by Lara Adrian
They had been held up for several minutes and counting while a guard posted at the entrance went back into his shack to verify the invitation and IDs Aric had given him. Behind the brand-new Mercedes sedan the Order had procured especially for this mission, a line of waiting vehicles had grown to nearly a dozen deep.
“What’s taking so long?” Kaya dipped her head down as she spoke, barely moving her lips in case either of the armed security attendants flanking their car might be watching for signs of suspicion.
“Relax,” Aric murmured. “Everything’s fine. We’re going to a wedding reception, not a funeral.”
She hoped he was right. How the Breed male could grin and make jokes when her stomach was twisting into a knot over the importance of their assignment, she had no idea. For Kaya, everything she attempted was undertaken with a sense of gravity and an intense need to get the job done right. To get it perfect.
Today she felt that need more than ever.
All her hopes hinged on this mission. Years of dreaming for a better life, for some sense of purpose. Weeks of hard training and determination. It all boiled down to this one final test. There was no room for nerves or doubts. Failure was simply not an option.
It didn’t help her unease at all that she was draped in yards of silk and chiffon instead of the combat gear she preferred. The sumptuous fabric felt as alien against her skin as it could be to a woman who’d spent a good part of her young life in thrift store rags and ill-fitting hand-me-downs. Instead of a weapons belt bristling with the blades and guns she’d learned to wield, today she wore only diamond bracelets and jeweled rings.
As for Aric, he was maddeningly cool in the driver’s seat. With his wrist draped casually over the steering wheel, the other arm resting on his muscled thigh, he looked as if he could sit there all day waiting for one guard to run their fake credentials while another searched their open trunk. A third man prowled the perimeter of the car with a leashed Rottweiler actively sniffing for explosives or other security risks, and still another pair of guards watched the gate armed with automatic rifles clutched in their hands.
Unfazed by any of it, Aric glanced over at her. “You look incredible, by the way.”
The compliment took her aback. They hadn’t talked about anything besides strategy and mission objectives since they left the command center, so she wasn’t quite sure what to do with his praise.
“I’m not used to wearing this kind of thing,” she whispered, self-consciousness deepening as he stared at her. “The bodice is so tight it’s cutting off the air to my lungs and this flowy silk skirt keeps snagging on my finger calluses.”
He gave her a slow appraisal. “Well, if the idea was to make you blend in with the other women attending this party, we’re off to a bad start. You’re a knockout.”
He looked more than passingly good himself, despite Kaya’s unwillingness to admit she’d noticed.
In his graphite-gray suit and tie, Aric could have just stepped out of a men’s fashion photo shoot. Broad, straight shoulders and thick biceps filled the jacket, hinting at the immense strength that no amount of fine tailored clothing could hide. He was the kind of male who would draw gazes no matter what he was wearing, and not even Kaya was immune.
As hard as she tried to act otherwise.
The sudden knock on Aric’s window didn’t even make him blink. He pushed the button and as the glass slid down, the guard who’d returned with their IDs bent to peer into the car. Kaya fixed a bland smile on her lips when his gaze flicked to her.
“Mr. and Mrs. Bouchard.” He glanced at their IDs and invitation once more, then gave a curt nod and handed Aric the documents. “You’re all set. Enjoy the event.”
“Thanks. I’m sure we will.”
Kaya didn’t let out her breath until they had rolled away from the gate. “Thank God, we got in.”
Aric chuckled. “I had no doubt. Gideon’s a magician when it comes to hacking and covert ops tech. William and Elizabeth Bouchard may not have existed before last night, but anyone digging into our identities today is going to find them fully sourced and ironclad. The last thing we need to worry about is our cover. Getting inside was the easy part.” He swiveled a wry look at her. “The rest is going to be up to you.”
She exhaled a humorless laugh. “No pressure at all, right?”
They had gone over their strategy for the operation several times on the drive from base command to the Rousseau estate. There were multiple paths they could take in order to get Kaya close to Stephan Mercier, ideally without raising anyone’s suspicion. Once she had the groom in reach, all she needed to do was lay her hands on him.
For at least sixty-six seconds’ time.
That was how long it would take for her extrasensory ability to establish connection and begin siphoning a person’s thoughts.
Once she had the floodgates open, his mind would give up any secret she asked it to betray.
Up ahead of them now, a security guard was directing traffic to a large lot already filled with luxury vehicles and insanely expensive sports cars. Aric followed the hand signal that sent them toward an available parking space toward the back of the crowded area.
Kaya frowned as they took their spot amid row upon row of tightly packed automobiles. “I hope we won’t have to get out of here fast when this is over.”
Aric killed the engine, then pivoted to face her. “You nervous?”
She scoffed at his concerned look. As if she would admit anything of the sort, especially to him. Her partner in this mission didn’t need to know that beneath her forced calm she was wound as tightly as a spring. The Breed male causing a deeper sense of unsettlement in her didn’t need to know it, either.
She shrugged. “Of course I’m not nervous.”
“Good.”
His hand shot out, cupping the back of her neck and pulling her close. Before she had any idea what he was doing, Aric’s mouth crushed against hers. The kiss was shocking, searing. Intensely sensual. As his lips moved over hers, a lick of fire spread quickly through her body.
Kaya moaned before she could stop the sound from forming. As soon as she realized the pleasured noise came from herself, she jolted. Her eyes flew open and she let out a startled cry.
Aric’s lush mouth muffled the feeble protest. His kiss was full of confidence, as if he already knew her lips and understood just how to seduce her. The fact that her body seemed eager to allow him to only made her outrage more explosive.
Kaya brought her hands up to his chest in flustered reflex, ready to shove him away.
But Aric was already backing off. He released her just as abruptly as he’d taken hold of her, a knowing gleam in his eyes.
“What the fuck?” Kaya sputtered the indignant curse, even while heat ignited inside her, powerful and uninvited. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, asshole?”
“Getting that out of the way in case we need to do it once we’re inside. We can’t have you reacting like that in front of our target.” He smoothed the pad of his thumb over his lower lip, wiping away the trace of her pink gloss that lingered there. “Ready, Mrs. Bouchard?”
He didn’t wait for her reply. While Kaya struggled to find her breath again, Aric pivoted away and climbed out of the vehicle. She reached for the door handle on her side, but before she could take hold of it he was already there. Smoothly, he opened her door and reached in to offer his hand.
“My lady,” he said, those mesmerizing green eyes lit with an arrogant gleam.
Rather than answer with the reply burning the tip of her tongue, Kaya clamped her molars together and pasted a pleasant smile on her lips as she accepted his assistance. What she wanted to do was slap his hand aside and drop him on his smug ass in the parking area. But she’d need an arsenal of weapons and more than a couple weeks of training to pose much of a threat to a Breed male, particularly one built as solidly as Aric Chase.
She might have been tempted to try anyway, had it not been for the possible notice of mo
re arriving guests in the parking area nearby.
Instead she returned the smiles of the other attendees alighting from their vehicles, then linked her arm through Aric’s as he walked her across the brick-paved drive toward the entrance of the grand estate.
CHAPTER 5
Another round of security checks waited for them inside, although the guards posted in the opulent foyer were garbed more discreetly than their counterparts manning the main gate. Aric nodded to the men in black suits and wireless earpieces, noting without reaction that each carried a sidearm holstered beneath the smoothly pressed fall of his jacket.
Kaya’s steps slowed as they entered, her gaze drawn to the urns overflowing with fragrant ivory flowers and lush greenery. Garlands festooned with champagne-colored ribbons and delicate lace dripped like gilded froth from the curving bannisters of the foyer’s twin stairwells.
“Look at this place,” she murmured. “It’s incredible.”
“This way, if you would, please, ma’am,” one of the guards said to Kaya. The muscular, red-haired man gestured toward the metal detectors and full body scanners temporarily erected in the elegant entry of the Rousseau mansion.
Aric lingered behind her as she placed her small handbag on the conveyor then glided through the gauntlet of cold machinery, a vision in shimmering, diaphanous blush-colored silk. His veins throbbed as he watched her graceful, unrushed gait, his blood still pounding from the aftershocks of that impulsive kiss.
To say nothing of the rest of his anatomy.
Kissing her had not been in the playbook for this mission, but once the idea took root in his mind, there had been no ignoring it. Yes, he’d done it for the good of their cover, as a means of breaking the ice between him and the fake Mrs. Bouchard. But now she had regrouped flawlessly and he was the one knocked off his game.
Damn.
So not what he’d intended.
It took concentrated control to keep his body’s reaction in check. His fangs ached to punch out of his gums. All over him, his dermaglyphs prickled to life in response to watching Kaya while the memory of their kiss still scorched his lips.
Desire tinged his vision with the first hints of amber as she raised her arms and waited for the scanner to clear her for passage. The stretch lifted her already buoyant breasts and thinned her slender waist to an hourglass curve that made his hands itch to be wrapped around it.
He groaned low under his breath. It wouldn’t take more than a backward glance from her now to transform his irises from gold-flecked green to an unearthly molten glow.
He’d better check himself fast, or he was going to blow this operation before it even began. Nothing like turning full-on Breed to put the brakes on a gathering of perfumed and powdered humans.
“Sir?” The guard standing beside him in the foyer gave him an expectant look. “Please, step forward and proceed to the scanner.”
“Oh.” Aric cleared his throat and nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
He followed the path Kaya had taken before him, then joined her where she waited on the other side of the machines. With the stern discipline of his warrior training, he somehow managed to tamp down the Breed side of his nature by the time he and Kaya approached the short line of attendees being greeted personally by the bride’s parents.
Anastasia Rousseau’s father took hold of Aric’s hand and gave it a couple of perfunctory pumps as soon as he released the previous guest. “Good afternoon and welcome.”
“Thank you, sir.” Aric nodded to the gray-haired billionaire and smiled at his immaculately preserved wife. “Congratulations on a beautiful day. Elizabeth and I couldn’t be happier for Stasi.”
“How kind. Thank you.” Mrs. Rousseau’s fine brows rose on her unlined face. “Are you a friend of our daughter’s?”
“Stasi and I went to university together for a while,” Aric said, putting Gideon’s cover dossier to good use as he shook the elder woman’s hand. “I’m William Bouchard. Er, Will. And this is my bride, Elizabeth.”
Mrs. Rousseau smiled warmly. “How do you do, dear?”
“Fine, thank you. Everything looks so beautiful in here, Mrs. Rousseau,” Kaya said, not missing a beat as she shook the woman’s hand. “I can’t wait to see what you’ve done outside for the reception.”
“Why, thank you, my dear. I do enjoy dabbling.”
“You do a bit more than dabble,” Kaya pointed out. “Congratulations on your interior design award last month. The magazine couldn’t have chosen a more deserving recipient.”
“What a lovely thing to say.” The bride’s mother beamed. “How wonderful that you both could make it today. I’m sure Anastasia will be delighted.”
The old man smiled, too, but he studied Aric longer than he had the other guests ahead of him. “Was it McGill you said you attended with her, son?”
“No, sir. UBC. It was my grandfather’s alma mater as well.” He tilted a wry look at Phillipe Rousseau. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but your father the Prime Minister and my grandfather were rivals on the soccer field in their day.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, sir, I’m afraid it is.” Aric grinned through the lie, thankful for the depth of Gideon’s research. “I hope you won’t hold that against me now.”
“Not at all.” The bride’s father chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder. “Go on and enjoy the reception, both of you.”
“With pleasure, sir.”
Grinning, he took Kaya’s hand and led her away from the Rousseaus. Now that the seeds of their social groundwork had been laid, they had some time to scope out the terrain they’d be working once the reception was under way.
“Go easy on the flattery,” he murmured as they walked toward the French doors opened to the estate’s gardens. No one else was in hearing distance of him, but he was careful to keep his voice low enough for Kaya’s ears only. “It was a nice touch to mention the award, but you don’t want to be too memorable. Not that you can do much to avoid that.”
She let his backhanded compliment pass without acknowledgment. “It wasn’t flattery. Margaret Rousseau really is a talented interior designer. Her work has been on a dozen magazine covers and this most recent award was for a project she contributed to a children’s charity organization.”
Aric grunted. “Someone did their homework last night.”
She slanted him a haughty look. “I stayed up most of the night poring over Gideon’s notes. I must’ve read everything twenty times, just to make sure I wouldn’t forget even the smallest detail.”
He shrugged. “I only read the files once.”
“You can’t be serious.” Kaya stopped short and frowned at him, lowering her voice to a harsh whisper. “That’s either incredibly arrogant or dangerously stupid.”
He shook his head. “Genetically gifted. I’ve got an eidetic and photographic memory. If I read something or see it once, I can recall it perfectly anytime.”
She gaped mutely for a moment, then expelled a sharp breath. “Have you ever struggled over a single thing in all your life?”
“Not really.”
She rolled her eyes at his unrepentant grin. “How nice for you.”
He chuckled. “So I hit the gene pool lottery. Do you want me to apologize for that fact?”
“I don’t want you to do anything--other than not screw this up for me today.”
She started walking again and he fell in beside her. “You don’t have to worry about me, sweetheart. You and I share the same goal. I want it too badly to let it slip through my fingers.”
“So do I.”
“Good,” he said. “Then I guess we’re agreed.”
“On one thing, at least.”
They stepped through the open French doors and into the full heat of the brilliant noontime sun. Broad marble steps spilled down onto the back lawn of the mansion’s grounds like a carpet made of gleaming stone. Tables and chairs dressed up in white cloth and floral garlands peppered the thick green grass and surrounding
gardens, each arranged for optimal view of the immense limestone pavilion that was the pearly jewel at the heart of the magnificent grounds.
Under the soaring dome roof, a tuxedoed twelve-piece orchestra played Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtsmusik” for an empty dance floor and what was easily hundreds of arriving reception guests. Aric and Kaya descended the steps together and were immediately greeted by one of many circulating waitstaff carrying trays of champagne and hors d’oeuvres. Being Breed, Aric could consume neither beyond a taste or two, but Kaya eagerly accepted one of the slender flutes.
With her glass in hand, they strolled over the soft lawn. They found a quiet spot of their own to observe the gathering and wait for the moment their target arrived. Aric scanned the hundreds of guests, silently taking stock of the faces. He was intent on his task, but he couldn’t dismiss the weight of Kaya’s brown eyes studying him over the rim of her glass.
He frowned. “What’s the matter?”
She took a sip, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Just making sure you’re not going to start sizzling out here in the sun.”
His brows shot up. “Was that a joke? Why, Mrs. Bouchard, I had no idea you cared.”
She laughed, then raised the flute to her lips once more. “You’re an ass.”
“So you’ve mentioned,” Aric replied, watching with far too much thirst of his own as her delicate throat worked to swallow another sip of champagne.
She caught him staring and a flush of pink swept across her cheeks. She pressed the back of her free hand against the rising color in her face. “It does seem awfully warm out here. Maybe we should find you some shade while we wait for the happy couple to arrive.”
“Trust me, I can take the heat if you can.” He smirked when her chin lifted in defiance. “Besides,” he added, “I never squander the chance to enjoy a gorgeous day. I know too many others who can’t ever experience this gift for me to take it for granted.”
Kaya tilted her head at him, a skeptical look on her pretty face. “Empathy? That’s an unexpected twist.”