Читать книгу Mission: Marriage - Karen Whiddon - Страница 16

Moving with the others down the long hallway, Natalie knew when she saw the partially opened door of their room that they had been right.

Whoever had pulled the alarm had been in their room. Had trashed it.

“The only other person I’ve told about the code is Corbett. This must be the work of the Lazlo Group mole.”

“That’s possible.” Standing in the doorway, Sean nodded. “What about your friend Auggie?”

“Auggie’s a good guy. He wouldn’t do this.”

Sean shook his head, as though he didn’t completely agree. “What a frigging mess.”

The room looked like a jacked-up demon on meth had torn through it. Natalie couldn’t even begin to envision explaining this to the inn management. Hopefully, they would just assume it was a break-in and since their room was near the exit, it had been the easiest to target.

“I know.” Pacing from one end of the room to the other, Natalie looked for any sign to indicate who the culprit was. “They must have been pretty pissed off when they didn’t find it.”

“Obviously.”

She fingered the tiny flash drive. “Of course they didn’t realize this baby stays with me everywhere I go.”

The next morning, Natalie tried to avoid looking at Sean, as though he could read in her eyes the dreams that had tormented her in the darkest part of the night. Pleasant dreams, indeed.

She’d known she wanted him, of course. But she wasn’t in the habit of lying to herself, and what she hadn’t realized was exactly how much she wanted him. Like a craving, an addiction, her desire for him never left her.

Worse, she knew why. Making love was exactly that to her—two people, madly in love, celebrating with their bodies. Sean had been her one and only and she’d come to him untouched, a virgin.

She was still untouched, by choice. If she couldn’t love someone else as much as she’d loved Sean, she didn’t think she would ever know another’s body either.

Sex to her was not a recreational pastime, a fleeting pleasure. Sex to her was akin to the deepest baring of the soul.

In the harsh light of the morning, she had to look herself in the mirror and ask herself a question. Did she want to go the rest of her life knowing Sean was alive, out there in the world without her, and imagine him wrapped in another woman’s arms?

She’d been given a second chance, another opportunity to be with the only man she had ever loved.

But could she ever forget and forgive him for what he’d done?

She didn’t think she could.

Waking up and seeing Natalie in the morning was another form of torture for Sean. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from her. With her short, tousled hair and heavy-lidded eyes, she looked as though her dreams had been similar to his.

Sex and more sex.

Shaking his head, he flipped open his cell phone.

“Who are you calling?” her sleep-groggy voice asked.

“Corbett. I want to get some answers. We need to find out where that leak is. Find out if someone knows about your bootlegged code and how they’re keeping tabs on us.”

Four rings, five, then the call went to voice mail. Sean hung up without leaving a message.

Natalie grimaced, got out of bed and took out her own cell phone. “I’m going to make a few calls of my own. I’m just as tired of this as you are.”

But she had no better luck. Sean listened as she left two separate messages. “Who’d you call?”

“Auggie and Dennie. Auggie’s one of the best undercover ops SIS has.”

He’d suspected as much. But the handsome doctor? “What about Dennie?” He tried to keep the jealousy from his voice.

“He does occasional work for us. For the Lazlo Group, too.” She shot him a wry look. “You’d know that if you hadn’t been gone so long.”

Sean bit back a retort. “How close are the two of you?”

Shaking her head, Natalie walked to the window. “You don’t have a right to ask that question.”

“Maybe not, but I’m asking anyway.”

She sighed. “Drop it, okay?”

Her nonanswer told him she had something to hide.

“Have you and the doctor …?” Swallowing, he tried to find the right words without being crude.

“Sean, I said drop it.” Her cutting tone told him she was furious. “My private life is none of your business. You died, remember?”

He swallowed his own anger, not wanting the conversation to degenerate into an out-and-out fight.

His hopes and dreams—all but vanished—came back to him in startling clarity. He’d had a future, once. He’d envisioned bright-haired children, laughing and playing. A white picket fence. The way Natalie’s eyes glowed amber when she was happy. Laughter instead of tears. Joy instead of grief. Love instead of pain.

So much had been lost, taken from him because of a youthful error in judgment.

How did one right such a wrong? Could he even go back, make another grab for that elusive brass ring?

Did they even have a chance?

“Fine. My apologies.” He dipped his chin. “We’ll keep it strictly business. Tell me what you think Auggie and Dennie can find out that we or Corbett can’t?”

“You never know.” A tinge of relief colored her voice, which only irritated him further as she continued. “Auggie’s good—he keeps his ear to the ground. And Dennie—he’s everywhere. He’s one of the few doctors still willing to do house calls.”

“Is he part of your intelligence network?”

“No, though he’s a trusted contact. And,” she shot him a meaningful look, “a good friend. I’ve even heard it rumored he’s getting set up to do some doctoring among the Hungarian’s people.”

Despite himself, Sean was impressed. “That would be quite a coup for your intelligence network.”

“Yeah, it would.” Her smile looked tentative, but at least it was a smile. “Auggie and I are both very proud of him.”

Auggie and Nat. Geez, he had it bad. Just thinking about the two of them together rankled. Oblivious, Natalie continued. “Once Auggie calls back, we might have a bit more information to go on. I’m getting tired of running around in circles.”

She had a point. “True,” he conceded as he got out of bed and gathered his clothes. “Let’s see what they are able to find out. But for now, I’m going to grab a shower. Then we should get some breakfast and you can keep working on those codes.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said and smiled at him a bit sadly, as she lightly touched the antique armoire and ran her fingers along the curved wooden back of a Queen Anne replica chair.

He instantly thought of the home they’d once shared, and how she’d loved to antique-shop, filling their rooms with cherished finds. He’d come to appreciate the eclectic mix as well, loving the variety, seeing it as an extension of her complex personality.

How much he’d loved her. How much they’d loved each other. Did she really believe such a love could ever die?

Before he said or did something he’d later regret, he headed for the attached bathroom and a nice, long shower.

Turning the water up as hot as he could stand, Sean took his time, standing under the pulsing stream. Each swipe of the soapy washcloth reminded him of Natalie’s hands, soft and silky on his rough skin. By the time he’d finished cleaning, his arousal was nearly unbearable in its intensity.

He had two choices—turn the faucet to cold or take matters into his own hands.

Stubborn and hurting, he refused to do either. Instead, he forced his mind onto other matters and finished his shower. By the time he turned off the water, he’d nearly returned to normal.

Until he opened the shower curtain, reached for his towel and saw her.

She’d undressed in the steamy bathroom, and her pale skin glistened with the damp heat. Unclothed, she let him look at her, no false modesty between them, her breasts high and firm over her narrow waist and the curve of her hips, her chin lifted proudly. No guilt or remorse darkened her expression.

She’d come for him. Why now? Yet she had, and whatever her reasons, he would take her any way he could get her. He’d worry about the why later.

“Natalie?” Her name rolled off his tongue like a prayer. She nearly overwhelmed him, there so close, naked, looking better than she had the thousand times he’d dreamed of her. Her scent, musky and full of desire, made him feel as if he was drowning. The look in her eyes, hot and sensual, reflected his own emotions—so much more than simple need or lust or desire—and he couldn’t be sure he wasn’t imagining this.

Natalie wanted him. Finally he could join his body to hers once again.

For two long years he’d thought of little else. Natalie, his Natalie. The woman he’d been willing to die for.

His breath caught in his throat. Somehow, he choked out her name again.

She held out her arms. Without hesitation, he went to her, crushing her to his chest so she could feel the rapid thud of his heartbeat, moving them both out of the bathroom, toward the bed. His body primed, he tried to hold away from her, not wanting to frighten her with the strength of his arousal.

He should have known better. This Natalie, the adventurous Super-spy, wasn’t afraid of anything.

Both hands on his backside, she pulled him to her. Together, they tumbled backward onto the bed.

Their mouths touched. Locked. Greedy, he tried to rein in his passion, but two years of dreaming and longing and missing her had taken their toll.

He didn’t think he’d ever been so aroused. So ready. Fleetingly, he wondered how he’d lived without her. Then she took him in her hands and he lost all capacity for rational thought.

Just as he pushed her away, unable to bear any more without exploding, her cell phone rang.

“Ignore it,” she murmured, shimmying into position over him, poised to take him deep inside her. “They’ll call back.”

“Good advice,” he muttered. One thrust and he’d be in, yet for some reason, he hesitated.

As soon as her cell quit ringing, his began.

Reluctantly, he glanced at it. “It must be important,” he growled. Body throbbing, he cursed once more before snatching the phone and flipping it open. “Hello?”

“Sean, I have some bad news,” Corbett’s voice came over the line. “Phillip’s missing.”

“Missing?”

“Who?” Natalie mouthed, suddenly alert.

“Your father.”

All the blood drained from her face.

Gripping the phone, Sean swallowed. “What do you mean, missing? He’s in a wheelchair and when he goes out he’s driven by one of your men. You should know where he is at all times.”

“His van and my man are missing also.” Corbett sounded weary and furious, all at the same time.

“What?” None of this made sense. “Why?”

“I don’t know. I’ve got people working on finding that out.”

Sean raised his head to find Natalie watching him, an expression of concern on her lovely face. His gut clenched as he remembered his own family and how he’d tried to shield her from the terrible truth.

He could not shield her from this.

“Let me talk to Natalie,” Corbett said.

“Not now.” Sean took a deep breath. “We’ll call you back.” Without giving Corbett a chance to disagree, he disconnected the call.

“What happened to my father?”

He told her all he knew, holding her tightly.

In shock, she let him. When she raised her head, the blank look she gave him clawed at his heart. “Is there something else you haven’t told me?”

“No.”

Her frown made it plain she didn’t believe him. “No ransom note?”

“Corbett’s looking into it. You know how close the two of them are.”

With a sound of pain, she twisted out of his arms, got off the bed and grabbed her clothes.

“I want to talk to Corbett.” Opening her own phone, she punched in the number.

Corbett must have been waiting by the phone for her call. Sean watched while Natalie listened, the anguished expression on her face making him ache.

“Wait a minute, Corbett,” she said, clutching the phone so tightly her knuckles showed white. “Let me put you on speaker so Sean can hear, too.” She pressed a button. “All right. Go ahead.”

“I’ve got two people working full-time on finding him.”

“Who?” Sean asked.

“Martin Routh and Catherine Cordasic.”

Sean started. “One of the Cordasics?” Widely known in the international espionage community, the Cordasics were a highly respected family of spies whose lineage dated back to the eighteenth century.

“Yes. She’s working as an independent contractor, at my request.”

Sean whistled. “You must have pulled a few strings.”

Natalie cleared her throat. “Famous spies mean nothing to me unless they find my father. Tell me the truth, Corbett. You and my father didn’t have a clandestine conversation about the need for him to go into hiding, did you?”

“Of course not.” Corbett’s icy voice turned positively glacial. “I’m afraid your father’s disappearance might be tied up with the Hungarian.”

Sean choked back a curse. Not again. He didn’t know how he’d live through more senseless slaughter.

Natalie strode over to the window, gazing out. “What would the Hungarian want with him? Dad’s been retired for years now. He’s not involved in any of this.”

“No, but you are,” Corbett answered.

Natalie looked at Sean. The look on her face was so bleak, he knew the words Corbett didn’t speak tasted like ashes in her mouth.

She swallowed. “You think they took him to get to me. To use him as bait.”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“My father’s the only family I have left in this world, Corbett. You know that.”

“Of course I do.” The older man’s tone was equally firm. “He’s my good friend as well.”

“Do you think it’s possible Phillip simply decided to begin his own investigation?” Sean asked.

No one discounted the idea. Despite his handicap, Natalie’s father was an extremely determined man.

“Either way, I think they have him. He was mentioned in the e-mail message I intercepted this morning.”

“From who?” Sean asked.

“One of my old adversaries in contact with the Hungarian.”

Sean froze. “What did it say?”

Corbett cleared his throat. “Something about upping the stakes. The last sentence said, ‘One down, three more to go.’”

“Three?” Natalie piped up. “There are only two—myself and Sean.”

“And me,” Corbett said quietly. “I make three.”

“Damn it. There’s something we’re missing. Some piece to a cryptic jigsaw puzzle.”

“The code,” Natalie breathed. “I’ve got to decipher this code.”

Sean knew Natalie had always loved jigsaw puzzles. Growing up, her father had made sure she had a steady supply of them. Sean had continued the tradition. He’d always said her aptitude with puzzles was one of the reasons she was so good at cracking codes.

“It’s time to tell us everything, Corbett.” Natalie’s quiet voice was edged with steel. “Obviously, something happened in the past to make this guy hate you.”

Corbett sighed. Sean could picture him running his hand through his perfectly cut hair. “My operations have angered hundreds, maybe thousands of people over the years. Such is the high price of freedom.”

“If he so much as harms a hair on my father’s head …”

“Stay calm, Natalie. For now, we can’t assume the worst.”

“How can I not?” Natalie said, her even tone somehow more horrible than a scream. “My father’s missing. Until he’s found, I have no choice but to assume the worst.”

Closing the phone, she placed it back on the dresser. When her gaze met Sean’s he saw her eyes had gone blank and guarded. “I don’t believe this.”

“Unfortunately, I do. The Hungarian will stop at nothing to get what he wants.”

Expression thoughtful, Natalie prowled around the room like an agitated lioness. “Someone, somewhere has to know the Hungarian’s identity. Someone has to have seen his face.”

Sean’s heart stopped. He cleared his throat, forcing himself to sound nonchalant. “I have seen his face, and I actually know his first name. But I’ve never been able to learn his surname.”

“You?” She stared. “You’ve never mentioned this before. When did you see him? Does Corbett know?”

He struggled to sound indifferent. “I’ve never told him.”

“Why not?”

Taking a deep breath, he watched her cross her arms. Carefully—he knew he had to tread carefully.

“Because there’s a part of my past I didn’t want him to know.”

“Or me?” She straightened her shoulders.

“Or you,” he agreed, feeling as if he’d hammered another nail in his own coffin. “I’m sorry, Nat. But there’s something else I have to tell you.”