by Lucy Monroe
She gave him a sidelong glance. “Oh, no, you are so not going to trick me into challenging you again.” She poured egg substitute into another pan for scrambling. “I’m only walking this morning because my muscles are accustomed to hard use.”
He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and then reached around so he could get her lips. “You taste good.”
“It’s the bacon. I was taste testing.”
He gently tugged her chin around so his lips could claim hers again, this time with more intent. This kiss lasted several seconds and involved tongue. When he pulled back, she was dazed and he was shaking his head. “Nope, not the bacon. It’s definitely you.”
She laughed and smacked his bare chest. “You are a goof.”
With his own hand he covered where she’d hit him and staggered backward. “You wound me.”
“Not only are you a goof, you’re a ham too.”
He bumped her hip with his own as he flipped the finished pancakes into the ceramic dish she’d been using. “Nah, I’m one hundred percent Grade A prime Texas beef.”
“You are that, stud.” She pursed her lips as if in thought. “It’s pretty surprising considering what a brainiac you are.”
He poured the remaining pancake batter into three circles in the pan. “You know what they say. What you see ain’t what you get.”
“I think you’ve got that backward. It’s what you see is what you get.”
“You sure about that?”
A loud knock on the door saved her from making another foolish challenge that might leave her downright sore, because she’d have to meet it herself, now wouldn’t she?
She moved to the fridge so she could pull the package of bacon back out and laid it on the counter before going to answer the door. “Would you mind getting some more of that cooking, hon?”
He gave her a questioning look but said, “No problem.”
Only three people in town knew where her temporary apartment was located. One of them was already with her. She doubted sincerely that Frank Ingram would show up at her door on a Saturday morning. That left Matej. And that meant she’d better make more bacon if she wanted any.
Sure enough, her oldest brother, dressed in his signature monochromatic black, was standing on the other side when she swung the door wide. His hair was still wet from the shower and his beard was neat, no stray hairs where they shouldn’t be on his face, but he looked tired. Like he’d gotten very little sleep the night before. He also had that tic in his jaw that meant he was stressed about something, or angry.
Elle was guessing stressed and she figured the reason for his lack of sleep was standing right beside him. What was Chantal Renaud, a team scientist for ETRD, doing with Elle’s brother on a Saturday morning? They must be dating, but Mat hadn’t even hinted at having a girlfriend. Baba would say it was about time, though.
And personally? Elle would agree with her. Matej needed a softening influence in his life. He was far too hard edged for a research scientist.
Elle gave them both a blinding smile. “Come on in. Have you two had breakfast?”
“Yes,” Mat said as he pulled Chantal inside, his arm around her waist. “But if that’s bacon I smell, you might as well fry me up a piece or four.”
“I’m already on it. How about you, Ms. Renaud? Would you like anything?”
“No, thank you.”
“You sure, sweetheart? You barely ate anything at breakfast,” Mat said, giving the small blonde a frown tinged with concern.
Chantal moved her shoulders in a half shrug. “I’m not hungry.”
“You sure about that, Chantal? I make a mean pancake,” Beau said, from where he stood lounging in entrance to the kitchen.
Half naked and clearly unworried by that fact.
Mat’s head snapped up from his focus on Chantal and his gaze narrowed with an expression she knew well as it fell on Beau. “What the—”
“Okay, then,” Elle interrupted with the speed of light. “Breakfast. Right. Mat, you want to put plates and cutlery out? Chantal, have a seat. If you didn’t eat much before, you should consider something now. It’s the most important meal of the day. Beau, can you finish the bacon while I get juice and coffee for anyone who wants it? Mat, once you’ve set the table, you can carry the other food in. Eggs and pancakes are done.”
Elle had grown up with three older brothers, yes, but under the tutelage of both her mother and grandmother. Those two worthy women knew how to keep men busy when the situation demanded it. Elle figured her oldest brother walking in on what was obviously the “morning after” between her and Beau would be labeled a demanding situation by anyone with half a brain.
She had a fully functioning one with a high IQ to boot.
She ran further interference asking everyone’s drink preferences and managed to get Mat seated at the table with Chantal while she and Beau finished up in the kitchen.
Once he’d put the bacon on the table, he made a quick trip to the bedroom. He came out wearing his T-shirt.
Elle just managed to stifle a sigh of relief. She didn’t need the distraction of his half-naked body when dealing with her brother. And she didn’t think Mat needed the continued reminder that Beau had been lounging around her apartment barely dressed when Mat had arrived.
Elle might be independent, but again, she wasn’t stupid.
Mat surprised her once they were at the table, though. Instead of glaring Beau into the carpet, he seemed preoccupied. He munched on his bacon and a single pancake with less than his usual enthusiasm. His gaze kept sliding to Chantal, and he encouraged her to eat more than once while giving her these intense looks of reassurance.
Was the female scientist that worried about meeting a member of her boyfriend’s family? Elle couldn’t think of another reason for her brother’s behavior, but the vibe didn’t feel right.
So, she ate her own breakfast and waited for Mat to tell her what was up.
They were all done eating and sipping on their coffee when he reached out and took Chantal’s hand. “It’s going to be all right, little one.”
“What’s going on?” Beau asked, the subtle authority in his voice not lost on Elle.
And darn if she didn’t like it.
Chantal bit her lip, looked up at Mat, and then at Elle. Finally, she met Beau’s gaze with what looked like resignation. “I am in trouble.”
“None of it is her fault,” Mat pronounced.
Chantal turned her pale gaze on him. “How can you say that? I’m the idiot who got involved with that creep.”
“He deceived you. This is not your fault.” Mat looked as fierce as Elle had ever seen him.
“Are you saying you were mixed up in Eddie Danza’s scheme to sell corporate secrets?” Beau asked in a flat tone.
Mat said a word in Ukrainian that Mama would wash his mouth out for, and then he surged to his feet and leaned over Beau. “She is not saying any such thing. Did you hear her say this? I didn’t. Are you looking for scapegoats for your own lack of foresight in security?”
Oh, man, Mat had it bad.
Beau didn’t so much as flinch. He shrugged, like Mat’s words were so much buzzing, and then fixed Chantal with an unreadable gaze. That was so not going to work for the oldest Chernichenko brother in his current mood.
Elle jumped up and laid her hand on her brother’s arm. “Calm down, hon.” She led him back to his chair, knowing that to simply suggest he sit down would not be enough. She also knew he wouldn’t fight her. That would go against the way he’d been raised. “Beau was just asking a question, not making an accusation,” she soothed further.
“I don’t need a scapegoat,” Beau said in the same flat tone he’d used before. “I do need an answer.”
Elle shot a look of reproach at him. Heaven save her from having two alpha men together in the same room.
Mat popped right back up out of his chair. “Like hell.”
Elle was ready to clock both of them.
However, humor was leaking through
the worry in Chantal’s eyes, and she turned to face Mat with a small smile. “I don’t think this will work if you leap to defend me like a mad grizzly every time a question is asked.”
He frowned at her, though his expression was not nearly as fierce as it had been when he’d been looking at Beau. “I will not have you feeling like a criminal.”
“I don’t. I may feel like un imbécile, but I know I’ve done nothing unethical. If Beau believes I have, then I know you will help me convince him otherwise. Though, please remember, he has not said so. Now, sit down, s’il vous plaît.”
Elle watched in shock as her brother did exactly as the petite woman had requested. “Wow. You don’t mind Mama that well. You didn’t even give a token grumble. Mama will be jealous, but I think Baba is going to dance with joy.”
Elle almost felt guilty for teasing him when the big, tough, highly educated, thirty-four-year-old eremitic scientist blushed, his expression more than a little pained. Chantal looked pleased, however, so maybe it had been worth it.
“So, tell us what you mean by being in trouble,” Elle invited before either of the men could start pounding their chests again.
“I broke up with Eddie when I found out what he’d done. I didn’t know anything about it beforehand. I want you to know that.” She was talking to Elle, but the words were obviously meant for Beau.
He nodded.
“Is that why you’re feeling dumb?” Elle asked. “Because he was an unethical creep and you didn’t know it?”
“Yes. He was just using me.” Chantal bit her lip, her hands twisting in her lap. “I thought he wanted me, but all he wanted was information.”
Mat scooted his seat around so he was beside Chantal and then put his big arm over the back of her chair. Elle had to bite back a smile. Oh, yeah…big brother had a terminal case all right. She didn’t try to hide the smile, though, when Chantal relaxed into him.
“Did you give it to him?” Beau asked and then raised his hand toward Mat as if anticipating an argument. “Not on purpose, but did you share information that he could sell?”
“No. I only ever talked about work in general terms with him. As for the antigravity project, I’m not even on the official team. There wasn’t much I could have told him if I had wanted to.”
“Our resources get stretched thin. Team members move around. You did some work for me early on,” Beau said.
“Yes, and I think Eddie knew that. He probably assumed I played a bigger role than I did, but it didn’t matter. I knew how big that project was, how important it was not to let word leak out about your findings. I didn’t talk about it at all except when he brought up how exciting the potential was and I agreed.”
“You didn’t think it was odd that a security guard knew what one of our top-level projects was?” Beau asked.
“No. Everyone who works at ETRD pretty much knows what’s going on in the labs.”
Elle nodded. It was one of the aspects of security she meant to discuss with Frank and Beau.
Beau didn’t look happy, but he matched Elle’s nod. “That being the case, while you may have made a bad choice in whom you chose to date, you certainly weren’t and are not an imbecile. We don’t hire mental deficients to work on our projects at ETRD.”
“And trust me, Chantal,” Elle said, grateful for Beau’s attitude, “anyone can get taken in by someone who pretends to be something he or she is not.” She’d seen it too many times to count.
Beau gave Elle an unreadable look, then focused his gaze on Chantal and said, “Absolutely.”
“But the problem didn’t end with you and Eddie breaking up, right?” Elle asked.
Chantal shook her head. “I’ve been getting phone calls since Gil Bigsley’s disappearance.”
“What kind of phone calls?” Beau asked, an edge to his voice.
“From whom?” Elle asked at the same time and then clamped her mouth shut. Bad interrogation technique with a friendly witness, having two people asking questions at once. And technically, though her brother and Chantal had come to her, Beau was their boss and this was his gig.
“Frickin’ scary phone calls,” Mat growled.
Chantal’s hand shook a little as she poured herself more coffee from the carafe, but she managed not to spill. “They want me to get the plans for the antigravity project.”
“Who does?” Beau asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe the people Eddie was working with?”
Elle shook her head decisively. “Unlikely.”
“Oh, really? And what exactly do you know about it, Ms. Gray?” Beau asked.
“Frank said that the problem had been taken care of.”
“We can’t assume anything,” Beau said.
“We can assume it’s not them,” she said with certainty.
Even before Beau turned a skeptical expression laced with curiosity on her, Elle wanted to kick herself. Talk about making a rookie mistake. Okay, it wasn’t out of bounds that she knew the basics of the breach of security on the antigravity project. After all, that was why she’d been hired, but to be so sure about Eddie’s cohorts when even Frank had only been told the threat had been neutralized was over the top.
Now both Matej and Beau were giving her looks intended to make her squirm. She knew what her brother wanted—for her to tell his boss the truth so he didn’t have to feel guilty about keeping a secret. She wasn’t sure what the source of Beau’s expression was, but it was making the base of her spine itch.
“How do you know that the people Eddie was working with are no longer interested in the antigravity project?” The tone of Beau’s voice was borderline taunting, and Elle wasn’t sure why.
“I assume if the case were still open, then a government agency would have an active investigation going,” Elle replied.
“How do you know there isn’t?” Beau asked.
“Frank didn’t say there was one.”
“He didn’t say there wasn’t one either. The fact of the matter is that we don’t know if there is, or not. Since Mr. Smith chose not to press charges against Danza, the FBI agent who apprised us of the security breach opted not to share any further information. He said it wasn’t necessary.”
“I have contacts. When Frank Ingram approached my security company, I made it a point to find out everything I could. The men involved in the sale of the plans are not in a position to continue pursuing them,” Elle countered.
“You sure about that?” Beau asked in his slow drawl.
She shrugged. “Pretty much. But maybe I’m wrong and it is the people he was working with. Let’s leave that for now so Chantal can finish her story.”
“Agreed,” Beau said.
“Whoever the f…” Mat gave a sidelong glance to Chantal and then Elle and then cleared his throat. “Uh…whoever called, threatened her.”
Chantal nodded, doing a pretty good job of holding it together. “They said if I told anyone, they’d make it look like I was in league with Eddie. That I was actually the one behind it all and Eddie had just been my pawn.”
Beau made a noncommittal noise and Mat glared at him.
Elle sighed. “Could we lower the testosterone level in here just a tad? Mat, stop reading accusation into every word or expression Beau gives. Or maybe the two of you would like to take a walk while Chantal tells me the details.”
“No way!” her brother growled.
Beau sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over that magnificent chest, let his legs stretch out in front of him. “Not gonna happen, princess.”
Mat’s eyes narrowed at the endearment and Elle remembered why she’d gone to university on the East Coast. Three older brothers could be stifling. She gave him her own frown to remind him that she was a big girl and could more than take care of herself.
He ignored her, but Chantal smiled. As if she found the sibling dynamics amusing.
Elle returned her smile with a wry one of her own and shrugged. “Is that all they said, the only threat they made?”
>
“No. They told me that if I didn’t get the plans I could disappear just as easily as Gil had done.” That seemed to really shake the blonde.
And why wouldn’t it? No one wanted to be hunted.
“Whoever these people are, they have Gil.” Beau was clearly well and truly pissed at the prospect too.
Elle shook her head. “Not necessarily. If they threatened him like they did Chantal, he might have run rather than come forward and ask for help.”
“I was going to run,” Chantal admitted, sounding ashamed. “But Mat talked me into coming to you.”
“Why is that, by the way?” Beau asked. “I’d think you two would have brought the problem to Frank or me. After all, Elle is just a hired security consultant.”
“Mat said she’d help him make sure I didn’t disappear.”
Warmth at her brother’s obvious belief in her spread through Elle and inexplicable moisture filmed her eyes. She blinked it away, of course. She wasn’t that much of a girly-girl, no matter what Beau said.
“I will,” she promised, though she wasn’t sure it was a job she could do all on her own. Not and work on her primary objectives as well as this new element being added to her current assignment: an active rather than a passive threat to key technology.
Beau made another one of those noncommittal sounds, and this time Elle frowned at him. What was his problem?
“Do you doubt my ability?” she asked him.
“No, sugar, I surely don’t.”
That was okay, then. She nodded. “Chantal can move in here with me, for now.”
“She’s staying with me.” Mat said it like there was no choice in the matter, and Elle was sure that in his mind, there wasn’t.
“Is that okay with you, Chantal?” Elle asked her.
Let her brother glower like the grumpy grizzly Chantal had compared him to. The other woman needed to feel like there were some things still under her control.
Chantal bit her lip and then looked up at Mat. Something passed between the two of them and Chantal nodded. “If he doesn’t mind, it’s where I want to be.”
“Okay, then I’ll be moving in with both of you.”
“What?” Mat demanded.
