by Lucy Monroe
“My honor saved by the incompetence of the criminal mind.”
“Your honor was never in question with me.”
“I appreciate that, Frank.”
“You’re a good man, Beau, and Mr. Smith knows that.”
“I would have said the same for my coworkers.”
“So would have I…before. Now, we can’t afford not to be cautious. Some of our projects are far too close to positive resolution for us to risk them falling into greedy hands.”
“It’s why we work here.”
“That’s definitely true for you…and hopefully the others as well, but we have no guarantees.”
“Right. So, I’m supposed to keep an eye on Elle Gray?”
“Nothing too cloak-and-dagger, but yes.”
“You do realize this is all just a little more James Bond than I ever thought I’d get.”
“We play the cards we are dealt.”
Beau relaxed back into the plush leather chair facing his mentor’s desk. “Why do I get the feeling that Mr. Smith is dealing from the bottom of the deck?”
“Do you?”
“On occasion. Speaking of cloak-and-dagger, the man keeps himself well hidden.”
“And that worries you?”
“Maybe.”
“Believe me when I say that if Mr. Smith is dealing from the bottom of the deck, he is only doing it for our best interests.”
“Or so he says.”
“He doesn’t have to say it. I know it. And while you may not know Mr. Smith, you do know me. Do you trust me, Beau?”
Tension filled Beau. Trust wasn’t something he easily extended to others. He’d learned that just because circumstances dictated you should be able to trust someone didn’t mean you could. In fact, it was the people closest to you who were most likely to betray you. They were the ones in a position to get away with it.
Yet Frank Ingram had proven himself worthy of both Beau’s respect and trust many times. The older man accepted Beau for who he was in a way Beau’s own family and other important people in his life had refused to do. Frank had never let Beau down in the close to a decade that they’d known each other. Not once. Not in any way. There could be only be answer to his mentor’s question.
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
Beau shrugged, having no desire to even flirt with the edges of maudlin emotion. Now, or ever.
Elle opened the door of her Lamborghini Spider and swung her long legs out. She could feel someone watching her, which was nothing new and certainly not unexpected considering her choice of transportation. But something felt different. Whoever was watching her was doing so with a regard so intense, it was palpable.
Interesting.
She paused, knowing the metallic burgundy paint job on the sports car did a fantastic job of framing her. That wasn’t why she’d taken her week off between assignments driving her baby across country rather than flying and renting a car for her assignment, but it didn’t hurt.
She stood in one fluid movement, then straightened the jacket of her Akris suit and let her gaze meet that of a man watching her. He wasn’t the only one doing so, but she sensed the dark-haired Adonis was the source of the concentrated scrutiny she had felt. Unmoving and apparently unconcerned with being caught staring, he stood in front of the huge, shiny, metal and glass building that housed Environmental Technology Research and Design. A backpack gripped in one hand and a leather jacket dangling over his shoulder off the finger of another, he looked more like a bad boy with attitude than second in command at one of the country’s top research companies.
According to her files, the tall, muscular scientist was Frank Ingram’s right-hand man as well as the project manager on the antigravity experiment that had been compromised, leading to TGP’s interest in ETRD. Any other professional information regarding his role at ETRD was sketchy. TGP only knew what it did about his role on the antigravity project because his name had been on the intercepted plans. Frank had offered the information that Dr. Beau Ruston was his second in command when he hired Elle for the security consultation.
Other than that, she knew that the young PhD had begun working for the company as an intern while pursuing his doctorate. He’d been hired on in a full-time capacity even before he’d successfully defended his doctoral thesis. Other than the antigravity experiment and the projects that had gone public, TGP had no information regarding what the man did at ETRD.
The company was better at keeping secrets than the Pentagon. Much better. Hence the need for an agent on-site to determine the lay of the land.
She wasn’t here to investigate Beau Ruston per se, but he was certainly someone she was interested in finding out more about.
She turned and leaned back into the car to grab her briefcase, giving the staring man a view of her toned backside in the tailored slacks. Being a good agent meant using all assets at her disposal to do her job. If that included flustering a man by exposing a little thigh, then she did it. If it meant bending over to offer a glimpse of a body she used as a tool for her job, she did it.
And her instincts told her that she wanted this particular man as off-kilter as she could get him.
She locked the car and headed toward him, noticing that he had not moved from his spot in front of the building. So, he knew who she was too and he was waiting for her.
As personal greeters went, she’d take him.
His expression neutral, he put his hand out when she was within reaching distance. “Ms. Gray? I’m Beau Ruston.”
Her hand was engulfed in the warmth and strength of his. For a split second she saw something in his Hershey-brown eyes and tension-filled square jaw that found a corresponding response right in her core.
Desire. Hot. Urgent. Primal.
And wholly unexpected.
Oh, she was used to being admired. Even wanted. But that flash of sexual heat went beyond the surface physical reaction of a man and a woman meeting for the first time. And the fact that it mirrored her own response was as close to frightening as facing down the wrong end of her own favorite Ruger P95 semiautomatic.
He blinked, and just like that, the brief blaze of desire was banked. She didn’t doubt it had been there, any more than she could deny the involuntary tightening of her inner thigh muscles or the way her nipples were still peaked behind her designer-suit jacket.
Grateful for the thickness and opacity of the fabric, she pulled her hand from his. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Ruston.”
“Beau, please.” The subtle twang in his voice reminded her of his origins.
His file said he’d gone to USC on a football scholarship and made his home here afterward, rather than return to his native Texas. Right then, she felt an absurd gratitude that he had done so.
She dipped her head in acknowledgment of his request. “Elle.”
“Good. We don’t stand on ceremony much around here.”
Standing this close, it was easy to believe that this man had once played college football and that he’d had a reputation for breaking hearts…until he’d gotten engaged. His file said he’d been faithful to his fiancée right up until the woman dumped him his senior year.
She’d gone on to marry one of his teammates who had gone into the NFL. A favorite for the draft himself, Beau had opted to continue his education and had gotten a doctorate in quantum physics. He’d chosen brain over brawn, and although he might be highly compensated as a lead scientist at ETRD, it was nothing compared to what he could have made catching footballs in the NFL.
His choices fascinated Elle. She’d spent a good portion of her week off going over his file. The information on his life before and outside his job was not nearly as sketchy as that on his hours spent at ETRD.
Elle had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. “That’s good to know.”
He’d moved closer and she hadn’t even noticed. This was so not good. A giant like him shouldn’t be able to move an inch without her taking note, much less right into
her personal space.
She’d known he was tall. The file said six feet six inches, but standing so close made him seem even taller. Bigger. Okay, so maybe that was due to the numerous well-developed muscles filling out his tight blue T-shirt and snug-fitting jeans. Not that six and a half feet was average height by any stretch, but her brothers were all within one to three inches of it. She was only two inches shy of six feet herself.
She’d never felt so flippin’ small next to a man. She didn’t like it. He was messing with her equilibrium in ways no one else ever did and they hadn’t even said more than twenty words to each other.
She distinctly remembered The Old Man telling her that this assignment was going to be a cakewalk. And she’d agreed. After seeing Beau Ruston’s file. More the fool, her.
She took a hasty step back.
A single dark brow rose in question, but Beau didn’t comment. “Come with me and I’ll introduce you to the boss.”
Did his drawl have to be so damn low and sexy? Wasn’t it enough that in person he was unstable C-4 where her feminine desires were concerned? Did his voice have to be more effective than a state-of-the-art weaponry display at gaining her attention? And holding it. Sheesh.
Cakewalk.
Right.
So not.
The Old Man was going to owe her big-time for this assignment.
Chapter 2
Sporting an annoying but impossible-to-deflate semierection, Beau led Elle down the corridor on the way to Frank’s office. She’d been untalkative since entering the building, speaking only when asked a direct question. Not that her all-business attitude managed to deflate this annoying attraction he felt. The fact was, he found her cool facade damn sexy.
Knowing it covered a highly trained federal agent was a turn-on he would never have expected.
She’d shown her ID to the security guard in the lobby and taken her visitor’s pass with a minimum of fuss. Yet Beau got the distinct impression that she was surveying their current security setup with each step she took. The stunning security-consultant–slash–federal agent was hyperaware of her surroundings. Beau recognized the quiet intensity she exuded, like she was operating on more levels than the average person.
He was used to that. The scientists he worked with did the same thing, but for different reasons. Himself included.
However, as a rule, he wasn’t dangerous. Elle was. Very dangerous. And instead of repelling him, that piece of information excited him as much as her physical attributes. Unfortunately.
The knowledge that she was there under false pretenses should turn him off fast and fully. It didn’t.
That seriously sucked. The unfamiliar desire pulsing through him was a complication he neither wanted nor needed. He hadn’t gone in for major emotional entanglements since his last disaster in that department. Two-for-two failure in the relationship stakes was enough to teach a man a hell of a lot dumber than Beau that he wasn’t meant to play that game. However, casual coupling or not, he didn’t make it a habit to have sex with women he knew up front he could not trust.
That was just stupid. And it put Elle Gray 100 percent in the off-limits category. Now, if only his body would catch up with his brain.
He was so caught up in the argument between his brain and body that he’d gone several steps before he realized Elle had stopped in the corridor, her blank look focused on the empty hallway behind her.
“Is something the matter?” he asked.
She shook her head, but her rigid stance belied the denial.
“Are you sure?”
“No, it’s fine,” she replied.
He got the impression she had to force herself to look away from the vacant hallway behind her. What—or who—had she seen? He made a mental note to try to ascertain who might have been in the corridor when they were. “Okay, then. Shall we continue?” he prompted.
“Certainly.”
“Frank is looking forward to meeting you.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“As you are aware, we’ve had a recent problem with security.”
“So Mr. Ingram said when he engaged my services.”
“You’ll have to excuse my ignorance, but I don’t see how you or anyone else can protect the company from an employee motivated by greed.”
“I suppose I’ll just have to show you then, won’t I?”
Frank’s secretary waved them toward his office without breaking conversation with whomever she was talking to on the phone. She whispered, “He’s expecting you,” as Beau and Elle walked past her desk.
Beau nodded and gave the woman a smile of thanks.
She blushed and he wondered what the person on the other end of the phone had said to make her react like that. He’d mentioned the woman’s tendency to pink cheeks and girlish giggles to Frank one time, but his mentor had simply laughed and said she wasn’t always like that.
She certainly was every time Beau saw her.
Frank was reading through some reports when Beau and Elle came into his office. He stood and extended his hand. “Ms. Gray, I presume.”
Elle shook the older man’s hand, her lips quirking in a barely there smile. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Ingram. Thank you for calling me in on this consultation. I’m looking forward to improving security and the safety of your employees.”
“Frank, please,” he said, indicating the chairs facing his desk with his hand in a clear invitation to sit. “I’m sure Beau told you we don’t stand on ceremony around here.”
Elle gracefully lowered herself into one of the chairs. “He did.”
Beau followed suit, laying both his backpack and bike leathers beside him.
“Well, then…” Frank began.
“Frank, it is,” Elle said.
“I’m very happy to have you here, especially after the unexpected disappearance of one of our top scientists,” Frank said.
Elle frowned and sat up straighter. “You’ve had a disappearance? Of one of your employees?”
So, her agency didn’t know of Bigsley’s disappearance. Beau didn’t know if that made him feel better or worse.
“Yes,” Frank replied.
“Did you file a missing persons report?”
“Yes, but according to local law enforcement the man is an adult, and without evidence of foul play, they won’t pursue it. Apparently, people walk away from their jobs and fully furnished apartments all the time,” Frank replied.
“Bull,” Elle said.
“Yes, well, our belief that a single missing suitcase and a few sets of clothes does not preclude foul play isn’t shared by our local authorities,” Frank said.
Elle’s eyes went that flat gray that had fascinated Beau in her pictures. “Why wasn’t I told about this?”
“I just told you, Ms. Gray.”
Her frown did not diminish. “Who was it?”
“Dr. Gil Bigsley,” Frank said.
“He was in charge of one of our material reclamation teams,” Beau added.
Frank nodded. “Luckily we’ve just hired someone who was able to step into his position with little upheaval.”
“Was he on the list of employees you provided?” Elle asked Frank.
“I’m not sure. It’s Dr. Matej Chernichenko. I don’t remember if he accepted the position before or after that list was compiled.”
Elle’s mouth opened on a slight gasp. She snapped it shut, still silent, her expression curiously open. Total shock masked her features for a full second before she schooled her look to one of blankness.
“Is that a problem, Elle?” Frank asked.
“No.”
“Are you sure?” Beau pushed, more than a little curious about her reaction. Was Mat the person she’d seen in the hall who had caused her to stop in her tracks? If so, was that something they had to worry about? Or was he simply someone from her past who might be able to blow her cover?
Elle turned those fascinating eyes on Beau. “It’s not a problem. Just a…” She paused, took a
quick breath and let it out as if she wouldn’t give herself the luxury of a complete sigh. “It’s a surprise, that’s all.”
“Surprise?” Frank asked delicately.
“I should have gone home between jobs.” She looked at Frank and then Beau, her expression giving nothing away. “I considered it, you know.”
It was Beau’s turn to open his mouth and discover he had nothing to say.
“Are you saying you need a break before you can begin the security consult for Environmental Technology Research and Design?” Frank asked.
“No, nothing so dire. I’m just lamenting my own lack of foresight, that’s all.”
Frank and Beau shared a look of confusion and then turned that same look on Elle.
She smiled, looking somewhat self-deprecating. “It’s nothing that need worry you.” This time, the sigh was full and drawn out. “You see, Matej Chernichenko is my brother. My big brother.”
That could definitely explain her reaction to seeing him this morning. Talk about a complication the TGP agent had not expected.
“You didn’t know he had taken a job with ETRD?” Beau asked.
“No. The last I heard, he was working for a think tank in the Midwest. I guess he decided it was time to return to his roots.”
Elle Gray’s family was from Southern California? Beau wasn’t sure why that fact interested him, but it did. And her brother was their newest scientist? That was not only interesting but an almost unbelievable coincidence, though stranger things had happened. Still, could he trust Elle’s evident surprise?
Beau made a quick mental click through the other scientist’s personnel file. The man had sent his résumé for consideration months before the information leak on the antigravity experiment. He’d been hired when the budget had allowed for taking on another scientist.
His credentials were impeccable and he’d spent years working with the same think tank. Despite the suspicious coincidence of his being hired and Elle coming in as a spy for the government, it was unlikely Mat was one as well.
That didn’t mean the man wouldn’t bear watching. Mr. Smith might be sanguine about Elle’s reasons for being at ETRD, but Beau wasn’t. And if he found out her brother was feeding her information beyond what was necessary for the scope of her security consultation, Beau would see the man sent back to that think tank in the Midwest faster than he could write E = mc2.
