by Honor James
Chapter Eight
He joined her right quick. Barely five minutes after she left him, he was knocking on the door. When she let him in, he kissed her and urged her toward the bathroom. He stripped down as they went, tossing everything onto a chair in the bedroom as they went through.
The shower was already running, so when they stepped in, she was dressed in nothing but the ring that he bought her. She’d pulled off the wedding rings that the agency had given her for the ruse and put them on a towel on the counter. This was all about them. Nothing else but them. “I love you, David. And yes. God yes,” she whispered as the water cascaded over them.
Smiling, he pulled her in close and kissed her hard and fast. “I so wanted to drop to my knee right there and then to ask,” he murmured softly. “But I knew you’d understand. God, I’m so damn glad you did. When we get home I swear to you I’ll ask you properly, do it all up right, Hope.”
“All that matters is that I knew. And I said yes. Forever, David,” she whispered and ran her water-slick hands over his shoulders and down his back. “When we get home, I want to have it made legal as soon as possible. I don’t care if that means a side trip to Vegas, I just need to be your wife for real. I love you. So much I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said and kissed her. Holding her tight with one arm, his other hand on her cheek, he kissed her long and deeply. Nothing else, just a kiss that promised the world and held so much more in it. “Forever, Hope, and not a single moment less will do.”
“Glad you and I are at the same place in this,” she whispered to him and pulled back just a bit. “Forever, David,” she promised. After kissing him again, she was breathless but asked, “Did our tail take the bait I left at the pub?”
He nodded as he stroked her cheek gently. “Yeah, he picked it up,” he said softly. “He was on a cell when I finally came upstairs, so he was obviously calling it in to someone. They’ll be running a check, which means our friends elsewhere will have them on their radar right quick.” The CIA was watching their aliases and, while they weren’t right there with them, they were close if they were needed, as were Will and Doug, who they’d seen very briefly earlier in the day from a distance. But both men had checked in and kept on doing their thing.
“That’s good. I knew it was the right time,” she whispered and pulled back. “Now that we have talked work, let’s put that to the side and simply do. Love me David. Now, in bed, forever. I love you and I’m never, ever letting you go.”
“Ditto, babe, ditto.” He grinned. Kissing her again, he backed her to the tile, the curve of his lips only growing when she responded to the move. Oh yeah, life was looking pretty damn good.
* * * *
Sliding out of the car at just before ten the next morning at their “appointment,” they laced fingers and headed inside the gallery. Both were dressed for their parts, looking wealthy without being too overstated. Once inside, David paused to slip off his sunglasses and look around. It was a move designed to allow his eyes to adjust to the change in light from outdoors to inside. It was casual and yet thoroughly practiced, just like all they ever did out in the field.
Hope looked around the studio and smiled. “Oh they have some marvelous pieces, David.” She was sore and aching this morning, but in such an amazing way. It felt so very good just how she got the sore and aching body, and she hoped to have more of it tonight. “Oh, I think that is the man that we are supposed to meet, right?” she asked as she pointed to a man.
“It is,” he said softly. Smiling to the man, he held out his hand and they shook. “Mr. Heiglman, good to see you, sir. I hope everything is ready for us,” he said.
“Of course, of course, please come with me. Would either of you care for some coffee or tea?” he asked as they were ushered deeper into the building.
“I’m fine. Hope, darling, did you want anything?” he asked, his arm looped through hers.
“Thank you but no. I’m perfectly fine as it is.” She was looking at the man, and smiled. “Very nice to meet you, Mr. Heiglman,” she murmured softly and leaned into David. Germans, sometimes one couldn’t tell with them if they preferred the woman or the man to do the talking.
“This way.” The curator waved them into a large room. “And here is the piece you were interested in. Exquisite, isn’t it?” he asked, moving toward it. He puffed up his chest as he described it to them, talking about the brush strokes, use of colors and a bit about the artist.
All information they already knew. Of course, they also knew that the piece had been stolen some two hundred years earlier from the rightful owner and then sold behind the scenes for a time before reappearing with falsified papers. Something that Mr. Heiglman and his gallery didn’t appear to care about or were unaware of.
Nodding, David was leaning forward with a critical eye on the piece. The men started to discuss the price, David, of course, haggling down the exorbitant price tag as only a man with more than enough money does for his art. It was, after all, more an ego thing than anything else.
Finally, they settled on a price that had her wincing. It was definitely more than they could have afforded themselves. But as their covers, pocket change. Shaking on the price, they moved to the side while Mr. Heiglman went off to get the paperwork for them to sign. “Holy shit,” he muttered in her ear. “I think I about peed myself just saying some of those numbers.”
“No freaking kidding. And I hate it,” she admitted to him quietly. “I mean seriously, that painting sucks.” Sure, it was some kind of national treasure or some stupid shit like that, but seriously, she hated that painting. But at least their cover was as it should be. The wire transfer of money would go through easily and life would be good, sorta.
“At least it will get back where it belongs and this place will be audited and shut down, as it should be.” A favor they were doing for the CIA to help with them being in Germany as their backup, should it be necessary. And of course, it was a favor the CIA was doing for Interpol, who was doing a favor for the German police. All nicely roundabout in a way that no one was actually tied to anything. And since she and David didn’t exist there, not as themselves anyway, it all worked out. “But you are right, damn thing is butt ugly.” He chuckled softly.
That had her laughing, her arms around him and shaking her head. “This moment is for us, at least for this second in time,” she said with a smile. “So tell me, husband, where do we go next? After we have that delightful piece of art, what do we do next?”
“Once we have it in hand, we go off to our next meeting, which we should reach just a little on the early side. Peter will be so damn jealous when he gets a load of what I just managed to buy.” Peter would be the CIA operative they’d be handing the piece over to. Not that anyone would be the wiser, since it would happen in an office building, behind closed doors and with other operatives between them and the streets.
“You are so right. Peter is going to be just green with envy.” She tried to not laugh, but couldn’t help the curve of her lips, the smile that turned her face into a glowing visage just for him. Love did that, not acting. Just plain love.
“God I love you, Hope,” he whispered. The curator was coming back, but had stopped a little distance from them. Leaning in, he kissed her, full out, not a kiss for show, but a kiss for a man who loved his woman and didn’t give two shits who knew it. Lifting his head slowly, he brushed his fingers over her cheek gently. “Let’s get our painting and go rub Peter’s nose in it. Then we’ll go and have lunch to celebrate.”
“I think that sounds wonderful. Perhaps this gentleman can give us the name of a lovely place to enjoy a nice German meal at?” Hope asked and leaned up once again. “I love you as well, David. Now let’s get out of here?” she whispered against his ear, nipping it lightly as she did so.
She could feel the full-body shudder that worked through him at her move. “Woman,” he warned in a dark tone. He dropped a hand on her ass and squeezed. Kissing her hard, he looked to the c
urator. Moving with her closer to him, David took the clipboard to sign it with his alias and write down the account number for the transfer. Mr. Heiglman took it back and then rushed off to his office while a worker came to collect the painting and began to package it up in their line of sight.
“Oh, you know you love it when I tease you like that, David,” she said with a smile. “Admit it. You love me teasing you like that from time to time just as I love it when you do it to me.” And she did. So very, very much so.
“I will admit nothing,” he said, but he was grinning at her. Wrapping an arm around her neck, he drew her in closer and gave her a light squeeze. He moved them closer to where the painting was being boxed up, layers of shredded paper cushioning it in the box.
Mr. Heiglman appeared once more, this time with a data pad. Taking it from him, David put in his code to authorize the transfer of funds, and when it blinked a nice green “completed,” he handed it back. Shaking his hand, David asked for a restaurant recommendation, getting two. One final handshake, some more thank-yous and they were out of the building with the painting in hand.
Hope slid into the back of the limo and sighed. “Objective complete,” she whispered into the mic when David was inside the car with her. “Handshake in twenty.” She looked to David as if asking if he had anything more to report.
Shaking his head slightly, he slipped his arm around her shoulders. Resting his chin on her hair, he held her close to him as they rode through town toward their next meeting. He stayed quiet though, which was likely a good thing since they didn’t know if they might be compromised or not.
Hope rubbed her hand along David’s thigh. She, like him, didn’t know if their positions had been blown or not, so they just simply rode along to their next destination. It was time for them to move on. It was time for them to step into the next phase, which hopefully put them in contact with the illegal diamond traffickers.
Giving her a squeeze as they came to a stop at the curb in front of their next stop, he pressed a kiss to her cheek. Stepping out of the car, he held out a hand to her. Assisting her from the car, he accepted the painting from the driver. “We’ll be about an hour, but shall call when we are on our way down,” he told the man. Then they walked away from the curb and into the building.
Hope walked along at David’s side, letting his hand go so that he could carry the painting. She even opened the door for him and smiled sweetly. “See, I can be helpful,” she told him happily. “You are doing the heavy lifting, so I will get the doors.”
Laughing softly he shook his head. “Never said you were not helpful, darling. I am amazed, though, that you knew how one of those works,” he teased. Wrinkling up his nose, he gave her a wink as they went to the security desk and got the room number they were to go to. Getting passes, they both signed in with their aliases and headed for the elevator.
“Well, you know there are times that I am able to open and close doors on my own. I actually have used them before in my life, you know,” she teased him as they walked to the elevator. Once they were in the elevator, she moved to his side, wrapped her arm around his middle and smiled up at him. “You doing okay, hon?”
Nodding, he leaned in to kiss her. He did that a lot, sneaking little kisses or touching her even. Rather nice, actually. “I’ll be glad when we are able to strip out of these monkey suits and run around naked. I’ll be even better when we are home, in our own space, and can just take some time for us.”
She grinned when he snuck a kiss. “Oh, I will be very happy when we are able to strip out of them and run around naked. That’s something I am very, very looking forward to, my darling man.” She couldn’t wait to get naked with him in the hotel, in the shower, wherever they might be.
“I know the feeling,” he said with a grin. Kissing her again, he lifted his head just as the elevator slowed. “We’re here. Let’s go and see Peter, show off our prize and then go and celebrate with fine food and fine wine. After that we will return to the hotel and, as you put it, run about naked.” The doors opened just then and she didn’t have a chance to answer him before they stepped out.
“I think that sounds like a marvelous idea. Perhaps after we have had our time running and playing naked, you can take me to the opera or something like that? Dinner and dancing, perhaps? I think that would be simply divine.”
“Hmm.” He nodded as they walked down the hallway. “I will see what might be available at the opera house and you can decide if it will do. But we will most definitely do a night of dining and dancing before we conclude our business here. Somewhere I can get you close and never let you go as we move to the rhythms of some suggestive music would likely be best, in my mind anyway.”
Stopping before the office that was a front, he opened the door for her and followed on her heels. Smiling at the receptionist, he gave their aliases and they were quickly ushered through to meet with Peter. As the door shut, they both waited until the other man nodded and said, “We’re silent.”
“Oh, thank god,” David muttered. “Having to watch every word one says is fucking exhausting,” he grumbled. Hefting the crate he held, he passed it over to the agent. “As promised, one painting,” he said before sitting down in a chair.
“Damn good work.” Peter grinned at them. “And we have a crate that’s the right size waiting, so I’ll take this down to R&D and have them put on the appropriate markers and stick in the right weights and then you two can head off. Give me twenty minutes. In the meantime, chat freely amongst yourself, the scrambler and white noise will ensure no one can get a whisper out of this room. Back in a jiffy,” he said, and went through a secondary door and out of sight.
“Thank you, Peter.” Hope told him, and then turned to smile at David. “So what are we going to talk about for twenty minutes? Who do you think our tail was last night? Do you think it was someone from the bar?”
“It was definitely someone from the bar,” he said. “Which reminds me.” He dug the letter out from his pocket. “I didn’t want to open this up in the hotel since we don’t know what sort of surveillance they are running on us. But here, you might as well do the honors and see what it is our friends I bumped last night left for us.” Handing it over to her, he shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it over another chair.
Hope grabbed the letter opener from Peter’s desk and opened the letter. Moving closer to David, she began to read it and frowned. “Huh,” she said quietly and passed it off to him to read as well. “Seems as if the bait has been taken.”
Tugging her into his lap, he read it and up went his eyebrows. “Indeed,” he murmured against her shoulder. He then frowned and set it aside to wrap both arms around her. “We’ll have to leave the letter with Peter as well. And we’ll need to try and figure out how to arrange some signals with William and Douglas, as well as our CIA friends, for when this thing starts to go down. I really don’t feel like being caught with my pants down and no backup in sight.” Especially since the two of them were more or less unarmed at all times. Oh, they had a few choice weapons on them, but nothing that could stand up against a gun.
“I couldn’t agree more. We need to ensure that there is a safety net of sorts in place, because I refuse to lose you now that I have finally gotten you in my arms. I’m never letting you go and if that means freaking smoke signals, then we will do it. Capisce?” she teased.
Laughing, he nodded. “Capisce, darling. I doubt it will come to smoke signals but I think we’ll need to discuss tightening up the security net we’ve got going. I don’t want you being hurt and I definitely have no desire to be shot again, thank you very much. I’m still recovering from the last time and it takes longer each and every time to heal.”
“Amen. I do not want you being shot again. Although this time there isn’t a force on the planet that would keep me from visiting you.” Before, it had been sheer force of will that had her not sitting at his side twenty-four-seven when he had been harmed. It had been damn close to that, but only while he was
unconscious, and then she high tailed it out of there so that he wouldn’t know.
“At least this time around you wouldn’t have to sneak in while I was asleep to visit,” he commented with a smirk on his face. “I know you were there, despite what I said to you, Hope. It made me more than a little happy to know you were worried. I would have been even happier if you’d just climbed in bed with me and stayed the entire time I was stuck in that hellhole.”
“Yeah, but you and I both know that I wasn’t ready, and I don’t think that you really were ready either. I think that we both needed to come to terms with our feelings and finally just say to hell with it. But never again. You get hurt again and no one will pry me from your side, but you better not get hurt again, or after you are out of the hospital I’m going to raise hell with you.”
“Deal.” He nodded. Catching her chin, he pulled her in for a kiss. “I love you, Hope Bradshaw, and I’m never living another day without telling you that. If it means I take on desk duties or change jobs, I will, but I’m never letting you out of my life again.”
“That’s a damn good thing, David Burnett, because I love you, too, and I am never, ever letting you go again. Besides, you have to ask me the question that goes with the ring you bought me. I already said yes, but it will be nice to hear the question, too.”
“Well, since we have time, I think I should do it right now.” Sliding her into the chair, he knelt down in front of her. “I’ll do it again later but, for now, right here. Hope Bradshaw, will you do the honor of marrying me one day soon and making an honest man of me?”
Hope smiled and nodded. “You know that I will, David. For now and always, we are a team. I’m yours and you are mine. Together we will be able to handle anything that comes our way, and that’s just the way that I like it. So yes. Yes, I will marry you.”