Dark Cover (The DARK Files #2)

by Susan Vaughan

  She frowned, confused. “Well, she’s a bit shallow and egotistical, but—”

  “She changed her name. She was Twyla Zickafoose from Pork Chop, West Virginia. Didn’t think the fashion world would take her seriously.”

  She burst out laughing, then choked to a halt when her throbbing torso reminded her of her wound. “Really?”

  “Really. Cocktail parties, business luncheons, receptions. Everyone plays the part they make for themselves. Myself included. You think I don’t still feel inside that I’m just that kid selling sandwiches on the docks?”

  “Truly? Old insecurities come back to jab you too?” She swallowed. Hard. Was it possible? She chanced a step closer.

  “Besides, with you to come home to, high society doesn’t have the appeal it used to.”

  He drew her against him, cradling her gently so he wouldn’t hurt her wound. She closed her eyes at the feel of his body, the scent that was uniquely Nick, the needy hope that raced her heart.

  “Marry me, Vanessa. Build a life with me. I can set up an office in D.C. if you want to continue with DARK. N.D.M. has plenty of accounts in the area.”

  The conflicting emotions swirling and eddying inside her flowed into certainty in her heart. “You’d do that for me?”

  “If you promise to leave undercover work to others.”

  “That’s an easy one. I plan to tell the director I’ll resign before I do another undercover assignment.”

  He laughed. “As long as you stay involved in this one.”

  “It’ll be my only DARK cover.” She ran a finger down the crease in his chin. His skin felt warm and real. Not a figment of her dreams. She closed her eyes, and uttered a silent prayer of thanks for this incredible man who loved her. “DARK has a division in New York City, you know. I could transfer.”

  He flashed a grin that nearly blinded her. “You’d be going home.”

  “Home will be wherever you are.”

  “Then it’s yes? You’ll marry me?” He sought her gaze, as if trying to see her answer.

  “Yes, Nick. I love you so much.” She pressed a hand on his chest and felt the steady beat of his heart.

  He cleared his throat and covered her hand with his. “I have something else I need to tell you.”

  Tilting her head to peer at his worried expression, she thought she knew. “I know General Nolan was extremely impressed with your — how did he put it? Ah, your ‘contribution to the mission.’ Did he want more than to thank you?”

  He shook his head. “More mind reading. You amaze me.”

  “The general?” she prompted.

  “He asked me to work for DARK as a part-time consultant.”

  “A consultant? Like on foreign threats?”

  “Exactly. All the travel I do can serve double duty.”

  “Oh.” She tried to feel pleased and proud, but knowing he had to leave her behind carved a hollow place inside her.

  He tilted up her chin. “I agreed on one condition.”

  “Yes?”

  “That you can come with me as my advisor.”

  “You didn’t!” At his wide grin, her heart overflowed with happiness. “I love you so. Kiss me before my heart beats right out of my chest.”

  His hands cradling her head, he bent to capture her mouth in a kiss of compelling delight and caring warmth. She’d never felt so cherished.

  Raw sexual hunger shot through him so he could barely breathe. He burned to seal their love in the fires of passion. But it would be weeks before she was well enough. “I guess we’ll have to wait awhile for more than that,” he said ruefully as he lifted his head.

  “I heal fast.”

  Chuckling at her incurable optimism, he settled for holding her hand. His gaze caught on the engagement ring.

  He tapped it with his index finger. “Shame to ship this back to Danielle. I’ve grown used to seeing it on you.”

  “This old thing?” She twisted off the ring and tossed it over her shoulder. The ring bounced across the kitchen floor and came to rest in a corner. “Who needs it?”

  “What are you doing?”

  A teasing smile curved her lips. “Nick, it’s only a paste copy. Danielle has the real diamond. I don’t need a ring.”

  “Maybe you don’t, but I need to proclaim to the world that you’re mine. I’ll have the fluorescent diamond made into a ring for you. Its fire is no match for you, but it’s the best I can offer.”

  “Oh, Nick, it’s perfect,” she said, tears shimmering in her beautiful green eyes.

  “Not by a long shot, honey.” He tilted up her chin. “We are perfect. This is perfect.”

  He drew her into a kiss that celebrated their promise and spoke of forever.

  Please enjoy this excerpt from

  DARK RULES (DARK Series Book 3)

  DARK RULES – from Chapter One

  WHAT THE HELL am I doing here?

  Simon Byrne knew exactly. Postponing what he ought to be doing. And ogling the woman he’d avoided for over two years. She didn’t notice him at the Technical Support Lab door because whatever gizmo she was fiddling with had her mesmerized.

  Janna Harris wore nondescript pants, white tailored shirt and jacket, a style she’d adopted after her marriage. No more short skirts or cropped tops that bared skin. Professional, she insisted.

  Boring, he said. He still thought so, but he didn’t call it nun wear out loud. He kept his trap shut to avoid friction with her new husband. No chance of that now since the man was dead.

  Oblivious to Simon’s presence amid the hum of computers and techs speaking geek to one another, she carried the cigarette-pack-sized gizmo past metal cabinets, cubicles and other technicians to an empty worktable.

  At least this outfit had a short jacket that didn’t hide all the good stuff. A man could watch the sway of her hips, the stride of her model-length legs as sleek as a thoroughbred’s. And the suit was nearly the same gray as her eyes. Eyes he could never forget, witchy eyes that invited a man to drown in them. Happily.

  After gathering small metal tools, she settled on a stool at a worktable. She plied a screwdriver to the gizmo and, after a moment, pressed a button. A light flashed. She smiled.

  The sexy curve of her lips warmed him in inconvenient places. Damn! Time hadn’t dulled her effect on him — one major reason he’d stayed away. He gritted his teeth. She was the wrong woman for him. Why didn’t his body listen to him?

  Keeping her eyes on her work, she spared not even a sideways glance toward the doorway. He might as well have been invisible. Damn straight. As far as Janna was concerned, he preferred invisibility. For over a year, he’d checked on her, watched over her. Guilt kept him at a distance.

  The Domestic Antiterrorism Risk Corps had other ideas. You’re on, turkey. He strode over to her table.

  “How you doin’, Q?” He stretched his lips into a wide grin. “I got a good one for you. How many software engineers does it take to change a light bulb?”

  A couple of other techs glanced up before returning to computer screens and arcane devices.

  Janna slipped on dark-rimmed glasses before she faced him. She pushed them firmly on the bridge of her nose and peered down at him from her perch on the high stool.

  When did she start wearing those things? He’d never seen her in glasses before.

  Hard as granite behind the unexpected lenses, her narrowed eyes pinned him like a bug on flypaper. “If you think you can prance in here after all this time and pick up where you left off with the geek jokes, Simon, you’re sadly mistaken.”

  He deserved that. And worse for what he was going to do over the next few days.

  “I don’t prance” was all he could muster.

  Color bloomed high on her cheeks. “Simon.”

  He swallowed his emotion and another quip. He shoved fingers through his hair in a futile effort at control. “Look, I screwed up. After…”

  “After Gabe’s death,�
�� she prompted.

  “After that, kidding around with you didn’t seem right. He was under my command. I could’ve prevented his death.”

  Her gray eyes widened as she seemed to grasp that truth for the first time. She shook her head, her layered hair swaying like silk. “You’re not responsible for Gabe’s death. He was called Hero Harris for a reason. Even if you’d been there, you couldn’t have stopped his reckless action.”

  He didn’t buy it, but her forgiveness winked on a tiny light in the dark space inside him. “Thanks, but protecting my people was part of being the control officer.”

  “So that’s the reason you deserted me.”

  He winced at hearing the truth aloud. He had deserted her, deserted their friendship. “Partly. As time passed, going back was weird … awkward.” But no more awkward than this conversation. “Hell, I’m sorry.”

  He crossed mental fingers that she would let his apology go at that. In fact, he’d eased away from her even before Gabriel Harris. In her eyes, in her body language, he saw that she wanted more than friendship. Her come-on at Vanessa Wade’s wedding rang wedding bells in her head and warning bells in his.

  Impossible, but he didn’t want to hurt her.

  If she pushed, what excuse could he give? That she deserved the home-and-family kind of guy, not a one-night-stand kind of guy like him? That was what he told himself when Gabe asked him to introduce them in the cafeteria. Regret cinched his gut, even though envy made no sense and didn’t change who he was. Or wasn’t. Or the more concrete excuse that, after Gabe began seeing her, he warned Simon off? Once Mr. Perfect had given her the rush, she had no time for Simon anyway.

  “I understand. Really. Let’s forget it.” She offered no smile of encouragement, and wariness lurked in her eyes.

  He’d take what he could get. “Sweet.” He held out a hand. “A new beginning?”

  After a moment’s hesitation, she shook his hand. He wanted to hold on and savor her soft skin, but she pulled back and gripped her gizmo like an anchor.

  “What’ve you got there?” He nodded toward the toy.

  “An SC cam.” She held the thing up proudly. “A self-contained video system. Watch.” She slid the slim canister into a slot in a thick hardcover book. The camera’s spy eye blended in with the lettering on the book’s spine. “This baby’s a one-fourth-inch CCD imager with 420 lines of resolution and a high-power 2.45-gigahertz transmitter. The self-charging battery has a run time of eight hours.”

  Janna began working for DARK a few years ago here at its Washington, D.C., headquarters where he was a field officer. She’d been so green then she used the agency’s letters instead of the usual acronym. But green or not, he’d seen her create, modify and repair any low or high-tech equipment an operative could dream up.

  “Outrageous. I know a little about bugs, but the only words you said that sounded like English were camera and battery.” He grinned, a little more at ease. “So what’s with the glasses? It’d be a hell of a shame if working with microscopic bugs is ruining those beautiful eyes.”

  Lines formed between her brows. Setting down the book camera, she hesitated, then shook her head. “Simon, what are you doing in the lab? What do you want?” The corners of her mouth twitched toward a smile he could feel in his chest. “And don’t call me Q.”

  Hot damn, he’d managed to dent her shield a little. She usually didn’t mind the teasing, but he’d drop it. For now. If James Bond had ever had this beautiful tech genius instead of the guy, he’d never have left the lab.

  When she smoothed her hair, he admired the effect. Around her head, light-toffee-and-cream layers curved, controlled like the woman. Her hair used to swing behind her like the shining mane of the buckskin horse he’d exercised when he was a kid in Baltimore. But after her husband’s death, she cut it short. He didn’t expect to like the new look, but the sleek cap invited touching.

  He gripped his portfolio instead. “I’m here officially. Ramsey assigned us to work together for a few days.” He paused to let that sink in.

  She pursed her lips, as though having to work with Simon left a bad taste. It might, given his other, covert job.

  “The assistant director mentioned he was giving me a field assignment as a tech advisor and translator, but that’s as far as his explanation went.”

  Simon shrugged, relieved she knew that much already. He’d followed her advancement to tech officer. Observed her on the shooting range and in martial arts classes. He hadn’t expected to work with her, but the gig was only for three days.

  “Secrecy is Ramsey’s middle name. Goes with the territory. He’s the control officer for this mission. That says how high priority it is. I’ll fill you in. Where can we talk?”

  Mouth prim and taut, she led him into an empty office.

  The report inside the portfolio had triggered the assignment — at least, the official part. The other part of the assignment was bad news. Ramsey had hinted at evidence, called it checking on Officer Harris’s loyalty. Simon called it spying on Janna. Bunch of crap, but what could he do? Her integrity was rock solid. True to his secretive nature, the AD disclosed nothing more.

  Simon didn’t know what Janna was suspected of — only that DARK’s suspicions somehow tied her to this assignment. Did it have something to do with her dead husband? With some past assignment of Gabe’s?

  He didn’t know much about their marriage except for Gabe’s bragging about how happy they were. They’d moved into a fancy house in Virginia, away from her D.C. friends. Come to think of it, Simon hadn’t seen them at parties or dinners except for those hosted by the director. Could Gabe have dragged her into something dirty?

  The speculation was driving him crazy.

  “We’re to go to New York,” she prompted as she closed the door. She leaned against a desk stacked with files.

  Nodding, he handed her a copy of his summary. “After a two-year undercover operation, the DARK office in Manhattan has Leo Wharton in custody. Picked him up on his yacht in the Virgin Islands.”

  Simon noted her blank stare. She didn’t know who Wharton was. Good sign.

  He continued. “Wharton is a former U.S. Special Forces colonel. He was booted from the military for having illicit side interests. Went mercenary for a while, then turned to buying arms for terrorist groups. We’ve wanted to nail him for a long time.”

  She glanced at the summary. “It says here that Wharton is suspected of buying weapons from an international arms broker named Viktor Roszca.” She turned her penetrating gaze on Simon. “Why is that name familiar?”

  “Intelligence reports from the NCTC conclude that Roszca was the big supplier to the New Dawn Warriors.” The National Counterterrorism Center was the agency created to coordinate analysis and operations among all intelligence services.

  She paled and a small gasp escaped her lips. “The terrorist group that set up the assassination where—”

  “Yes, where Gabe was killed.”

  Pain flickered across her face before she schooled her expression.

  Dammit. She still loved her husband, was still mourning him, and Simon was supposed to find out if she was dirty. He was the one who felt dirty.

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading DARK COVER, the second book of the DARK Files. For all his wealth and power, Nick Markos is a damaged soul, and for all her skills and people connections, Vanessa Wade is insecure in her femininity. Throwing them together allowed her to help him heal and her to grow. I enjoyed researching the setting, which meant returning to the Washington, D.C. area, where I used to live. I hope you enjoyed this book. If you did, please help others find the book by leaving a review at the retailer where you purchased it.

  —Susan

  About the Author

  SUSAN VAUGHAN is the multi-published author of romantic suspense novels. Her books have won the Golden Leaf, More Than Magic, and Write Touch Readers’ awards and have been an RT Book Reviews Magazine
Reviewer’s Choice Nominee and a finalist for the Booksellers’ Best and Daphne du Maurier awards. Her books have been translated into German, French, Spanish, and Icelandic and published in more than eleven countries. She’s a West Virginia native, but she and her husband have lived in Maine for many years.

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  Also by Susan Vaughan

  * The DARK Files series *

  DARK MEMORIES (#1)

  Coming Soon

  DARK RULES (#3)

  DARK VENGEANCE (#4)

  * Devlin Security Force *

  ON DEADLY GROUND (Book 1)

  RING OF TRUTH (Book 2)

  CLEOPATRA’S NECKLACE (Book 3)

  AT LAST – a Devlin Wedding (#3.5)

  * Task Force Eagle *

  ALWAYS A SUSPECT (Prequel)

  NEVER SURRENDER (Book 1)

  ONCE BURNED (Book 2)

  TWICE A TARGET (Book 3)

  TASK FORCE EAGLE BOXED SET

  * Stand Alone Novels *

  PRIMAL OBSESSION

  For more information and first chapters, go to

  www.SusanVaughan.com

  Reviews of Susan Vaughan’s Books

  ~ THE DARK FILES

  “For non-stop danger and passion, I recommend DARK MEMORIES.” - Romance Junkies

  “Clear a place on your keeper bookshelf … an intelligent romantic suspense… Susan Vaughan writes with fresh, vibrant language free of the clichés you have grown tired of.” – ReaderToReader.com about DARK MEMORIES

  “Susan Vaughan's book starts with action, intrigue, well-developed characters and sexual tension, all of which are sustained to the very end.” – RT Book Reviews about DARK COVER, 4.5*

  “What a skillfully written story of romance and suspenseful mystery. The tension is always intense, whether it is from the ever-present danger or from the unspoken sexual feelings... Susan Vaughan has created a powerful story … where the characters are memorable and the plot speaks to the heart.” - CataRomance Reviews about DARK COVER, 5*