Blah. Blah. Blah.
He was a bad man, and she could only imagine why he was in Rome, and it wasn’t the art—unless he planned to steal it. She sidled up next to him, flipping her hair. “Hi, Enzo. Where’s Rachel?”
He stopped mid-sentence, his dark gaze taking in her short dress. There wasn’t a shred of remorse in his predatory stare.
Ass.
“Why?” he asked when his eyes reached her face. His tongue flicked out, an unconscious gesture, but it made her queasy. She took a sip of champagne and forced herself to relax.
Do the job.
“I don’t trust you to tell the truth, but I am hoping she’ll tell me if you meant to wreck us,” she said, though she was sure that the answer was a resounding “yes”.
The young couple he’d been talking to gave each other an uncomfortable glance and side-stepped away, making a beeline for a waiters and a tray of canapés.
“Why does it matter? You lived,” he replied.
And so it began. The dance of lies. Luckily, he didn’t know she was leading. “That’s not the point. Where’s Rachel?”
“In the room. You know. Girl trouble.”
She took a quick drink. “Well, I have some lovely drugs for that. Let me pop up to the room, and I can drop them off. She’ll be feeling better in no time, and then we can have that chat.”
Enzo’s hands clenched around his glass for a brief second as annoyance overrode interest in her legs. “That’s not necessary. She prefers to be left alone.”
Nice try.
“Of course it’s necessary,” Holly insisted. “We girls have to stick together. It won’t take but a minute.” Patting his arm, she left before he could protest any further.
Suck on that.
In seconds, she was back at Kane’s side.
“That was quick,” he said.
“It didn’t take much. Watch,” Holly replied. As if on cue, Enzo retrieved his phone from his jacket pocket and stepped behind a tree. “He’s calling her right now. Let’s get this done.”
“Give it five,” Kane replied.
It only took three minutes for Rachel to walk out the back door, adjusting her dress, and obviously pissed that her attempt to steal the necklace was thwarted. For now.
Kane hit send on his phone.
She squinted, watching the balcony for Bravo. A few moments later, a dark form crossed the master balcony and went inside.
Kane’s phone buzzed, and he glanced down. “He’s in.”
She sipped her champagne. This was going better than expected. The mission would be over in a few minutes, and she’d go home. Alone.
Impending reality seemed less thrilling than normal. She knew why. Kane. He’d sneaked past her defenses, and as much as she wanted to ignore what had happened, it wasn’t going away.
He wasn’t going away.
“We make a good team.” Kane fingers curled around hers and reinforced her feelings.
“We do. All of us,” she agreed as the desire to flee, to be free, paced alongside her need to lean into Kane. Carefully, she pulled her hand from his.
His face darkened, but he nodded. “Agreed.”
Dammit. What was she doing? Antagonizing him one moment then wanting to kiss him the next.
“Are you all right?” Kane asked.
She’d been shredding a cocktail napkin without realizing it. She waded the paper mass up and set it on a table. “Why did you let me go talk to Enzo alone?” she asked, turning the conversation. “I was a bit surprised.”
“Pretending to be something you’re not is what you’re good at. And I thought that both of us going might make Enzo feel ambushed. I’m not sure how he’d react to that, and since we’re running low on time, I didn’t want to find out.”
“Thanks for trusting me,” she replied, knowing the confession wasn’t easy for him. “It’s not easy, blending. When I approach someone like that, it’s a bit unnerving.”
He looked surprised. “Really?”
“Yeah. Really. When I’m undercover, all I want to do is fit in. Public confrontations take that away.” She took a final sip of champagne, unsettled that she’d revealed so much. It had to be the alcohol. She set the half-empty glass on a side table. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Rachel. Holly waved, and Rachel glared at her. Holly waved again.
“Should you go talk to her?” Kane asked. “Keep up the facade and keep her here?”
“Attention, everyone. The auction is about to begin.” Tim Burke called over the crowd from where he stood at a podium at the far end of the tent. His cheeks were flushed from alcohol, but he sounded sober enough.
“Don’t have to,” Holly said, “She can’t leave now. It would be much too obvious.” She took Kane’s arm. “Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?”
“Are you trying to jinx this?” Kane said under his breath as he escorted her to an empty chair at the back of the tent. Holly took a deep breath. Just a little longer and this would be over. She’d be home. Back to her apartment. Her life.
And no Kane unless work brought them together again. Likely months from now.
She closed her eyes, but it didn’t matter. Once the mission was complete, he was gone.
At the front, Tim continued, once everyone was seated. “My lovely wife, Tammi Lynn, will present the first item.”
Their hostess walked up to the podium, a large crystal vase in her hand—
And the turtle necklace around her neck.
…
Kane spied the necklace on Tammi Lynn but wasn’t surprised. They were not catching any breaks on this mission. The race. The wreck. Enzo. And Tammi Lynn—the memory of kissing her still made him nauseous.
The one thing that had made the trip worth taking was Holly. Her hand in his, he stroked her skin with his thumb, telling himself that it was to maintain their cover, but he knew better. There was something about her that touched him, and he wanted to maintain it, even though he knew that couldn’t last.
“What next?” Holly asked, her eyes glued to Tammi Lynn’s neckline.
There it was. The thief beneath the fancy dress and soft skin. Illusion over. “First thing’s first,” he said. Taking the phone from his pocket, he texted Bravo.
Abort Mission. T.L. is wearing necklace.
“And now?” Holly asked. “What’s the plan?”
The plan? “Good question.”
There weren’t many that came to mind. Everyone was leaving tomorrow morning, so the window to steal the necklace from the safe was gone unless they wanted to try and retrieve it while the Burkes were sleeping.
That might work. Might not.
There was a better alternative—all he had to do was get Tammi Lynn alone for a few minutes. It wasn’t what he wanted to do, but it was the easiest, and he knew she’d agree.
“What’s wrong?” Holly asked.
“What?”
“That face. You’re making it again.” She leaned in, staring into his eyes as if she could will herself to see what he was thinking.
“What face is that?”
“The same one from earlier.” Holly’s big blue eyes stared into him, searching and then widened with realization. “You’re going to seduce her, aren’t you?”
She knew him better than he wanted to admit. “She’s willing, and it’s our best option.” It wasn’t something he looked forward to, but he’d deal.
Her lips pressed tight. “It isn’t right.”
“It’s not her first time.”
Her hands tightened into fists as if fighting with herself. “I’m talking about you, you ass.”
She was angry at him? That was unexpected. He wasn’t sure what to think of it. “What did I do?”
Her spine stiffened. “I can’t believe you’d compromise yourself. With her.”
“Are you jealous?” His own anger welled upward.
She cast him a sideways glance. Her eyes were glassy, and he realized he’d misjudged. It wasn’t anger.
&nb
sp; It was worry. For him. She was trying not to cry.
“Holly?”
She shook him off. “I’m not going let you do this. I saw your face when you came out of her room, and I am not going to see you like that again.” She rose, kissing him on the cheek. “Tell Bravo to meet us out front with our car keys and plane tickets in four minutes.”
“What are you doing?”
“What I always do.” She paused. “Whatever I want.”
Pushing through the chairs, she approached Tammi Lynn as she auctioned off the next item—a weekend for two at Martha’s Vineyard.
Their hostess frowned at the interruption. “Miss Kennedy, please take your seat. We’ll be done in a minute.”
Holly moved faster, her acrobat body tensed but limber. Her feet hit the small, wooden dance floor with a solid thunk.
What the hell was she going to do?
Tammi Lynn glared. “I said—”
She was cut off abruptly when Holly shoved the podium aside and tackled her, knocking her to the ground.
The crowd jumped to its collective feet, watching in horror as the two women rolled across the ground. Tammi Lynn tried to scramble away. Holly grabbed her by the back of the head and yanked her back. “Try to seduce my fiancé? You whore!”
Kane stared at the unfolding scene, shocked. She’d just said that fitting in was how she did what she did. To some, the conversation might be shop talk, but he’d seen the insecurity in her eyes as she spoke. There was more to what she’d said. It wasn’t just about work. It was about her life.
To change that now. For him…
Tammi Lynn screamed as Holly came away with a handful of hair, refocusing him on the situation. They ended up in one of the flower beds, and Kane watched with the rest of the crowd unsure of what to do but for different reasons. Did his partner have the necklace?
The fight continued, and he caught a glimpse of Tammi Lynn’s cleavage.
The necklace was gone.
Holly wasn’t stopping.
She straddled Tammi Lynn and shook her. “You need a lesson.”
Slap. “In manners.”
Shake. “No one tries to seduce my man but me. No one.”
Slap. Their hostess’s head rocked to the side with the force of the last hit, and even Kane felt sorry for her. A public pummeling was going to be impossible to sweep under the radar, even more so when the reason for it was infidelity—everyone loved good gossip.
“I’m sorry,” Tammi Lynn cried, trying to cover her face as Holly shook her. Hair disheveled and her blue dress riding up her thighs to show her pink panties, Holly didn’t seem inclined to stop punching her adversary, and no one in the crowd seemed inclined to get involved.
Finally, security stepped in to pull the women apart.
Kane joined them. “She’s had enough, slugger,” he said, lifting Holly off of her victim.
“She tried to seduce you,” Holly screeched, kicking the air.
Damn, she was a good actress. “I know. But she didn’t.” He tilted her face up. Her eyes glimmered with tears, and her mascara ran down her face.
Was it an act? Or was it real?
“I’ll sue you,” Tammi Lynn screamed as she struggled to her feet, dress torn and bits of grass and dirt in her blonde hair, several strands of which had come straggling out of her hot-rollered updo. “I’ll sue you for slander.”
“Good luck with that,” Holly shot back, grabbing her arm, and landing a final slap as Kane hustled both himself and his partner toward the front of the house.
Chapter Twelve
“You got it, right?” Kane asked as they took a path to the front of the house, a motion-operated light flaring to life when they reached the front of the driveway.
“Of course,” Holly said, knowing she looked like the cat that ate the big-haired canary and not caring. She’d done some extreme things for her job before—tightrope walking between buildings, impersonating a French diplomat, and even BASE jumping off an office building, but this was her first physical fight. It felt satisfying to know she could get into a tussle and win.
Even better that it was against someone like Tammi Lynn.
Her smile broadened despite her attempts to stop it, and she held out the necklace. It glittered in her palm.
“I have to admit, as far as thieving goes, that was amazing,” Kane said, taking the necklace and shoving it into his breast pocket. “How did you do that during a fight? And how did no one notice?”
“Diversion. Just like a magician,” she explained. “They were too busy wanting me to yank out her hair with this hand,” she held up the right one, “to see me yank off the necklace with this one,” and she held up the left. “My dress riding all the way up to my ass probably helped.”
Kane chuckled and stroked her cheek with his thumb. “You’re a surprise. Each and every day.”
Warmth spread through her with his touch, and she leaned into it. No man had ever tempted her like Kane. Sure, they tempted her into their bed. To dinner. And she willingly accepted. Even instigated.
But unlike any other man she let into her bed or her life, he’d made her consider a relationship. In two days.
That was a first, and a gamble she knew she wasn’t ready for. She took a step back, and he caressed a strand of hair from her cheek, tucking it back into place before he let his hand drop to his side.
“Where’s Bravo?” he said, more rhetorical than a question, as he surveyed the circular drive.
“Here,” Bravo said, coming around the corner, two sets of keys dangling from his hands. “And we need to get moving. I heard two of the servers whispering that a necklace is missing. I take it that was you?” Bravo asked, addressing Holly.
“None other.”
“Kudos.”
“Move it,” Kane snapped, and the three broke into a trot, heading toward the cars parked at the far end of the driveway.
“We take both cars,” Kane said as they ran. “If anyone suspects us—”
“They will,” Holly interjected.
“—they can’t be sure who to follow. We’ll meet at the airport.”
“What about the police?” Bravo asked.
“Tammi Lynn isn’t supposed to have the necklace,” Kane said. “She can’t call. Not without admitting guilt. She’s not the one I’m worried about.”
The hairs rose on the back of Holly’s neck. The Corsicans were not people she wanted to tangle with.
They arrived at the cars. “She goes with you,” Kane said, guiding Holly toward Bravo. “Keep her safe.”
She glared at him. He was not getting rid of her that easily. “I’m with you,” she said.
He gripped her shoulders. “For once, stop arguing with me. I’m trying to do you a favor.”
Did he think she still wanted the other man? What an idiot. He’d had never been more than a dalliance. Kane was her partner. He’d said so himself, and she wasn’t going to abandon him. “We’re a team,” she said, breaking his grip. “I stay with you, and we’re wasting time.”
He shook his head. “Dear God, you are so annoying. You never listen.”
Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved the necklace and tossed it to Bravo. “You take this. They’ll be searching for a couple.”
The other agent snatched the trinket midair. “See you at the airport.” And disappeared into the dark. Seconds later, a car engine overturned, and Bravo raced out of the driveway, headlights off until he reached the road.
“What are we waiting for?” Holly asked. Anxious to get the hell out before the Corsicans tracked them down.
“That,” Kane said, gesturing in the direction that the other agent had gone. “Bravo’s out of sight. Time to go.”
The sound of gravel crunching under foot echoed through the night. The Corsicans were coming. “Let’s go,” Kane said as he opened her door and ran to the other side.
She slid into the seat and slammed the door shut, her heart pounding. “We have to make sure they follow us and not B
ravo.”
“They will,” Kane said, revving the engine.
There as a knock on the window. Outside stood Enzo, gun out and aimed at her head.
Kane killed the engine.
The mobster was faster than they’d thought. Or more motivated. Either way, they weren’t leaving yet.
“Stay quiet,” Kane said. “Admit nothing.”
“I know how to do my job,” Holly replied as Enzo opened her door.
Lucien appeared at the border of the light. “Where is it?”
“Where’s what?” Kane asked, stepping out of the car. “Who the hell do you think you are, pointing a gun at my fiancée?”
“Where’s the necklace?” Lucien asked, impatience making his voice tight.
“What necklace?” Holly asked.
“You know what necklace,” Enzo said, grabbing her arm and yanking her from the car. His fingers dug into her flesh, and she winced before she could stop herself. “That ugly piece of crap you stole during the fight.”
Holly put on her best “outraged” face. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” Lucien snapped. “Hand over the necklace. Now.”
She spread her arms wide. “Where is it? In my underwear? It’s not like this dress has pockets.” Tugging on her dress, she gave a little jump. “See. Nothing.”
“Get in the car, Holly,” Kane said, sounding like the annoyed, exasperated agent she was used to. The sound of chatter coming from the house and getting closer caught her attention. People were coming. Unfortunately, they were not hurrying.
Witnesses. They just needed to buy another minute.
Lucien pulled a gun from his jacket. “Do as your fiancé said. Get in the car.”
Time’s up. Hell.
…
“We’re not going anywhere with you,” Kane said. “Search me and the Audi, and you’ll see we don’t have it.”
“Oh, I plan on it, but not here.”
“I’m not going,” Holly said, her jaw set.
So pigheaded.
This was why he hated field work. Enzo had pushed them into this scenario, and they weren’t walking away from it alive. Not if the mobsters had their way. He didn’t plan on letting them win, but with Enzo’s gun pointed at his partner’s head, he couldn’t make a move. Not yet. “Get in the car, Holly.”
Undercover With the Enemy Page 14
