Nauti Temptress (18 page)

Hell, his knees were weak.

As he stood before her, his lips kicked up in a grin at the sight of her legs as they sprawled off the bed, her feet resting against the floor.

Picking her up, he laid her fully on the bed, brushed the tangled length of her hair back from her face, and wondered what the hell they were going to do now.

It was bad enough that he’d allowed her to be pulled into something that could possibly risk her safety. But now he’d done something she could find even more unforgivable. Something he didn’t know whether he could even forgive himself for.

Yet he also knew he would do it again if he could.

If it happened again, if he once more found himself bare inside her that second before release, then he would give in to it. Because the pleasure had been astounding; the sensations, the intimacy of it had been more than he had ever imagined it would be.

Pulling back, he strode to the bathroom and quickly cleaned and dried the proof of their release from his flesh before wetting a clean cloth and grabbing a fresh towel. Returning to the bed he had to grin at the sight of her as she slept. Sated, exhausted, she’d given in to the weariness and slipped into sleep. He cleaned her gently, easing the cloth between her legs, then through the soft folds of her pussy before he quickly finished with her thighs.

Drying the dampness from her, he pulled the comforter and sheet over her body before collapsing in the large chair by the bed. Staring at her, watching her sleep, he couldn’t help but wonder at this new joke fate seemed to be playing on him.

He had a woman whose qualities were exactly those he’d once told friends he dreamed of finding in a woman: innocence, honor, humor, and strength. She knew how to find amusement in herself as well as the world around her, but she also knew compassion. She’d saved herself far longer than he had ever imagined a woman of such beauty could have, and she had given herself completely to him.

Because she loved him.

The thought smacked him like a blow to the head and rattled his senses.

That was what he had felt as he stared into her dazed eyes, feeling her release spill along the bare crest of his cock.

She believed she loved him, he amended. She couldn’t truly love him, because she didn’t truly know him.

And once she did?

He sighed at the thought. Once she did, would she still believe she loved him?

He highly doubted it.

TWELVE

Brogan stood next to the water, watching as bass
jumped and frolicked playfully in the first morning light. It wasn’t the bass that held his attention, though, any more than it was the beauty of the fog rising from the water and twisting around the trees growing along the bank. It was the unfamiliar emotions twisting and churning in his chest that held his attention.

He was thirty-four years old; there shouldn’t be emotions he hadn’t felt before, but these feelings were completely alien to him.

The possessiveness he knew and he understood. He wasn’t a man who appreciated or practiced casual sex. One-night stands had never been his thing. It had always been his intention to develop a relationship with Eve. It had just been his intention to complete this operation first.

He’d never meant to drag her into whatever the hell was going on in the Lake Cumberland area. And it had never, ever been his intention to risk the creation of a child.

Rubbing at the back of his neck, he paced at the edge of the lake, the sound of the water lapping at the bank joining the soft, early morning symphony as the memory of spilling his release inside Eve tormented his mind.

It had happened only one other time in his life, when he had been much younger. The condom hadn’t ripped with such force, and he hadn’t known the pleasure of finding his release as his bare cock sank inside the heated depths of his lover’s pussy.

Rather, the small tear at the tip of the condom had allowed a small amount of his release free.

Brogan hadn’t been ready to be a parent, but he’d accepted the responsibility of it. The day his fiancée had taken the home pregnancy test four weeks later, his heart had melted at the thought of their child when he’d seen the positive result.

They hadn’t discussed it. She had never mentioned not wanting the child, but neither had she mentioned plans to abort the baby. Until he’d returned home from the law enforcement academy after officially being offered a position in the Department of Homeland Security.

He’d bought a teddy bear for the child, and had made plans to build a house on a piece of property outside his hometown. When he’d stepped in the door of the apartment Candy met him with a happy squeal as she threw herself in his arms. Pulling back, she’d looked at the teddy bear that had fallen at his feet and laughed. She wasn’t ready for a child to blow her figure out of shape, and she definitely wasn’t ready to settle down to the ties of motherhood.

And Brogan had never forgiven her.

The moment the admission of the abortion had slipped past her lips, he was finished with her. He had felt grief wrap around his heart, felt the guilt and shame of it sear his soul. Their child had been innocent of its creation, and she hadn’t been able to give nine months of her life to giving it birth?

He would have taken the child and raised it himself. Hell, he would have paid her to have the baby.

He’d broken their engagement immediately. As she cried, screamed, pretended confusion, and then raged in fury that it was her choice, he had packed.

The child hadn’t just been hers; that baby had been his, too. It should have never been just her choice. He should have had a choice as well. Their child should have had a choice, he had raged at her as he left her life and never looked back.

What would Eve do? he wondered. Would she kill their child or would she shelter it? Could he take the chance that she would at least discuss the options with him?

He was torn, and holding the knowledge of what had happened the night before bothered him more as he thought of it. He’d raged at Candy for not giving him a choice in their child’s birth, yet here he was, holding the truth of a possible conception from Eve, fearing the same result. What he was doing was no better than what Candy had done. He was refusing to give her a choice.

As the internal debate raged inside him, the muffled sound of a boat’s motor moving closer to the cabin reached him. The narrow water lane leading to the hidden cabin wasn’t one that could be accidentally taken. The safeguards set at the entrance of the tributary, the warnings placed farther up it, combined with strategically placed cables stretching across several points, the metal signs attached to them warning boaters back. It normally turned innocent curiosity seekers back.

Whoever his visitors were, they weren’t there by accident. Pulling his weapon from where he’d tucked it at the small of his back, Brogan stepped behind the huge oak growing close to the water. From here, he could identify any threat and make his way back to the cabin before the boat could reach the beach. He would have time to pull Eve out if he had to, and to ensure her protection.

As the boat came into view, clearing the fog, the trolling motor easing it through the water, Brogan grimaced in irritation. This was definitely one of those uncalled-for occurrences in his life.

At the controls was Eli. Riding in the back of the expensive bass boat was Jed, cradling an automatic rifle. Sitting cool and comfortable in the seat next to Elijah was Chatham Bromleah Doogan III, director of operations and all-around fucking bastard.

There were opinions that he and Timothy Cranston were cut from the same cloth.

That wasn’t exactly true. Cranston had a heart. He had compassion. Doogan had neither. Brogan was convinced pure ice water ran through his veins. That or oil. All good robots had to run on something.

As the boat pulled up to the small dock and Jed jumped out to secure it, Brogan stepped from behind the tree and strolled out to the boardwalk that led from the beach to the dock farther out in the water.

What the hell were they doing there cramping his day?

Doogan pulled off his dark glasses, amusement filling his dark brown eyes as a grin curled his lips.

“Dawg Mackay’s looking for his sister and he’s fit to be tied,” Doogan stated, mockery filling his gaze. “He’s a little overprotective, wouldn’t you think?”

What would Doogan know about protectiveness?

“You don’t have a sister, do you, Doogan?” Brogan asked.

Doogan shuddered, his gaze flashing in mock horror. “My parents were actually humane enough to stop with me,” he said. “So I can’t say I do.”

“It shows,” Brogan retorted.

Doogan scowled back at him. “Nevertheless, Dawg didn’t care much for Timothy’s explanation, nor mine. The fact that Dawg knew I was in Somerset still greatly concerns me. I was unaware he knew my full name.” As opposed to the codename Doogan had insisted be listed instead. The only reason Brogan, Eli, and Booker were aware of it was because they’d trained with him, drank with him, and listened to his drunken ramblings before he’d begun his climb up the federal ladder.

“It should,” Brogan assured him. “My question is, how did you find us?”

Doogan smiled complacently. “This is a political retreat, Brogan. All those nasty politicians with their young mistresses need someplace safe to hide. And someone has to make sure the place doesn’t get overcrowded. That job falls to me.”

“And if it does? Get overcrowded, that is,” Brogan asked mockingly.

Doogan shrugged. “Federal Protective Service has a houseboat stored along a nearby tributary and another cabin hidden along the lake. But overcrowding doesn’t happen if one is diligent.”

“Regular little caretaker, aren’t you?” Brogan taunted him.

Doogan tilted his head to the side. “Why do I keep seeing a real dishonorable discharge in your future?”

Brogan shrugged. “Wishful thinking maybe? Because we both know John David Bryce isn’t going to allow that.”

Doogan’s eyes flashed with rueful laughter rather than the offense Brogan had intended.

“There is that,” Doogan agreed. “It’s kind of hard to fire the director of Homeland Security’s bastard son, I would imagine.”

“Well, a few have tried.” Brogan shrugged. “I’m still here.”

“Unfortunately, unfortunately,” Doogan lamented on a sigh. “But I didn’t come up here to trade insults, as much as I do enjoy the opportunity. And neither did I come up here to warn you about Dawg. Though I would enjoy being present when he finds you.”

Brogan only snorted at the comment as he waited to see why Doogan had shown up.

Stepping from the boat, Doogan started around the small clearing. “It’s really rather pretty here,” he commented.

“Get to the point, Doogan,” Brogan growled. “I have things to do.”

Concern flashed in Doogan’s eyes for a second before the brown depths were once again icy and emotionless.

“We need to seriously discuss this operation,” he warned Brogan. “I know you; you intend to tell her your purpose for being here, and the fact that you were ordered to develop a friendship with her.”

Brogan’s brow lifted as he noticed the amused amazement on Elijah’s and Jed’s faces.

“A friendship?” Brogan questioned him. “Doogan, you’ve been playing pimp from afar for more than two years in your attempt to get me to invite myself into her bed. It was only your dumb luck that I wasn’t able to stay the hell away from her any longer.”

Doogan slid one hand casually into the pocket of his slacks as he stared back at Brogan coolly.

“I did you a favor, actually,” he drawled. “You’ll thank me for it later.”

“Get the hell out of here before I have to shoot you.” Brogan glowered back at him. “I don’t have time to deal with you.”

“Not until we discuss what you intend to tell Ms. Mackay.”

“The truth,” Brogan snapped. “I won’t lie to her.”

“I would highly suggest doing just that,” his boss ordered. “She hasn’t been cleared for this operation, and her brother and cousins sure as hell haven’t been cleared for it.” He swiped his fingers through his hair as he glared at Brogan now. “I’m ordering you not to inform her of your true purpose for being here. You will stick to the parameters of your cover and tell her nothing more.”

Brogan almost laughed. Doogan liked to think he had some measure of control over his agents, but they’d all learned how to deal with his manipulations.

“Go to hell, Doogan. Tell me something I want to hear or get the hell out of here,” he warned, hostile.

Brogan might not know what he was up to yet, but he’d figure it out. When he did . . . well, it wouldn’t be the first time the two of them had fought.

“There are a few details we need to go over,” Doogan began.

“Like the one where someone slipped into Eve’s room last night,” Elijah spoke up. “We saw it on the cameras when we returned to the inn. The same intruders tried to get into your room, but the new dead bolt you put on it kept them out long enough that they were forced to leave when Timothy made his rounds. That’s why Dawg’s trying to find you two. Timothy found her door unlocked, stepped inside to see the suite wrecked, and called her brother.”

Brogan slid his gaze to Doogan slowly.

The other man stared back at him coolly before turning to Elijah and Jed. “I could have taken care of that.”

“I was trying to help you out, boss.” Elijah shrugged with a tight grin.

Doogan snorted in disbelief as he turned to Brogan. “You inspire insubordination,” he accused irritably.

“You’re welcome.” Brogan inclined his head in a gesture of gracious accomplishment before turning back to Jed and Elijah. “Did they take anything from her room?”

Elijah shook his head in the negative. “They searched the hell out of it, though. She won’t be happy.”

She wasn’t going to be happy to begin with.

“Why search her room?” he asked thoughtfully. “I can understand searching mine, but why hers?”

“Maybe to be certain you hadn’t hidden anything there,” Doogan pointed out. “You would expect your room to be searched, but not that of a woman you hadn’t even made your lover yet.”

Brogan frowned, turning to Eli. “Did anyone leave the trip yesterday after I did?”

Eli grimaced. “Poppa Bear called it off after you left. He said he wasn’t going searching for scenic destinations or those caves the group was heading to see without the leader of the pack.” He chuckled.

Doogan snickered at the comment.

“This happened before we arrived back at the inn,” Elijah told him. “We were almost there when Donny asked exactly where the caves were, and Sambo commented that it would have been nice to have you there to make sure they were at the right place. That’s when Poppa Bear called us all to pull into the parking lot of a grocery store and suggested coming back.”

Sambo was a bear of a man and often pretended he didn’t know his own ass from a hole in the mountain, let alone how to find some of the most popular caves in Kentucky.

“Did anyone know why I left?”

Jed and Elijah shook their heads. “I don’t know if Donny and Sandi called anyone later or not, but they played real dumb after you left.”

“You know, Brogan, that boy’s acting damned strange anyway after the two of them went ape shit thinking one of them might die. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they might love each other. A lot.” Jed shook his head at the thought.

“That little strike was unsanctioned as hell,” Doogan reminded them all before glaring at Brogan. “You don’t use agency resources to get vengeance over a perceived slight to a potential girlfriend, Agent Campbell.”