by Zara Chase
Clandestine Affairs 1
Charmed and Dangerous
Maddie McGuire stays in Falls Church to tidy up her father’s affairs after he’s killed in a hit-and-run. Scared when she notices someone following her, she completely freaks out when her father’s house is broken into.
In need of help, she calls Clandestine Investigations, a private agency run by ex-service personnel. Kick-ass former SEALs Riley Maddox and Axel Cameron ride to her rescue. Slowly, the three of them unravel the evil scam that got her father killed when he accidently stumbled upon it. To prove her dad was murdered, Maddie must take some risks, but then she’s a risk-taking kind of gal. Why else would she allow the guys to awaken her sexual awareness and play mind-blowing erotic sex games with her?
Riley and Axel have been burned before, and getting permanently involved with a woman is out of the question. Besides, Maddie has a life back in New York and the two of them are always up to their necks in danger, so there’s no future for the three of them, or is there…?
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Romantic Suspense
Length: 50,929 words
CHARMED AND DANGEROUS
Clandestine Affairs 1
Zara Chase
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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CHARMED AND DANGEROUS
Copyright © 2013 by Zara Chase
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62740-122-7
First E-book Publication: June 2013
Cover design by Les Byerley
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CHARMED AND DANGEROUS
Clandestine Affairs 1
ZARA CHASE
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
Raoul watched from his study as Zeke sat stock-still in the center of the paddock. The new stallion stamped and snorted, ran up and down, and generally misbehaved, but Zeke acted as though it didn’t exist. Raoul chuckled. He’d give it half an hour before Zeke had the beast literally eating out of his hand.
It took discipline for Raoul to return his attention to his e-mail, which was vastly less entertaining. As usual, there were a dozen requests for help from current service personnel and veterans alike. So far not one of them had held his attention.
“We’re not a fucking marriage agency,” he grunted, reading and deleting a serving soldier’s rambling suspicions about his wife’s behavior.
Not for the first time, he wondered how these people managed to obtain his e-mail address. The Clandestine Investigation Agency didn’t tout for business—the clue was in the name, for Christ’s sake. And what business it did take on didn’t involve helping American forces personnel keep track of straying spouses, lost dogs, and all the other routine crap that seemed to find its way into Raoul’s inbox. It was downright insulting. They were way better than that.
“Might as well take out an ad in the fucking yellow pages,” he groused, deleting yet another stupid request from a soldier in Afghanistan.
Raoul was about to go outside and join Zeke when his private line rang. That got his full attention. He might not be able to keep his e-mail address under wraps, but few people had his personal number. Raoul punched the speakerphone button.
“Washington,” he said curtly. “Something I can do for you?”
“Mr. Washington,” said a smoky female voice. “I’m Maddie McGuire. Not sure if you remember me but I’m—”
“Major McGuire’s daughter,” Raoul replied. “I’m sorry about your father. We didn’t get a chance to talk at the funeral.”
“Thank you, and thanks for coming.”
“It was the least we could do. We held your father in great respect.”
“That’s a kind thing to say.”
“It also happens to be the truth. Now, what can I do for you, Maddie?”
“Well, I’m not sure that you can, but…” She cleared her throat. “Dad left me your number. One of the last things he said to me was to contact you if I ever had any problems. I hope you don’t mind.”
The woman sounded on edge, which was hardly surprising given that her father had died just a few weeks previously. The funeral at Arlington had been a full military honors affair, and rightly so. Maddie had caught Raoul’s eye and he was slow to look away again. For the first time in a hell of a long time a woman had pierced the empty shell that used to be his heart. That was probably because, unlike most women he came into contact with, she hadn’t been trying to get his attention. Sadness clung to her, and that was something Raoul could identify with.
Maddie’s dad had died in suspicious circumstances, and now he’d been buried she probably wanted to find out what had really happened. If that was why she was calling, Raoul wouldn’t turn her down. He owed it to her, and to her father, to find some answers.
“I don’t mind at all. How can I help you?”
“Well, the truth is, I’m scared. Someone’s been following me the past cou
ple of days and it’s kinda freaked me out.”
Raoul sat a little straighter. Maddie had seemed composed and capable at the funeral—not the sort to scare easily.
“Any idea who, or why?”
“No, but it’s something to do with Dad.”
“What makes you say that?”
“It has to be. My life’s an open book, boring and predictable. No one would have reason to follow me.”
“No ex-husbands, lovers—”
“No,” she replied curtly.
“Sorry, it had to be asked.”
“That’s okay. My personal life, such as it is, is in New York, but I’m staying at Dad’s house in Falls Church, getting his affairs straightened out.”
“Which is where you’re being followed?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.” Perhaps the military were investigating her father’s death, even though he’d been led to believe that they had no reason to follow it up. Even so, why tail the daughter? “Tell me everything that’s happened.”
“Well, it started a couple of days ago. I’d been out, and when I got back, Dad’s house had been broken into.”
“Anything taken?”
“Hard to say, but the person who broke in was clearly looking for something specific because Dad’s home study was targeted.”
“Trashed?”
“No, that’s the odd thing. Everything was neat and precise. It took me a while to notice that anything was even amiss.”
“Military style?”
“Yes, that’s what I thought. There was no sign of forced entry, either.”
Raoul had a bad feeling about this. Presumably she was speaking on an open line, but thanks to Raoul’s obsessiveness with secrecy, his line was secure. Anyone listening in would get nothing more than an earful of static.
“Did you call the cops?” he asked.
“No, I called the military. They came out but didn’t do anything. Just said it had to be kids. They still seem to think that Dad being mowed down by a speeding car was nothing more than bad luck.” Raoul could hear the frustration in her voice. “Anyway, I don’t see how they could have believed what they told me, about it being kids, I mean, because kids don’t do professional burglaries.”
That was precisely what Raoul had been thinking. “And now you’re being followed?”
“Yes, I’ve seen the same man several times. A big guy wearing a ball cap and jeans. He doesn’t try and hide the fact that he’s following me, which is what scares me so much. It did cross my mind to go up to him and ask if there was something he wanted from me.”
Raoul rolled his eyes. “Please tell me you didn’t do that.”
“No, common sense prevailed.” He could hear the smile in her voice. “I figured I could either confront him or deliver a swift knee in the nuts to put him off.”
“That would probably have made matters worse.”
“Right. I figured I could pack up Dad’s stuff, put the house on the market, and go back to my life. But then I thought why the hell should I? If Dad was into something he shouldn’t have been then I want to know what it was.”
“I doubt if he was. Your dad was as straight as they come.”
“Yes, I know, that’s why I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“It must be something to do with his work.”
“That’s what I thought, but I have no idea what he was doing since his retirement.”
“He must have said something.”
“Not a lot. Secrecy was second nature to Dad.” She sighed. “Anyway, he spoke highly of you, said if I was ever in trouble I should call you and, well…”
“I hear you. Will you be on this number for the next hour or so?”
“Yes, I’m expecting a realtor later this morning.”
“Hang tight. I’ll get back to you today.”
“Thank you, Mr. Washington. I appreciate it.”
“Call me Raoul.”
“Raoul,” she said in that husky voice that did things for him. “I feel better already, knowing I’m not alone.”
“Who was that?”
Raoul hadn’t heard Zeke come in, but then no one ever heard Zeke unless he wanted them to. Part Native American, he moved as soundlessly and stealthily as a panther.
“I thought you were working your magic on that ornery stallion.”
“Oh him.” Zeke flapped a hand. “He’s just an ol’ pussycat.”
“Right.” Raoul paused. “That was Maddie McGuire. She has problems.”
Zeke hitched his hip onto the edge of Raoul’s desk. “Tell me.”
Raoul filled him in.
“What was Major McGuire working on before he died?”
“That’s what I’d give a lot to know. I’d give a hell of a lot more to know why they aren’t taking the break-in seriously when it comes so close on the heels of the major’s suspicious death.”
“Perhaps they are but don’t want Maddie to know.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Nope, which means it’s definitely one for us.” Zeke flashed a knowing smile. “What makes me think you wanna take this one yourself?”
Raoul thought about Maddie and his cock stirred. That part of him definitely wasn’t dead, which made him sorely tempted. Even so, he shook his head. If the time ever came to get seriously involved with another woman, he wouldn’t mix business with pleasure. That was the surest way to compromise an operation—hell, he should know.
“Why would I want to do that?”
Zeke sighed. “Just thought you might wanna act like a normal guy for a change instead of burying yourself in the countryside and living like a monk.”
“Listen who’s talking.”
“I, my friend, do not live like a monk.”
Raoul shot his buddy a look as he mentally assessed his options. “Who do we have in the Virginia area?”
“Maddox and Cameron?” Zeke replied without hesitation.
“Yeah.” Raoul reached for his phone. “That would work.”
* * * *
Maddie kept herself busy for the rest of the morning, trying not to look out the window every two minutes to see if anyone was watching the house. Talking to Raoul had calmed her, and she was starting to think she’d made a fuss about nothing. She’d been on edge ever since her father’s unexpected death, and perhaps her imagination was playing tricks on her.
But…she knew what she’d seen—or thought she had. Could it be that she’d invented reasons to call the attractive veteran? Maddie shook her head, unwilling to accept that she’d become that needy. Okay, the moment she’d set eyes on Raoul at the funeral she’d wanted to speak with him, she’d concede that much. There was an uncompromising attitude about the tough Special Forces veteran that made her feel safe just knowing he was in the same room as her. She’d exchanged a few words with him when he arrived at the wake, but before they had a chance to say anything much, others took his place. There’d been so many people there, old friends of her father’s keen to speak with her, that by the time she’d gotten around to the cluster of guys Raoul had been with, he’d already split.
Would Raoul come and check things out for himself? she wondered. No, probably not. Hadn’t her dad said that he ran a horse ranch in Wyoming? She swallowed down her disappointment, telling herself it was probably just as well. A man who looked as good as he did probably had women falling all over him. Besides, Maddie was off men, permanently. Life was less complicated that way.
When Raoul called her back a short time later and said someone would be in touch with her—someone other than him—she took it like a grown-up.
“Thanks,” she said. “I appreciate it.”
“Be careful what you say to anyone about your concerns, especially on an open line,” he warned her.
“Now you’re really scaring me.”
“Scared is good. Scared people stay alert. Don’t make any more calls or talk about this with anyone. Wait until my people get there and tell them. They�
��ll know what to do.”
“Okay, I can do that.”
Maddie carried on sorting through her father’s papers, wondering if he’d ever thrown anything away in his entire life. She also wondered if there was something amongst all this stuff that would be of interest to the man following her. Old utility bills definitely wouldn’t, she thought, throwing the file into a garbage sack. His financial records would need to be gone through though, so she put those in the pile to keep.
Progress was slow since everything she read invoked memories of happier times. Letters from her mother to her father when he was stationed overseas, drawings Maddie herself had done for her dad when she was still a child, her school reports, which he’d kept in a separate file, invitations to long-forgotten parties… It was heartrending. Her dad had been way too young to die, just like her mom had been. It was a tragic waste. Even so, Maddie focused on the task in hand while she waited for Raoul’s associate to call.
After a couple of hours she stood up and stretched, her back aching from so much bending. She glanced out the window and saw an SUV drive past the house slowly—the same SUV that had been past several times already today. Her heart rate accelerated. What were the chances of that? This was a quiet street. There was no reason for people to use it unless they lived here. She knew all her father’s neighbors by sight, including the cars they drove. She was pretty sure this person wasn’t a resident. She craned her neck, trying to decipher the tag. Damn, she couldn’t quite see it because it was covered in mud.
Deliberately?
“Get a grip, Maddie,” she said aloud. “There’s probably a perfectly rational explanation.”
Her phone ringing loudly in the otherwise-quiet room made her jump.