The Cinderella Mission (16 page)

Carla Juarez grasped tweezers and pinched the miniscule listening device, rolling her wheelchair toward Ethan. The size of a grain of rice, the device would lie out of sight in his ear canal. He never questioned how it stuck there. Wasn’t sure he really wanted to know. Juarez had proposed they give Kelly a dry run using the device to become accustomed to multi-tasking with several voices transmitting through the earpiece. Ethan had welcomed the chance to leave the apartment and put some people between himself and Kelly.

Except it wasn’t helping.

Hatch pulled a roll of antacids out of his pocket and thumbed one free. “We finally caught up with your tour guide from the mine. He says someone paid him a thousand dollars to send you down the wrong shaft and rig the generator. Said the guy gave the excuse of being a jealous boyfriend. We’ve got a sketch artist working on it.”

Ethan had been hoping for more. “And Brittany Hill?”

“No suspicious movement.” Hatch popped the antacid in
his mouth and clicked it to the side. “We’re keeping a tail on her.”

Juarez leaned closer, the tweezers tickling Ethan’s ear. “The power of young love.”

“Very funny, Juarez.” Ethan scratched a hand over his burning gut.

“Quit fidgeting!” Carla Juarez chastised him. “Do you want me to rupture your eardrum?”

“Lovely image. Thanks.”

“No problem, hotshot.”

Ethan flipped the folded notepaper between his fingers again like a quarter in a sleight-of-hand trick. The message from Samantha had arrived just as he’d warmed up the Jag while waiting for Kelly. He still didn’t know how he planned to handle Samantha’s request that they meet, whether to include Kelly or not.

She would be mad, but he couldn’t afford to let that influence him.

“All done.” Juarez wheeled her chair around. “Okay, Kelly. Your turn.”

Kelly hooked her feet together and tucked them under her seat—ankle boots her footwear choice of the day designed to make his life a living hell.

Juarez winked. “You look great, kiddo.”

Kelly smiled. “Thanks, Carla.”

“I’ll say.” Davidson emitted a low whistle from beside the map of the ballroom on the wall. “You do clean up well, Taylor. Pencil me in on your dance card. I’ll rest up this bum leg of mine just for you.”

Kelly swacked his arm. “You’d better not set one foot out of headquarters and leave me high and dry with no backup.”

“No fair. Rich boy over there gets all the fun.” Davidson pitched a marker at Ethan.

Ethan shot him a glare in the timeless communication of one male to another that said without question,
mine.

Davidson cocked a brow before stepping back with a slight nod of acknowledgment.

Juarez rolled away from Kelly. “Okay. All set.” She passed Ethan and Kelly each a tiny clip-on microphone. “Tech support is working a set into your clothing buttons now. With a heist in the works, we decided planting the mikes in jewelry might not be such a wise idea.”

Kelly turned her back and whispered, “Ethan? Are you there?”

Her voice echoed in his head—sheer pleasure and torture in one silken-toned package. He shifted in his seat. “Yeah, Kel, I’m here.”

Her laugh tripped free as she spun to face him. “Oh, man. This is so cool.”

Cool?

It seemed mighty damned hot in the room to Ethan.

Juarez passed Ethan and Kelly each a small plastic case. “Your contact lenses. They’re tinted to just the right level to counteract the effects of the Laser Dazzler if it needs to be activated.”

Kelly cradled hers as if they were the crown jewels. “You came through.”

Intellectually, he understood the need to keep the volume low so as not to burst the eardrum, but God help him, her husky tones spiraled through his mind like tendrils of smoke.

Juarez grinned. “Didn’t want you to have to resort to one of those other options suggested by the Marines over in the Urban Warfare Battle Lab.”

Davidson chuckled. Good. No temptation in hearing that voice.

“Ah, come on.” Davidson rubbed a hand along his thigh absently. “It would have been fun watching the Gastonian ambassador try to wade through the sticky foam. Or the microwave gun singe the polyester right off the girlfriend of the Holzberg secretary of state.”

“All in the name of compassionate combat,” Juarez
chimed, her wheelchair offering a glaring reminder of the price of war. She rolled toward the door. “Come on, Kelly. Let’s take a spin around the office and gab with people, while the guys talk in here. You can get used to processing all the different channels of information coming your way at once.”

Kelly held open the door. “It’s so wild hearing you in double, literally and through Ethan’s mike.”

“You’ll also have the command post voices back here to contend with, but you’ll adjust before you know it,” Juarez said, her voice dimming as she wheeled into the hall. The door swished closed behind them.

Too bad the image of Kelly’s animated face remained in Ethan’s mind as real as her voice in his ear.

Hatch shoved away from the wall. “Davidson, run through the security checklist again. Taylor can listen in. Won’t hurt to hear it repeated.”

“Sure.” Davidson grabbed another marker from the metal tray. A map of the ballroom with the plastic overlay for notes sprawled across the wall.

Ethan tipped back in his chair. Markers squeaked as Davidson drew a series of Xs resembling a basketball play grid. Their background chatter would offer enough for Kelly to process as she walked the halls back to her desk.

Soaking up compliments from too-damned-pushy men.

She wouldn’t be lacking for date offers after this op ended. Offers from a pack of fools who hadn’t been able to appreciate her diamond-in-the-rough beauty before.

She deserved better.

Better than him, too, for that matter.

Her voice caressed his ear. His eyes slid closed. Excitement pulsed through her words, as it had the gems at the mine, later when they’d shared a simple snowball.

A kiss.

Going sentimental over a snowball?

Lack of sleep must be screwing with his self-control, but
he would sleep when they caught the scum responsible for Alex Morrow’s disappearance.

When he had Kelly safely behind her desk again.

For how long, a voice taunted? How long before she landed her next field assignment and ended up with bullets tearing through her mojo and into her back like Juarez?

Kelly laughed over something. What? Damned if he hadn’t been following the conversation. Her silky tones rolled around in his head, a part of him he couldn’t escape when his emotions were too damned close to the surface.

The sound of her blended with memories of her sighs of pleasure in the mine and later in the greenhouse. He could almost feel her under him. Need pulsed through him, thick, hot and without warning. Just like Kelly in his life.

His breath huffed in and out, every drag of air heavier than the next. He wanted her. Any way he could have her and damn the consequences. He wanted her now. Just give him ten minutes alone with her in a closet where he could hike that—

A cleared throat broke into Ethan’s concentration. He bolted upright, his eyes snapping open. Davidson stared at him with an ill-disguised smirk. His soon-to-be-pounded buddy snagged a red marker and scribbled on the board.
Do you need a cigarette?

Ethan growled low, “Bite me, bud.”

A gasp sounded in his head. Kelly. “What?”

“Nothing,” Ethan mumbled. “Just Davidson making a fool out of himself.”

Hatch crossed to his case sitting on the table. He snapped it open and pulled out a file. “Nice work, people. I’ll leave you to do your job.”

Walking toward the door, he placed the file on the table beside Ethan, dropping a roll of antacids on top without hesitating. The door clicked shut behind the director.

Davidson capped the marker. “What’s that?”

Ethan scooped the antacids off and flipped open the first
page of the file. His parents’ names leapt out, along with his aunt’s.

Adrenaline seared him. He had it. The file on his parents’ murder. No doubt Hatch had computerized copies, but Ethan had what he needed.

Yet the thrill faded as quickly as it had surged. All he could think of was Kelly.

Mine.
Again the single word pulsed through him. Became a part of him.

He was a selfish bastard who couldn’t let her go. But he also couldn’t spend his life eating rolls of antacid and wondering if she’d made it through the day alive. Even if he cut himself out of her life, she would always be there in his head, as she was now, earpiece or not. Kelly had become a part of him no amount of distance could slice free.

Which left him with only one option.

Ethan crumpled the note from Samantha in his hand. He would decide after the meeting if Kelly needed to know the results of what he learned.

For now, he would get through this assignment. Do whatever it took to keep Kelly alive.

Then come hell or high water, when the clock struck twelve on Kelly’s Cinderella mission, Hatch would have two resignations on his desk.

K
elly raced up the stairs to Ethan’s apartment, too jazzed to wait until supper to meet him as they’d arranged. Every step pumped her excitement from work up another notch. She planned to entice Ethan out of whatever had brought on his bad mood and celebrate.

God, she loved her job. The whole day at ARIES trying out equipment had been a blast. She’d worked the ops-support end for two years, all but salivating when others donned the high-tech tools of their trade. ARIES had the best of the best, thanks to their unlimited black ops budget. Nowhere in the world were operatives better outfitted.

And now she was one.

What would Hatch have for her next?

Restless energy charged through her. She wanted the next days to whiz past.

Then what? Would Ethan’s walls come down or double in height?

Her feet faltered on the landing.

She wouldn’t let him.

Kelly punched in the code to Ethan’s alarm and let herself inside. “Ethan?”

He’d said he needed time to shower and change. Well, she planned to surprise him in the shower and change his attitude.

The silent apartment greeted her. Strolling through the kitchen, she trailed her fingers along the rim of his coffee cup where his mouth had rested. A poor substitute for the man’s kiss, especially when she would likely spend another lonely night in his bed while he sacked on the couch if she didn’t make some headway.

“Ethan?”

No answer, not even the sound of a shower.

A tingle started up her spine, a newly developed sixth sense she’d developed over the past two weeks.

He’d left her alone. He rarely did that anymore, always insisting they stick together.

Overprotective lout.

So what was he doing now?

Kelly bolted away from the table and up the stairs to the computer loft. Time to use some of those skills he’d taught her. Dropping into his chair, she clicked through the grounds surveillance commands until she found him.

And Delmonico’s ambassador pro-tem, Samantha Barnes. His former girlfriend. Sitting on a lounger together by the indoor pool, Ethan beside the cool beauty, his head ducked close to hers.

Those old insecurities kicked in with a vengeance. Samantha Barnes was everything Kelly had once dreamed of being. The stunning redhead was brilliant, confident and an acting ambassador of an important American ally in an unstable region.

No.
Kelly halted the green-eyed monster in its tracks.

Ethan may have cut a wide swath through the female population, but always one at a time for as long as she’d known him. She trusted his innate sense of honor enough
to know he would completely set her free first. And he hadn’t done that. Yet.

So what was he doing?

She clicked through computer keys to try and up the volume, but Ethan had chosen to talk by the swishing hot tub.

No doubt deliberately.

If she had higher tech skills in this arena, she could probably weed through the interference. But she didn’t. Why was he meeting with Samantha so late when she should be resting up for the major embassy function in the works?

The embassy. Samantha’s job as ambassador pro-tem to Delmonico.

Kelly straightened. While Samantha didn’t know about Ethan’s ARIES status, she did know he had intelligence connections.

The meeting was business.

Relief threatened to swamp her. Too much. More emotion than she wanted right now when she didn’t know how Ethan felt.

Kelly stared at the computer screen, taking in the two heads bowed close together, deep in conversation. She might not be jealous. But she
was
mad as hell. Anger felt good. Tangible and a lot less painful than what she’d experienced when he announced he’d be sleeping on the sofa.

How dare he pull a stunt like this? Kelly considered racing down there and simply entering the meeting as if she’d been called to participate. Except he might leave before she arrived.

Her eyes slid to the telephone. Ethan’s first lesson in field craft drifted through her mind.

Sometimes the simplest answers worked the best.

He always carried a cell phone in his pocket.

Kelly reached for the receiver, never taking her eyes off the computer screen. If she and Ethan stood even an infinitesimal chance of working out, he needed to come to grips with accepting her as a fellow operative and equal.

Starting now.

Ethan took the computer disk from Samantha and wished he could come up with some words of comfort to offer a friend with too much pain in her eyes.

Others might be fooled by her calm exterior, but he’d lived in that same hell for too many years and for the first time wanted to find a way out of it other than getting himself killed on the job.

The cell phone in Ethan’s shirt pocket hummed, vibrating against him. Samantha jumped back, elegance in place again, if a bit brittle.

Ethan slapped a hand over the pocket. “I’d better take this.” He pulled the phone out and glanced at the LCD screen to find his apartment number. Kelly. Panic punched him. He shouldn’t have left her alone. He flipped the phone open. “Kelly? Everything okay?”

“Just peachy, partner.”

Her over-bright tone set off alarms in his head. “Did you need something?”

“Yeah,” the cheer in her voice faded, “I need my partner to be straight with me and not hold out on meetings with sources.”

Ethan’s eyes shot straight up to the security camera in the corner wet bar. Busted.

“That’s right, ace.
I’m
watching
you
this time.” Kelly’s voice shimmered through the phone waves with an extra electric kick of anger.

Samantha patted his arm. “I should go.”

“No,” Ethan said. “Hold on—”

“It’s okay.” Samantha stood. “You have what you need. Work’s the best thing for me and I have a pile of it waiting back in my hotel room.”

“Kelly, be with you in a second.” He flipped the phone closed on the distraction he did not need right now. He would deal with Kelly’s jealousy in a minute. “You’ll be at the summit ball tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

He couldn’t come right out and tell Samantha about the potential threat at the gala, and damned if the need to do so didn’t tear him up. Alerting the public would send the perps deeper into hiding and only make it tougher to catch them, leaving others open to the threat without the blanket of protection Ethan and Kelly had orchestrated.

Ethan settled for a simple, “Watch your back.”

“Of course.” She jabbed a finger at his chest. “And you remember to treasure what you have.” Whipping her coat off a chair, she stopped him with a raised hand. “I’ll see myself out.”

Spine straight, she glided toward the door.

See herself out? Training wasn’t easily ignored. He stood at the door and watched until she pulled safely away from the house.

Prideful woman. He recognized the resistance to accepting help well. Now Samantha would just have to find the right person to help her through it. As he had. A person he damned well
did
intend to treasure and protect.

As soon as they got past a serious head-butting in their future.

Ethan pivoted on his heel and shot through the hall to the back entrance in the garage. Taking the steps three at a time, he framed his words to reassure Kelly. Christ, he would never, never cheat on her. Couldn’t fathom ever wanting another woman. Damned well looked forward to exploring a thousand ways to make Kelly sigh with pleasure.

However, while he wasn’t used to accounting for his actions—to anyone—he recognized she carried a lifetime of insecurities, thanks to her parents.

He paused outside the door to give himself a second to gather his thoughts. Then remembered she was likely watching him anyway.

She made a hell of a student. He punched in the code and swung the door open. “Kelly?”

The low squeak of his office chair spinning above offered the only answer. Kelly lounged at his wall of computers in
the loft, her arms draped over the rests with negligent ease. Her legs stretched for endless miles in front of her.

The fire in her eyes sparked a shower of ire upon his head.

“Kelly, it’s not what you think.” Was that cliché the best he could come up with? This woman stole his ability to think, reason and apparently his ability to talk rationally, as well.

“Then what was it, Ethan?” She stood, her voice picking up speed and anger with every word. “Explain to this junior operative what I misunderstood about my partner meeting with an embassy source without telling me.”

Busted. Truly busted.

Well, hell. He’d underestimated her. She wasn’t jealous at all. Not even a slice insecure.

She was professionally pissed.

Kelly started down the stairs, slowly, every word punctuated with a step. “Tell me why half the team keeps from the other half what’s going on.”

Somehow he suspected his “keeping her safe” answer wouldn’t gain him any ground.

She cruised toward him. “Make me understand why it’s smart ops to hamstring your partner by insisting she sit in a freaking apartment all the time rather than utilize the skills you taught her.”

He opted for a shot at a bluff. “Samantha lost her husband, Kelly. She’s going through a rough time. She needed someone to talk to.”

Her arms folded over her chest. “Good try, Williams. I’m not buying it.”

Kelly waited, her face smooth and expressionless.

When had he lost control? The first time Kelly spoke to him. “Damn it, Kelly, I taught you that poker face, so you can just cut it out.” Still she didn’t budge. “Fine. Yeah, I was meeting with her to discuss business. She had some intel to pass along about an intercepted message. She wanted it off the record and untraceable back to her.”

“And you didn’t see fit to tell me?” Her voice rose with the color in her cheeks. “I could have had something to offer, and instead I’m sitting up here with nothing but a stack of crossword puzzles.”

Screw this. She wanted to know, he’d tell her. “Well, at least you’re safe!”

“I don’t want safe!” She thumped his chest with both palms. “I want to do my job the same as you do.” Her breast heaved under her dress, before she spun away. “God, there’s no reasoning with you.”

“Don’t walk out on me.” He grabbed her arm.

She jerked free. “You can watch over me with your cameras. Then you won’t have to worry about any messy arguments or emotions. You can keep your distance and brood, rather than face what we did together. What we felt. Hell, you can’t even commit to a real partnership. It’s no surprise any hint of a real relationship would send the big bad agent running for the hills.”

Her words raked across emotions already too damned raw, fired the gut-burning desire he’d held in check all day. For months. For years, around this woman.

He studied the set line of her jaw. The rigid brace of her shoulders. She burned for this job just as he had for so many years, even before he’d lost Celia.

Kelly wasn’t going to give up. She lived for this job. And damn it, so did he.

His mental image of those resignations went up in flames. He could almost see the edges blackening, curling, turning to powder. With them went his hopes of scratching out some kind of future with Kelly that wouldn’t send him to the nuthouse worrying about her.

“Fine. You want real? Here’s reality. Nobody’s running now.” His hand shot behind her head, tangled in her hair and tugged her head back.

Before she could do more than gasp—perfect since parted lips suited him damned fine—his mouth crashed down on hers.

Ethan drew in the taste of Kelly. The scent of her. The feel of her soft body under his hands. Every bit of her saturated his senses with as much potency as her voice.

He cupped her bottom, lifted, rocked their hips against each other.

She whimpered under his mouth.

Control. He had to find it. He eased back, hands shaking. “I’m being too rough.”

“No,” she insisted, drawing his bottom lip between her teeth, “you’re not.”

He rested his forehead against hers. “Do you want—”

“Yes!” She jerked his shirtfront. “I want. Do I ever
want.
I want you. I’ve always wanted you and don’t know how to stop.”

And neither did he.

He slanted his mouth over hers. Without breaking their kiss, he backed them toward the stairs. Bodies locked, they kissed and stumbled up the steps, flattening against the wall to tunnel hands under clothing. Finally, they made it to the landing. He reached for the door, but before he could twist the knob, Kelly hooked a leg behind his and rocked their balance. Or maybe that was the effect of her kiss.

They fell to the floor, Ethan twisting at the last second to cushion her from the floor.

“Now,” she whispered against his lips, kicking off her shoes. “Here.”

She didn’t have to tell him twice. His hand burrowed under her dress to whip her stockings and panties down and off. He pitched the pink wisp fluttering over the banister.

In a tangle of arms and legs and need he rolled her under him. She worked the fly button free on his jeans with a newfound expertise. No fumbling, she found him. He gave a brief thought to undressing, but Kelly’s insistent touch, her kisses, nips, sighs urging him on, told him she wanted this as much as he did. Slow would come later.

He tore his wallet from his back pocket and found protection.

Damn it, never would he lose sight of protecting Kelly.

And then he was in her. Only fair since she’d been inside him all day. All month. For as long as he could remember and right now he couldn’t seem to remember anything but her.

And the feel of her gripping him with moist heat.

Under him, in him, a part of him.

He moved within her, holding back until his every muscle strained, screaming for release. The longer he held back, the longer he kept her, the longer he didn’t have to contemplate what could happen in the next twenty-four hours.

That he couldn’t let happen.

He couldn’t lose her.

He couldn’t lose—

Her cry of release ripped through him, her beautiful body arching up and into him once, and again. His own shout mingled with hers until he sagged on top of her, absorbing her aftershocks.