“But he lied.”
“Yes.” She drew a sobbing breath. “He and I were never involved. How could I have slept with a man I despised, Matthew? How?”
“Maybe the same way you slept with me.” His mouth twisted. “As if it were all part of a game you had to play and win.”
“I was playing a game. With Douglas. Not with you. Never with—”
Matthew caught her hands and crushed them against his chest.
“Then, why didn’t you tell me the truth? All you had to say was, ‘Matthew, I’m on the run because I work for the Agency. I was sent to Cartagena to spy on Douglas Hamilton. That’s why he wants me back. Because I’m a spy.’”
“How could I tell you that?” Her eyes met his. “I didn’t know you. I didn’t know anything about you, except that you were working for Douglas.”
“I told you that I wasn’t.”
“But you were. He asked you to find me and take me back to him, and that’s what you were doing. How could I trust you? How could I tell you the truth about me?”
It was a reasonable question but he wasn’t in the mood for reason. It was hard enough holding Mia in his arms, feeling her naked body against his, inhaling her scent, without trying to deal in logic.
“I might buy that,” he said roughly, “but then things changed between us.” His mouth thinned. “A man expects a woman to be honest with him after he fu—”
Somehow, she wrenched her hand free. She hit him, her palm stinging his face.
“Don’t you dare call it that,” she said in a shaky whisper. “We made love. You know we did. It wasn’t—it wasn’t dirty or cheap or—”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Let her cry, Matthew thought grimly. It wouldn’t change a thing.
Except, it did.
Her sobs were wrenching. He’d seen women weep before, but never like this. If it was an act, his Mia deserved an Academy Award.
His Mia. His beautiful, courageous, incredible Mia.
“Don’t cry,” he said gruffly.
Mia shook her head. “I hate you,” she said brokenly.
“Yeah. Just like you hate Hamilton.”
Her head came up. The look she gave him, through tearstained lashes, was one he knew he’d never forget.
“Which do you want, Matthew, the truth—or the lies he told you?”
He didn’t answer. Then he shrugged. “I’m listening,” he said tonelessly.
“I was his secretary a few years ago, when he was stationed in Washington. The Agency figured he’d turned but they needed proof. Since I knew Douglas, they asked me to go to Colombia as his personal—”
“Assistant. I know all of that.” Matthew’s jaw tightened. “And then,” he said softly, his eyes locked to hers, “you saw a way to make a killing. You could smuggle dope—”
“No!”
“And you could sell out the Agency and DEA people working undercover.”
“No!” Mia pounded her fist against his chest. “Do you really think I could do that?”
Matthew looked into her eyes. Felt the warm softness of her in his arms. Something deep inside him seemed to crumble. It was, he thought with wonder, the wall he’d built around his heart.
“Do you?”
His arms tightened around her. “No,” he whispered into her hair. “No, baby, I know you couldn’t.”
Mia caught her breath. “Matthew. Oh, Matthew…”
She lifted her face and he kissed her hungrily, tasting not just the sweetness of her mouth but the innate goodness of her soul.
“Tell me,” he murmured. “Let it all out, sweetheart. I know what it’s like to keep the ugliness inside.”
She told him everything.
How Hamilton had stumbled across her leafing through his files. How he’d set her up so it looked as if she’d tried to smuggle cocaine.
“He held it over my head,” she said, her voice shaking. “He said he’d have me locked away in a Colombian prison before I could even think about contacting anyone unless I reported back and told them they’d been wrong about him. He said—he said the only way I could guarantee I’d behave would be to sleep with him.”
Matthew’s vision reddened. Hamilton, he thought coldly, Hamilton, you son of a bitch, I should have killed you.
“I said I would, but I begged him to give me some time. The next morning, I broke into his computer, found a file that listed all his contacts in the cartel and at the embassy—”
“The embassy, too?”
She nodded. “That’s why I didn’t just send the list to Bogotá. I didn’t know who I could trust. So I copied the list onto a miniature compact disk and took off.”
“Just, took off. Without a destination in mind.”
“All I knew was, I had to get away with that list.” She gave a wobbly laugh. “I stashed the little CD in my compact.”
God, she was wonderful! “That’s brilliant.”
“I just wonder what they’re going to think at the Agency, when it arrives.”
“You sent it to the Agency?”
Mia nodded. “Yesterday. Evalina came by. She thought you were still here but… Well, I asked her if she knew where there was a Fed-Ex office.”
Matthew shook his head in wonder. “And?”
“And she said there was one in the next town, that her husband drove by it every day on his way to work. So I put the compact into a padded envelope I found by going through your desk. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No,” he said, trying not to smile, “I don’t mind at all.”
“Her husband dropped it off for me. Evalina brought me the receipt this morning.”
Matthew gave her a long, deep kiss. “You’re an amazing woman, Mia Palmieri.” His arms tightened around her. “Let’s go back to the house,” he said softly. “I’ll build a fire. You can tell me the rest after you’re warm again.”
“I’m fine,” Mia protested, but he knew she wasn’t. She was trembling; her skin was cool and damp. She was a heartbeat away from shock and he knew, without question, that if he lost this woman, his life would have no meaning.
He swept her into his arms, carried her through the moonlit night to the house. He wrapped her in a blanket, slipped on a pair of sweatpants and built a fire. Then he poured brandy for them both and drew her into his lap.
“I almost went crazy,” he said gruffly, “when you let Hamilton take you away.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“He threatened you, right?”
“Yes.”
His voice hardened. “The bastard said he’d hurt you unless you went with him.”
“No.” She caught his hand in hers and pressed it to her heart. “He said he’d kill you,” she whispered. “That he had other men, hidden in the dark, and they would—they would kill you if I didn’t—if I didn’t…”
Matthew cursed, drew her to him and kissed her again. His Mia was the most courageous woman he’d ever known. That she would have willingly sacrificed her freedom, her very life for him was a gift beyond any he could imagine.
“But I escaped.”
“How?”
She giggled. It was such a nice, normal sound that Matthew grinned from ear to ear.
“Ah,” he said. “You did something amazingly clever.”
“Amazingly devious, you mean. We’d been driving for maybe half an hour. I was desperate.” She leaned back in Matthew’s arms. “See, there was this boy who lived next door, when I was maybe six or seven…”
“Don’t tell me. He’s my competition?”
Smiling, she looped her arms around his neck. “He was my very best friend. I wanted to do everything he did, so he taught me some stuff.”
“What stuff?” Matthew felt his body starting to stir. His desire for Mia had been banked by the anguish of her story but now, with her safely in his arms, the hungry need he always had for her was coming back.
She knew it, too.
“Matthew,” she said, shifting her weight in his lap. �
��Don’t you want to hear how I got away?”
He gritted his teeth. “Yes. Yes, I do.”
“Well, this boy next door…”
“Mia.” Matthew swallowed hard. “Sit still.”
“Why?” she said innocently. Then she laughed softly and kissed him. “Okay. I’ll be good. For a little while, anyway.”
“What about this kid next door?” he said gruffly. “What’d he teach you?”
“Important things.” She smiled. “How to catch fireflies. How to make water bombs.”
Matthew chuckled. “A guy after my own heart.”
“And he taught me how to burp.”
“He what?”
“He taught me how to burp. You know, you swallow some air and then—”
“Yeah. I know.” He kissed the tip of her nose. How had he ever gone through life without this woman beside him? “So, what’s this have to do with getting away from Hamilton?”
“Well, we were riding in his car. In the back. And I was desperate. So I swallowed air. Lots of it. And then I let out this huge, disgusting burp and I made a gagging sound and I said, ‘Ohmygod, Douglas, I have to throw up!’”
“You didn’t,” Matthew said, with unabashed delight.
Mia grinned. “He’s very fastidious. He’s a horrible, horrible man—but a fastidious one.” She kissed Matthew’s chin. “He told his driver to pull over. We were passing through one of those little towns the road runs through, you know?”
“And?”
“And, I got out of the car. I made some truly dreadful noises. Douglas backed away and I—I ran.”
“Ran?” Matthew’s smile faded. “Through the town? All through those back alleys in the dark?”
“I didn’t have much choice,” she said reasonably, and how could he argue when he knew she was right? “It took hours but I finally found my way back here.” Her voice trembled; the hint of laughter in her voice faded. “But you were gone. I kept praying you’d come back, but—”
Matthew silenced her with a kiss. “Mia,” he said softly, framing her face with his hands, “do you remember the last night we were together? I told you I wanted to talk to you.”
“And I said the same thing. I was going to tell you the truth. That I worked for the Agency. That I was spying on Douglas.” She smiled into his eyes. “Because by then, I trusted you, Matthew. With my life.” She paused. “With my heart.”
“And I trust you with mine,” he said softly. “It’s what I wanted to tell you, that night.” He took a deep breath. “I love you, Mia.”
“Matthew.” She kissed his mouth. “I love you, too.”
“Will you marry me, Mia Palmieri?”
Her smile lit the room. “Yes. Oh, yes, my love, I will.”
Their kiss was long and lingering. Mia shrugged and let the blanket fall from her shoulders.
God, Matthew thought, how exquisite she was.
He lifted her in his arms, carried her to the rug before the fireplace and lay down with her, watching the flames turn her hair to copper.
“You’re beautiful,” he said softly. “And brave. And mine, forever.”
“Yours, forever,” Mia sighed, and opened her heart, and her arms, to the man she adored.
ISBN: 1-55254-607-1
UNCUT BUNDLE
First North American Publication 2006.
Copyright © 2005 by Susan Stephens and Sandra Marton.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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About the Authors
Susan Stephens
Susan trained to be a professional opera singer at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, U.K. During this time she was also a member of the BBC Northern Singers, who were broadcast regularly on radio as well as appearing in concerts nationwide. Whilst at college she won the Elsie Paine award for singing on three consecutive occasions and was subsequently granted a scholarship to study opera at Trinity College, London.
Susan was then offered a contract with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, where she remained for two years, leaving to present the BBC children's television program, Playschool. During this time Susan also appeared in pantomime and summer season, which led her to develop her own cabaret act.
Indulging in her great love of travel, Susan enjoyed a season on the QE2 before, on a second visit to Malta, she met her husband, Steve. Susan gave birth to two of her children, Sara and James, whilst living in Malta, but a move back to the U.K. came when Sara was taken dangerously ill and rushed into hospital by powerboat ambulance during a family holiday to Venice. Susan's first book, Help Me Mummy, I Can't Breathe, was written to share Sara's experience with other parents and received favorable reviews in both The Lancet and Nursing Times. It was also adopted as teaching material at St James' Hospital, Leeds, where the family settled. Susan gave many talks on the subject of coping with asthmatic children, culminating in a talk at Westminster Hall during celebrations of the Asthma Society's Diamond Jubilee.
Susan had another little girl, Leonie, and when York University opened its crèche, the time seemed right to go back into education. Susan was awarded an MA in music, after which she began teaching full-time. She was appointed a magistrate on the Leeds bench and now sits in Stockport. She wrote three books for educational publisher Hodder & Stoughton, Teach Yourself Singing, Teach Yourself Opera and Teach Yourself Musicals.
The next move occurred when Steve's work took him to Cheshire. After dinner at a Pride and Prejudice ball there was a charity auction. One of the lots on offer was “Spend a Day with an Author,” donated by Penny Jordan. Steve bought this lot for Susan and the rest is history.… Penny became not just a really great friend, but also a wonderful mentor whose encouragement led Susan to concentrate on writing romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon.
Sandra Marton
Sandra Marton wrote her first novel while she was still in elementary school. Her doting parents told her she'd be a writer someday and Sandra believed them. In high school and college, she wrote dark poetry nobody but her boyfriend understood, though looking back, she suspects he was just being kind. As a wife and mother, she wrote murky short stories in what little spare time she could manage, but not even her boyfriend-turned-husband could pretend to understand those. Sandra tried her hand at other things, among them teaching and serving on the Board of Education in her hometown, but the dream of becoming a writer was always in her heart.
At last, Sandra realized she wanted to write books about what all women hope to find: love with that one special man, love that's rich with fire and passion, love that lasts forever. She wrote a novel, her very first, and sold it to the Harlequin Presents line. Since then, she's written more than sixty books, all of them featuring the sexy, gorgeous, larger-than-life heroes that have helped make Sandra one of the Presents line's bestselling authors. A four-time RITA Award finalist, she's also received six Romantic Times magazine awards for Best Harlequin Presents of the Year and has been honored with Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Series Romance. Sandra lives with her very own sexy, gorgeous, larger-than-life hero in a sun-f
illed house on a quiet country lane in the northeastern United States.
Coming Next Month
If you enjoyed the eBook you just read, then you’ll love what we have for you next month!
ON SALE IN OCTOBER 2006
THE MIGHTY QUINNS: MARCUS by Kate Hoffman, Blaze
ASKING FOR TROUBLE by Leslie Kelly, Blaze
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