The Cinderella Mission

by Catherine Mann

  The cold reminded her they were alive.

  Snow whispered down on the stragglers leaving, a handful of police checking out, a couple that looked suspiciously like Aunt Eugenie and Director Hatch.

  Kelly stayed silent. Let them steal any moment together that they could.

  Life should be savored.

  Peace echoed in the parking lot and in her ear, the listening devices deactivated. Mission complete. They’d linked the thieves to Rebelia, where, it was hoped, Alex Morrow would be found. Better yet, they’d disbanded an entire network of Rebelian spies in the DC area.

  After the shoot-out on the roof, Ethan and Kelly had assumed their roles as concerned guests accidentally caught in the crossfire. Kelly preferred it that way, always having liked the secret satisfaction of one-upping the unsuspecting with her deceptively unassuming exterior.

  They’d retrieved her dress, crumpled mess that it was. But it was warmer than the overall and she hadn’t wanted any reminders of Peter’s eyes on her. So she’d put the gown back on and snuggled into the warmth of Ethan’s tuxedo jacket draped around her shoulders. They strolled to his car, side-by-side; they hadn’t touched since that moment on the roof.

  Until now.

  Hands on her hips, he hiked her up onto the hood of his Jag. At least she didn’t have to worry about the dirt ruining her dress.

  His fingers dug a gentle massage into her hips. “Congratulations, Agent Dragon Lady.”

  “Thank you.” She waited for him to make a move, anything, but for once he seemed unsure of what to say. She slipped his tie free and pitched it over his shoulder. “Where do we go from here?”

  Ethan took her hands in his. “During that time when I thought…” he paused, head tipped back toward the stars. His throat moved with a swallow.

  All his words earlier rolled back over her. “Ethan, I’m sorry. I tried to tell you, but—”

  “I know.” He looked back down at her and smiled. “That’s not my point. I realized none of this other mess matters. However I can have you, that’s how I want you. I won’t waste another minute that I can spend with you.”

  His words soothed over years of rejection. He wanted her. Brainy Kelly, who preferred messy hair and clunky shoes. She owed him the same acceptance.

  After hearing the anguish in his voice earlier, absorbing his pain into her, she understood well what the offer cost him. She loved him all the more for making it. “I realized something in there, too. I heard you, Ethan. Every word you said. I heard it all. Even more than that, I heard what it did to you, and you’re right. I love you too much to ask you to go through that again. If it’s a matter of having you or the job, there’s no question. You win. Hands-down.”

  His hands glided up to cup her face. “There was a time I’d have taken you up on that.” He shook his head, snow drifting to her lap. “But I’d have been wrong. Seeing you tonight, Kelly— God, you were magnificent. You were made for this. I can’t take it away from you.”

  He clasped her wrist in his hand and kissed her palm. “Besides, after tonight, I’m finding I’m not quite ready to be put out to pasture yet. The way I see it, we make a pretty good team. I’ll rest easier if I’m the one watching your back, and if you’re the one watching mine. How about we give this a joint effort?”

  “See the world and let the government pick up the tab?”

  “Make love in a dozen different war zones in a dozen different languages.”

  She draped her arms over his shoulders. “Oh, you’re making me hot.”

  “Told you I wasn’t ready to be put out to pasture just yet.”

  She toyed with the hair on the back of his neck and looked forward to the day he could let it grow again. “Wanna come prove your youthful virility?”

  “I think this old warhorse can manage.” He brought her face to his and kissed her with an intensity that proved he could manage that and a lot more.

  Kelly shivered against him, sagged into the warmth of his chest and looked forward to a lifetime of toe-curling kisses more exciting than any op.

  One last question niggled at her logical brain. “What about children?”

  His hesitation clenched her stomach. She’d just assumed he meant marriage.

  He dropped a kiss to her head. “I want them before I’m ready for the nursing home, so that gives me a little while longer to wait until we retire from active operations.”

  Kelly exhaled. He did mean marriage and family. How could she have doubted him? Sure he wanted compromise, but that was okay.

  She truly believed she could balance it all, but had learned to embrace his fears, as well as his dreams, just as he’d taken on her own. Life wasn’t about fairy-tale fantasies but real-life balance and compromise. “I think maybe five or six years in the field will prepare me for the hazards of motherhood.”

  A smile worked its way up his face and into her heart. He threw back his head and laughed. She started to scoot off the hood. “Let’s go home.”

  He stopped her. “Wait. I’m not done yet.”

  Ethan plopped her back on the hood and dropped to one knee in the snow-covered parking lot.

  Her heart thudded.

  His hand came out of his pocket. His fist opened. Nestled in his palm rested her semi-precious stone that meant more to her than any princess-cut diamond because Ethan had given it to her.

  “Kelly, will you marry me? Be my partner, my lover, my love. Take on the world with me…take on me. Forever.”

  He stared up at her. Waiting. Moonlight illuminated the unease shifting in his eyes. Not that edgy need to run she’d seen so often in him, but something different. A genuine fear of losing her. Kelly stared down into those worried eyes, searching and saw…

  Ethan.

  Not the millionaire playboy, but the whole picture. All the layers to Ethan Williams—the charming bad boy, the seasoned agent, the youthful avenger who jimmied electric gates, the tender lover who made her a bed of flowers. And yes, the stubborn, overprotective lout, as well.

  He’d been right when he’d told her he wasn’t some fairy-tale prince. He was something better. A real man with flaws. And she loved him, flaws and all. The real Ethan. Just as Ethan loved her and had wanted her long before her Cinderella night.

  The real Kelly. A stronger Kelly than she’d been two weeks ago. A woman past girlhood crushes and ready to embrace the love of the incredible man at her feet.

  A deeper realization and peace settled over her as she accepted her own self worth. How odd that only through accepting herself could she appreciate what was really beautiful about Ethan. And oh, he was such a beautiful man through and through.

  “Yes, Ethan, I love you and I’ll marry you. Oui. Si. Ja. And again yes, in any language, my answer’s the same. Yes.”

  She launched off the hood and into his arms. He rocked back, braced a hand on the asphalt and steadied.

  Not that she intended to let him stay that way. She looked forward to rocking his world for the rest of their lives.

  Kelly sagged against him, lured him with a kiss and lost her own focus for a heart-thumping minute. Then sent them both sprawling to the snow-cushioned parking lot. “You bet I’m happy to take you on, Williams. Starting right now.”

  She lowered her face to his and began her own determined assault on his senses.

  Ethan palmed her hips, his best bad-boy smile in place for her and her alone. “Well, my dragon-lady partner, this is one time I’m more than happy to let you have the upper hand.”

  Epilogue

  Dr. Alex Morrow was alive.

  Samuel Hatch sensed it deep in his sixty-year-old, instinct-seasoned gut. And luckily, he didn’t have to rely on his gut alone.

  Hatch adjusted the sunlamp on the thriving sprout of his potted strawberry plant. No need for antacid today.

  Thanks to Ethan Williams and Kelly Taylor’s top-notch ops work, an entire ring of Rebelian spies and jewels thieves were in custody, half of whom were more than happy to talk in exchange for li
ghter sentences. Alex Morrow’s captivity in Rebelia—if not the exact location—had been confirmed. And most important, their leader intended to keep Alex alive.

  Peter Miller was proving difficult, but they wouldn’t be cutting deals with that bastard anyway. His litany of crimes was long—the jewel heist and Taylor’s abduction merely starting the list. He would pay in full for his assassination of Ethan’s parents.

  Lifting the yellow watering can Rita had favored, Hatch liberally sprinkled a shower over the soil. He’d read on the Internet that water plumped the fruit. He could swear he saw the first hint of a bud even now.

  Soon to be ruby-red.

  Rebelia’s leader Bruno DeBruzkya had ordered his legions around the world to gather jewels. Worldwide efforts to freeze assets of countries sponsoring terrorism had left DeBruzkya seeking alternative methods to finance his network. Whatever the sick bastard had planned for Alex, DeBruzkya had to be stopped.

  Replacing the watering can, Hatch stared at his map of the world with agent locales marked, the pin identifying Robert Davidson slowly gaining prominence in his mind. Given Davidson’s familiarity with the region and its people from his assignment there two years ago, he would make the logical choice for the next stage. Davidson would ascertain Alex’s exact location.

  No question about it.

  Hatch’s instincts had carried him through situations that would have downed most operatives, and his instincts had seen him through again. He’d been a hundred percent on the mark in pairing Ethan Williams and Kelly Taylor for this mission.

  Professionally and personally.

  From one of the monitor screens lining the wall, a cheer drifted, swelled. He’d left the security camera on the ops-support office in anticipation of Ethan and Kelly’s triumphant visit.

  The victors had arrived.

  In a job with never-ending stresses, Hatch had learned fast to savor the celebrations when they came. Crises would invade soon enough.

  He strode past the wall of monitors and the lengthy conference table, out into the ops-support room of cubicles where Kelly Taylor had once worked. Keeping a low profile, he watched from the periphery of the crowd. Beside her old desk stood Ethan Williams and Kelly, unabashedly holding hands.

  Cheers built as heads popped up above the divider walls—prairie-dog style. Carla Juarez wheeled backwards.

  Climbing up onto Kelly’s chair, Ethan never relinquished his hold on her hand, as if he might be wary of fate stealing her away. Hatch leaned against the wall, watching from the outskirts. Wise boy, Williams. Cherish her while you have her and make every day count.

  Ethan whistled between two fingers until the room quieted. “Everyone, listen up. I have a question that needs addressing.” He turned on the chair to encompass the whole room. “Is there anyone here who doesn’t know how crazy in love I am with this woman?”

  Laughter rippled past the cubicle walls in an infrequent but welcome bout of brightness.

  Gazing down at Kelly, Ethan continued, “Because if there’s any doubt, I want to make sure it’s cleared up right now.”

  Hatch enjoyed a rare smile. Eugenie owed him a big thanks for delivering this one. He looked forward to the day his old friend whipped out photos of her grandchildren.

  Watching young love in action, he couldn’t help but remember how he and Eugenie had given it quite a run in their day. Of course they’d always known they weren’t cut out for a life together. Not the way he and Rita had later been meant for each other.

  The way Ethan and Kelly fit.

  Eugenie liked her freedom and he needed peace in his personal life to balance out the turmoil of his work. But those days with Eugenie Williams did make for some damned fine memories.

  Juarez pitched a pencil at Ethan. “Yeah, Williams, I think we all got an earful of you and your undying affection during last night’s mission.”

  “That you did.” Ethan’s eyes clouded with memories, before clearing again with a mischievous twinkle. “But then, what’s not to love about Kelly? She’s smart, funny, gorgeous, packs heat with a purpose. Knows what a moron I can be, but is willing to take me on anyway.”

  Ethan jumped down from the chair amid office chuckles and nudged Kelly into the aisle. His eyes perused her body with the same slow glide she’d given him two weeks ago that had prompted more than a little water-cooler gossip. “And she has absolutely the best…assets I’ve ever been lucky enough to behold.”

  Kelly flushed all the way to the roots of her shining hair, a damned pretty blush that brought more than a whisper of regret to the eyes of other men in the room. The fools had missed what had been a cubicle away all along. But not Ethan, smart agent. After all the boy had lost, he deserved the best and now he certainly had it.

  On top of everything, Ethan had a solid start in achieving justice for his parents. Hatch knew he wouldn’t be able to stop Eugenie from going to the press about what happened thirty years ago, but that might well be a good thing. Certainly his nose was clean, and the agency could always use the occasional cleansing of scum.

  Ethan hooked a hand over Kelly’s shoulder and drew her close. “Which brings me to the important part of this little speech.” All traces of humor disappeared from his face. “I’m retiring.”

  Gasps echoed from the twenty ops-support personnel. Hatch barely held his own back. He’d never seen this coming, but couldn’t begrudge Ethan his exit, if that’s what he wanted. ARIES would lose much when he and Kelly stepped out the door for the last time.

  That devilish grin slid right back across Ethan’s face as he lifted Kelly’s hand to kiss. “Retiring from bachelorhood, that is.”

  He landed a kiss beside a five-carat princess-cut diamond Hatch had once seen gracing Ethan’s mother’s hand.

  Juarez eased forward and tugged Kelly’s fingers for a closer look. “Wow, what a rock! Give us the skinny on how he proposed.”

  Kelly toyed with a chain around her neck, thumb rubbing over the aquamarine like a talisman. “Let’s just say he was perfectly romantic.”

  Juarez released Kelly’s hand. “When is the wedding of the century going to be?”

  “Next week.” Ethan tucked Kelly to his side. “I don’t plan to give this woman a chance to change her mind.”

  Kelly Taylor, soon-to-be-Williams, linked her fingers with her fiancé’s. “We’re flying out in the morning for a small ceremony. Ethan’s aunt and my parents will be joining us.”

  “Sorry the rest of us will miss it,” Juarez said. “Can we at least know where? Come on, Williams. Details!”

  “I guess there’s no need to keep it a secret since you could find out if you decided to make use of your gadgets.” Ethan scratched his shoulder over his tracking device.

  Kelly cupped a glass paperweight from her desk and tipped it until the tourist attraction shone in the fluorescent glare. “We’re going to be married in Paris at the base of the Eiffel Tower.”

  Ethan scooped the paperweight from her hand and flashed his vintage bad-boy grin. “I wanted to hear Kelly say her vows in French.”

  Juarez snorted. “But your accent sucks, Williams.”

  “No problem. I have the best tutor around.” Ethan turned to Kelly, his bad-boy grin fading to one of tender affection. “Oui, mon amour?”

  Her smile mirrored his. “Oui, mon jules.”

  Hatch shoved away from the wall and backed toward his office, continuing to watch until the last minute. A damned fine day for ARIES all the way around—a successful conclusion of one mission and hope for the next. No question about it, his instincts told him Williams and Taylor were one hell of a team to have in the ranks.

  Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Catherine Mann for her contribution to the FAMILY SECRETS series.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-8254-8

  THE CINDERELLA MISSION

  Copyright © 2003 by Harelquin Books S.A.

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  *Wingmen Warriors