HE GAVE NEW MEANING TO THE TERM DOUBLE AGENT
Returning from his latest Border Patrol assignment, Jeremy Hill seeks sanctuary in his twin brother’s home. The last thing he expects to find is an armed man already inside, or Meredith Samms, a gorgeous tenant caught in the cross fire. Then he discovers that the gunman’s attack is meant for his twin brother, who is nowhere in sight, and Jeremy must take matters into his own hands. Searching for his brother while trying to protect this girl next door, Jeremy finds himself caught up in the danger he’d become all too familiar with. In his world, everyone’s a target and anyone can be a suspect, so Jeremy has no room for emotions. But what Meredith stirs within him may complicate this unexpected mission to the point of no return....
Looking now at Jeremy, she felt something different.
One second spent touring those broad shoulders, and her blood heated in her veins and her mouth went dry. She wanted to talk and get to know him, even as her brain screamed at her to hide until he snuck out of town again.
He cupped her cheek and ran a thumb over her suddenly dry lips. “Do you really not understand the question?”
“I’m not into big men.”
He leaned his forehead against hers. “Do you know how tempting it is to make a tasteless joke right now?”
The laughter bubbled up from her chest. This time she didn’t try to stop it. She let the amusement flow through her and wipe out some of the horror of the day.
She gave in to the urge to trail her hand across his chest. Firm dips and bulges pressed against her palm. “You’re doing fine.”
“That’s good, because unless you tell me no, I’m going to kiss you. Long and deep, hot and a bit naughty.” He shifted his hands to her hips and pulled her close until his body pressed against hers.
“Jeremy, I—”
“I’ll stop before we go too far, because it’s been a pretty long and not-so-great day, but believe me when I say I won’t want to.”
“Still dealing with that surge of adrenalin?”
“Don’t give the credit to the danger high. It’s been an hour. The night is dark and you’re sexy, and if you wiggle like that one more time, I’m throwing you over my shoulder and carrying you into that room.” He nodded in the general direction of the door. “And I won’t care about my bad timing until tomorrow.”
HelenKay Dimon
Copy That
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award-winning author HelenKay Dimon spent twelve years in the most unromantic career ever—divorce lawyer. After dedicating all that effort to helping people terminate relationships, she is thrilled to deal in happy endings and write romance novels for a living. Now her days are filled with gardening, writing, reading and spending time with her family in and around San Diego. HelenKay loves hearing from readers, so stop by her website, www.helenkaydimon.com, and say hello.
Books by HelenKay Dimon
HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE
1196—UNDER THE GUN*
1214—NIGHT MOVES
1254—GUNS AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR*
1260—GUNNING FOR TROUBLE*
1297—LOCKED AND LOADED*
1303—THE BIG GUNS*
1352—WHEN SHE WASN’T LOOKING
1369—COPY THAT
*Mystery Men
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Jeremy Hill—The Border Patrol agent is on a work break. He plans to visit his twin brother in sunny San Diego, relax and figure out what happens next in his life. Jeremy never gets to the rest part. When his brother’s upstairs neighbor gets attacked and the house blows up, Jeremy realizes his protection days are not over yet.
Meredith Samms—She is the girl next door, or in this case, the girl upstairs. She lives a normal life as a kindergarten teacher until Jeremy breaks down the door and everything changes. Through explosions, gunfire and days on the run, she finds an inner strength she didn’t know she had, but will she be strong enough to walk away from Jeremy?
Garrett Hill—He shares his brother’s face and propensity for danger. Someone blew up his house and he wants to know why, but his biggest problem could be winning back the fiancée he left behind.
Sara Paulson—Sara sells wedding dresses for a living. She is a hopeless romantic, which is a problem, since her fiancé is clueless and a kidnapper is using her as bait to lure Garrett out.
Bruce Casden—Thanks to an undercover operation led by Jeremy, Bruce is in jail and no longer a threat...but no one bothered to tell him that. He has plans. Big plans that include killing the Hill brothers.
Ellis Martin—He is Garrett’s boss at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He knows everything about everyone. When Garrett goes missing and Jeremy comes under attack, Ellis steps in. He’s the kind of guy who can be trusted with secrets, but he does have a few of his own.
Andrew Hare—Ellis’s assistant at the DIA has a lot to learn about undercover operations. He’s young and a bit green...or is he?
Joel Kidd—The newest member of Garrett’s team doesn’t always follow the rules. He’s either the perfect ally or a dangerous mole.
For Jennifer Dimon—my fabulous niece, the college graduate. I’m so proud of you!
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Excerpt
Chapter One
Meredith Samms heard the front door slam. Not hers. This one belonged to the bottom-floor apartment.
She rented the small one-bedroom tucked into the eaves of the blue craftsman-style house. Her place stretched all of 550 square feet from one end to the other. Still, she paid more per month for the tiny space than her parents paid for a mortgage on a two-story Colonial on an acre in upstate New York. That’s what happened when you wanted a piece of what many considered paradise—a home three blocks from the ocean in Coronado, the peninsula of prime real estate across the harbor from downtown San Diego.
Garrett Hill lived in the more spacious apartment downstairs. Not that he stayed there often enough to enjoy it. He traveled most days of the month and had been out of town for three solid weeks. Half the time she knew he was home only when she heard the echo of his heavy footsteps.
This trip struck her as odd, the usual blanket of secrecy lifted. A man she’d never seen before had come to the door two days ago looking for Garrett. A courier had left a package for him, saying Garrett gave her name as someone who could sign for it.
Looked as if he’d broken the whole lone-wolf thing he had going on and she had no idea why. She could ask, even though the chance of getting an answer was slim. Heck, he’d never even told her what he did for a living, and she’d sure poked around that topic several times. Good thing she believed in a healthy dose of persistence.
Slipping off the window seat, she grabbed her key and stuffed it into the back pocket of her cut-off denim shorts. The window air conditioner had lost the race against the unusual scorching July afternoon heat. So much for the theory about San Diego always having perfect seventysomething-degree weather.
Thinking maybe heading downstairs for a visit would keep her T-shirt from sticking to her back, she jogged down the steps, letting her running shoes fall heavily to warn of her impending visit. By the time she hit the sma
ll entryway at the bottom of the stairs, she expected Garrett to have his door open. Instead it stayed closed.
She knocked twice. On the second rap, the door slipped open as if the wind had pushed it. Since the air stood deadly still today and Garrett was a bit of a security freak, a ball of anxiety started spinning in her chest. With her past, she didn’t scare easily but this scene had Bad Horror Film written all over it.
If she’d lived anywhere other than low-crime, military-presence-everywhere Coronado, she might have bolted. Instead, she eased the door open. “Garrett?”
Only silence bounced back at her.
Her foot crossed the threshold and she heard a small crack. Looking down, she didn’t see anything other than sturdy wood painted a bright, shiny white.
When she looked up again, there he was. Not Garrett. Garrett was tall and muscular, but this guy, the non-
Garrett, was enormous. Like, size-of-a-truck enormous. He had blond hair and wore all black to match his dark frown.
Alarm bells chimed in her head. She couldn’t breathe over the clanking and dinging.
She turned to run, and that fast he was on her. A strong arm wrapped around her waist, trapping her arms against her sides as a hand clamped over her mouth. The oversize dial on his watch dug into her stomach as he spun her around to face the family room again and her feet went airborne. Kicking out as she went, her heel hit the door and slammed it hard against the outside wall.
Despite her defensive efforts, before she could blink she was inside and out of sight of anyone who might walk by. But no way was she giving in without a fight.
She thrashed and shook her head from side to side, hoping for a second where she could ease out of his grip and scream for help. Not that his hand across her mouth stopped her from trying. She yelled until all the air left her lungs, but the sound was muffled against his palm.
Her eyes focused on the room. Her heart rate, which had already kicked to near heart-attack range, tripled its beat. The sofa cushions had long, jagged rips in them. The few photos in the apartment lay on the floor, the glass smashed and scattered among the papers and furniture stuffing.
Seeing the destruction fueled her survival instinct. She kicked, this time hitting bone near his calf and earning a grunt from her attacker. Instead of letting go as planned, his hold over her stomach tightened. Much more of this and he’d strangle her.
She moved her head and opened her mouth, letting him think she intended to scream again. When he adjusted his grip over her lips, she bit down into the meaty part of his palm and didn’t stop until she tasted blood.
One second she was standing, nearly bent over from the pressure of his arm against her middle, the next she was spinning through the air. She smacked against the back of the couch with her full weight and felt it bobble and threaten to tip over. One leg folded under her on the cushion as she landed and a shock of pain ran down her spine to her knee.
The combination of dizziness and terror had her stomach heaving. Her vision split in two then refocused just in time to see her attacker looming over her. Blood smeared his cheek and ran down his hand.
“You’ll pay for that” was all he said.
The terse phrase was enough to get her moving again, sore knee and all. She scrambled up the back of the couch, clawing her way over shredded cushions and slipping over the top toward the window. Just as one leg hit the floor, he grabbed the other. Two baseball glove–sized hands held her ankle in a viselike grip.
“You’re not going anywhere, sweetheart,” he said as he started twisting her foot.
She shifted her hips to keep him from breaking it. “What do you want?”
“Came here looking for one thing but looks like I’ll be leaving with another.” He leered at her as he spoke.
The sick gleam in his dark eyes touched off a frenzy of panic inside her. Her hands shook and the urge to throw up almost overtook her. It had been years since she’d experienced violence. She blocked it so that she could function every day, but the memories kicked to the surface now.
“Please let me go.”
The man just laughed. The deep sound, so menacing in its promise of pain, cut across her nerves.
Keep fighting. The words flashed in her brain and ran through her, soaking into every pore.
When one of his palms slid up her calf to the back of her knee, she knew she had a chance. Waiting for just the right moment, when his sick need to control overcame his battle stance, she kicked out as hard as she could. Her heel crashed into his jaw, sending his head flying backward as he yelped in surprise.
She heard the crunch and then she was free. Momentum sent her flying back against the window. She reached for the curtains to steady her weight. With a roaring rip, the rod gave way and she fell on her butt. Wedged between the couch and the wall, she struggled to get her legs under her.
With a rage-filled cry, her attacker reached over the sofa and pulled her to her feet. The bright red cheeks and clenched teeth didn’t scare her half as much as the gun in his hand. She had no idea where it had come from, but it was pointed at the center of her chest.
“You’ll learn.” He practically spit as he talked. His fingers dug into the bare skin of her forearm.
“I have money.” She didn’t, but she needed time.
The house sat off the main strip filled with tourists and shops, but people walked by all the time on their way to the water. If she could stall long enough, a witness might see her by the window, call the police to check it out.
His gaze crept down the front of her blouse. “You have everything I need right on you.”
Disgust clogged her throat as she glanced around looking for something—anything—she could throw through the front window. She spied the overturned lamp on the floor and plotted the best way to drop to the floor and grab it with a man holding on to her arm hard enough to cause bruises.
She’d just resigned herself to a broken arm when she saw a blur of movement behind her attacker. Black hair and stone-cold blue eyes. Six feet of lethal male machine.
Her heart slowed to a jog as the tension rushing through her eased. Everything would be okay now.
Garrett Hill had come home.
The usual military haircut and fatigues were gone, replaced by hair brushed down almost over his eyes and faded blue jeans. In the weeks away, his smile had disappeared but one thing looked the same—his strength. A tight black T-shirt stretched across his wide shoulders and chest, highlighting every muscle.
She’d never been so relieved to see anyone in her life. Her shoulders sagged and she had to fight off a smile when an openmouthed stare replaced the attacker’s snarl as Garrett shoved a gun into the back of the other man’s head.
“Let the lady go, nice and slow.” Garrett reached around and grabbed the other man’s gun.
“This isn’t over, Hill.”
“Sure feels like it is.” Garrett nodded his head at her. “Come over here.”
She didn’t even make it to the other side of the couch before the attacker lunged. He threw his body backward, aiming his head right for Garrett’s chin. Garrett shifted in time to deflect the blow, but the attacker turned around. They were face-to-face with the gun trapped between them. Both of their hands held the weapon as Garrett elbowed the other man in the side of the head.
Already injured, the attacker pulled back. Garrett used the opening to wrestle the gun away. It made a short pffft sound as he shot the attacker in the knee.
The man went down with a whoosh, squealing and moaning as he dropped to the hardwood. Glass crunched under him where he rolled around.
She watched the blood stream onto the floor right before Garrett slammed his weapon against the attacker’s head, sending him into a deadly quiet sprawl.
Then Garrett was there, right in front of her. “Are you okay?”
She tried to look past Garrett’s stiff shoulders to the still body below. “Is he dead?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“I don’
t understand. Who is that?”
“No idea.”
“I don’t—” The words died in her throat when he touched her shoulder, bringing her gaze back to him. She couldn’t remember a time in the year since she’d moved in when he’d touched her. “How can you not recognize him? He was in your house.”
“There are two things you need to know.” Garrett waited until she nodded before continuing. “First, we need to get out of here right now.”
She didn’t exactly disagree but she wanted to understand. “Don’t we need to...?”
His eyebrow rose. “What?”
“I don’t know. Something.”
“Okay, then. My second point.” He held up another finger. “I’m not Garrett.”
Chapter Two
For the most part, Jeremy Hill thought the woman took both pieces of information pretty well. Didn’t balk or ask questions as he steered her to the front door and onto the porch, which was good since he had only a few minutes to get her calm and out of there.
Not many people could face down a trained killer, handle some scary and unexpected information and stay on their feet. Add in a nasty bout of manhandling and she should be screaming by now. But her facial expression didn’t even change.
He was impressed.
He had no idea who she was or why she was here. If he had more time, he’d appreciate the sweet pair of legs sticking out from under those shorts. He almost swore when a double kick of attraction and envy hit him. Garrett had kept quiet about this woman. Part of Jeremy understood why.
Of course, Garrett shouldn’t be with any woman except his fiancée...or was it former fiancée? Jeremy wasn’t sure where that relationship stood, but Garrett’s last message had suggested trouble. Not that Jeremy had time to worry about that now.
The woman in front of him started blinking. “Did you hit your head?”
From the look on her face he wondered if she had. “Uh, no.”
“Fall down?”
He held up both hands, including the one with the loaded gun. “Okay, let me just stop you before you run through every possible injury scenario. I’m fine.”
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