Her Enemy Protector (Tempt Me 2)

She opened her eyes and raised her arm so he could help her up, wincing in pain. “Laying it on a little thick weren’t you?”

“I’ve been doing this double-agent thing quite a bit longer than you. I know what it takes.” He scooped her up in his arms as if he did that type of thing all the time and headed toward the front door. “Time to play dead again. We gotta make sure as many people as possible see me run to the main house with dead you in my arms so when you start over in Montana or Maine no one has any idea. It has to look real. With any luck, the bad-guy grapevine will have your obit posted before the day’s out.”

“Are you going to cry?”

Jasper grinned down at her. “I’m going to fucking weep, gnash my teeth, and promise to burn the whole world down to avenge you. They thought Rolf was bad. Just wait until they get a load of me.”

The poor fools had no idea.

…

Thirty-thousand feet above the North Atlantic Ocean on the Silver Knights mobile command jet, Lucas noted, but didn’t give a shit, that everyone had breathed a sigh of relief when he’d locked himself into his small office in the back of the plane. Tension had chewed a hole in his gut and worry was chipping away at what was left.

He hated not being in the group of agents boarding Henriksen’s ship right now. He loathed being in any plane he wasn’t piloting. He despised that all he could do was pace and watch the clock until word came in that the operation had been a success. More than all of that though, he couldn’t stand being away from Ruby.

He didn’t give a shit what anyone said, as soon as this mission wrapped up, he was going to find her. If that meant the end of his term as head of the Silver Knights, so be it. He may owe his life to Elskov, but his heart belonged to Ruby.

Three quick raps sounded on his office door.

“Enter.”

Clausen walked in, armed with a clipboard and a grim expression.

“We have him, sir,” Clausen said. “The Elskov Royal Navy picked him up. His boat may have been loaded down with guns and ammunition, but it was no match for a battleship.”

Good news, which didn’t explain the way she couldn’t meet his gaze. He grasped for possibilities. Could Rolf have double-crossed Henriksen? Were the guns in the wind? That was the last thing they needed.

He grabbed the bottle of antacids on his desk and shook out a few tablets into his hand. “And the weapons?”

She consulted the clipboard as if she didn’t know the answer already. “Confiscated and on their way to a secure location.”

“So what’s wrong?” He popped the tablets into his mouth, knowing even as he did so that they weren’t going to alleviate the worry churning in his stomach. “Don’t tell me the Americans are elbowing in this operation any more than they already have.”

“No.” She shook her head. “There’s been a fire at the main house on Fare Island.”

His lungs twisted into a tight knot and he lost the ability to take a breath. “Was anyone hurt?”

“Our reports are that everyone made it out.”

Only years of training kept him from collapsing into his chair with relief. “Thank God.”

Finally, Clausen made eye contact, and he suddenly wished like hell that she’d kept her attention on that damn clipboard. She had the same look in her eyes he’d seen as a kid when the upstairs neighbor had meet him outside his

apartment to let him know his mother had overdosed.

“One of the low-level thugs in the Macintosh organization told one of our informants that Ruby Macintosh had been shot and killed prior to the fire. Her body was in the house at the time of the blaze. They weren’t able to retrieve her remains before the house became fully engulfed.”

There may have been more words. He didn’t hear them. He just stood there, frozen as his world fell apart. Gone. He should have stayed. He should have protected her. He should have listened to his heart. Now it was too late.

Clausen cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, sir.”

Fuck. How long had she been standing there? A minute? Ten? Longer? He had no clue. “Thank you for letting me know.”

“Of course, sir.” She nodded and left.

He crossed to the built-in filing cabinet and yanked open the top drawer. Inside was a bottle of akvavit and a set of small glasses. It was for special celebrations at the end of a successful mission. He’d done his duty. Put Elskov first.

Today was a success.