Life’s challenges hadn’t competed with the time he spent out on the water. Neither social, nor his work… He could barely remember the last time he’d been involved in a relationship that held his interest for more than a few dates. Joshua had thought he was bored, but maybe age really was catching up with him.
Age or guilt?
He stood with the wind whipping his hair and the bow slicing through the waves, and realized it wasn’t a challenge he felt out here, but a sense of freedom.
Freedom from what?
He didn’t have an answer. He’d been running from too much recently—Lindy and MI6, now the Italian authorities.
And his constantly vibrating cell phone.
Henri had first called to confirm the manuscript drop, but Joshua hadn’t been able to take the call as he’d been fleeing Venice with Lindy. But he’d have to make the time soon because each time his phone vibrated, Joshua could sense his boss’s growing frustration. And his own resentment grew that Henri wouldn’t back off for a damn day.
Joshua couldn’t help but wonder if both his reaction and so much self-analysis were prompted by the beautiful law-enforcement officer sunning herself behind him.
Leaning a hip against the chair, he turned enough to admire her stretched out on a bench seat with her long bare legs before her. They’d outfitted themselves for the trip before reaching San Remo, and she wore a bikini and floral sarong in shades of pink that accentuated her long curves and her new hair color. Stylish sunglasses covered her face as she rested her head on her backpack and tipped her face up to the sun.
His self-analysis was all about Lindy. Without question. Not only had she forced a reevaluation of his career, but she prompted him to look at his life. He wasn’t sure why, except that she impacted him on so many different levels, made him feel things he shouldn’t feel for a woman he needed to manage, one he couldn’t trust.
But he liked watching her adapt to their circumstances and mold herself to the situation. Today, she was all sass and desirability, compared to the bold temptress who’d had him at her mercy in a deserted barn. Lindy Gardner impressed him with her abilities, but he wondered about the real woman.
Had he seen glimpses of Melinda St. George?
She must have sensed his gaze upon her because she tilted her face toward him and peered over the rim of her sunglasses. “Renting this boat was brilliant. I feel like I’m on vacation.”
“And we’re out of the country with a minimum of fanfare.”
“What do you make of all the attention? Seems like a lot of fuss when you didn’t heist any priceless altarpieces.”
“You sound sure of that.”
“I am.”
He eyed her curiously. “You’re taking my word?”
She smiled. “I’m trusting my powers of observation. You have no place to put an altarpiece. I checked out every inch of you and there wasn’t an unrecognizable bump or bulge anywhere.”
Joshua couldn’t help but laugh, a laugh that sounded as carefree as it felt. “Was all that staring the reason why I wound up handcuffed?”
“Just keeping things fair.”
“We were only two orgasms to one. I didn’t mind.”
Stretching her arms above her head, she let out a purring sound then swung her legs around so she could stand. “Wouldn’t do not to honor my debts. I’m trying to convince you to trust me, remember?”
“So I’m all about business?”
“Those orgasms deserved a reward.”
Not a straight answer but a neat sidestep from the question, which Joshua wasn’t entirely sure what to make of. “Glad you thought so.”
She inclined her head. “Now I have a question. How does this boat get back to San Remo?”
“Worried I’ll keep her?”
“You told me you weren’t a thief. Or do you only steal small things?”
“The marina will send someone to pick her up.”
“Actually, I’m impressed.” She crossed the deck toward him, the wind whipping her sarong around and giving him a striking view of her legs in motion. “You’ve been so prepared for our little side trip. Identity papers. Country hideaways. You’re making me look like a rank amateur.”
“For what it’s worth, Lindy, I think we’re evenly matched. You got cuffs on me.”
“Got jammy. You were expecting sex and let me get close.”
He remembered that part, but couldn’t remember the last time the promise of sex had left him vulnerable. Had it ever?
“Thank goodness you’re carrying enough cash to rent this boat.” She came to stand behind him and slipped her arms around his waist. “Traveling on my budget, we’d still be in Venice, trying to outrun the polizia on a vaporetto.”
No question that the large motorboats used for public transport over Venetian canals wouldn’t have facilitated their escape. “Are you fishing again?”
“We’re on a boat.”
“True enough. So I take this to mean you followed my money trail to Venice.”
She rested her face against his shoulder and nuzzled her cheek close. “That was how I found you in Vienna. But I assumed you already knew that. Since you didn’t have enough time to reroute your money, you made three large cash withdrawals to throw me off your scent.”
He only smiled.
“So tell me, Joshua. What were you doing with all your spare time when you could have been rerouting your money trail?”
“Besides trying to stay a step ahead of you?”
“You admit to trying?”
He glanced back over his shoulder and met her gaze. “Do I need to? You’re here.”
He could feel a smile twitching around her mouth before she pressed a kiss to his skin.
“How did you track me to the chancellery?”
“Got jammy again. You led me to the piazza. I fell for your misdirection, but when I got there the situation felt wrong.”
“I thought you said big, busy places are my usual MO.”
“For pickups and drop-offs. But you’re testing me. The piazza was too big and too busy. There wasn’t any easy way to leave clues for me to follow.”
“You think I’m leaving you clues?”
“You’re saying you aren’t?”
This woman was almost scary in how she reasoned, so like him that he shouldn’t be surprised that she kept showing up.
A match for him in so many ways.
“So here we are, Lindy, on the run. Have you given any thought to our next move?”
“You said you had a plan.”
“I do.”
“Are you taking me to your place?”
Lindy would know where he lived—that information was a matter of public record, a formality for any person of foreign nationality to live in French territory. But what surprised him was how much he wanted to take her home, to sleep wrapped around her in his own bed. Heading to Nice wasn’t possible.
“I was thinking Monte Carlo. We’ll disappear there.”
“Worried I’ll dig through your cupboards and dustbins when you aren’t looking?”
“No.” He didn’t elaborate. Joshua never kept anything that might possibly be used as evidence against him. There was nothing in his home he couldn’t leave behind if he needed to drop out of sight unexpectedly, nothing he’d have to worry about the police finding.
The precaution had always made him feel secure, but for some reason with Lindy’s arms wrapped around him, it only seemed to emphasize the transience of a life that presented too many obstacles when he simply wanted to take her home.
Henri would be able to track them there, and explaining an MI6 agent in his bed would be trouble.
“So, Joshua.” Her words pressed against his skin, made him tingle. “Think we should hole up for a few days before we go our separate ways again?”
“That’ll be the most effective way to cover our tracks when the polizia notify the border countries. Standard procedure.”
“What a stroke of luck this was. Now
I’ll have time to convince you to cooperate with me. I’m assuming we won’t be staying in a barn. Do they even have barns in Monte Carlo?”
Joshua laughed. “None that I’ve ever seen.”
“Good thing you were foresighted enough to make those withdrawals. We’ll need a bundle to finance this trip.”
“You think I should cover expenses when you intend to harass me?”
“Didn’t I mention my budget already?” She rocked her hips suggestively. “You wouldn’t believe what the Crown pays. Or doesn’t. Besides, who said anything about harassing? I was thinking more along the lines of seduction.”
Her words were enough to make his crotch throb hard in a bid for attention. “So we’re back to each of us trying to convince the other to see our way.”
“Feels like it.” Another silky arch of her hips, and he had to fight to stay focused.
“Will dropping out of sight present any problems for you? With work? What about your family?”
Now he was fishing, but as Lindy had said, they were on a boat. He might know her true identity, but he’d yet to figure out how to put that information to work.
“Work’s no problem. I’m authorized to do whatever it takes to gain your cooperation, and I don’t have any family. No one but the corn plant to notice if I don’t show up.”
“A corn plant?”
“You know what it’s like living on the run,” she said.
He did, and two things struck him simultaneously. The first was that her life sounded a lot like his.
The second—she was lying. She might have a corn plant that didn’t keep time, but he’d confirmed that she had parents still living in Kirks Moor, which settled in a big piece of the puzzle—she obviously cared enough to lie to protect them.
“I COULD GET USED TO the way you live,” Lindy told Joshua as she dipped a strawberry into chocolate then brought the treat to her lips.
Although this hotel boasted five-star restaurants and their suite had a fully-appointed dining room, she and Joshua shared a room-service feast on the bed, where they could relax and gaze through the open balcony doors at the sun setting over the Mediterranean. They’d availed themselves of long hot showers to erase the effects of the sea, and now sat dressed comfortably in hotel robes.
A half grin played around Joshua’s mouth as he handed her a linen napkin. “You were briefed that I’ve stayed at the Hôtel de Monaco before?”
She savored her mouthful before admitting, “I don’t recall reading about any hotel by name, but this level of service seems your standard. Pricey for a working gal like me. But even if I hadn’t read about the company you keep, chasing you would have been enough to convince me how you operate. You’re obviously not a darts-at-the-pub kind of guy.”
“I can’t tell if you think that’s good or bad.”
“Do you care what I think?”
“Would you believe me if I said I did?”
“Would you believe me if I said I wanted to?”
Joshua laughed, a whiskey-rich laugh that rippled over her skin like an ocean breeze. “Yes.”
Lindy deposited the remainder of the strawberry on her plate, unsure how to reply. Their every exchange felt like a tug-of-war, battle lines drawn between secrets and truth and deception. She’d been skirting the balance for so long now that her top-notch instincts felt sluggish and dull. Maybe she needed more sleep.
Or maybe this man and his orgasms were to blame.
“Then, Joshua, I’d be impressed by your show of faith. This situation isn’t easy.”
He acknowledged her with a slight nod, but she couldn’t make out his expression. He hid his thoughts so skillfully behind that handsome face. The only time she knew she was getting an honest response was when one of them was naked.
“Done?” he asked.
She dabbed the napkin at her lips then set it on her plate and handed over both. Yawning widely, she stretched her arms and willed her thoughts to clear.
“Tired?” he asked.
“You’ve run me ragged. When I’m not outthinking you, I’m thinking about having sex with you.”
“Or having sex with me.”
“Complaining?”
“Hardly. I can’t remember the last time I was so challenged, in or out of bed.”
Something about his admission felt honest. Lindy wondered if she read truth into his words that wasn’t there. She was positively gasping to sway him to her cause. Without a doubt.
Depositing her plate back on the room-service cart beside the bed, he asked, “Coffee?”
She nodded, and Joshua did the honors. When Lindy took a sip, she willed the caffeine to awaken her so she could think.
He helped himself then stretched out beside her again. What caffeine didn’t accomplish to wake her up, the sight of him did.
He looked earthy and sensual with his stubbled jaw and dark hair. He’d belted the robe loosely around himself, and his bare legs and feet revealed just enough skin to make her imagine the rest of his naked self beneath the robe.
The moment was filled with a camaraderie that had been growing ever since they’d left Venice. Joshua was an easy man to be around, which said something, she thought, since not only were they at cross-purposes, but also they couldn’t trust each other. Watching him operate up close was a bonus that should have helped her figure out how to sway him to her cause.
Instead, memories of what he’d looked like with his hands cuffed and his body being very honest made her keenly aware of how close they sat, his thigh just inches from hers.
On a real bed.
“Now that you’ve brought up the subject,” he continued, “we need to decide what our next step will be.”
“Go to London, of course.”
“Ah, your deal.” Arching an eyebrow, he leveled her with that inky-black gaze and won an instant reaction deep in her stomach. “I’m curious. When do you decide you’re getting no place, trash my reputation and drive me underground to live as an international fugitive?”
“I hope it won’t come to that.”
“Still think I’ll cooperate?”
“I’ve proven myself, haven’t I?”
“Enough to trust MI6 with my future?” His gaze never wavered. “I don’t trust my fate to any man.”
That statement was so rich with implication that she wanted to ask why. Secret Intelligence hadn’t been able to uncover his deep dark past, and she wondered what had happened in his life to hone his survival skills to such a keen edge.
“What about trusting your future to a woman?” she asked, her voice soft, the words right.
But the feeling was wrong. Her mission objective was to convince him to cooperate, and Lindy had never been squeamish about doing her job. Yet, somehow those right words laced the intimacy of the moment with a portion of something decidedly…uncomfortable.
“Trusting you won’t guarantee MI6 will act in faith,” Joshua pointed out. “Most government agencies will say whatever they must to get what they want. You know that. But dealing with a chain of command means unless you’re running the show, you can’t guarantee someone up the ladder won’t change things.”
The remnants of that lovely fluttery awareness vanished beneath a squirmy feeling that made her set aside the coffee, suddenly feeling the effects of how much she’d eaten. “What exactly are you worried about?”
“Besides giving up my career?”
“I think your career’s moot. You can’t work effectively with me on your tail.”
Then she saw something flicker deep in his eyes—pleasure, she thought, or maybe amusement.
“All right, I take that back. You wouldn’t have been climbing into an office building or breaking into a chancellery without a reason. I can only assume you were working.”
“Are you admitting you don’t know what I was doing?”
Here was the tug-of-war again. Only this time, Joshua decided to weight his efforts by running a thumb along her cheek, a warm touch that shouldn’t have s
wayed her mood, but did. “What else besides your career then?”
“Your agency can’t deliver what you’ve promised.”
Her heart began to throb, thick slow beats that felt amplified in the sudden silence. Did Joshua know she’d lied? “You don’t think Secret Intelligence can create a new identity?”
“Doesn’t really matter. One of the fundamental differences between your people and my people is that my people don’t play by the rules.” He thumbed her lower lip, a purposeful stroke that underscored his point. “MI6 might have the resources to give me a new identity, but they can’t keep me safe from someone who might feel betrayed. Not indefinitely, anyway. Not unless I pay for the privilege.”
“What do you think you could do for us?”
Another stroke. “I’m not saying I can do anything. This is pure supposition.”
“So you’re not admitting you have any connections that my agency might be interested in?”
“Of course not.”
She resisted the urge to turn away, to let him know he had so much power over her. The man had clearly analyzed the situation. She’d expected no less, but she needed to understand his concerns to offer reassurance. She didn’t need to feel guilty because she was lying. What was wrong with her?
“Then let’s talk hypothetically.” She injected her tone with a matter-of-factness that she was far from feeling. “How do you think my agency might use this someone’s connections?”
“Your agency would keep this someone around as an informant who would use his, or her, connections to dig up information whenever they might need it. A snitch on the payroll.”
“Not very appealing when you put it like that, is it?”
He shook his head. “Not very healthy either. Like I said, powerful people on both sides of the law tend to dislike it when those they trust betray them.”
Now there was a truth. Given what she knew about Henri Renouf, Lindy didn’t see the man cutting his losses and chalking up one lost fixer to a life lesson learned.
The crime scene photos of Jean Allard came to mind, gritty images that proved how Renouf dealt with men who crossed him.
And worse still…even if Joshua decided to risk Renouf’s retribution, he was wrong about Secret Intelligence. Malcolm expected her to bring in Joshua talking. No deal.
Into Temptation Page 16
