True Peril

by Veronica Forand

  After Simon drank some of the beer, the heat level in the room decreased to tolerable. “That wasn’t me. It was Tucker. I tried to protect you when everything fell apart.”

  “Bullshit. You threw me into the middle of an international event.” Dane pointed the top of his bottle at Simon. “And I had to call in all my favors in Asia to save your ass.”

  Simon stepped closer to him. His voice so calm it was frightening. “And I saved yours right back.”

  “I wouldn’t have been in need of saving if you hadn’t involved my company. You know I want out of that life.”

  “A necessary means to an end, although I’m grateful you took care of Cassie.” The monster smiled and patted Dane’s shoulder. The expression transformed him into something less frightening. A friend. “Do you know anything about this guy Juan Carlos Gomez?”

  “No. I met him during a stroll in the jungle.”

  “He exports heroin and terrorizes everyone in a hundred-mile area. The FARC and the military leave him alone. I’m not sure if he’s a mere nuisance or a power player.” Simon finished his beer and placed the bottle on the coffee table. “I hate dealing with drug dealers. They’re more apt to violence when things go wrong. And things often go wrong.”

  “I’m sorry, but this involved Jenny.” Dane’s shoulders deflated. He rested against the edge of the couch.

  “How is she?” Simon expression grew serious.

  “She’s won’t leave until she finishes saving the world. She’ll die not even making a dent in her mission.” Dane shook his head and took a long drink of beer.

  “And you will? If you want to make a difference, there’s a better way than selling pieces of technology that are obsolete before they reach their buyers.”

  Simon knew Jenny? Stitching together fragments of backstory never made for a solid foundation of information, yet that was what she had to work with until Dane decided to trust her.

  They bantered back and forth, ignoring Eve. Whatever. She needed pizza and a beer. Serving herself a slice and opening her bottle, she sat down to observe them. Both men were tall, but Simon had Dane by a few inches. Where Dane appeared urbane and cool, his friend looked rough around the edges, although he spoke with a fairly eloquent British accent.

  Tucked behind the table with food and drink, Eve breathed easier as her heart resumed a more natural beat. Simon could have hurt her if he’d wanted, but he didn’t. Although dressed like a brawny bruiser, he’d responded to her with less violence than she’d thrown at him.

  Pretending to ignore them, she absorbed every word they said.

  Simon’s voice lowered, but she caught several snippets of the conversation. “Move the packages from Ecuador…an insignificant speck in the Andes… Not happening… You owe me.”

  Maybe Dane was involved in illegal activities. It made sense. Why else would Juan Carlos allow him to walk away from the compound without a scratch? An icy chill went over her. She needed answers.

  Dane motioned toward her with a slight nod of his head. “Not here. We’ll talk later.”

  Of course, more secrets.

  Simon, however, ignored his command. “Don’t play me, Dane. I’m not a pushover, and if this guy comes looking for more after you blow him off, I will be all over your arse.”

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  “By the way, your new best friend in Columbia asked me about your wife. A sexy young thing by the name of Eve. How coincidental that she shares your mother’s name. It’s like she appeared from a gust in the wind.” He watched Eve as he spoke.

  “Eve is your mother’s name?” she asked. What kind of guy names his new wife after his mother? Someone who was creating a temporary relationship, she supposed.

  Dane turned to face her. “When I met you and learned your name was so similar to my mother’s, it was a sign we were destined for each other, darling.” Smooth talking salesman.

  Simon strolled over to her and put out his huge hand, demonstrating some British formality after his hooligan entrance. “Simon Dunn.”

  She shook his hand, keeping the knife in her left hand. “Hi.”

  “Welcome to the family.” He spoke with one part amusement and one part menace. His gaze danced up and down her body. The look wasn’t lascivious—more like a long lost cousin mocking a relative.

  “Family?” she asked.

  Dane touch her shoulder, probably more of a possessive move than a show of jealousy. He pulled her back into his chest. “We’re not family. Simon would love me to join his corporation, but I prefer California living to foggy old London.”

  They seemed a lot closer than business colleagues. Definitely friends. Close friends.

  “My wife will be thrilled to meet you. She won’t believe Dane’s finally tied the knot. How long have you lovebirds been married?”

  “Three months.” As Eve answered, Dane squeezed her shoulder and grimaced. Perhaps she shouldn’t have said anything.

  Simon laughed. “Interesting. And where did you two meet?”

  “Enough, Simon. We’ll talk later.” Her fantasy husband rubbed the spot he’d squeezed a few seconds before. The pressure took away some of the tension from being in the same room with Simon and all his intensity.

  He placed his beer on the table and then strolled to the entrance. “We have a lot to discuss. My better half wants to see you at the house for dinner tomorrow.” Opening the door, he turned back for a moment. “Bring your wife, or I’ll come back and escort her there myself.”

  …

  The minute the door closed, Eve faced Dane with an expression that would never be considered foreplay. Her jaw tightened, and she shook her head in that slow way parents and teachers and drill sergeants did before dishing out punishment. She’d never let go of the knife, which, considering Simon’s appearance, had been a smart idea. At this point, however, she needed to drop the weapon and relax.

  He grabbed a slice of pizza and pretended everything was normal. But life would never go back to normal for Eve now that Simon had met her. Simon was like an eighty-year-old busybody who lived next door and called weekly to complain that your trash cans were located too close to his mailbox. He’d be tracing her background information the second he returned home, no doubt using his wife for the task. Cassie, a brilliant computer analyst for MI6, could pop into the CIA database without a trace to learn more about Eve. She’d have both her former identity and the shape of the birthmark behind her right ear within an hour. If Dane didn’t love them like members of his own family, and trust them with his life, he’d hate them both for being such annoying interlopers.

  “Can you tell me why a man broke into our apartment, scared the hell out of me, and then proceeded to act as though you were his long lost brother?” She remained seated, but her posture had stiffened from tense to attack mode.

  “Simon’s a friend of mine. Sorry if he scared you. He lacks social skills.” Dane reclined in a chair next to her, took a chug of beer and a bite of the pizza. He tried to picture Eve naked on his bed waiting for him, but the knife she’d set next to her hand altered the image to something not so pleasant.

  “That’s all you’re saying after he barged in here like he wanted to kill you?” Her voice dropped to an annoyed snarl.

  “That’s all you need to know about him, except that I trust him with my life. Our companies occasionally compete for territory, however, which sometimes strains our relationship.”

  She took a few sips from her bottle and devoured her second slice of pizza before continuing her interrogation. “What kind of corporation does Simon run?”

  “He’s involved in the import and export of various goods.”

  He could see the gears moving inside Eve’s head. Her eyes focused on some invisible thing in the right corner of the room, probably Simon and Dane’s real connection. She’d have them figured out in five minutes if she put that brainpower to work. Her intelligence was both an asset and a liability if she wanted to stay safe and hidden and away from th
e men who wanted her dead. The less information she had in this situation, the safer she’d be.

  “You lied to Juan Carlos. You told him you worked for Simon?” For some reason the hostility in her tone lowered.

  “Are you safe? Yes. The rest can be taken care of.”

  “That was brilliant. Simon must be some type of heavy hitter in the business world to make a man like the leader of the Red Hawks decide not to exploit you for a large ransom.” A smile emerged on her face, one he’d rarely seen since he’d met her, but when it occurred, everything in life was brighter.

  “I’m glad you see it that way.” It would be fun to try to keep her smiling. Perhaps he could incorporate hot showers and erotic massages into their relationship. That would keep him smiling as well.

  “Seriously though, your quick thinking saved our lives. And I wondered how you became such good friends with the leader of the Red Hawks so quickly.” She lifted her bottle to him. “To you. You handled your friend perfectly. Simon wasn’t even that mad.”

  Dane laughed, despite the growing unease at her naïveté. Simon didn’t show any anger because he planned to wait and then use all the information he’d gathered to blackmail Dane into doing something he didn’t want to do. Which meant Dane should leave London as soon as possible.

  First, he needed to set up Eve in her new life. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned, no doubt exhausted from the pizza, the beer, and an overload of Simon Dunn.

  “Go to sleep. I’ll clean up. Tomorrow I can show you around the city.” And call the office to cancel his meeting and piss off his superiors. His rendezvous with Simon took priority, and so did making sure Eve was comfortable in London for a while. After everything settled down, however, work required his full attention, or his problems would rise exponentially. A few days, at most, and he’d have to run like hell back to San Francisco before his absence created an explosive situation in the Middle East.

  Chapter Six

  The next day, Eve caught her breath and came to grips with her new temporary life. The best part involved Dane, a decadent piece of masculine eye candy. They traveled around town from the Tower of London to Madame Tussauds, and even enjoyed a crowded lunch in Covent Garden amid a thousand shoppers. His companionship made the whole afternoon better. After a trip on the London Eye, they strolled hand in hand along the banks of the Thames, sharing stories of their past.

  Dane’s childhood seemed downright normal and pleasant compared to her nightmare. “Jenny not only adopted every stray cat and dog in the neighborhood, but she often stole our neighbors’ animals if she thought they were being neglected. And ‘neglect’ to Jenny was not walking them three times a day.”

  “You two had a completely different childhood than mine. Attending boarding school from the time I was eleven made owning a dog impossible, and no one in my family liked animals enough to keep one without me.”

  “Do you want a dog now?”

  Did she? “I rarely live in one place long enough to have a pet.”

  “Me, too. Although at times I crave a simple life with a black lab named Rockefeller.” He squeezed her hand, and her heart attached itself even more to the man beside her.

  The combination of the brisk wind across the river and Dane’s company lifted Eve’s spirits from happiness to something that resembled pure bliss. A woman who wanted to marry and begin a family could get used to having a rich, handsome, and perfectly amiable husband around. Eve, however, had different plans. And besides, Dane didn’t seem the type to stick around, either. After all, he had secrets. Big ones, it seemed. And a clock was ticking down the minutes until their separation.

  It was clear he would never have tied the knot—or even pretended to marry—if he didn’t have to. This was all temporary to him.

  They arrived back at the apartment and went to their separate rooms to prepare for dinner with Simon and his wife. She showered, changed, and tried not to be nervous about meeting Simon again. He didn’t intimidate her, not exactly. He seemed to control everything in the world, except Dane. That thought relaxed her. She’d stick next to Dane the whole evening, acting like the perfect wife.

  Dressed in a black sweater dress and knee high boots, she strolled out to the living room to meet up with Dane. He was wearing a black turtleneck and black pants. A black leather jacket completed the look. Wow. “Hot” was too mild a word to describe him.

  “How cute. We match,” she said.

  “You look like a cat burglar. I like it.” He stepped up close, but stopped an inch short of touching her. His gaze, however, scorched her in places better left alone if she wanted to leave him without lingering attachments.

  “Thanks. You’d be the perfect street thug.” She touched his collar and almost caressed his stubble-covered jaw with her fingers. “You forgot to shave.”

  “No. This is part of my disguise. I do my best to blend into the environment. If dinner proves boring, I thought we could burglarize the Tate Museum together.” That sexy grin emerged, and one more piece of her heart was lost to him.

  They drove out of London in a rented Mercedes, far past the city limits and into the countryside.

  “I love your sister,” she shared, “and the way she pours everything into her work. Although I can imagine it’s not easy being her big brother and having zero control over her.”

  “It’s become more difficult since Fred died. He balanced her need for adventure with some common sense. Now she prefers working in the most remote locations with the most difficult populations in the world. My hope is she’ll meet a boring accountant, marry again, and return to Maryland to live in a small house with four children who’ll take up all her time and energy.”

  Eve didn’t see Jenny ever settling down, just as she didn’t see herself finding a home in one location, unless her impact on the world at large would be greater out of a permanent home base.

  “You’re from Maryland? Interesting. I see Jenny being from the East Coast, but not you. You seem more West Coast.”

  “I prefer the lifestyle in California to the crazy weather patterns and stressed out people of the East.”

  “If I had to retire anywhere, I’d move to Costa Rica for the beaches and the wonderful people there.”

  “Sunbathing?”

  “Scuba diving and surfing.”

  “You seem to prefer activities that can kill you.”

  “I always have. Golf and tennis never seemed much fun. When I was just out of college, I went through the police academy. I passed with distinction, but my parents made me promise not to blacken the family name with a blue collar job, so I left for Europe and international relief work. I’ve always regretted that decision.”

  She hadn’t been paying attention to where they’d driven, but it was at least an hour out of the city. Fields, dried up and waiting for spring to arrive, stretched out for miles in each direction. They pulled up to an isolated stone farmhouse at the end of a very long driveway lined with trees.

  Dane parked and then twisted in his seat, his attention focused solely on her. “I’m glad you never became a police officer, because then I would never have met you.”

  His hand cupped the back of her head, and he pulled her in. Warm lips sent bolts of electricity through her limbs. He devoured her as though she’d be only a memory soon and he needed to take in all of her now. A faint moan slipped from the back of her throat as he tightened his grip. She could have remained there all night, but a light turned on outside the car.

  Simon stood in the doorway grinning, as though he enjoyed breaking apart a newlywed couple in love. In love. Ha. She and Dane were more in lust. Too much time together combined with jet lag—that must be the combination that made her feel lightheaded in his arms.

  Dane pulled away, his breathing ragged and his expression intense. The masculine scent of him lingered. Cinnamon and something delectably masculine. Eve licked her lips, tasted him, and then sighed. Lust was good—a momentary reprieve from trying to deal with the future.


  Dane opened his door and walked around the car to open hers as well. “Welcome to the Fortress Dunn.”

  “It’s very isolated.”

  “Simon prefers privacy above all other things.”

  They walked toward the house. Dane clasped his arm around Eve’s waist, holding the heat between them. She circled her arm around his waist, as well, and leaned on his shoulder. Simon remained at the door. His head barely missed the top of the frame. A blond, very pregnant, and devastatingly gorgeous woman moved around him. Wow. She was almost as tall as Simon. Dane released Eve, leaving a cool void in his wake, and enveloped the woman in a tight and affectionate embrace. Eve needed to rein in her insecurities for the night, because she’d never be able to compete with such a goddess.

  “As handsome as ever.” She backed away from Dane and then reached out to hug Eve. “I’m Cassie, Simon’s wife. You must be Eve. It’s so nice to meet you.” Her smile welcomed her and disintegrated Eve’s insecurities. How could she remain jealous of a person with such a huge heart?

  “You’re American?” Eve asked.

  “No, I’m English, but I grew up in San Diego, so I lost the accent. I do, however, consider Dane the brother I never had, so you’ll have to be the sister I never had.”

  A new sister. The thought warmed Eve’s insides. Within two minutes of meeting her, Cassie was already leaps and bounds ahead of her biological siblings. And yet Eve’s marriage was a lie.

  They moved from the foyer to the kitchen. Pots and pans steamed on the massive stove. The mouthwatering scent of fragrant rosemary and a delicious wine sauce filled the space.

  Eve turned to Cassie. “You didn’t have to go through all of this trouble.”

  “It was no trouble. Simon cooked.”

  Simon waved away the compliment. “If I allowed my wife to cook, we’d all be eating wheatgrass and tofu. This is the only way I can ensure I have something substantial to eat.”

  Cassie elbowed him in the side. “Don’t listen to him. He loves to cook. If he didn’t have to work, he’d be gardening and cooking like a proper husband.”