by Dianna Love
She didn’t do makeup unless the job called for it.
And she no longer had a job. Not with Slye Temp.
Swallowing her pride was tough with the lump in her throat. No whining. This was no one’s fault but hers. She would accept whatever Sabrina handed her and thank her for it.
She stepped back into the room. No clothes to pack. No weapon to holster. To mentally prepare herself, she asked Nick, “What’s she going to do with me?”
“I’m in enough hot water for sharing intel with you.”
“Good point. Sorry, Nick. I appreciate all you did.” The question she’d been avoiding wouldn’t wait any longer. “Any word on Dragan and his men?”
“You mean Logan?”
Guess his cover was totally blown. Thinking of him as Dragan hurt. But hearing Logan’s name made her eyes swim for a moment.
Stop thinking about him.
That would be her goal for the next hundred years.
To find a minute that she didn’t think about Logan.
“What was the deal between you two?” Nick asked.
Guess he wasn’t going to share any intel on Logan either. She pushed a handful of hair off her face. “We go way back. I met him in France when I was still capable of caring about someone the way I felt for him. He was—” Sweet, loving ... special. She cleared her throat. “He was different.”
“You don’t think you’ll feel that again?”
“Not for anyone else.” She had to change the subject or she’d do something insane like cry. She hadn’t hurt this bad since losing Nanci. “How’d Sabrina manage to get my body away?”
“That was easy. We pulled you out down the road and blew up the ambulance.” Nick grinned at that.
“What about the Banker? Did he make it?”
“Barely, but yes. Sabrina shot him with a tranq, too. We smeared a bloody trail to make it look like he’d been dragged off. That explained what happened to everyone else.”
Maybe Logan came out of this with the Banker. “But what did happen to him?”
“I had to hand him off to a woman who helped us find you. But he’s not going to be a problem for anyone ever again.”
Her heart sank at that. Logan had probably ended up in prison as a terrorist and his brother would die in Siberia.
She held up a hand. “Nothing is ever free. Did Sabrina have to give up anything else for me?”
“No.”
“Nobody owes a debt from this?”
“I do, but I’m looking forward to finding out what it is.”
That would sound normal coming from only one person. Nick.
He looked at his watch. “Might want to get moving. Sabrina’s waiting.”
Margaux grabbed a light jacket thrown across the bed and Nick helped her put it on. She was headed to some form of lockup, but she really didn’t care any more.
Anywhere without Logan would be a prison.
Nick kept the pace slow as they wound their way through a long hallway that looked familiar. When he stopped at a door, Margaux realized where she was. “This is the basement of Slye Temp.”
“Yep.” He opened the door to the war room.
The room was full of agents who called out greetings and came up to hug her. Margaux fought back the surge of emotion clogging her throat. Her eyes stung, but she would not allow a tear to fall. Not even when the idea of walking away from Slye Temp was killing her. She’d done this to herself and would face the consequences with what dignity she had left.
She owed it to everyone here to make this as easy as possible.
Sabrina stood at the back of the room leaning against the wall, arms crossed. When everyone settled back into their seats, she said, “Four people were badly injured in the bombings, but no deaths. Seattle did suffer a mild earthquake.”
Margaux argued, “But he didn’t detonate the sunken charges.”
“I know.” Sabrina walked around the long conference table as she spoke. “The Navy has a SEAL team that found the charges. It would have very likely caused a major earthquake as a minimum and a tsunami at worst. Seattle was spared a terrible disaster.”
Something to feel good about finally. Margaux had made more than her share of mistakes, but her father was wrong about her being nothing. She’d saved lives and that was something.
She turned to the agents. “Thank you all for what you did. There were times I didn’t deserve your support, but I got it. I won’t say I’ll never make stupid mistakes again, because we’re talking about me after all.”
They chuckled, but there were nods of appreciation around the room.
Sabrina had made it all the way to Margaux’s end of the table. She hugged her and Margaux had to blink to keep her eyes dry. She told Sabrina, “Thank you for being my friend no matter what.”
“Always.”
Then Sabrina stood back. That was the most touchy feely she had ever been that Margaux knew of. Sabrina said, “Time to hand you off.”
Margaux cut her eyes at Nick who had a noncommittal expression. Guess this was it. “Goodbye.”
“Goobyes” and “Stay out of trouble,” echoed around the room.
They all wished her well and seemed happy for her to be leaving. Really?
This sort of sucked. No sad faces. Margaux took a deep breath and nodded at Sabrina. “I’m ready.”
She followed Sabrina out the door and down to a private room Marguax had been in for planning sessions. Sabrina opened the door and Margaux followed, her eyes on the floor until Sabrina said, “You can do what you say, right?”
A male voice replied, “Already done.”
Margaux’s head snapped up.
Logan was standing there, shaking hands with Sabrina who turned around and told Margaux, “We’ll talk before you leave.”
She left and closed the door behind her.
Logan didn’t say a word.
Margaux’s heart was trying to beat its way out of her chest. She swallowed and found her voice. “What’s going on?”
His lips moved, but he seemed to struggle to find the right words until he finally said, “I love you, Sugar.”
She leaped into his arms and he caught her, kissing her face and hair. Tears streamed down her face. She didn’t know what was going on, but as long as she was in Logan’s arms she didn’t care.
He held her that way for a while, kissing her and whispering how glad he was to hold her again. When he lowered her back to stand, he kissed her once more with a sweetness that rocked her and cupped her face in his hands. “I watched you die. I thought I’d never get to touch you again.”
A tear ran down his cheek.
“No one will tell me what’s going on. Are you on the run or what, Logan?”
His eyes twinkled. “I owe Sabrina for helping me extract my team and for her people catching the true bombers that the Banker sent in.”
“I’m still amazed at what she and the team did.”
“She brought an army to save you.”
Margaux had never been a watering pot, but she’d also never realized how much she was loved. Everyone had come to her aid, but she’d let Logan down. The Banker was gone. “I tried to keep the Banker alive and stop him, too.”
His arms tightened around her. “You almost died trying to do that.”
“What about your brother?”
“Sabrina and I came to an agreement. Nick had to give the Banker to someone who’d fed him intel, but he got the bastard back twenty-four hours later. Sabrina and I came to an agreement when I assured her the Banker would never be able to harm anyone again and in exchange for giving me the Banker, I would give any aid to protect the US in the future. I negotiated a trade for my brother and sent the Banker to Russia with my men. They’re bringing my brother back here.”
“Yuri will be here?”
“Yes, with my mother and sisters.”
“Are they here? In Atlanta?” Margaux was starting to sound like an idiot.
“Not in Atlanta. There’s a lot I have t
o tell you.”
Her heart fell. “That’s why Sabrina gave us this time. So we could talk before I went away.”
“Oh, Sugar, I’m never going to lose you again.” He hugged her and kissed her again, longer this time.
She put her hand on his lips. “I don’t want to lose you either, but there are things you don’t know. I can’t stay with Sabrina.”
“No, you can’t. In fact, Margaux Duke doesn’t exist anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“She officially died in an ambulance back in Seattle. Fingerprints found at the Trophy Room and in Paris have vanished.” He brushed his hand over her hair. “You don’t exist anywhere.”
“What are you saying, Logan?”
“I do occasional work for INTERPOL, special projects. I’ve built a profile for you there like mine and my men’s that will protect you in the future. But just like with the WITSEC program, you can never go home.”
“There’s nothing for me there. The Banker killed my only family. I don’t want to go back to where I grew up.” It felt like a stampede going on in her chest. “Are you saying I can stay with you?”
“If you want. If you don’t—” He caught her when she leaped again and squealed, kissing him everywhere she could reach.
He was laughing. “And here I thought you’d miss Atlanta.”
What about her Slye Temp family? She was torn between wanting to be with Logan and losing touch with people she cared about. He’d said she couldn’t go home, but what about Atlanta? She asked, “Uhm, now that you know Sabrina, is there any chance—”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know what I was going to say.”
His eyes twinkled. “Yes, I do. You want to know if you’ll ever be able to come back here. Sabrina and I have talked. I’ll tell you more later, but we’ve agreed to share resources when necessary for a common goal. For a bunch of covert agents, they’ve sure got a mushy side, because I had to threaten your team with bodily harm if they said a word before I got a chance to tell you all of this myself. They know you aren’t leaving them forever.”
If Margaux wasn’t so happy, she’d give them grief over letting her think they were happy she was leaving.
Logan brushed his hand over her hair and smiled with such raw happiness her heart did a flip. He teased, “Sabrina might pay me for taking you off of her hands. We decided that you can be our liaison as well as my better half.”
Margaux stopped and looked him in the eyes. That sounded like some safe, stashed away position. “I’ll never be wife material. I’m not cut out for weddings and staying home or doing normal wife things.”
“Do I look like I’m ready to settle down yet?”
“No, but I don’t want to be left behind or stuck somewhere safe. I’ll be miserable.”
“You don’t think I know that by now?” He turned serious. “It would kill me if anything ever happened to you, but only a fool would try to make you be someone you’re not. I love who you are and how you make me feel. I would marry you in a minute, but if you’re not ready for that I want you with me any way I can have you, Sugar.”
“What about the team?” If she had to be there just because she was the boss’s woman, that was okay because she wanted Logan no matter what. But it would suck to be on the fringes of the work she’d come to love.
“They know about this and they respect you more than you can imagine. I told them I would go solo if they didn’t want this and they all voted to keep the both of us.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “They want me on your team? Even Moose?”
“Especially Moose. Nobody’s ever had the skill to get the drop on him before. After you put your life on the line for the team, his was the first yes vote.” He grinned. “Just don’t taze him again.”
Could a heart burst from happy overload? She was willing to test hers. “I love you, Logan.”
“I love you, Sugar.”
“You have to take me just the way I am.” She needed him to understand. This man was all she wanted and needed, but she was no prize. Nothing, according to her father.
“I wouldn’t change a thing. You’re exceptional.”
Looking into his eyes, she felt as special as he made her sound. But she wasn’t through negotiating. “And no sticking me with pansy-ass assignments.”
“Whatever we have to face, we do it together,” he told her, using the words she’d given him in the jungle when they escaped.
She shuddered at that memory. “But no more jungles.”
He kissed her cheek and whispered, “Not this week.”
What?
Acknowledgements
No author creates without a great support team and I have the best, starting with my husband, Karl, who has always believed in me and makes it possible for me to do what I love – tell my stories to the world.
Cassondra Murray is on the front line with me for every story, vetting out early versions and reviewing the last pass through for those significant edits that every story needs, but an author is too close to see at times. She sees things that never fail to amaze me. Thankfully, she enjoys traveling with me and makes every trip a pleasure, always doing anything possible to give the readers a great event.
Steve Doyle is so generous with anything I ask for help on. We are very blessed to have men and women like him who have put themselves between us and danger to keep us safe and free. He shares his vast knowledge gained as a Special Forces soldier to improve my action and black ops scenes plus he is amazing when it comes to any discussion on weapons. On top of that, he reads the stories, giving important feedback. Any errors are my own.
I so appreciate USA Today bestselling author Mary Buckham (www.MaryBuckham.com) who brainstorms with me during the year when she isn’t writing on her own Invisible Recruit series.
Every story needs beta readers. I am so thrilled to have Joyce Ann McLaughlin read my stories in the “not quite finished” stage and share her fedback that gives me ah-ha moments while also making me smile over her encouraging comments. Manuella Robinson has read my books since the first one I wrote, back before anyone knew I was writing. She’s always willing to read something quick and give me her honest opinion, for which I am so thankful.
Once the story has made it through beta reads, Judy Carney handles the first copy edit read to catch those word gremlins that sneak in. It’s always a joy to work with her.
Thanks to Kim Killion who recently redesigned the covers for my entire Slye Temp series that I LOVE! Thanks also to Jennifer Jakes who takes all the text I send her in a bunch of files and formats a book from it that can be released.
Any mistakes made or adjustments for fiction are my own, because every one who helped me went above and beyond the call to give me the best information.
Thanks also to Leiha Mann, Su Walker and the RBLs for supporting all authors!
Here’s a shout out to Barbara Vey (www.BarbaraVey.com) who connects authors and readers everywhere she goes and to to Sara Reyes of Fresh Fiction for all that she does for readers and authors everywhere. Love and appreciation goes to my amazing Dianna Love Street Team who support me all through the year. If you’re interested in joining my team, just stop by my Facebook page. If you’d like to contact me, email cassondraATauthordiannalove.com or snail mail to Dianna Love, 1029 N. Peachtree Pkwy, Suite 335, Peachtree City, GA 30269 ~ www.AuthorDiannaLove.com
About The Author
New York Times bestseller Dianna Love once dangled over a hundred feet in the air to create unusual marketing projects for Fortune 500 companies. The first book she wrote won a RITA® Award and sold out in six weeks. She writes high-octane romantic thrillers, releasing four novels in the Slye Temp series during 2013. To collect “signed” cover cards for free, visit www.KeeperKase.com
When not in the writing cave, Dianna is touring the country on her BMW motorcycle. She lives in the Atlanta, GA area with her husband, who is a motorcycle instructor, and a tank full of unruly saltwater critters.
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http://www.AuthorDiannaLove.com
For Young Adult Fans – check out the explosive new sci-fi/fantasy series by Micah Caida, starting with Time Trap (February 2013).
Read an excerpt at http://www.MicahCaida.com
A WORD FROM DIANNA:
“Thank you for reading my books. I hope you enjoy the Slye Temp series. Visit http://www.AuthorDiannaLove.com to find all my books. If you have a moment to leave a review at the online bookstore, GoodReads, BookLikes, Shelfari or anywhere else I’d really appreciate it. And please visit me on Facebook at Dianna Love Fan Page and on Dianna Love Street Team where I hope you’ll join the team!” To collect free “signed” cover cards, visit www.KeeperKase.com
Dianna
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Slye Temp romantic suspense series reading order:
Last Chance To Run
Nowhere Safe
Honeymoon To Die For
Kiss The Enemy
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Another Slye Temp romantic suspense
LAST CHANCE TO RUN
(Book 1)
To an undercover agent, she’s a Person of Interest. He’s interested.
Escaping the compound of a deadly international felon--with a fortune in rare, stolen coins hidden on her body--elite athlete Angel Farentino has to make the most important run of her life. Literally. With her father in prison, where he belongs, and a prior undeserved conviction hanging over her head, she has nowhere to turn and no one to trust. Definitely not law enforcement who railroaded her through a judicial nightmare. One step ahead of lethal men and dogs on her trail, she runs into the arms of a dark stranger willing to help her if she’d let him. But that would only get the sexy pilot killed.
Between figuring out who’s sabotaging his undercover work for the DEA and trying to save his baby sister from herself, Zane Jackson has enough on his plate. The last thing he needs is to get entangled with a woman who’s treading on the wrong side of the law. But when the long-legged distraction races into the middle of his operation and stows away on his plane, a primal need to protect forces Zane to risk everything, starting with his heart.
