by J. S. Scott
Now, I was going to have to try one more time to go somewhere that few people even wanted to be near.
What the hell had Dani been doing in Syria?
She might be brave and reckless, but she wasn’t downright stupid. I knew she reported from Turkey, but I’d never known her to cross that line, or even consider it.
Oh hell, yeah. I was going to bring her home. But now more than ever, I really needed Blake’s help one more time. Luckily, he was home on a late winter break from DC, and I’d have to call on him to cover for me.
I couldn’t let anybody know that I was gone. Being away at an unknown destination would be a big red flag that I was on a rescue. As long as I was here in Rocky Springs, or people thought I was, I couldn’t be out of the country.
I shook my head as I put on a pair of shoes and grabbed my wallet out of my suit pants, and then stuffed it into the back pocket of my jeans.
I needed to talk to Blake, and I needed to do it now.
The sooner I could get everything organized, the sooner I could get that lunatic female back stateside.
Wondering briefly if I could somehow manage to get her passport pulled for life, I raked a hand through my hair in frustration, more concerned than I probably should be for a woman who readily risked her life to do her job.
Sure, she had known the risks of her job. I never doubted that. But thinking about her in the hands of rebels who’d have not an ounce of remorse for killing her made me move my ass just a little quicker.
I was in my car and on the way to Blake’s ranch within minutes.
“When in the hell did you fuck Harper Lawson?” I asked my brother as I made myself a drink in his living room.
I’d gotten to his place in record time. I loved fast vehicles, and I’d driven one of the quickest I owned.
“What?” Blake looked at me with a frown as he plopped onto a sofa.
I could tell my twin had been out on his breeding ranch. His jeans were old and faded, and he was wearing an old sweatshirt that should have been thrown away after he’d finished college.
What in hell he found fascinating about cows, I really couldn’t understand.
“You heard me,” I said calmly, taking a seat across from him in a recliner. “She came to me for help today. Her sister Dani has been…detained. For some reason, she had the notion that I’d once stripped her of her virginity, and she hates me. What in the hell did you do?”
Blake wasn’t known for being a troublemaker, or a ladies’ man. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time he’d even had a girlfriend. If he wasn’t in DC taking care of his responsibilities as a senator, he was here at his ranch trying to create new and improved breeds of cattle through his breeding program.
“Years ago,” he grumbled. “She was barely an adult.”
I raised an eyebrow at his irritated tone. My brother wasn’t the type to screw a virgin and walk away. “What happened?”
“Remember the year she ran away from home?”
I nodded. I did remember. I’d had a new girlfriend at the time, and the last thing I’d wanted to do was hightail it to Denver in the middle of a storm and leave the beautiful female behind. The girlfriend hadn’t lasted with me for very long. Hell, I couldn’t even remember her name. But then, none of them ever hung around for more than a month or two.
Blake shifted uncomfortably. “We had to spend the night together once I found her in Denver because of the storm. We had sex. End of story.”
Interesting. He doesn’t want to talk about what happened with Harper.
I shook my head. “Not quite the end of the story. Why does she think it was me?”
“I didn’t pretend to be you. She just assumed I was you. When I went to see her before I went back to campus, she was gone. I never had a chance to tell her the truth.”
“You never saw her again?”
“No,” Blake replied in a bitter tone. “I tried to call her for months, but she never answered. I think she finally changed phones or her phone number because it was eventually disconnected.”
“Her sister hates me. Harper hates me. I’m assuming that’s all about you screwing around with Harper.”
“I wasn’t just playing with her. She left. She never said good-bye. She never contacted me. How was I supposed to tell her?”
“Well, you’re about to get another chance. I have to go on this assignment, Blake. Nobody can know I’m gone.”
“Oh, hell no. After the last mission you did with PRO, I thought you were done.”
“So you want me to leave Dani in Syria at the mercy of rebels?” I answered casually, surprised at how much emotion I was seeing from Blake, even if it was negative. Talking about women was usually the last thing he cared to discuss. And I’d certainly never seen my twin this rattled over a female.
He shook his head slowly. “If something happens to Dani, it would probably kill Harper. But you don’t even have a team anymore.”
“I’ll find one,” I answered confidently. I already had a pretty good idea of who I could use to replace my two missing team members, and I knew the other guys would do another mission, especially considering we were going after Danica Lawson. Most of the guys at least knew of her, but I was pretty sure most of them were acquainted with her personally, just like I was. She was known for her reporting in dangerous areas, and there wasn’t exactly a ton of female foreign correspondents. She was one of the few.
“How in the hell are you even going to get into the country? Jesus, Marcus…this is going to be dangerous.”
I shot my twin a half smile. “I’ve been in worse situations. First, I have to locate Danica.”
“I’ll help you all I can,” Blake agreed reluctantly. “How was Harper?”
The touch of vulnerability in his voice made me survey my brother carefully, and I noticed just how nervous he looked. “Pissed off. Worried. Just the fact that she brought up the fact that I stole her innocence over a decade ago tells me she’s desperate.”
“You didn’t,” Blake growled. “I did.”
Hmmm…he was more than a little touchy about that subject. “I know. I would have remembered that incident if it had really been me. She’s a beautiful woman.” Yeah, I knew I was poking at him, but his annoyed reaction after all the years that had passed baffled me. Hell, he acted like it had just happened yesterday.
“Did you touch her?” he asked in a graveled voice.
“No. But so what if I did? You two aren’t exactly together.”
Blake shot me a deadly glare. “Don’t. Don’t mess with her.”
I squelched a desire to smirk at him. “I won’t. But I’d appreciate it if you cleared my name.”
“I’m sorry,” Blake answered huskily. “I didn’t think she’d ever come back here because her parents are gone, or that I’d ever have to face her again. I didn’t think you’d ever see her, either, for that matter.” He paused before he asked, “Why didn’t you just tell her the truth? You must have known it was me.”
I shrugged. “Not my responsibility. I didn’t have all the facts, and I didn’t want to make her even more angry. Just FYI…I don’t know exactly what happened, but she apparently saw me with my then-girlfriend right after you slept with her. She thinks you just used her for a one-nighter, then went back to your girlfriend.”
“Shit,” Blake exploded. “No wonder she wouldn’t talk to me or answer her phone. I should have just tracked her ass down and told her the truth. But I just assumed she regretted what happened, or just wasn’t interested in talking to me. I didn’t know she saw you with another woman.”
“If it makes you feel any better, she’s over you. Plus, I wasn’t with another woman. I was only fucking my girlfriend at the time.”
Blake tipped up the drink he’d been holding and swallowed the entire tumbler of fine Scotch. “Doesn’t matter. I was over her a lon
g time ago. It was just one night.”
I was thinking it must have been one hell of a night for my brother to still react to the incident like it had happened recently. Blake was my identical twin, and we sensed each other’s emotions sometimes. For a long time, we’d almost lost that link. But my gut twisted as I saw his tormented expression, connecting with him on a level I hadn’t experienced for a long time. “You never got over her.”
He shrugged. “There wasn’t much I could do but forget about her.”
Blake had never forgotten Harper. I was convinced of that. “She’s done well for herself, and she does some outstanding work.”
I didn’t know much about Harper Lawson, but it was no secret that she had dedicated her life to designing her unique buildings, and she was even better known for her contributions to fight homelessness.
“I know. I’ve seen some stuff about her through the years,” Blake said nonchalantly.
More like he’d followed her career. I didn’t care what my brother said…he was still raw about his brief affair with Harper, no matter how long ago it may have occurred.
I rose, antsy because I had so much to do. “Be ready to do the switch tomorrow.”
Blake stood, and his voice was rough as he called out, “Marcus?”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful. This isn’t going to be easy.”
I grinned. “I’ve attempted worse.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” he grumbled.
I just laughed, secretly glad that my twin worried about me. He was the only one who knew about PRO, and only because I’d asked him to be my stand-in a couple of times during our last missions. But I could take care of myself.
I hadn’t shared much with my family about my CIA involvement. They only knew the basics, and when they covered for me when Blake and I switched identities, they thought it was because of something I was doing for the CIA. I wasn’t about to tell my mother about PRO. She worried quite enough about my safety while I was traveling, especially after she’d found out that I gathered information for the government while I was gone.
I told Blake, “I’ll tell everybody about the switch at Mom’s family dinner tonight. I’ll have to call Zane. He isn’t in town.”
“I know,” Blake confirmed. “I’ll call Zane, but you get to break it to Mom that we’re switching again.”
“I’ll tell her tonight,” I grumbled, not happy that my mother would worry. Hell, she should be retired, kicking back on her porch and just enjoying life. Instead, she still worked harder than most of us at running the main resort.
“Tomorrow…you’re me. I’ll be out of here early,” I reminded him gruffly, and then exited the room.
I knew I’d told Harper it would take me a day or two to get everything arranged, but I needed to leave late tonight or early morning. I could start arranging a rendezvous with the team now. If I was going to pull Danica Lawson’s ass out of the fire, I needed to do it before she got more than a little singed.
Harper
I took a sip of the wine that Aileen Colter had given me when I’d entered her home, feeling awkward that I’d intruded on a family dinner.
I wasn’t family.
I didn’t belong here.
I wasn’t even a close friend of the Colters, if I wanted to be truthful. Even though my mother and Aileen had been the best of friends for most of their married lives, I didn’t really know any of this family well. And I hadn’t seen a single one of them since my parents’ funeral. Aileen had attended, but her children had either still been in college or out of the area.
I remembered seeing her, talking to her at my mom and dad’s service, but now I couldn’t remember a single thing she’d said. I’d been too caught up in grief, too shocked that both my mother and father were suddenly gone. One drunk driver seven years ago had successfully wiped out the existence of two people I’d loved with all my heart. I had moments even now when I still couldn’t believe they were gone.
I’d run into Aileen earlier at the resort, and she’d invited me to dinner. At the time, I’d thought it would be preferable to stressing out all by myself in my room, but now that Aileen’s only daughter, Chloe, had arrived with her husband, Gabe, I felt…uncomfortable.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like Chloe. I just didn’t know her or her husband. I’d assumed Aileen would be alone. When she’d invited me, I also hadn’t known that Marcus was expected to show up.
It doesn’t matter. Any feelings I may have feared would resurface when I saw him are gone.
I relaxed a little as I remembered my earlier confrontation with the eldest Colter.
Aileen spoke in a genuinely happy voice. “It’s so good to see you again, Harper. I’m just sorry so many of the kids aren’t around. Zane and Ellie are away. Tate has to go pick up Lara because she has classes tonight, so they can’t make it, either.” Aileen sighed. “It’s pretty rare that all of my children can be in one place at one time.”
I smiled at her, angling my body toward her chair as we both sat at the kitchen table with a glass of wine. “It’s fine. I feel kind of like I’m intruding,” I admitted. “I didn’t know it was your family dinner.”
From what Aileen had said when I’d first arrived, she did a meal on a weekly basis, and any of her children who could come came over for the event.
“You are not intruding,” Aileen said adamantly. “Your mom was my best friend. She’d want me to consider you family. I just wish I’d gotten to know you all better. You look so much like her when she was young.”
I swallowed hard, trying not to be touched by the reminder that I had my mother’s eyes and some of her features.
“We were all grown by the time they passed,” I reminded her.
“I know. And you kids attended different schools than my children. But it was a shame your mom and I couldn’t get all of you together more often.”
I didn’t think it was a tragedy at all that I didn’t spend much time with the Colter children. They’d all hate me. I wasn’t a very pleasant kid—or teenager for that matter. I’d been spoiled, entitled, and so sheltered by my parents that none of the Colters would have liked me. When I was really young, I vaguely recalled that I used to like having Blake around, but I’d also tormented him. Maybe it was the fact that he tolerated so much of my shit as a child that I’d wanted him to be at any of our family parties.
Then one day, he’d just stopped attending. Not that I could blame him, but I remembered feeling sad that I stopped seeing him.
I took a deep breath before I answered, “It’s probably better that you didn’t. I was a bit—”
I quickly cut off my curse word and continued, “I was a brat.”
Aileen chuckled. “I know. You were a handful as a child. But it’s still a shame that my best friend’s kids and mine never got to know each other well. You all lived within ten miles of us, but you were assigned to different schools.”
“Good thing,” I mumbled.
Chloe was pulling something out of the oven as she added, “You couldn’t have been that bad.”
Gabe was silent as he sat at the other end of the table with a bottle of beer in his hand. I could tell he was listening, but knew nothing about my family.
“Believe me…I was really bad,” I confessed loud enough so both Aileen and Chloe could hear me. “I think my parents wanted to protect me, but that concern ended up cutting me off completely from anybody who wasn’t as blessed in life as we were. I went to a private school where everyone else was just as privileged as me. I had to grow up to realize that I was actually extremely lucky.”
Chloe came and took a seat next to Gabe as she asked, “What changed?”
“When I was eighteen, I decided to run away from home. I got stuck in a blizzard and spent a few days in a homeless shelter. I learned very quickly how badly I could have it, and how
much I had that I’d run away from because of something stupid.”
Aileen opened her mouth to speak, but was halted by the booming sound of a man entering the house.
“Mom?” the husky male voice bellowed.
“In here,” Aileen directed.
I was facing the entrance to the kitchen, and I startled as another set of Colter gray eyes settled on my face from the doorway to the room almost immediately. “Marcus?” I asked Aileen.
She shook her head. “Blake.” She waved her son over to take a seat next to me. “Blake, come and say hello to our guest. You two know each other.”
It was an odd thing for Aileen to say since I hadn’t seen Blake since he was a child, but I guess she considered the two of us acquainted.
My eyes locked with his, and I squirmed just a little at the intense gaze he had trained on me as he walked around the table, kissed his mother, and then seated himself next to me. I wondered if he was angry because I had intruded on a family night. Since he was probably in DC a lot because he was a senator, maybe he didn’t get to spend much time with his mother and siblings.
“Hello, Harper,” he said in a deep, masculine tone that skittered down my spine.
I shifted my body toward him. “Senator,” I acknowledged with a nod.
“Blake,” he corrected. “We don’t exactly stand on formalities in this family.”
Gabe snorted at the other end of the table. “We respect Aileen, but otherwise we all give each other hell,” he said with laughter in his eyes as Chloe swatted his arm.
Blake was still staring as he held out his hand. “Nice to see you again, Harper.”
I put my hand in his with a smile. “Liar,” I accused. “I made your life miserable as a kid, and you know it. I very much doubt you’re pleased to see me. But don’t worry. I did grow up.”