The Cinderella Mission (Family Secrets #1)(28)
Author: Catherine Mann

“Damn straight. Have you seen a doctor?”

“I’m fine.”

She gripped the open V of his shirt to keep herself from shaking him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You didn’t need to know.”

“Why do you get to decide that?”

“I have more experience.” He silenced her with a lingering kiss before backing away. “Finish up your Pilates. I’ll be watching the security cameras until you make it safely back into the house.”

Ethan swiped his 9mm off the table and disappeared into the night.

Experience.

The word lingered in the air, heating it with the knowledge he had in another area, a knowledge she suddenly found herself wanting to learn.

From him.

The thought blindsided her. For two years, she’d spun fantasies about the man, resenting the crush while wanting the fantasy all the same. Right now, the longings and dreams felt very real. And very possible.

She wasn’t one bit closer to getting over her infatuation. Instead, need for him burned deeper, hotter, threatening to overtake her concentration if she didn’t do something about it.

He’d made it clear he wanted her, too. Why not pursue that? She certainly couldn’t be hurting any more than she already was at the moment.

Twenty-four years of abstinence sprawled out in her mind. She’d been waiting for someone she could trust. And as much as she knew Ethan wouldn’t be the man in her tomorrows, she could trust him with today.

He would treat her body and her friendship with care.

A scant fragment of rational thought insisted she might well be influenced more by her hormones than her brain. Too bad. The force of her desire might be causing an edgy ache and reckless decisions, but she welcomed every ounce of frustration because she felt normal.

She might not be as experienced as the other women he chose, but she knew with unquestioning certainty that he wanted her. Badly. She intended to follow through on the promise in his eyes. In his touch.

Ethan Williams would be her lover.

Before this case ended, she intended to broaden her horizons in more than just field craft.

Chapter 8

A flash sparked across the horizon outside the airplane’s windscreen. Ethan gripped the yoke and flew into the light, piloting his twin turbo toward their North Carolina destination with Kelly sitting beside him.

Granted any damned luck at all—and they could use some—the retired agent who’d opened a mining museum would have insights into the underground European jewel trade. They would spend the morning quizzing him about his legendary gem-cutting skills. Time well spent since they needed to widen the scope of their investigation.

Ah, hell, he needed some breathing room from the attraction dogging him, and an airplane winging its way to North Carolina made a fairly decent start.

His private plane also made for a secure location to brainstorm about their investigation going nowhere fast. Sure, they’d lined up top-notch security for the night of the ball, but he wanted answers for Alex Morrow before then. Every day missing increased the chances the agent had died. Or was surviving God only knew what kinds of torture.

Actually, Ethan knew well. Had in fact been through a few such instances in deep-cover situations that placed him in dark corners of the world, places that never saw light.

So far, he’d been able to shield Kelly from that. Today’s informal interview would offer her a chance to stretch her wings in a safe environment.

Although at the moment, he wished he’d opted for a more formal venue so she would have to slap on additional layers of sweaters along with those long skirts she used to wear.

Kelly twirled the end of her ponytail between two fingers, denim looking sinfully good plastered against her curves. “How long’s this guy been out of the agency?”

“About fifteen years.” Clyde Hanson had earned his retirement working his way out of one of those hellholes. Ethan made a visual scan of his instruments, then the clear sky ahead of them. “Word has it he knows everything about jewels and gemstones. Picking his brain may help us find a new direction for why someone’s targeting the summit display.”

“Couldn’t they just be after the monetary value?”

“Maybe. But then why not hit something like Lord Stanfield’s private collection? Or the Cairo exhibit next month. Even the Smithsonian has less security. With all the dignitaries flown in for this, safeguards will be thick even before we implement our extra carpeting of manpower.”

It was one thing to bring down scum in a sting, but keeping that entire mass of people safe hamstrung many of the methods usually open to him. Keeping everyone alive would take creativity, luck, and some serious thinking outside the box.

Given all the current war situations with noncombatants so heavily mixed in, turning to the military for unconventional methods of crowd control made sense. They’d opted to use the cutting edge breakthrough Laser Dazzler—its benign name meant to emphasize the weapon’s nonlethal means. Nonlethal, but effective as hell with intense, rapid bursts of light that disoriented, stunned and even temporarily blinded attackers. “Any word back from Carla on her meeting with the Marines over in Quantico?”

“Their Urban Warfare Battle Lab is still working up the stats on using the Laser Dazzler in this sort of setting. No doubt, it would be easy to lace in with all the equipment in place for the laser show to highlight the jewels. They just need to work on better eye wear to protect the security personnel from being disoriented, as well.” Kelly fished a hand into her purse and pulled out her Palm Pilot. “They’ve made improvements since using it in Somalia, but it would still look odd if the security folks are all wearing goggles. Hopefully, they’ll have something worked out soon with contact lenses that diffuse the light.”

“God knows we don’t need bullets flying and one side claiming someone assassinated their ambassador. Could start a world war.”

Kelly stared down at her Palm Pilot, flipping it in her hand without turning it on. “Samantha’s negotiations for economic relations between Delmonico and the US have stirred fires in more than one nut-case faction.”

Ethan peered out his windscreen at the miniature landscape below. A haze of mist blanketed the ground. Trails of steam and smoke from power plants rose, not yet dispersed or dissipated by winds—early morning peace, deceptively calming before the launch of a day that could hold anything. “There’s no simple answer to wars generations old. Even if we avert a jewel heist, we’ll be lucky to get through the evening without an old-fashioned fistfight.”