She shrugged. “We’ll never stop looking over our shoulders, will we?”
“I have plans to slow down.”
Simon wanted to retire from his strange placement at MI6, but it would be safer if he stayed in the arms field. Retired, he’d be considered weak and a target. If he remained in the game, he’d be able to keep tabs on all the players. Having a second-in-command as competent and loyal as Dane would keep him even safer. Dane, however, wasn’t ready to give up his cushy sales job in California. But Simon could be persuasive when he wanted to be. He just needed the right bait.
Cassie had clearance to return to her old job. He’d already spoken to his contacts at HQ, and they’d agreed to allow her to work remotely from the farmhouse near Oxford he’d purchased for her wedding present. Living close to Henry and Alex would also be a benefit.
“So I stay home, and you run around the world making arms deals?” Cassie asked after hearing the details of their future life together.
“We can switch positions, but your knowledge about the arms trade is weak, and I’m not quite as advanced as you are in computers. Besides, I’ll do all the cooking when I’m home.”
“Vegan meals?” With a twist of her neck, she faced him nose to nose.
He kissed her. Long, hard, deep, and intense. She should know better than to come so close. If only he could lock the door. She pulled back first, breathing deep and looking a bit flustered. Man, he loved her.
“We can be vegan on Mondays, Wednesdays, and an occasional Friday.”
She lifted her eyebrows. “I bet you’ll be in London on those days.”
“That’s what I love about you, angel. Analytical skills galore.”
Life moved exactly as Simon had envisioned. He scaled down his business, Cassie happily worked from a home office, and Junior continued to grow inside her mother. She’d be arriving into the world in a matter of weeks.
At that exact moment, however, Simon dedicated himself to Cassie’s physical needs. She looked amazing under him, as though she had been placed there for his dinner, dessert, and tomorrow’s breakfast as well. By the time they had finished the first three courses, Cassie’s eyes were beginning to close, but Simon was still hungry. He began to explore her expanding curves. He started with her breasts and moved to her rounded stomach.
Her pregnant body fascinated him. He caressed down her side until his fingers detoured over her thigh. “Don’t move. I want to see if you can remain perfectly silent as I torture you.”
She laughed, and her body shook, but she said nothing.
“You’re failing. Stop moving.”
The phone on the bedside table rang.
“Ignore it,” he called out before descending further.
His cell phone rang.
“Don’t move,” he ordered.
Cassie, always one to follow orders, lifted his cell phone. “It’s Dane.”
“He can talk to my voicemail.”
Dane’s refusal to become his partner pissed him off. They’d be perfect together, and Simon wouldn’t have to worry about the CIA breathing down his throat. Dane, however, didn’t want the hassle.
“You better answer it.”
“You’ll be asleep if talk I on the phone.”
“Exactly. I need a break. You’re insatiable.”
“You need more sex to improve your stamina.”
She handed him the phone, kissed him on the cheek, and rolled over. “Good night, Simon.”
He hit the speaker function. He didn’t have secrets anymore where Cassie was concerned. “Dunn.”
“We have a problem. How quickly can you get to Columbia?”
We? He glanced at his almost sleeping wife. “I can’t. I no longer have a death wish, and my wife will kill me if I leave her before Junior arrives.”
“A rebel group took my sister. I need backup from outside the agency.” The strain in Dane’s voice changed Simon’s mind.
Cassie turned to face him. “Go. We owe him our lives. You might as well pay him back before the baby’s born.” She sat against the headboard, completely alert. She still showed fear on her face without any attempt to conceal it, but the strength bubbling up through her inner core created a steel wall that would protect her in the future.
Simon gave Cassie a slight nod and spoke into the phone. “I’ll be at Heathrow in two hours. Text me the specifics.”
Dane let a relieved laugh. “I love that woman of yours. Give Cassie a huge kiss for me, but nothing more. We don’t have the time.”
The phone call ended, and the prospect of Dane joining his organization just improved one hundred percent.
He grabbed his suitcase and threw in a few necessities for the trip. After he finished, he walked over to Cassie. She should have put her clothes back on, because her naked breasts were seducing him back into bed. He kissed her with a blaze that would never extinguish, no matter how much he tried to satiate himself in her.
“I’ll be home soon.”
“I know you will.”
“You do?”
A smile lifted the corners of her mouth, more like a skilled operative than a seductive wife. “If you aren’t back within two weeks, I’m coming to get you.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
She raised her eyebrows, fierce and proud as a lioness. Damn, she would.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to Jim, Sophia, and Vivienne. Being the family of a writer is not easy. I tend to ignore the dishes, the laundry, and meal preparation while I’m struggling with a story, and my thoughts are often in another dimension thinking about fictional people and events. I love you guys more than words can say.
Thanks to Candace Havens, my editor, for your amazing assistance in polishing this manuscript from a good story into a great one.
Kate Forest, Betty Bolté, and Susan Scott Shelley are the best critique partners ever. Thanks for the support.
A shout out to my agent Michelle Grajkowski for guiding me through this crazy business.
And a special thanks to all the fans who loved Simon in “Untrue Colors” and asked for his story to be told.
About the Author
Veronica Forand is an attorney and an award-winning writer of romantic suspense.
She’s lived in Boston, London, Paris, Geneva, and Washington, DC and currently resides near Philadelphia. An avid traveler, she loves to roam across continents with her husband and kids in pursuit of skiing, scuba diving, and finding the perfect piece of chocolate.
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Reviews help other readers find books. We appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative. Thank you for reading!
Also by Veronica Forand…
UNTRUE COLORS
Brilliant art appraiser Alex Northrop’s ex used stolen art to fund his nefarious activities. Now he wants her dead. Professor Henry Chilton is shocked to find a beautiful stranger passed out in his bed, and even more so when she reveals a priceless painting is a forgery – the painting he’d planned to use to fund a woman’s shelter. Her knowledge of art is undeniable—just as his attraction to her is irresistible. But in order to help Henry recover the real painting, Alex must risk exposure…and her life.
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High-risk securities operative Holly Milano usually prefers to work alone. Having a partner is, well, annoying. Now she’s working undercover with Kane MacMillan to retrieve a priceless diamond necklace, and Mr. Plan Everything is seriously
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CUBA UNDERCOVER
a novel by Linda Bond
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PRISONER OF LOVE
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When Lucy Parker is carjacked by an escaped prisoner, her fun weekend in the mountains takes a nighmarish turn. Now she’s caught up in a dangerous world of stolen money, vicious drug dealers, and murder, and the only thing keeping her alive is her oh-so-hot captor. With their lives on the line, the race is on to get to Las Vegas before they’re killed...and they’re running out of time.
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Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Acknowledgments
About the Author
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True Deceptions (True Lies) Page 27
