by Lexi Blake
“I’ve got a lovely beef consommé for you to start with,” his mother promised as she started to lead him out. The dog followed gamely behind them.
“I don’t even know what that is,” his father complained.
His mother sighed as she closed the door behind them.
“He’s going to make her crazy,” Michael muttered. “It’s soup, obviously. He knows that.”
“You stay out of my relationship with Nina.” He had to draw firm boundaries with his brother. “I don’t know why you’ve got it in your head that you need to stick your nose in this, but I’ve got it handled. I’m not going to screw up this mission.”
“But you are. You already have.”
He wished he’d never agreed to this party. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means this was supposed to be an easy cover,” Michael pointed out. “She was going in as an assistant. We could have found another place for her. She still could have gone in as a staff member. Hell, she could still have gone in as Dad’s assistant. Did you think of that? She could have gone down to take notes for him. No one would have questioned it at all. No one would have even noticed her, but you had to turn a spotlight her way. That’s the worst thing in the world for a spy.”
He didn’t like the thought of Nina being in the shadows. “She’s handling it fine.”
“She shouldn’t have had to.”
“What was I supposed to do? I didn’t plan on Deanna, Jordy, and Patrick showing up on my doorstep,” he argued. “I was out getting us breakfast or I assure you I would have protected her.”
Michael pointed like JT had just made his point. “And she wouldn’t have answered the damn door in the first place if she hadn’t been distracted by you.”
It would have bought her a little time, but Deanna could be insistent. She wouldn’t have left simply because no one answered the door. “I’m sorry you think I screwed this up, but Nina herself told them we were involved. It was the only thing that made sense at the time. I couldn’t say she was a casual hookup and bring her along to the retreat.”
Michael frowned. “And you couldn’t let her not go to the retreat because you couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing her again.”
“Nina made that decision.” He wasn’t about to admit that he would have done anything to keep her close. “You’re not going to get me to change my mind. I’m going to find out who murdered Bill and stole our tech.”
“I thought you were going to let Nina handle everything.”
“I’m going to help her. That’s what I meant. I’m going to give her the cover she needs to figure it out.”
“I wish I could believe you.” Michael was quiet for a moment. “I told her about Dana.”
His heart tightened when he heard her name, but he’d come to an uneasy acceptance. “I know she’s not Dana. I know this isn’t anything like what happened with Dana. Nina isn’t a nineteen-year-old rebel who picks the wrong men. And I hope you didn’t make it seem like I was crazy in love with her. She was my friend, my best friend most of my life.”
Michael seemed to soften. “I know. She was mine, too. I wish she was with us, but we have to move on. You have to move on. I wonder if the reason you haven’t gotten serious is you’re still mourning Dana.”
It was hard to mourn when they’d never found her body. He’d accepted that she wasn’t coming home, but it was hard to never know what happened. “You’re not exactly dripping in long-term women yourself.”
A hint of a smile crossed his brother’s face. “I’m not interested in getting married. But you are. You’re the one who always wanted a family.”
He didn’t see why that was a problem. “I’m not jumping on the first woman I see, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”
“I know. The truth is I like her,” Michael admitted. “I like the fact that she’s already willing to back you up even when it comes to me.”
“She is?”
“She pretty much told me to mind my own damn business and to stop treating you like a child.”
Good for Nina. “Maybe you should listen to her.” He sighed. He hated that the last few years had been somewhat tense between them. “I really like this woman. I want to see where things can go. I promise I won’t screw this up and I won’t do anything that could put her in more danger. That’s the very last thing I want.”
Michael stared his way for a moment as though trying to figure out how to handle him. “I know that’s your intention. You need to remember that she’s the expert at this. Not you.” He was quiet for a moment. “She thinks you didn’t know who she was when you met her at the hotel. But Genny sent you her dossier and a picture. Genny also told you she’d be at the same hotel where Dad keeps a suite.”
“I knew who she was.” A kernel of guilt formed in his gut, but he didn’t care. He really didn’t. At least he told himself that. “But she didn’t know me. She came on to me and I wanted her. I wasn’t about to shut it all down to explain something that really didn’t matter.”
Michael groaned, a frustrated sound. “It mattered to her. Do you know why she left Interpol?”
He wasn’t buying that argument. “I’m not her coworker. I’m nothing but handy cover. And I’m not using Nina. I’m trying to have a relationship with her. I can’t explain it, Mike. I looked at her and I knew she was something special. I knew I had to get to know her. I still feel that way but times about a million. I can be good for her. I’m going to be good for her, but I need time with her, and I can’t do that if she takes off for London the minute this job is over. That’s exactly what she’ll do if I don’t give us a strong foundation for a relationship.”
“All right, but you should understand that if the truth comes out, she might not be happy about it. Like I said, I like her for you.” Michael put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll back off. Be careful out there and do what she tells you to. She’s smart and she knows what she’s doing.”
JT hoped he knew what he was doing, too.
Chapter Seven
JT hugged his mother on the porch. “Thanks for the party, Mom. I think it went a long way toward selling our cover.”
His mother looked toward his truck where Nina sat in the passenger’s seat.
It was past midnight and tomorrow would be a long day, but he found himself reluctant to leave. He wished they could stay here for a day or two and let his parents get to know Nina, let Nina get to know him and where he’d come from.
They were about to be thrown into the crucible, and he wasn’t sure they were ready. By this time tomorrow they would be settling in at the retreat, getting ready for the welcome party. Nina would be working, and he was going to have to give her some space.
Until they went to bed at night. Then they’d agreed he could be in charge.
“Is it really a cover?” his mother asked. “I know you told me you’re interested in her and we teased you a bit, but I watched you at dinner. You’re half in love with that woman.”
He might be more than half. “I like her a lot. This is more than some job for me, and I think she feels the same. We had a connection even before she knew we were going to work together. Now I just have to convince her that connection is real.”
“Your cousin seems to think she’s wonderful. Simon sang her praises to me. Even Chelsea likes her, and that’s saying something. Chelsea doesn’t like anyone. They were so sorry they couldn’t be here tonight, but little Sophy has an ear infection.”
He’d missed his cousin, but worried Si might have been in Mike’s camp. Simon and his wife Chelsea no longer worked for McKay-Taggart, though their new company often worked with them. Simon’s new job meant he hadn’t had a chance to weigh in on whether JT was screwing up the world. “I’ll check in on them when we get back. I should go since we’ve got a flight in the morning. I’ll see you when we get back. Call me if anything changes with Dad.”
Michael stepped up and held out a hand. “Hey, I’ll be here. I’m taking a couple of days of
f from work. I’ll stay out here with the old man, so you don’t have to worry.”
It would be a relief. Not that he didn’t trust his mother. He simply didn’t want her to be alone. That had been his place in the family for so long—the dutiful son, the one who always thought of the family and the business before himself. The one who hadn’t had a real relationship in years because he hadn’t found anyone he thought was perfect for the family and the business.
Fuck it. He didn’t care if Nina fit in, though she likely would. He’d realized he’d looked for the “perfect” wife because he hadn’t found the right one before. When the connection was right, perfection didn’t mean a thing. All that mattered was being with her.
He shook his brother’s hand. “Thank you. I’ll concentrate on the mission.”
Michael shook his hand and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure you will.”
He stepped away. “You say that because you think I’m talking about the spy mission. I’m talking about my mission, brother, and I assure you I’m dedicated to that one.”
He jogged down the steps where the truck and Nina were waiting for him.
His mission would be making her never want to leave him. Nina was his mission and he didn’t intend to fail.
He slid into the cab and buckled his belt. The valet had the cab nice and toasty, though the weather was a bit chilly outside. “You ready? I called the hotel and they said everything’s been delivered, including your new luggage. All you should have to do is pack.”
“And go over a few things for the mission. The rest of the team is there, and I’ve got a call scheduled with them in the morning to ensure everything is running smoothly. I need to prepare for that, so I think I should stay in the guest room tonight.”
She’d given up her room when they’d decided to spend time together. The suite had a second bedroom, but every night this week she’d slept in the master with him. He sighed and pulled the truck away from the house he’d called home all of his life. “So they scared you off?”
“No,” Nina replied. “Your family is perfectly lovely, but the whole time I should have been watching our suspects, I was thinking about you. I was talking to your mother instead, or asking your father about you. It wasn’t very professional of me.”
“The mission hasn’t started yet. I don’t think it would have done much good to try to question Deanna, Patrick, and Jordy at a party where you’re supposed to be getting to know everyone. I’m not especially close to them, so it made sense you would talk to my family.” He could salvage this. “You looked like a woman getting to know her fiancé’s family. That’s a good thing.”
“It would be if I’d meant to do it, but I didn’t. I found myself falling into conversation and forgetting all about what I was actually there to do.” She kept her eyes on the road ahead of them. “This mission is more important than our relationship.”
“It doesn’t have to be.”
“This is my job and it’s all I have. It has to be more important.”
He could argue with her, but now wasn’t the time. They had five days on the island ahead of them, and despite what she was obviously planning, she would spend most of that time with him. “So you’ve decided we shouldn’t sleep together.”
She turned in her seat. “I’ve decided we need to understand that this is a sexual relationship and it can’t last. I have to go back to London, and you’ll do your thing. Maybe we could see each other when we can, but you need a different type of woman.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I saw your life tonight and I don’t see where I would fit. Your mother is a very traditional wife.”
That showed what she knew. “My mother once shot up a CIA team with tranquilizers so my cousin and his future wife could sneak away from them.”
Nina finally looked his way, and the smile that slid across her face was so brilliant it lit up the night. “She did what?”
He was glad he had a few stories to tell her, too. “It was back when my brother had first joined the CIA unit. They all came out here and they were trying their damnedest to recruit Chelsea. Simon didn’t want her to join the Agency.”
“Shouldn’t it have been her choice?” Nina asked in that way that let him know there was only one answer.
Except he knew the truth. He’d been there. “Ten was blackmailing her.”
“Ah, that sounds like the Agency. So your mother decided to shoot everyone?”
It was so good to hear the amusement in her voice. “That was actually my plan. See, we have lots of tranq darts because this is a ranch and we don’t always want to kill an animal that’s gone a little rogue. But I couldn’t do it on my own, and my dad has an all-American respect for government employees. I do not. Oh, I respect the ones who deserve it, but Ten Smith was wrong. So I didn’t have a problem teaming up with my surprisingly-accurate-when-she-shoots momma. It gave Si a chance to make his case to the woman of his dreams. Now the woman of his dreams was Chelsea Denisovitch.”
Nina laughed at that. “He’s got some interesting dreams. She was The Broker. Interpol had eyes on them. I know everyone wanted us to believe it was Charlotte, but I knew the truth.”
“That’s what I’ve figured out, too. But at the time all that mattered was Simon was in love with her and Ten had convinced her she needed to give it all up and work for him. I believe he’d promised he would solve all of Simon’s problems if she would come work for him. I knew my cousin was in trouble and I wanted to give him a shot at talking to her. So Momma and I very quietly took out a CIA special ops team.”
He made it to the end of the long drive to the farm road that would take them to the highway. From there they would pass Fort Worth and the suburbs and make their way back into Dallas.
Where apparently he would sleep alone tonight.
“That was quite brave of you. Do you know what Ten could have done?” Nina asked.
He hadn’t really thought about it at the time. “It was important. I had to gamble that he needed my help more than he wanted revenge. Like I’ve mentioned before, the Agency has used Malone Oil more than once. International companies can give an operative excellent cover.”
“And it didn’t hurt that he wanted Michael on the team.” She sat back and seemed to relax as they started down the long highway.
“No, it didn’t.”
“Is it odd to be a twin?”
He took it as a good sign. She was asking him something personal. “Not to me, but then I’ve had a twin since I was conceived. He’s always been there.”
“And then he wasn’t.”
“And then he wasn’t.” He didn’t talk about this much because no one ever asked him. “He didn’t even tell me he was going into the Navy. We graduated and I thought we would take a month off and travel some, but he was on his way to Great Lakes the day after.”
“He didn’t tell you?” The question was quiet but conveyed a sense of shock.
“He left me a note,” JT admitted. “I suppose he didn’t want me to try to talk him out of it. Or he didn’t want to talk about it at all. He’d made his decision.”
She was silent for a moment before she asked her next question. “Are you the one who always compromises?”
“I don’t think Mike would put it that way. I think he believes the first twenty years of his life were a compromise. I don’t know. I was happy.”
“Because of Dana?”
She’d learned a lot about him. She obviously hadn’t been lying when she’d said she’d spent her time thinking of him. Still, he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about this.
“It’s all right,” she said as though she’d read his mind. “You don’t have to say anything.”
But shouldn’t he want to have someone to talk to? He’d made a friend a while back. Jared Johns. They’d gotten pretty close. He and his new wife Sarah had moved to California, and they were waiting on their first baby, so they talked less now. He didn’t blame the guy, but for a moment it had been g
ood to have a friend. He was friendly with guys on the rigs, but he never stayed long enough, and he was the boss. He had some guys he’d hung out with in college, but they were all getting married and having kids.
“Dana was the daughter of my father’s best friend. We grew up together. Our parents always joked that she would marry one of us—either me or Mike, but everyone knew it would be me.” His heart hurt whenever he thought of Dana. “I don’t know. She was always there, too.”
“And then she wasn’t,” Nina said gravelly.
“And then she wasn’t.”
“A lot of people have left you.”
“Only the most important ones.” He’d never thought about it this way. “Don’t think I’m feeling sorry for myself. I’ve had a good life. But I miss them. I didn’t love her. Not the way I was supposed to. Maybe I would have if she’d chosen me. I would have married her. I would have gotten out of college and married Dana and taken my place in the company. Is that wrong? That I’m the one who accepted the place my parents made for me?”
“It’s not wrong to want something. It’s wrong to reject something simply because your parents wanted it for you. The same way it’s not wrong to reject something you truly don’t want. From what I learned about you and your brother this evening I don’t think either of you fall into those categories.”
They didn’t. When he looked back on it, he realized the signs of his brother’s unhappiness had been there. He’d simply ignored them. “I loved this business for as long as I’m able to remember. I wanted to do this. I wanted to own Malone Oil. As I got older I wanted to learn all the ways I can take us from Malone Oil to Malone Energy. I’ve got my fingers in a lot of sustainable pies right now. This is my dream. But Mike never wanted what I wanted, and we’ve never recovered from him walking away. I forgave him a long time ago, but we’re still out of synch. He still seems closer to his friends. That’s the sad thing. I never found a person who could replace him, but he’s replaced me several times over.”
