear, skittered through my nerves. “Yet another reason for me to work with him, so I can learn what it
is
about. And since we’re ninety-nine percent sure he has Millie and Harlan, it would give me an opportunity to…bargain. He wants my fingers. How about I offer an exchange? One week of borrowing my ESP fingers in exchange for an intense training session—and I get to bring Millie and Harlan home with me.”

Pierce glared. “Not liking it. Team’s working on the extraction. Should be successful in twenty-four hours.”

It didn’t surprise me that Pierce had that issue under control because I’d overheard him give the orders, which is why I hadn’t been panicking about their safety. And why I hadn’t bugged him with a ton of suggestions about us chasing Fred down. But now we had a different problem. “If Siofra thinks we need some spy dust, then we need it.” Something about the way her forehead wrinkled and how her lips moved while she was reading left no question in my mind that we needed some spy dust. It reminded me of… “You have the same intense expression my mother had when she was working.”

Siofra smiled. “We probably share the same affinity for plants, but I won’t be able to use these equations. I only have intuitive training on how to work with them, nothing scholarly. And Pierce is right. We don’t need the dust.” She shoved back her chair, stood, gathered our empty bowls, and carried them to the sink. “We’ll get started first thing in the morning. Does that suit you, Everly?”

It did. We said our goodnights, and they strolled, hand-in-hand, upstairs toward their suite of rooms. Pierce and I stood watching them until we heard their door close with a definite click. I stretched up, and kissed his cheek. “Makani designed our home well to accommodate visiting in-laws.”

I caught a glimpse of a mischievous grin before he tossed me over his shoulder and carried me toward our sun porch. “We need to talk.”

SEVENTEEN

TYNAN AILILL PIERCE WANTED TO
talk? Not that we didn’t need to communicate My insides had been shooting off warning signals all through the supper we shared with Lorcán and Siofra. And the Fred issue was hanging heavy between us.

Pierce passed through the sun porch, and kept walking until we reached our pool. In silent agreement, we shed our clothes, slipped into the warm water, and held each other. Desperately.

I breathed in his scent, drawing strength from the familiarity, from the love I’d come to associate with it. “We need to prioritize assignments. I have to work with Siofra on my mother’s formula. I’m the only one with DNA close to hers, and I think that might be critical to isolate the formula. You are the only one with contacts in the “other world” who could put a name to the Ghost Guy who searched Millie and Harlan’s cottage. One of us should be here at all times to monitor activity, and to protect your parents. Which leaves Fred. You’re going to take over protection detail here and let me work for him, aren’t you?”

“Don’t like it.”

“And?” I nuzzled my nose against his neck.

“Trust you.”

I leaned back to look at him, and caught the tail end of an eyebrow twitch. Damn it all, he figured something out, and I wasn’t going to like it. The eyebrow twitched again.

“And fuck it all, but I trust Fred. He’s a bastard, but he’ll do what’s right.” Tynan’s arms tightened around me. “My past is dangerous for anyone near me. That’s why my parents live in Tuatha Dé Danann. This property is as safe as I can make it. It’s not enough. I can’t be with you, Everly, unless you’re trained to protect yourself by the most devious bastard out there. It’s selfish, but I you. Can’t do that unless we both work with Fred on this.”

My stomach shuddered. “I’ll call him and set it up? I should probably leave tomorrow.”

He ran his fingers through my hair, fisted a handful. “I’ll call. Schedule a late morning pick up, so you can spend time with
mo mháthair
before you leave.”

I breathed out a sigh. So soon. And not soon enough. “I should do this. It’s my gig. What will it be like? Training?”

“Hell. Some structured, some not. If you’re not back in forty-eight, I’ll come after you. Best if I make the call, set the boundaries.”

Two days. I could survive anything for two days. “Without sleep?”

“Running hard the whole time. Think bare bones intro to Navy SEAL training.”

Well, shit. I’d read books, and heard rumors about
that
. I’d be in
way
over my head, not that being unprepared would stop me. “What are my chances of success? SEALs go though a long, hard program and I’m not even close to being ready, physically or mentally.”

“Chill. Fred’ll push your mind and body. Hit the bare basics of survival, evasion, resistance, and escape. That’s it. Can’t do shit in forty-eight hours, but it’ll get you inside. Don’t sign any damn thing.”

The natural pool was sun-warmed, but didn’t ward off the uncontrollable shiver that rippled through my muscles. “I’ll be in the field with just my fingers for backup, and it’s my first…mission. I’m not sure if I’m stupidly excited or wisely terrified. At least we got the implant out, so Fred can’t track me. Or listen to me. Damn, but I hope he was never able to actually hear my conversations. How embarrassingly intrusive.”

“He’ll know it’s been removed, and won’t like it. You’ll have backup. I’ll put Boulay on it.”

A sigh of relief worked its way through me. “She knows my strengths and weaknesses. That’ll work. I have a feeling that a trial by fire with Fred isn’t going to help us with the formula, but it’s critical for…us. What we have is worth it.”

“I have to know you’ll be prepared if—”

I pressed my fingers against his lips. “Don’t say it. I get that you need a partner who has a fighting chance if something…happens to you, and I want to be her.”

“You are her, Everly.”

His touch, our kiss, spoke in a language too deep to be anything but silent. When we broke apart, Tynan brushed my hair away from my face. “Loving you fucks with my nerves worse than an op gone to shit.”

No point arguing with that. “I could say the same. So, how will you get Whitney into Fred’s inner sanctum? And where is it? The bottom line for this, um, mission is to get Millie and Harlan away from Fred, and the timing is critical. Makes me nervous that Ghost Guy is wandering around looking for the formula, and I don’t want to take any chances that I’ll fail. I want backup, especially with so much hanging in the balance.”

“The Pentagon sub-basement. I’ll pull in favors from former colleagues with Fred’s rank, different sectors.” He touched my cheek. “You won’t fail, Belisama.”

That simple touch left no doubt that Tynan trusted me. And damn it all, I was going to make sure I lived up to his expectations. And mine. “One last question. What rank are you compared to Fred?”

His chest tightened. “Don’t have a rank anymore. We’re equals in power, control, influence…but in different ways, different work. And different eras.”

And that ended the talking.

AFTER A QUICK BREAKFAST, I
led Siofra around our property, and then through the maze guarding my mother’s living lab. I had a hard time concentrating. Trepidation, and the occasional burst of panic about my upcoming meet with Fred were constant reminders that I only had a few hours with Siofra before I’d be dropped into a new phase of the intrigue that had begun before I was born. I fought the distraction, and forced myself to focus on the task at hand. “Is there a special way you’d like to approach this, Siofra? The only thing I’ve done is look at the plants, and run my fingers over the leaves.”

“I believe we should sit with them for a bit, and get a feel for the energy running through them. You said there are four specific plants that aren’t native to Hawaii, so we might want to select a sample of each one and hold them in meditation, alone, in pairings, and then all together in aggregate.”