by Unknown
He shrugged heavily. "I'm sorry, but I really have to go. It's a matter of—"
"National security?"
Kissing Clara on the cheek he nodded and turned to leave.
"It always is—" His mother's words were a mere whisper in his ear as Kaiden passed through the doors and out into the night.
Chapter Two
Katie glanced around the small dark room where she sat with one wrist handcuffed to a steel table. The only furniture in the room—a table and a couple of metal chairs—were bolted to the floor. All of her attempts to slip out of the handcuffs had been futile. The more she struggled the tighter they seemed to get, chafing the skin around her wrist until the flesh felt raw.
Dropping her head to her free arm resting on the table, Katie sighed deeply. Twenty four hours ago she had been jogging down the boardwalk enjoying a stunning Virginia Beach sunset. A hot shower, some worn flannel pajamas, and a frozen pizza had been her big plans for the night. Until armed men dressed all in black came crashing through her front door and dragged her away to God knows where for God knows why.
Actually, she had a pretty good idea as to why. But she wasn't about to say, not without a lot of prodding. That lousy no good ex of hers had stirred up more than one mess in her life and she wanted nothing more to do with him. Ever.
The echo of footsteps in the hallway caught her attention. When they stopped outside the door, Katie braced herself. The way this night had gone so far, who knew what was about to happen. Not that she could do much with one wrist handcuffed to the table. She eyed the single incandescent bulb that hung over her head, the only other item in the room aside from the table and two chairs. Nothing to defend her one-armed self with.
Muted voices passed through the small space beyond the heavy door but strain as she might, Katie couldn't make out any words.
Katie refused to give into the panic that was building. She needed a clear head to figure how to get out of this mess. The bad guys had guns. All she had were her wits. If she could keep them about her, that is. Which didn't seem likely as the panic grew when the sound of a key in the lock echoed through the small room.
The heavy door swung open. Fully expecting another black clad, automatic rifle bearing commando like the ones that had dragged her from her apartment, Katie's jaw dropped when a tall, broad frame wearing a tuxedo filled the space. His form almost completely blocked out any light from the hallway. Katie sucked in a breath.
"Good evening, Ms. McCoy." Tuxedo man stepped through the door, not making eye contact as he studied the file in his hand.
He didn't have to introduce himself. She knew exactly who he was. Oh crap. Would he remember her?
"I'd shake your hand or curtsy or something if I weren't attached to this stupid table." Katie scowled for effect but he still wasn't looking at her. Instead, he chuckled as he settled himself in a chair opposite hers, stretching his long legs underneath the table.
"Don't worry, Miss. Despite the fact that I missed a delicious prime rib dinner this evening I will not bite you." That explained the tux.
"You mean you don't always dress that way for an interrogation? Don't I feel special now?" she snapped, unable or unwilling to bite back the sarcasm as she sat as far back in her chair as she could.
Finally he looked at her. She saw the quick gleam of recognition before it disappeared.
He knew who she was.
"See anything you like?" Katie grumbled, resisting the urge to squirm under his blue gaze.
"What's your name?" the man asked casually, although Katie knew casual had nothing to do with it.
"You know my name. You just used it. Stop trying to butter me up and get down to business. I'm sure you know everything about me. I mean, I doubt those commandos of yours kidnap random women for fun on a Friday night. Or maybe they do?" She noticed the man watching her with the slightest hint of a smile.
"Are you always so defensive?" He eyed her again, as if seeing straight into her soul.
Her blood started to percolate a little in her veins under the intensity of his scrutiny. Aggravation, that's all. What other explanation could there be for the sudden rise in her internal temperature.
"McCoy. My name is Katie McCoy. And only when I have been kidnapped by a bunch of Special Forces wanna-be's. That tends to ruffle my feathers a bit, Mr…?" Two could play his game.
"James. Agent James."
"Your mother not like you much?"
He eyed her questioningly. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"She named you 'Agent', so she must not have liked you very much."
The man chuckled and she almost smiled in return until she went to push a stray hair behind her ear and realized handcuffs still held her to the steel table.
"It's Kaiden, Ms. McCoy. Agent Kaiden James."
"Agent of what agency?"
"Well, aren't you full of questions tonight?" He winked at her as he leaned back in his chair.
Katie scowled at him across the small space. "I always have a lot of questions when I am dragged from my home in my pajamas in the middle of the night."
Agent Kaiden James looked at his watch. The same military style, digital type Nathan used to wear. Katie scowled again. The memory of her ex-fiancé was not what she needed to be thinking about.
"It's barely nine in the evening, Ms. McCoy. I would hardly call it the middle of the night. Do you always dress for bed at dinner time?"
"I wasn't exactly expecting any company," she shot back.
"No, I suppose you weren't." He fiddled with his watch again, eyes narrowing as he studied the illuminated face. She didn't remember him being so pensive the last time they had met. Of course he had been under the influence of some strong narcotics. When would he admit that he knew her?
"Why am I here, Agent James?"
"Please, call me Kaiden."
"Fine, Kaiden, why am I here?'
"Do you really expect me to believe that you have no idea why you are here?"
"Yes, I do. Apparently making a frozen pizza is a capital offense in this part of the world. You still haven't even told me what agency you represent, Agent James."
"I'm with Homeland Security. My specialty is domestic terrorism."
He thinks I'm a terrorist? Seriously? Katie started laughing.
"There is nothing to laugh about, Ms. McCoy. You are in some serious trouble here."
"You think I am a terrorist? Please. Did you have a few drinks at that wedding?"
"Sadly, no. I didn't have the opportunity. Which means I am completely sober as we have this conversation." His words were serious but his voice held a hint of humor.
"Do you remember me, Agent James?" Do you remember a certain sponge bath perhaps?
He shrugged. "Should I?" He acted nonchalant but she could tell he knew exactly who she was. Well, if he wanted to play hard to get, she could too.
"It must have been another Mr. James who… well, I must have been mistaken anyway." She offered up a smile meant to be both a little sexy and a little bit shy.
Katie watched as Kaiden sifted through some papers in his file without acknowledging her. She tapped a finger against the metal table as she watched him intently. Oh, he definitely knew exactly who she was.
"Do you want to tell me why I am here or what?"
He looked at her pajamas with a half-smile. "Pajama party?"
"You are overdressed for the occasion, Agent James."
"Perhaps a hospital gown would have been more appropriate?"
He did remember her. Katie couldn't help but smile. Despite the circumstances—she eyeballed the cuff on her wrist—seeing Kaiden James again was the best thing to have happened to her in months.
***
Kaiden knew the woman in the chair the second he walked into the room. Nine months had passed since he last saw Katie McCoy. Nine long, aching months. Remembering her touch as she'd changed his bandages or checked his pulse set his heart racing. Her fingers on his skin had done things to his insides with tho
se simple tasks that even Cara hadn't ever once accomplished in their year of marriage. Katie had the gentlest, kindest soul he had ever known and was hot as hell itself. How did she end up involved in a case of domestic terrorism?
"How did you get here, Katie?"
She sighed. "A bunch of masked guys wearing all black and carrying seriously huge rifles broke into my apartment and dragged me out. They didn't even tell me why."
"I suspect you know why anyway."
Shadows filled her eyes as Kaiden studied her intently. "I can only imagine it has something to do with my good for nothing ex-fiancé."
Kaiden's heart dropped into his stomach. Even though he had read the file and knew she had been engaged, thinking of her in another man's arms made him a little sick to his stomach.
You have never had any claim on her.
His body sure seemed to think otherwise.
"Was your ex-fiancé Nathan Marks?"
She scowled at the mention of his name. A good sign. "Yes."
"Is he the reason you moved to Virginia Beach?" It irritated him that she had been so close all this time and he never knew. Katie had been on his mind more than once since his release from the hospital.
"Not that it is any of your business, but yes."
"How did you two meet?" Nine months wasn't much time to relocate, meet someone, fall in love and become engaged.
"Why do you care?"
"I need to know as part of the case."
"Case? What case? I'm a nurse, not a terrorist!"
"I'm sorry, Ms. McCoy, but all of this is very important. National security is at risk."
"I don't see how my personal life has anything to do with national security!"
"If your personal life involved Nathan Marks then it is very much my business."
"It's embarrassing." She fiddled with the handcuff holding her hand in place, refusing to meet his eyes.
"Embarrassing? More embarrassing than a hotshot agent getting shot in the shoulder?" Kaiden couldn't let himself live down the circumstances of his wound. The assassin after his new cousin-in-law Angelina had gotten the drop on him on his own turf and it still pissed him off thinking about it.
Katie's head snapped up, her eyes bright with emotion. "There is nothing embarrassing about someone shooting you! You could have died!"
He flashed her a smile. "But I didn't, thanks to some excellent nursing care."
Stop flirting with her! Cute or not, she's a suspect in your case! You have a job to do here, now do it!
Kaiden tried to ignore the fact that every cell in his body ached to take her in his arms and focused on the file in front of him.
"Please tell me where you met Mr. Marks. It's important."
She leaned back in the metal folding chair and studied him intently for a moment. After a long pause, she sighed. "Online. I met him online."
"Like in a chat room?"
"Who does that anymore?" Katie asked, not hiding the surprise or humor in her voice at all.
Kaiden hated technology. He resisted it as much as possible. He hated being forced to read emails. He had embraced cell phones simply because texting made his life easier. How was he supposed to know chat rooms were apparently obsolete?
"Well, then, how?"
"An online dating website. One of the nurses I worked with at the hospital where I met… well, where you were treated felt I needed some love in my life."
"So you met and fell in love and got engaged to be married in less than nine months?"
She shook her head. "Not exactly. I was already seeing him when you and I… when you were a patient at the hospital."
"Oh. So how did you end up at the beach?" Where he lived… All those months thinking about her. So many long nights full of hot dreams and she had been right there under his very nose all along.
"Nathan lives here. When he proposed I got a job at one of the local hospitals and moved here."
"Which hospital?"
"The teaching hospital. I work in one of the research areas."
"Which area?"
"Infectious disease."
Oh, man. Maybe she was involved. The very thought made Kaiden's heart ache. His instincts insisted this woman couldn't be involved in bioterrorism. At least not knowingly. Yet, here she sat. Katie McCoy had almost married Nathan Marks. You don't get that close to someone and have no idea what they did in their spare time.
"You said Mr. Marks was your ex?"
"Thank God." Katie spat out.
"How did that come about?"
Katie shot him an angry glance. "How is that pertinent to this investigation?"
Kaiden chuckled. "Seen a few police dramas on late night TV, have you?"
She threw her free hand on her hip. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You are playing games with me and I don't understand why. I simply need to know about the nature of your relationship with Mr. Marks."
"Is it business or personal?" she shot back.
Kaiden leaned back in his chair, noting the tent in his trousers that had formed at her suggestion. "Business, of course."
Chapter Three
Katie couldn't believe she sat locked in a tiny room with a man she had secretly dreamt about for months. Kaiden, the government agent, was all business. Not at all like the man she'd taken care of in the hospital. There he had been teasing, flirty, and light hearted. Here, aside from expressing a little amusement at her expense, none of those characteristics had shown up yet.
"Look, Agent James. Here's the story in a nutshell. We met online. I thought we had fallen in love but now I know I was a naïve idiot to think someone as wealthy, connected, and good looking as Nathan Marks could ever fall in love with someone simple like me. He cheated on me with my only friend and I kicked him to the curb. Although I seriously doubt he cared. I'm sure Mandy gave him everything he wanted… and then some."
Kaiden's expression turned to stone. "And just why wouldn't he fall for someone like you?"
She glanced down at her disheveled self. "Come on, look at me. What does it matter for your investigation anyway?"
He didn't say anything for a long while but he sure did look at her. He looked at her for so long parts of her began to heat up a little bit. Okay, a lot.
Katie held his gaze as long as she could stand it before having to look away. His eyes seemed to bore straight through her, reading her thoughts.
Oh, good lord, he couldn't read her thoughts, could he? Her cheeks heated.
"Who is this friend you mentioned?"
"What?" Katie had trouble focusing on the questions Kaiden asked. She kept flashing back to a certain sponge bath incident that had haunted her dreams for months. Were his shoulders and chest still as strong and hard as she remembered?
"I was wondering about the friend you mentioned."
"Former friend. Mandy Howe. She worked in the ward with me. She's prettier than me and has a bigger rack than me. Nathan is a total breast man."
Why had she said that?
Kaiden chuckled as his eyes bore straight into her chest. Thank goodness she had taken the time to throw on a tank top under her shirt, the kind with the built in bra.
As he studied her, tensions built to near impossible to handle levels. Katie began to fidget in her seat, wishing she could turn her back on Kaiden while at the same time wanting to tear her clothes—and his—off.
Get a grip, girl!
If only her body would listen to her brain.
"So, this Mandy, she worked with you?"
"Didn't I just say that? We worked the same shift. I found her and Nathan in the supply closet about a month and a half ago."
"What sort of diseases are researched in your part of the hospital?"
"Anything infectious. We treat those that are already sick but there's also a lab that is constantly researching infectious diseases that might someday be a problem. You know like the plague, Ebola, West Nile virus, Legionnaires'."
"Did Mr. Marks ever ask you to do a
nything for him? Like take home equipment or… samples of different diseases?"
"No! And if he had, I would have refused!"
"Would Mandy have refused?"
Perhaps Kaiden had been reading her mind earlier. In the back of her mind, Katie always knew Nathan was up to something. The questions he asked about her job were more than general interest. Nathan probably convinced Mandy how much he cared about her to get her to do what he wanted.
Of course, she had no proof of any of this. Nathan was a lying, cheating bastard and Mandy was easy. She knew Katie and Nathan were engaged and still she diddled him in the store room.
Reluctantly, she nodded. "No, Mandy would not have refused. I am pretty sure she would do anything Nathan asked her to."
"Nathan is the son of Richard Marks, the senator, isn't he?"
"So? Nathan hated politics. He didn't even tell me who his father was until we had been dating for several months."
"How much did he hate politics? Or could it be his father's politics he couldn't stand? Is there a chance of something else?"
"Like one of those terrorist groups? No way, Nathan is a big pansy. He couldn't handle being involved in something like that."
"You didn't expect him to cheat on you either but he did."
Ouch. "That's harsh, Agent James."
"You're right. I apologize. What I mean is, could there be another side to him that he hid from you? Why else would he have been so interested in your job?"
"He only stayed with me because he thought I was useful to him?" It hurt to hear the words out loud. "I guess it was too much to ask that a man like Nathan, with his family's power and connections, would have wanted to spend his life with me."
Kaiden reached over and placed a warm hand on her free one. In an instant she forgot about Nathan, about the pain and betrayal. Everything around them seemed to slip away with a simple touch as she looked into Kaiden's eyes. They were a beautiful, crystal blue. Katie had forgotten how much she like looking into those eyes.
"I'm sure that in the beginning he genuinely cared for you." Kaiden removed his hand leaving Katie feeling lonely and cold. "It was just an added benefit that you may have become useful to him as well. Guys like Nathan Marks, they don't know how to really care for someone without an agenda."