by Jean Oram
He watched, curious as to what else she’d find, and what her grainy black-and-white reaction would be.
She discovered weapons, cash. Just about everything, and he found himself smiling. She might act like she was just a bubbly, happy, small-town gal, but she had a lot going on. A lot he liked. Still smiling, he wondered if she’d consider becoming an agent.
He was almost caught up to real time with the recorded feed when he saw Ginger go to the door.
No!
Logan almost stood up again, ready to dash across the sand.
Had Vito sent a follow-up man?
What if Logan had already lost her?
He sped up the recording, his breath coming in jagged bursts. He nearly died of relief when he saw it was only Ted who’d come by, without his fiancée.
The man showed Ginger a note and Logan knew—Nadia was missing.
Ginger turned and looked straight into the hidden camera, and Logan knew it was time to tell her everything.
Chapter 6
Ginger went to the door, not at all surprised to find Logan standing there, decked out in black clothing. “Nadia is missing.”
“I know,” he said, setting her skin on fire as he brushed past her. His eyes swept the room, picking up Ted’s slumped form on the couch, the weapon and passport she’d unearthed and not put away.
“We need to talk,” she said.
“I know.”
“Privately.”
“Agreed.”
They both turned, marching to the bathroom as if of one mind.
Logan closed the door behind them and Ginger leaned against the vanity, arms crossed over her red pajamas.
“I’m sorry I had to lie to you.”
Ginger had been ready to drill him with questions, but paused as he took her hand, his expression softening with hope when he saw his rings still on her finger. “I need you, Ginger.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do. You make me feel real, alive. You’re part of the life I want.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Because you’re a…” Which scenario should she pop on him? “…a thief.”
“A thief?” He hesitated as though about to agree, then shook his head.
Yeah, she didn’t quite believe that one, either. Even though he had stolen her heart.
“You’re a man on the run. You cross borders with various passports and—and…” She was too tired to think. “…you’re involved with something unbelievable, something out of the movies.”
“Close.”
“You’re an undercover cop?” she asked hopefully. She kind of liked that one. It wasn’t too scary. “A spy?”
He brushed her cheek with the backs of his knuckles. “Just know that I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe, and any time I don’t tell you the truth it’s because I’m protecting you.”
She was so ready to cave. But she needed to stand strong. They couldn’t have a true relationship with secrets.
“Nice cover. Does that work on all your wives?”
“You’re the only one.”
She looked down at their linked hands, not remembering when that had happened.
She’d chosen Logan, certain he would leave her. She hadn’t given Kurt a truly fair shake all those years ago, and, as Wanda had pointed out, she consistently went for men who left her. Were destined to and made no bones about that being their intention.
Then she blamed them for it.
“Logan?”
“Yes?”
“Please tell me the truth—is what’s between us real?”
“Yes.”
She watched him for a long moment. His eyes were a soft gray—the color they became when he was the man she knew, loved and understood. What he said was true. He believed they had something, too.
The problem was, she didn’t know how long he’d last before the other guy with the slate-gray eyes would take over, acting edgy and distant. The man she’d seen on Vito’s boat. The man who’d escorted her back to the honeymoon cottage and told her to lock the doors if she wouldn’t go home to Blueberry Springs.
“Who’s Vito?”
“He’s not a good person,” Logan said hesitantly. There was a story there, that was for certain.
“I know that. And you don’t like him. Why?”
“He’s not a good person,” Logan repeated with a sigh. “I really need you somewhere safer than Indigo Bay right now.”
Her mind flicked to Vito’s man who’d come by that evening. She had a bad feeling about him, and wasn’t sure why, but had a suspicion he was connected to Nadia’s disappearance.
“Did Vito take Nadia?”
Logan’s eyes shifted ever so slightly, revealing his surprise, as well as the truth.
Ginger crossed her arms. “So how are we getting her back?”
“Wait. I thought we were having a moment and figuring out our relationship.”
“We were and we did. I trust you, forgive you, and know we have a ton of work left to do on our relationship. But Nadia is missing.”
He nodded, his brow wrinkled in confusion, even though an amused smile was playing at his lips. “So you and I, are we…?”
“About to kiss and make up?” She leaned closer, wondering if she was being incredibly hopeful, or stupid in trusting him and believing that something between them might last. “Yes.”
She kissed him long and slow.
“And now we go save my friend.”
Logan couldn’t quite believe it.
Ginger might have just forgiven him. At least a little bit. Either that or she was simply using him to help her find Nadia.
But that kiss? It had been an I-forgive-you kiss. One that held promises of later.
There had been no big fight. No big declarations of love or misguided trust or any of that. Just a “who are you and I forgive you let’s go save the world and talk about our marriage later.”
That worked for him, but it also confused him worse than a Rubik’s Cube. He didn’t know where he stood, didn’t know how much she knew or understood, only that they needed time. Lots of time.
He saw his reflection in the bathroom mirror, his confusion and uncertainty apparent.
He currently had no orders to move forward, but a missing person connected to the case meant a call-in. “Can you excuse me a moment?”
Ginger left the bathroom and he locked himself in as he contacted HQ, letting them know Nadia was missing. They already knew that. She was on the yacht and so was Greg’s wife, Roxie.
Collateral.
And that was why Vito’s man had kept coming around Ginger’s cottage. Thank goodness she hadn’t opened the door or she’d be tied up on that yacht, too.
The very idea of her being that close to danger made Logan want to slam his fist through the bathroom door.
He needed to get her out of here, find a safe place for her, as the team was going to perform a takedown at this morning’s meeting with Vito, assuming he revealed enough details that they could slap a binding conviction on him. If nothing else, they had him on kidnapping and possession of what amounted to a crap ton of stolen, restricted diamonds. That would put a kink in his business plans for a decade or two. But Logan needed Ginger far away in case things went haywire.
As he opened the bathroom door he caught sight of Ted silently freaking out on the couch. He’d rather leave the man as much in the dark as possible so he didn’t mess things up, but Ginger needed to know enough that she could leave town with Annabelle and act like the smart woman Logan knew she was.
“Ginger?” He called her into the bathroom again, closing the door behind them.
“Are you okay?” She looked worried.
“I can’t tell you who I am, but know that I’m a man who has sworn to keep you safe.”
“You’ll never be able to tell me, will you?”
He realized that his secret identity would always stand between them, always be a problem for Ginger.
>
“Not today. And right now I need you to take Annabelle out of town until I come get you.”
“Why?”
“It’s probably best you don’t ask me any questions I might have to lie about, but know that it’s for your safety as well as hers. I’m counting on you to help me.”
She slowly nodded, heaving a big sigh. For a moment he thought she was going to walk, judging by the fear and uncertainty flickering over her features. But then she looked up, her expression one of resolve. “Okay.”
“You trust me to keep you safe?”
“Always.”
He gave her a kiss—a brief one, as there was no time for distractions.
He let them out of the bathroom and swept up the various gadgets Ginger had found, tucking them onto his body. It felt familiar, though not like the man he wanted to be when around Ginger. But he’d worry about that later.
Right now he had a job to do, and one of them was ensuring his wife remained safe.
Ginger wasn’t sure how to handle her new reality. She was sitting in her little rented convertible with the top up, Logan standing beside her, leaning in to give her a quick rundown on how to tell if she was being tailed, how to shake someone, what to do if someone tried to rear-end her or run her off the road.
She grabbed his hand. “I can’t do this.”
The sun was starting to creep over the horizon, her friend was missing, Ginger had to take a girl to a safe house, and she was fairly certain her husband was a spy.
A spy!
She’d married a spy. Who on earth married a spy?
She was legally married to a man with guns strapped to his side and totally owning it.
And why had he needed a visa if he was a spy? Was she some sort of cover for him? Did that nullify their marriage?
Oddly, she wasn’t sure how she felt about that since coming to terms with the fact that she quite liked the guy and wanted to spend some time with him. Lots of time.
But Annabelle. The girl couldn’t be part of an elaborate cover, could she?
Man, was Ginger ever confused.
And by the sound of things, her time on Vito’s yacht had actually been set up as some sort of meeting that had gained Logan the intel he needed to go in today to arrest the man. She didn’t want to even think what Logan planned to arrest him for, seeing as kidnapping Nadia and Roxie seemed to be only the icing on the cake and not the full meal.
Logan, his eyes intense, crouched beside her. “It’s going to be okay.”
“No. No, it’s not.”
“It is. This is my job.”
“No, it’s not.” She didn’t know what was wrong with her, only that she was ready to cry, ready to crumble.
“Ginger, look at me.”
Her eyes had been locked on the long knife strapped to his calf and she glanced up, meeting those gray eyes, so steady, so sure.
“This is who I am.”
“No, it’s not.”
“It is.”
“No! You’re kind and caring and not a killer.”
“Ginger…”
She was crying, at a loss over how a guy so sweet and tender could also be a man with weapons strapped to him, ready to swing in and save the day by any means required.
“Please be him for me,” she begged, sliding out of the car. She loved the soft side of Logan and didn’t know what to do with this spy side. He was deadly, dangerous. About to walk into something that could end his life.
“I have a job to do. People to save.”
She placed her hands on either side of his face. “Then do it, and come back to me and be the man I fell in love with.”
He crushed her in a sudden hug, his breathing jagged. “I want to be married to you, Ginger. I want a real life.”
“Then we’ll find a way, because I’m not leaving you. You’re my husband and you’re a keeper. Please, come back to me.”
“I swear I will. I swear.”
And when they kissed, she tasted the union of their salty tears.
Logan strode into the marina for his meeting with Vito. The agency had eyes on Ginger, and said she’d collected Annabelle and left town, heading toward Charleston. But that’s where their tail ended, because it was needed on the docks. Logan had placed a tracer on her car, made sure her cell phone was charged and done all he could to keep her safe with such short notice.
His Ginger. His wife.
She loved him. Wanted to be with him.
Darned if that didn’t make this the happiest day of his life. He whistled as he moved among the docks, the boats rocking gently, their cables every so often clanging jauntily against their masts. He was wearing a wire, and the marina was stacked with agents acting as early morning workers.
Vito was going down today.
Logan would battle the bad guy, save Nadia and Roxie, then go home—to Ginger—and figure out how to be a husband.
And all before the sun was fully up and the world awake.
Mission complete.
Easy.
He turned down the last dock, closing in on Vito’s boat.
He was hit by a shock wave as the boat exploded, the force slamming the wind from his lungs as he flew through the air, hitting the water hard before its icy, salty chill swallowed him whole.
Chapter 7
Logan tested his limbs as he coughed the water from his lungs. After his cold, brutal dunking in the sea, he’d somehow managed to pull himself back up on the dock, woozy from the shock and still fighting not to lose consciousness. He hoped his wire was waterproof.
He rolled onto his back, catching sight of a gutted, burning hull. Vito’s yacht. Well, he supposed a working wire was the least of his worries.
Diamonds, uncut, littered the dock as Logan twisted onto his side. There went months of undercover work.
Although, then again, maybe not completely. Agents were already swarming the area, retrieving bodies from the water, one quickly collecting the diamonds.
Logan watched Vito be pulled from the water. Then Nadia and Roxie, too. They’d all be okay. Both women’s eyes were opening as they struggled to come back around after their unexpected dip into the frigid ocean.
He eased back onto his back, wheezing as he tried to bolster himself into moving into a more upright position. “I’m too old for this crap,” he said as Zach Forrester came up alongside him.
His friend offered him a hand, pulling him up, then giving him a shoulder to lean on while acting as though he was reading Logan his rights so he could arrest him. All part of maintaining his cover and protecting agents.
“Is it just the pain talking?” Logan asked. “Because right now I want out.”
He knew it wasn’t just his aching muscles making him say that.
Zach nodded. “Probably.” He gave him another assessing glance. “But you really are out, aren’t you?”
Logan waved to the smoking remains of the several-million-dollar yacht, trying to distract himself from the images of Ginger that floated through his mind. “Why blow up the boat? That takes all the fun out of the takedown.”
“You’re lucky you weren’t on board.”
Logan’s knees seemed to lose their ability to lock.
“Whoa there.” Zach braced him with a hand on his chest. He glanced around to check if anyone was watching. “Want to sit?”
“I’m good.”
His fellow agent studied him for a moment. “Aw, man.”
“What?” Logan looked around for the source of his friend’s disappointment. All he could see was billowing smoke, diamonds, scurrying agents and a whole lot of handcuffs. Enough to warrant the look, but he knew it wasn’t the cause.
“You’re in love, aren’t you?”
Logan snorted but smiled. He was.
“And my guess is you want to tell her who you really are so you can have an honest relationship.”
Logan sighed. He did.
“When you fall in love,” Zach continued, “things change, such as your priorities and whe
re you place your attention.”
Logan rubbed his jaw, unable to argue that point.
“The Logan I knew a few months ago would have sensed that double-crosser’s explosion coming before anyone else.”
“Double-crosser?”
“Yeah, the guy who delivered a new stash of diamonds a few hours back. They were all hanging out, like everything was cool, until literally a minute ago. We heard him over the ears you set up. He announced he wanted more money. Vito said no. The guy left, then boom.” Zach raised his hands in the air. “We were listening in, letting it play out, and did not see that explosion coming.” He clapped Logan on the shoulder. It hurt. “You’re a lucky man, you know that?”
He agreed. He was definitely lucky.
Zach spun him around and slapped cuffs on him. Logan pretended to be indignant, shaking his head at the supposed injustice of it all. He added for any audience, “It wasn’t me! I just forgot something on Vito’s boat yesterday. I swear!”
“You’ve become a danger to yourself,” Zach said quietly.
Logan looked at him in confusion as he led him toward the collection of police cars in the marina parking lot. His fellow agent opened his mouth to speak, then shook his head. He said lightly, “Dude, do you even hear the fire department’s sirens going off around us right now?”
Logan frowned. “Must have hit the water harder than I thought.” He tilted his head to the side as though draining water from his ear canals.
“Well. Anyway, I’m opening a private security business. You’re welcome to join me if you’d like.”
“You fall in love?”
“Nope.” He grinned. “But I know an agent can punch his card only so many times.” They walked in silence for a moment, the dock feeling unsteady under Logan’s feet. “Come join me.”
Logan barely hesitated before agreeing, wishing he wasn’t cuffed so he could shake Zach’s hand. He didn’t know what he was doing, only that he was listening to that little voice inside him that started up whenever Ginger was around.
He thought it might be the voice of hope.
Zach pushed Logan into a waiting police car to maintain his cover. Paul was behind the wheel, grinning at his catch. Until he saw that Logan was soaking wet and would leave his squad car drenched.
