Chapter 10
10
A different Marine fetched Alex from his room the next morning and led him downstairs. He caught sight of Katie and Dawn at the foot of the stairs and relief jumped in his gut before he remembered.
She is not who she pretends to be.
He should have known. If life had taught him nothing else, it was that people were never who they said they were.
“There you are, Alex!” Katie cried. “We missed you, didn’t we, Dawn?”
He stepped close to chuck the baby’s cheek. “How’d she sleep last night?”
“As good as ever. She’s a great baby.”
He was vividly aware of the woman attaché from last night and the Marine behind him paying close attention to his conversation with Katie. Looking for him and Katie to send coded signals to each other, were they? What did they know about Katie that he didn’t?
“Shall we go?” the attaché chick said pleasantly.
She undoubtedly couldn’t wait to get rid of him. The feeling was mutual. He was more than ready to get as far away from this part of the world as he could. Had Katie not pulled high-level strings with Uncle Charlie, he doubted they would be leaving the embassy so quickly this morning. Hell, they would probably be lying dead in some alley with bullets to the backs of their heads.
They stepped outside and a limousine bearing diplomatic license plates waited for them. Katie, Dawn, attaché chick, and he climbed inside. The Marine officer from last night’s interrogation was already waiting within, scowling.
They arrived at the airport and were ushered into the terminal by their hosts. An airport official in a suit led them up a staircase and into the passenger area of the terminal, bypassing the usual security checkpoints. The man handed Alex a paper jacket containing plane tickets and boarding passes all the way through to Dulles Airport just outside Washington, D.C.
“Do you need us to stay until you board, Dr. Peters?” the attaché asked solicitously.
Gonna make him beg a little, was she? He answered with a calm he was far from feeling, “That would be helpful.”
The woman added blandly, “We’ve spoken with the airport security staff and they’re on high alert for any problems.”
He’d bet. She’d probably told the Uzbeki’s he was the primary threat.
Alex sat down in a plastic chair in the waiting area and pretended to read yesterday’s edition of Pravda that he picked up from the coffee table beside him.
Katie walked back and forth with Dawn, who was uncharacteristically fussy all of a sudden. Sensing disquiet in Katie, perhaps? Poor kid’s sleep schedule must be wrecked by all the weird hours they’d been keeping.
Their flight to Moscow was just being called for pre-boarding—which they qualified for, not only because they had a baby but because they needed not to die before they left Uzbekistan—when a commotion broke out at the security area across from their gate.
The Marine escort leapt to his feet with Alex not far behind. Katie rushed to Alex’s side like a child running to a parent for safety.
Man, she was a good actress. Hell, she’d fooled him, hadn’t she?
“What is it?” she asked with credible fear quavering in her soprano voice.
He stared at the group of suited men trying to argue their way through the phalanx of security guards who’d appeared like magic in a thick cluster before the entry point.
Wow. Those Uzbeki soldiers must have been lurking just out of sight the whole time. What had that attaché told them about him, anyway? Hell, he supposed his name alone probably would have been enough to garner that sort of security presence.
“Ohmigod,” Katie breathed.
He glanced down at her and then followed the direction of her incredulous stare through the heavy glass partition. Behind the four suited men arguing stridently with the security guards stood another man, apart and aloof from the commotion. A face he hadn’t seen in years. His own face, but thirty years older.
“You look just like him,” Katie said in wonder and horror.
Roman Koronov. What, in name of all that was unholy, was he doing here?
It was one thing to suspect his father had been in the Chaika. It was another thing to see his father like this. In the flesh. The bogeyman of his nightmares made real and standing only a dozen yards away, scowling.
Cold, sick shock roiled his stomach until Alex felt like vomiting.
“Why’s he here?” Katie asked tightly.
Belatedly, the attaché chick spotted his old man and audibly gasped. To her credit, her hackles stood straight up and she all but growled aloud. That, or she was as good an actress as Katie.
As much for the attaché’s benefit as Katie’s, Alex snarled, “I don’t care if he wants to talk to me or not. Wild horses couldn’t drag me within speaking distance of him.”
He glared coldly as his father slowly, deliberately lifted a cell phone to take a picture. Except he didn’t point the phone at Alex. The bastard pointed it at Katie and Dawn.
“Why is he taking pictures of me?” Katie asked nervously.
“Son of a bitch is trying to intimidate me. He’s sending me a message,” Alex said icily.
“What message?”
Alex pointedly turned his back on his father. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll never play ball with him. I’m done with him.”
“Big words, Mr. Peters,” the Marine muttered.
“That’s Doctor Peters to you,” he snapped. “Put us on the plane. Now. And at all costs, don’t let him through that security checkpoint.”
Attaché chick left the waiting area and headed over to the checkpoint, hopefully to run additional interference with his father, while the Marine hustled him, Katie, and Dawn aboard the jet.
First class seats, huh? Wow. The embassy must really want to get rid of them bad to spring for these expensive seats. Honestly, he’d expected to be crammed in the worst seats on the plane by way of petty revenge for their spectacular arrival at the embassy last night.
Most likely, these had been the only seats available on such short notice. Or, he thought sourly, maybe Uncle Charlie had even more clout than he’d given the guy credit for.
Katie fidgeted beside him. “Will your father try to shoot this plane down?”
It was entirely possible his father had the influence to call in an airstrike on this plane. But last he heard, his father wanted him to work for the FSB, not kill him.
“Even he’s not that vindictive,” he murmured to Katie, flashing her a false smile of reassurance. Not that he believed his own words for a minute.
Thankfully, she seemed to buy his lie and settled in her seat.
He’d promised her he would never lie to her. He should’ve known it would be his father who made him break that promise. Silently, he renewed his promise to Katie to be honest with her going forward. Not that she was going to like what he said to her when they finally got a chance to be alone and have an honest talk.
Why being honest with her mattered to him, he couldn’t say. After all, she’d been lying to him from day one about who she was and what she wanted from him.
Could it be that he’d actually liked the person he’d been around her when he’d thought she was innocent and kind and normal?
He held his breath through the entire takeoff and climb-out to altitude. Huh. They were still alive. Color him surprised.
He spent the entire flight expecting the plane to explode in a giant fireball and white-knuckled the arms of his chair for the entire six-hour flight to Istanbul.
He was not surprised when American embassy staff met them at the end of the jet bridge and escorted them to their connecting flight to London. The pair of beefy, short-haired men wore civilian suits, but they might as well have had signs around their necks saying, “United States Marine Corps bad asses.”
He wondered if they were there to protect him and Katie or to make sure he and Katie got on their flight to the States. Maybe they didn’t want him tarrying in Turkey where they would be responsible for any shenanigans he got up to. Or maybe it was merely another demonstration of Uncle Charlie’s clout within the CIA.
Regardless of the reason for it, he was glad for the protection. They boarded their plane for London without incident.
The same sort of welcoming committee met them at Heathrow and politely booted them out of England, as well.
Twenty-two long hours after they left Tashkent, they finally landed at Dulles. Dawn was fed up with airplanes and went into major meltdown by the time they deplaned. Katie was frazzled with trying to keep the baby happy, and he was just tired.
They disembarked, and nobody ostensibly met them at the gate. Not that he doubted for a second that they were being closely monitored on the airport’s extensive security camera network.
But then, that was ops normal for his life. He was watched everywhere he went.
He had to admit. It was really good to be back on American soil. This was his home turf. Riddled with enemies though America might be, he knew the terrain. Plus, he had rights here. Resources. And the CIA could not legally operate on American soil. Not that such a pesky technicality slowed down the agency by much. They had ways of getting around that law.
Shockingly, the Customs agent let him, Katie, and Dawn pass without any hassles. They had no bags to collect, so they headed directly for a taxi stand.
Katie laughed a little and said, “It feels weird not to be looking over my shoulder for tails.”
“Welcome home,” he commented dryly.
“Well, not technically. I live in Pennsylvania.”
“Will you go there right away?” he asked innocently.
“I figure I’ll have to stick around D.C. for a day or two. The folks at Doctors Unlimited are going to want to hear the details of what happened to us.”
Right. That, and she hadn’t caught him in her CIA snare, yet.
She continued, “I was thinking about trying to find Dawn’s father to let him know she exists.”
Alex lurched. Okay, he hadn’t seen that one coming. He had to give her credit. It was a good cover story. Believable. Credible excuse for sticking around him for a while longer.
Yep. The cookie jar over at Langley was full of smart cookies. No flimsy cover stories for their operatives, no sir.
A cab driver opened his vehicle’s doors for them. “Where to?” he asked.
Katie looked over at Alex. “Can you recommend a hotel for me and Dawn? Something close to the D.U. offices, but not too expensive.” She added ruefully, “I live on a starting nurse’s salary and have student loans to pay off.”
He leaned forward and gave the driver a street address on the border between Georgetown and northwest D.C.
“You’ll stay at my place,” he announced grimly.
“No. I couldn’t!”
“Why not? We’ve been living together for a while, now.”
“But…but…” she sputtered.
“You’re exhausted and you need help with the baby. I’ve got plenty of room. This way I can keep an eye on you two.”
She smiled gratefully as if she’d taken his comment to mean he wanted to keep her and Dawn safe. In point of fact, he’d meant it literally. He physically wanted to keep her close until he could figure out exactly what her marching orders were from the CIA.
Plus, his father had taken pictures of her and the baby .
Until he knew what his father and/or the FSB wanted from him and was threatening to do to Katie and Dawn, he needed to keep them both close so he could foil his father’s plans.
Katie leaned forward, interested, as the cab pulled to a stop in front of a turn-of-the century building in a stupidly posh neighborhood. Just how much money had Alex taken the mob for in his gambling spree?
Alex paid the cabbie from his stash of cash and led her inside. The lobby of what turned out to be an apartment building was sleek and modern in sharp contrast to the quaint exterior. They rode the elevator in silence to, no surprise, the top floor.
She was surprised, however, to discover that his condo took up the entire top floor of the building. Besides being huge, it was open and airy, decorated with modern, clean-lined furnishings.
“Your decorator is superb,” she commented. “To pull off a space this modern, yet keep it warm and inviting, is no easy feat.”
“Thanks. I’ll tell her,” he replied dryly.
He’d been distant and remote with her ever since they got to the embassy in Tashkent. Had something happened to him there to upset him? He was so hard to read most of the time. And she was usually pretty good at deciphering stoic men.
Alex showed her to a guest bedroom decorated in soft, pale shades of green and cream. Its floor to ceiling glass windows looked out on a rooftop terrace boasting a sleek, swimming pool and landscaping that managed to be as modern and welcoming as the rest of the condo. A mix of old-world perennials and sleek planters made for a stunning visual display.
“Your home is magnificent,” she declared.
He shrugged. “It’s relaxing.”
“Do you have guests often?” she couldn’t resist asking.
“Never.”
He was back to one- and two-word sentences with her, huh? Was it something she’d said or done? Her resolve to reach past his emotional barriers wavered. Had she set an impossible goal for herself?
“I’ll have some baby stuff delivered,” he said emotionlessly.
“You don’t have to go to all that trouble,” she replied quickly. “We’ll only be here a day or two, I hope.”
“Eager to get rid of me, are you?”
“Not at all. You’ve been a great companion and saved my life more than once. I owe you more than I can every repay.”
She lifted her gaze to his, and for just an instant, memory of what else she owed him blazed in his eyes. How was it that light gray eyes could burn so dark and hot?
He turned on his heel and walked out without a word.
Dismayed, she gave Dawn her first real bath in the oversized copper bowl that served as a sink. The baby splashed excitedly and Katie laughed in delight when the baby soaked her.
She glanced up in the mirror as a movement caught her eye and saw Alex’s silhouette just disappearing from the doorway. He’d been watching her and Dawn play together? Why? And why had he left?
She jumped in the shower while Dawn had some tummy time on a towel on the heated floor.
Maybe she could coax Alex into watching the baby for an hour or two this afternoon while she slipped out for a quick shopping trip. She was going to scream if she had to wear these clunky jeans and sweatshirt one more day. And she needed a blow dryer and some make-up in the worst way.
Alex was non-communicative when she made her request and she took his grunt for assent. Dawn went down for a nap, and she grabbed her wallet, which was one of the few personal possessions of hers that had made it all the way back to America from Zaghastan. That, and her passport. Oh, and her ugly hiking boots. That was about it.
She found a drug store and stocked up on basic toiletries. The clerk told her where the nearest shopping area was, and she walked the half-dozen blocks to a retail area. She sighed in delight at the sight of cute women’s clothes in the storefronts. Lord, she’d missed civilization.
Before she left the first store, she took deep pleasure in ceremonially throwing out the construction worker jeans and hiking boots. She walked out wearing girl jeans that made her look she actually had an ass and a cute pair of pink tennis shoes. She bought several tops at the next store, and was just collecting her bags to check out when her cell phone vibrated.
She pulled it out of her pocket and had a text from a phone number she didn’t recognize. It read, “ Buy a dress. D.U. invited us to a cocktail party tonight, and we need to go .”
Alex knew how to text? Surprise, surprise. She texted back, “ How sexy? ”
“ How much more innocence do you want to lose? ”
She looked up at the clerk. “Turns out I’m not done shopping. Where to do you keep your LBD’s?”
The saleswoman grinned. “Little Black Dresses are right over here. Are we doing the works?”
“Oh, yeah,” Katie replied, grinning.
By the time Katie emerged from her bedroom, the babysitter had arrived. How Alex had managed to convince a nun to babysit Dawn for them, she had no idea. But she could rest easy knowing the baby was in great hands.
The wimpled woman in the living room introduced herself. “I’m Sister Mary Harris. I teach at the school Alex attended as a child.”
“Really?” Katie responded interested. “I’d love to hear about him as a boy.”
The gray-haired nun smiled secretively. “In my profession, we carry no tales.”
“Can you at least give me a hint? What kind of child was he?”
“Brilliant. Serious. Withdrawn.”
“That sounds a lot like adult Alex.”
“Indeed.”
Alex emerged from his bedroom, looking as magnificent in a tuxedo as she’d suspected he would. Her initial impression of James Bond instead of Rambo had been spot on. He looked born to a tux.
He murmured to the nun, “You have my number if you need anything.”
“Dawn and I will be fine. I’ve been taking care of babies for forty years.”
Alex glanced in her direction. “The nuns run an orphanage along with the boarding school.”
Katie nodded, pleased that he’d gotten Dawn such a highly qualified sitter.
The nun said, “You two relax and have a nice evening.”
Alex glanced at Katie’s raincoat, which was buttoned to her chin and belted at her waist. She caught the faint smirk that crossed his face. He knew full well she was hiding a hot little dress under there. At least, she hoped he thought it was hot. It was hard to know how to impress a man who was such an accomplished womanizer.
She’d opted for simple and classy. The black silk dress was halter-necked in front, its slit front plunging nearly to her waist. Its back was completely open from the halter neck to a plunging scoop that barely covered the curve of her derriere. The flowy wrap skirt was modest until she walked, when the front panels slid aside to show flashes of her legs up to mid-thigh.
She wore impossibly tall stilettos and prayed no one would chase her and Alex tonight. There was no way she could run in these shoes.
She’d spent the afternoon getting her legs waxed and polished, and while she was at it, she’d gotten a Brazilian bikini wax.
“Shall we?” Alex murmured.
She nodded, jumping as his hand came to rest lightly in the small of her back. They said good night to the sister and made their way to the elevator. He paused long enough to do something to a keypad outside his door that looked like he had activated a security system.
They rode the elevator down in silence. He was apparently going to be his taciturn self tonight, and she was too nervous about going out in public in such a sexy dress to make small talk. She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised by the black town car waiting in front of the building, but it was a shock after the past few weeks of primitive survival.
As they pulled away from the curb, she murmured, “It’s hard to believe I was washing my hair in a bucket of cold water only a few days ago. And now, this.”
He shrugged. “I’ve never set much stock in material things.”
“Why the fancy car then?”
“It’s convenient. And it makes a statement.”
“To whom?”
He stared out the window as if he hadn’t heard her question, but his lips were pressed together tightly. He’d heard her, all right.
Did he feel obliged to remind the staff at Doctors Unlimited that he was a wealthy guy and didn’t need them? Or was it a statement of independence? A display of personal power? Or was Alex just thumbing his nose at everyone, silently declaring he didn’t anyone?
“Who all’s going to be at this party?” she asked.
He finally glanced over at her. “Worried you’ll be under-dressed?”
She raised one eyebrow at him. “I’m perfectly satisfied with my dress, thank you very much. I just wanted to get an idea of who to expect to meet.”
The fire in his eyes flared momentarily and then settled once more. “Most of D.U.’s senior staff should be there. Probably a bunch of diplomatic types. Their parties are usually quite the United Nations.”
It made sense. D.U. needed to stay on good terms with as many countries as possible so its doctors would be allowed to enter and treat patients.
The car pulled up in front of the converted mansion that housed Doctors Unlimited. The driver opened the back door and Alex got out first then held a hand out to her.
She laid her hand in his palm, and the contact was electric. No matter how anti-social Alex was being with her, the spark between them was still alive and kicking.
Dangerous darkness came over him as he ushered her into the mansion. He stopped in the foyer and reached for her coat. She held her breath nervously.
He lifted her coat off her shoulders and took a moment to look her over from neck to toes. “You do like to play with fire, don’t you?” he said low and rough.
“The hotter the better,” she shot back.
He handed off her coat to an attendant and turned back to her. “Careful, little girl. I can burn you bad enough you’ll never recover.”
“I dare you,” she murmured.
His eyelids dropped to half-mast and one corner of his mouth turned up. He said lightly, “You really shouldn’t have said that.”
“Oh yeah?” she challenged. “So far, I’ve heard a lot of big talk about of you, but I haven’t seen a whole lot of action.”
“I’m not one of your brothers, and I’m not ten years old. I don’t indulge in childish dares.”
“What do you indulge in? Why won’t you show me?”
He placed a hand on her waist and guided her toward the large reception area. “All in good time, little lamb.”
The threat simmering in his words sent shivers rippling down her spine. “About damn time,” she breathed mostly to herself.
Alex’s eyes went a little blacker and his hand gripped her waist a little bit tighter as he led her into the party. Good. She would hate to think she was the only one having trouble breathing normally or concentrating on saying hello to the tuxedoed member of D.U.’s board of directors who stepped forward to meet them in concern.
She dredged up his name: Edgar Covington.
“Are you two all right? We were appalled to hear about the massacre,” Covington declared.
“Massacre?” Katie echoed, startled.
“Almost everybody in that village you were serving—Karshan, was it? —was killed in a rebel attack the same night you fled.”
She stared, aghast.
“By the by, in the future, we’d appreciate it if you two contacted us sooner to let us know you’re alive. There was quite a panic around the offices while we tried to find out your status.”
Alex replied dryly, “We were a little occupied avoiding being killed. I called as soon as I felt we were actually safe.”
“But that wasn’t until this morning,” Covington blustered.
“That’s correct,” Alex bit out. “Come, Katie,” he murmured.
She followed Alex as he literally turned his back on Covington and walked away from the man.
“And we’re being intentionally rude to him why?” she muttered.
“Because he’s an ass, and I’ll call in whenever I damn well please.”
“Why’s he an ass?”
“He sprang the news of the massacre on us to see what our reactions would be. The bastard was checking to make sure we had no part in perpetrating it.”
“No way,” she replied, appalled. “We were aid workers delivering babies.”
“You forget. I’m the Devil’s spawn.” He added, “A little birdie told me Covington was one of the board members who voted against hiring me.”
“Then I think he’s an ass, too,” she said stoutly.
The faintest hint of a smile crossed Alex’s face.
She asked him, “Why would they send you out if they thought you might turn on the people you’re supposed to help?”
He lifted a flute of champagne off the tray of pre-poured glasses and handed one to her with a tight smile. “To set me up so I can be arrested and put away forever.”
She stared at him, aghast.
“Or maybe they just want to entrap me.”
She realized with a start that he was watching her intently as he said that. She asked carefully, “Is it possible you’re being a wee bit paranoid?”
“It’s not paranoia if someone is actually following you.”
“Alex, I saw you work your tail off delivering babies. I watched you fight like crazy to save that fourteen-year old, and we both know how hard you tried to save Dawn’s mother. You weren’t out there to kill anyone.”
“I nearly killed the guy who tracked us.”
“But you didn’t, did you?”
“No.”
“You tried to save him, in fact.”
Alex shrugged in reluctant agreement.
“There you have it. You’re not the monster you seem to think everyone sees when they look at you.”
“It’s not my imagination, Katie. Look at how people are avoiding us right now.”
“Their loss,” she retorted. “I’m hot, and you’re endlessly fascinating to talk with.”
“Just talk?” he murmured.
“You’re fascinating in other ways, too, and you know it,” she scolded lightly.
“Mmm. And don’t forget it.”
“Not bloody likely,” she groused.
He laughed lightly, and heads swiveled in their direction. Too many heads, and too fast. Everyone in the room seemed to be keeping an eye on Alex. Or maybe it was just that he and she made such a handsome couple. Or maybe Alex wasn’t being paranoid, after all.
André Fortinay, director of Doctors Unlimited’s day-to-day operations, approached them, a jovial and obviously fake smile on his face. He pumped Alex’s hand a little too enthusiastically.
Katie knew Alex well enough to see the sarcasm in his expression as he greeted their boss politely.
“Glad to have you back safe and sound!” André boomed. He was a big, hearty man with an ample girth and down-home personality, completely unlike what Katie’d expected from a Frenchman.
“We’re glad to be home,” Alex replied evenly.
“What the hell happened over there?”
Alex shrugged. “We delivered babies as long as we could. When the rebels came, we had to leave. We made our way out by whatever means we could find, and here we are. Back in modern civilization.”
André’s pleasant gaze went less pleasant for just a moment, and then he went back to his cheerful, bluff self, declaring them brave and lucky as hell.
Katie snorted mentally. Luck had nothing to do with their making it home alive. Alex’s mad skills and favors owed to him were the only reason the three of them were safe and sound.
Speaking of Dawn, if the village her mother came from had been eradicated, that meant the infant likely had no surviving relatives from her mother’s clan. It became more imperative than ever to find the child’s birth father.
“Were there any survivors in Karshan?” Katie asked André.
“None. It was a horrific massacre.”
“The rebels did it, you say?” Alex asked.
“That’s what our sources tell us.”
Alex asked casually, “Did your sources tell you about the high-tech attack drones, armored vehicles, laser-guided RPG’s, and precision airstrikes from choppers?”
“You witnessed all of this?” André asked low and urgent.
“With our own eyes. Since when are the Zaghastani rebels armed like a first-world military force?” Alex bit out.
André looked distracted and moved away quickly.
“He’s not our man,” Alex muttered.
“We’re looking for someone?” Katie asked under her breath.
“Someone from D.U. knew what they were sending us into.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Why else would they send me?” he asked gently.
She frowned, not understanding.
“Think about it. I’m a pariah. Why would they send me in there unless I was expendable?”
“What about me?” Katie asked.
“You’re collateral damage. Not to mention your sincere and na?ve desire to do good works is the perfect cover for the fact that I was sent in as bait.”
“To catch what?”
“Or who,” he added. “Excellent question. My continued safety and yours may very well depend on answering it.”
She murmured pleasantly, “When we get out of here, will you please tell me what the hell’s going on?”
His gaze flashed for a moment and he glanced down at her breasts. “Talk is not at the top of my agenda when we get out of here.”
Her pulse went crazy and her thong got damp in a matter of seconds. But that other stuff, the who was trying to kill them stuff, was important, darn it. She couldn’t afford to let him distract her.
“What’s the play, here?” she asked. “Chat up everyone until someone reacts wrong?”
“Clever girl.”
“Want me to flirt and throw them off balance?”
“No,” he answered sharply. “You’re mine.”
Well, then. Didn’t that just make her thong a little more damp?
They wandered around the reception for the next hour, making inconsequential small talk with any number of foreign dignitaries and staffers from D.U.
And then Katie spotted a newcomer and lurched in shock against his arm.
“What is it?” Alex asked quickly.
“Uncle Charlie just walked in.”
Alex muttered something under his breath in Russian that she assumed was not an expression of joy.
Her uncle, a gray-haired man in his early sixties, but wearing the decades elegantly, wasted no time coming over to her. “Katie, sweetie, Are you all right? You took ten years off my life with that phone call.”
“Thanks so much for the help, Uncle Charlie. I couldn’t think of who else to call on such short notice. I’m so sorry I bugged you.”
“What’s the point of having influence if I can’t use it for good now and then,” he replied charmingly.
“Uncle Charlie, I’d like to introduce you to my working partner, Dr. Alex Peters.”
“ Mui vrestretilise prezhde ,” her uncle said to Alex.
Alex answered emotionlessly in English, “Yes, we have met before.”
Uncle Charlie switched to English. “Your father was a worthy adversary.”
“I imagine he still is,” Alex replied dryly.
“Just so. What are you up to these days? ”
“Delivering babies until I was rudely interrupted by a brush war.”
Katie frowned. Uncle Charlie had a predatory glint in his eyes she wasn’t accustomed to. Here was the master spy at work, not her father’s laid-back brother relaxing with family.
“How did you two get out of Zaghastan? I hear it’s pretty dodgy over there.” Charlie asked.
“Several kind souls provided us unexpected rides,” Alex answered smoothly. “Including you, sir.”
“A bit of good luck ever hurts,” Charlie replied.
“Make no mistake. Luck had nothing to do with it,” Alex retorted.
Charlie’s head dipped slightly as if acknowledging some coded message in Alex’s words. “Maybe someday we will met again in the wake of less stressful circumstances.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” Alex bit out.
Somebody called a greeting to her uncle from across the room. “Don’t be a stranger, Katie,” he said smoothly. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and moved away.
Alex scowled into his champagne glass as if he was contemplating murdering someone sooner rather than later.
She pressed against his side, rubbing her silk-clad breast lightly against biceps, forcing him to acknowledge her. “What was that all about?”
“You tell me.”
Danger rolled off of him, wave after wave of it. He was seriously pissed off about something. As much as she wanted to break through his emotional walls, and as much as she wanted to try the brand of sex he preferred, she wasn’t sure she wanted to do either with him this furious.
“I’ve seen enough,” Alex announced.
Crud. She was hoping to get him to stick around a little longer, get a little more champagne in him, smooth the rough edges of his temper a little.
“You look disappointed,” he murmured. “Is the lamb suddenly scared to be alone with lion in his den?”
“A little. I was hoping to get some more booze into you.”
“Why?”
“To mellow you out a little.”
“For what I have in mind, nothing will mellow me out. Last chance to back out. You can go with Uncle Charlie or you can leave with me, now, and face the consequences.”
She looked him square in eye. “I’m with you. How do they say it in poker? I’m all in.”
“We’ll see about that.”