Rogue Alpha (Alpha 7)

by Carole Mortimer

  So much for any feelings of awkwardness after the intimacy they had shared mere minutes ago; Diana could quite cheerfully punch Seth on his arrogant nose for the scare she had received when Jonas Grayfeather let himself into their safe house.

  She really had feared for their lives at that moment, believed that one or both of them were about to die at the hands of this giant of a man.

  Instead, after that initial greeting and introduction, Jonas had calmly set about unpacking the bag of groceries he was carrying and then made a pot of coffee. All while Diana glared her frustration at an unconcerned Seth.

  What if Jonas Grayfeather had entered the house only a few minutes earlier? While we were still— While I was—

  God…

  She couldn’t even look at Seth right now. “I apologize for screaming, Mr. Grayfeather—”

  “Jonas,” he corrected in his low rumbling voice.

  She nodded. “If Seth had bothered to share your presence in Paris with me, then maybe I wouldn’t have reacted so—”

  “Hysterically,” Seth put in helpfully.

  “Emotionally.” She shot him a censorious glare.

  “I think you’re allowed a scream or two,” Jonas dismissed. “Putting up with Seth is enough to rattle anyone’s nerves, and you also have a wrecked hotel room and apartment to deal with.”

  “Very funny.” Seth scowled.

  The other man grinned unapologetically, the two men obviously at ease in each other’s company.

  “You know about the hotel and my apartment…?” Diana eyed Jonas uncertainly.

  “Sure do.” He handed her one of the mugs of coffee before handing another one to Seth. “Seth called me earlier.”

  “Of course he did.” She remembered Seth making a couple of telephone calls while they were at her apartment, but he hadn’t shared—did he ever?—the information of who those calls were being made to. He really was the most infuriating man she’d ever met.

  “Is there a reason you aren’t wearing your shoes and socks, or did you feel a sudden urge to cool your feet?” Jonas arched one dark and mocking brow at Seth.

  Seth narrowed his eyes at the other man, knowing from the laughter he could see glinting in Jonas’s eyes that he already knew the answer to his own question. Not surprising when the fusty dusty smell of the kitchen now had an underlying smell of sex and cum. His cum.

  He was still trying to get his head around what happened before Jonas arrived. He wasn’t easily surprised—hell, he had seen and done most things in his life, so much so that cynical could have been his middle name—but having Diana half undress him before sucking his cock, right here in the kitchen, within minutes of their arrival at the house, had definitely taken him by surprise.

  She had taken him.

  Jesus, he had never experienced anything like it. Never been as aroused as he was looking down and watching Diana take his cock into her mouth. As for the heat of her… It was like being enveloped in fire, intensifying his pleasure to an almost unbearable degree. Almost, he acknowledged self-derisively, knowing that if it hadn’t been for her fingers gripping him tightly at the base of his shaft, he would almost certainly have cum as soon as she sucked him deep into the back of her throat for the first time.

  He was thirty-five years old, had been sexually active for at least seventeen of those years, and he would say that his sexual appetite was as healthy as the next man’s. Possibly higher than some. He’d fucked blondes, redheads, brunettes, too many to count, but he’d never, not once, even come close with any of them to spilling like some callow kid experiencing sex for the first time. Even when it had been his first time.

  Diana had done that to him, without even trying.

  She was a dangerous woman.

  Beautiful and courageous, sexy as hell, and he responded to her in a way he never had with any other woman.

  Dangerous.

  For her, as much as for him. His parents’ marriage had soured him on the subject of permanent relationships. It wasn’t for him. Not now, not ever. He liked his life exactly as it was, thank you very much. No ties, no restriction on anything he did or didn’t do. A wife, possibly kids, would require he change that way of life. Not only was Diana vulnerable as hell, she was also the sort of woman who expected a ring and forever.

  She thought she had that with Moore, and look how well that turned out.

  Maybe. But Seth didn’t want her getting the wrong idea about what had happened before Jonas arrived—

  “The question really wasn’t that complicated,” Jonas drawled.

  Seth’s jaw tightened as he sensed the other man was still mocking him. “Maybe I’m communing with nature.”

  “Is that what you’re calling it now?”

  “Fuck off—”

  “Will Jonas be staying here with us?” Diana interrupted what she sensed was developing into a potentially embarrassing conversation for all of them. She was almost certain Jonas Grayfeather knew exactly what had taken place in the kitchen shortly before his arrival, but that didn’t mean she wanted to talk about it. Or for these two men to do so in front of her either.

  Bad enough that she was now questioning her reckless behavior. It had been what she wanted at the time, what she needed, now not so much…

  Seth grimaced. “That would depend on what he has to report so far.”

  All humor left Jonas’s face as he straightened and became all business. “Well, you’re definitely being followed, Mrs.—Diana. Not that you needed me to tell you that,” he added dryly. “Seth sent a photograph to my mobile of your sketch of the man you suspected. I flew over on the same plane he did. The guy then got a cab to your apartment, stood outside until you both left in a cab. He managed to follow the two of you as far as the Gare du Nord, but he lost you when you left by another entrance. He backtracked on himself for a while, obviously hoping to pick up the trail again. When he didn’t, he left.”

  “To go where?”

  “Montmartre,” Jonas said with satisfaction. “He’s taken a room in an inexpensive pension there.”

  “In the name of?”

  “Eduardo Garcia. He looks the part, is slightly swarthy, but the chances of that being his real name are pretty slim.” The tall American grimaced.

  It was obvious to Diana, from their conversation, that these two men had worked together before. Often.

  “I suggest we make and eat dinner,” Jonas rumbled on. “Then afterwards, Seth and I can go out and have a little chat with Mr. Garcia.”

  Diana gave a shiver as she envisaged what form that “little chat” might take. Seth carried a gun in the waistband at the back of his jeans, and from the slight bulge visible at the back of Jonas’s long coat, he did too. Neither man gave the impression those guns were there only for show.

  Diana felt sure they weren’t. “You aren’t going to kill him, are you?”

  “What purpose would that serve?” Seth scowled his irritation with the question.

  No denial, only a questioning of what purpose there would be in killing the only person who had the information they wanted.

  Reminding Diana—if she had needed any reminding—of exactly what sort of man Seth Armstrong really was. “I’m coming with you,” she decided determinedly.

  “No—”

  “Yes.” She raised her chin stubbornly.

  “It’s probably not a good idea, Diana,” Jonas told her with a grimace.

  Her eyes flashed aqua blue. “If the two of you think I’m staying here while you go off to confront and then question the man we now have confirmation has been following me for days, then you’re both mistaken.”

  Seth added stubbornly reckless to those other attributes he had given her earlier today. And reckless could get her killed.

  The same recklessness that almost blew the top of my head off when she made love to me?

  Seth had seen this rush of adrenaline reaction to danger before. Hell, he had felt it dozens of times and liked nothing more than a good fuck himself be
fore or after returning from one of the more dangerous assignments he did for Grayson Security. It was one of the ways the mind and body had of dealing with that adrenaline high.

  He didn’t fool himself it had meant any more to Diana than a response to the danger that had been dogging her every move for weeks.

  What did it mean to me?

  Seth still had no idea what the fuck had happened to him earlier. Yes, Diana was beautiful. And yes, she was sexy as hell. But his response to her was—well, it was unprecedented. So much so that Seth had no idea what to do with it. With her.

  “Seth?”

  He turned to look at Jonas, frowning as he saw the curiosity in his friend’s expression. Understandably so. He and Jonas had known and worked together for years, and as such, Jonas probably knew him better than anyone. Knew that Seth never allowed any woman to get under his skin, let alone distract him in the way he was now distracted by Diana Moore.

  Originally, this had only been another job to him. Going to the aid of a lady in distress. He had no idea what the fuck it was now, except to know he wasn’t going to deliberately allow Diana to put herself in the path of danger. None of them knew how tonight would go down. For all any of them knew, the little rat who had been following her could feel cornered and come out with guns blazing. With Diana caught in the line of fire.

  He straightened. “You’re staying here,” he told her flatly.

  Her shoulders tensed. “Make me.”

  Jonas gave him a look that clearly said oh shit, at the same time as he leaned back against the kitchen unit and folded his arms across the broadness of his chest, obviously in preparation for watching the show.

  Seth narrowed his gaze on Diana. “I don’t need to make you do anything. I said you aren’t coming with us, and that’s the end of the subject.”

  Her chin rose another notch. “I’m the one he’s been following for days. It was my hotel room and apartment he wrecked.”

  “I said you aren’t coming.”

  She gave a snort. “And I’m sure this he-man act usually works with most women. But I’m not most women.”

  No, she wasn’t. What she was becoming was a thorn in his side.

  Enough to make Seth regret agreeing to help her?

  No, he couldn’t bring himself to regret that. For some reason, Diana was in danger. He wasn’t going anywhere until he knew why and had dealt with whoever was responsible.

  As for Diana, she had been scared and distrustful of everyone when she came to him yesterday. She had changed in just those hours, regained her confidence. He had no doubt she would have done that without him eventually, and in all probability confronted the man following her on her own. With dire consequences.

  No, he wasn’t going anywhere until he knew it was safe for Diana to live her life in peace.

  “He-man act?” he echoed dryly.

  Diana raised her eyes heavenward. Everything else she had said—and done—and Seth had chosen to pick her up on that one offhand remark. “Well, look at the two of you.” Her gaze ranged over both him and Jonas Grayfeather. “You’re like a two-man army, both armed and ready to kill.”

  Seth’s mouth tightened. “Only if we have to.”

  “And how often have you had to?”

  “Often enough that we don’t make that decision easily,” Jonas dismissed in a hard voice that welcomed no further questions on the subject.

  Telling Diana she had stepped over a line. Just as she knew that half her reluctance to stay here, while these two men went out later tonight, was because she didn’t want to be left here on her own. What if the man following her had discovered where they were and had the same idea about paying them a visit? What then? How was she supposed to fight him off if he should decide to—

  “I’ll leave one of my spare guns with you, if that will make you feel safer.”

  Her eyes widened. How many guns did he have with him if he was offering her one of his spares?

  Much as she appreciated his offer, and she did know how to shoot a gun, it had only ever been at a shooting range and at inanimate targets, never at an actual person.

  Desperation had made her seek out Seth in the first place. Would that same desperation make her pull the trigger and shoot a man if she had to?

  She wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.

  “No, that doesn’t make me feel safer at all.” She grimaced. “If the two of you go, then I’m going with you.”

  “This isn’t called a safe house for nothing!”

  “I’m going with you.”

  “You—”

  “She has a point, Seth,” Jonas put in quietly. “Left here on her own, she’s vulnerable.”

  Seth turned to glare at the other man. “More vulnerable than if she comes with us?”

  “Maybe.” Jonas shrugged. “Do we really want to put it to the test?”

  “Oh, to hell with this.” Seth threw up his hands in defeat. “Okay, you come with us,” he bit out harshly. “But you do exactly as you’re told, understand?”

  She eyed him mockingly. “Don’t I always?”

  “I haven’t noticed it so far, no.” He gave her a pointed glance.

  Diana’s cheeks warmed as she recalled how she had “disobeyed” him only minutes ago. Not that Seth had fought her too much on the idea after his initial protest.

  She avoided his derisive gaze. “At least I’m consistent.”

  “Oh, you’re that, all right.” He nodded tersely. “Okay, let’s get dinner out of the way, and then we can all go to Montmartre and talk to this guy.”

  He made it sound as if they were going to pay a social call.

  Something Diana knew it certainly wouldn’t be.

  Chapter 7

  “You should get a coat like Jonas’s,” Diana murmured to Seth as the three of them moved on foot through a darkened back street in the Montmartre district of Paris, having first taken a cab to within walking distance of the pension Jonas had followed the other man to earlier this evening.

  The black leather duster and Jonas’s blue-black hair made him almost invisible as he glided silently from shadow to shadow.

  Seth’s glance conveyed his impatience with her remark. “You like the duster, hm?”

  “Very sexy.”

  He gave a shake of his head. “You want me to get a duster because it would look sexy on me?”

  Diana thought it would look very sexy on him, yes.

  “Or maybe it’s just our resident Apache you find sexy?” Seth’s voice was hard.

  “An Apache?” Her eyes widened on the man in front of them. “Really?”

  “Really,” Seth echoed dryly.

  Her brows rose. “What’s an Apache Indian doing working for an English company like Grayson Security?”

  “Long story—”

  “The two of you do realize we’re supposed to be making a covert approach on the pension?” the subject of their conversation cut in, the exasperation obvious in his tone.

  “Sorry.” Diana gave an apologetic grimace.

  “The mystery of the savage works its magic charm again,” Seth muttered, as if it happened a lot.

  “Well, this savage is going to be beyond pissed if the two of you alert the bastard to the fact we’re here,” Jonas warned softly. “I didn’t give up an evening with a bottle of that fine wine we discovered in the cellar but haven’t been able to drink as yet, just so the two of you could blow the operation with your inane chatter.”

  “I do not chatter inanely—” Diana broke off with a gasp as her arm was firmly grasped and she was spun round, only having time to give Seth a startled and questioning glance before his arms moved about her waist to pull her in close against the hardness of his body and his mouth claimed hers in a kiss that totally robbed her of breath.

  A deep, searching kiss it was impossible to resist, Diana’s hands moving up, her fingers clinging to the width of Seth’s shoulders as she readily parted her lips for the invasion of his tongue.

  “Oh, for fu�
�� There’s a time and a place for that, Seth, and this isn’t it!”

  Seth’s teeth gave Diana’s bottom lip an almost painful nip before he broke the kiss, holding her gaze with his for a second or two before glancing over at the other man. “Best way I know of to silence a woman.”

  Best way he knew to silence a woman…? Not a specific woman, but women in general.

  Diana’s cheeks blazed with angry color as she pulled out of his arms and stepped away. Not only had she kissed this jackass back, but her nipples were uncomfortably hard and aching to be touched. From a single kiss.

  She shook her head, expression derisive. “I think I preferred your previous method of silencing me. He knocked me out in Colombia,” she confided to the listening Jonas.

  Seth scowled as the other man began to chuckle.

  He had no idea what had compelled him to kiss Diana— Not true. He might be trying to fool her and Jonas, but he should at least be honest with himself. He had kissed Diana as a direct reaction to the interest she showed in Jonas. This woman had given him so much pleasure earlier, controlled that pleasure as she had controlled him, and it grated to hear her expressing interest in another man only hours later—

  Am I jealous?

  Oh fuck…

  He’d never felt jealousy in his life. Never hung around a woman long enough, or cared enough to even know what the emotion felt like.

  He knew what it felt like now. It fried his brain. Totally distracted him. Was making him behave irrationally.

  And talk to myself.

  This desire for Diana was officially driving him insane. Totally, fucking insane.

  Fucking…

  That’s what was wrong here, Seth realized with relief. He’d touched and kissed Diana, and given her pleasure. She’d touched and kissed him, and given him pleasure. But they hadn’t actually fucked yet.

  He instantly gave a wince at using that word in connection with Diana. She was better than that. Deserved lovemaking, at the very least—

  Irrational.

  This whole situation was fucking irrational.

  And it had to stop. He had a job to do. And part of that job was keeping Diana alive. “Fine,” he snapped. “I’ll bear that in mind for next time.”