by Taylor Lee
But the willowy blonde now on the screen, tipping a bottle of water up to her full sensuous lips looked more like a runway model than a trained killer. On the video, all he had seen of her hair was a tightly woven braid tucked under the collar of her leather jacket. What the braid masked was a cascade of sun-streaked hair that flowed over her shoulders and down her back. Myriad shades of blond shone in the sunlight. The thick waves cried out for a man’s eager hands to tangle in the mass of silken gold. Jase’s fingers itched at the thought. Equally surprising were her eyes. The only way Jase could explain that he’d barely noticed them before was that he’d been sure that she would never make it out of the room alive. Now, seeing her gazing into the crowd along the street, he marveled at her astonishingly bright blue summer sky eyes. Knowing Riley’s penchant for naming her agents after jewels, Jase wasn’t surprised that the gorgeous woman’s code name was Sapphire.
Forcing his attention away from the beauty on the screen, Jase focused on the troubling truth that had been glaringly apparent in the fight scene he witnessed. No question that Sapphire was as well-trained an agent as he’d seen. Hell, given her MMA moves and Kung Fu aerials she’d give Cat Zingano a run for her money. But her refusal to follow Riley’s order, or even Ian’s commands, should be a deal killer, should preempt, negate, any skills she might have. He shook his head in dismay remembering her yanking the com out of her ear, clearly annoyed that her commanders were interfering with her important work. Giving her a direct order. An order that could mean life or death. Her life or death.
Turning back to Riley and Ian, Jase took a deep breath. He didn’t want to get ahead of himself. After all, Ian had asked him if he thought the young woman could handle the op they were planning. It was an important assignment, a certain career builder. Particularly for a young female agent on the move. He owed them, and her, a thoughtful response. Dragging his hand though his already tousled hair, he spoke carefully.
“I’ll admit, your agent couldn’t be any more Roberto Ventrilo’s type. Christ, talk about bringing the fucker’s most lascivious wet dream to life.”
Jase didn’t add, although he could have stated the obvious—Sapphire was every man’s wet dream, including his own. Shoving at the thought that had his prick saluting in agreement, Jase continued.
“Look, we know what this op will entail. Roberto Ventrilo is the smartest, most vicious son of a bitch I’ve run into and that is saying something. Moreover, he can spot a trap like a Cheetah sees a Gazelle 500 yards away. It’s taken me months to worm my way into his confidence. In the process I’ve killed six men and permanently disabled another half dozen. And my track record doesn’t come close to Ventrilo’s. I’m telling you, this guy eats his enemies for breakfast, picking over their entrails for the choice bits.”
Jase sat back in his chair and stroked his day old beard thoughtfully holding Riley and Ian in his narrowed gaze.
“Add to that that the asshole is the ultimate personification of the target market for Esquire magazine, not only in looks but actions. As sophisticated as the Prince of Wales and as canny as Machiavelli. I don’t have to tell you that the only way we are going to succeed is if we have the smartest, most competent, and best trained team on the ground.”
Jase rose to his feet and began pacing across the room. Turning back to the two people who were watching him intently, he added, “A cohesive, crack team that above all else works as a team. The underlying criteria being that all members follow orders, knowing that if they don’t the chances of our succeeding are nil.” He paused for emphasis. “And that the chances of the whole damn bunch of us getting killed are excellent.”
~~~
Pausing to shore up her confidence, Gabriella hesitated at the door to Riley Davis’s inner office. She smiled to herself, thinking how difficult it was to call her boss by anything other than her Code Name. The most sophisticated and most intimidating woman she knew had told Gabriella at their first meeting that she could call her by her given name when they were in private. Even so, Gabriella found it difficult to call the imposing woman “Riley.” Her boss’s code name, Diamond, was so much more appropriate. As beautiful and as hard and invincible as the Hope Diamond, her commander epitomized her elected name. Even after working with her on several missions, Gabriella could hardly believe she’d been chosen by the founder of LOTN Inc. The meaning of the acronym had caught her by surprise. At first daunted by the implications of the name, Ladies of the Night, the double entendre amused and challenged her. Particularly when she met its progenitor.
Riley Davis was infamous among former female Special Operatives. True to the outdated double standard of the military, the women who served in these exalted and highly dangerous positions weren’t given the titles their male colleagues were. In all branches of the military hierarchy there was no such a thing as a female Seal, or Ranger, or Beret. Rather, these accomplished, highly trained women were known as “adjuncts” to the dangerous missions. The epitome of this rarified stratum of female operatives was Riley Davis.
When she left active duty, Riley had signed on to the various security companies that attracted the best of the former special agents. In private practice the need for trained female agents, who could play the roles required of them, was as great if not greater than in the active duty military. Operating so far off the grid they would need a KQED Quest Microscope to spot them, these secretive companies were in high demand by the corporations, individuals, and government agencies who needed things done that legal entities couldn’t be seen doing. As in all important missions, both sanctioned and unsanctioned, beautiful women were often the bait to take down powerful, unscrupulous men.
In her active duty career, Lt. Colonel Riley Davis had been a superstar—with one exception. The personality trait that finally forced the Lieutenant Colonel out of the active-duty military followed her like the plague into private consulting: Riley couldn’t follow orders for the life of her. Or as it turned out, for any hope she had of working with the elite off-the-grid enterprises. Being the entrepreneurial whiz that she was, Riley decided the only course of action was to create her own company that she named, tongue in cheek, Ladies of the Night. She often said that they may as well call themselves what their prospective clients did. The only qualification was that her agents were “Ladies” in action as well as name. The only thing her agents couldn’t do was to make good on the sexual favors their jobs and company name implied.
Gabriella didn’t know how her boss and Colonel Ian Ross were connected. She knew that at the least they had a business relationship. They both headed off-the-grid security companies. While there was no proof, spicy rumors abounded insisting that their relationship was more complex. The rampant gossip insinuated that they were lovers. Both parties, however, adamantly denied that there was more than a professional connection. What was apparent was that whenever he had an important mission that involved the highest levels of the U.S. Government and he needed a woman operative, Ian Ross came to the Ladies of the Night. Whatever drew the erudite and famous financier to LOTN, it was clear that his role in the company was important. Gabriella had learned from the other LOTN agents that while Ian Ross was rarely seen, no agent was hired by Riley’s company without the prior approval of the quietly handsome entrepreneur. According to Gabriella’s cohorts, Ian Ross only appeared in person when there was a question of whether the prospective LOTN agent should be hired—or fired.
~~~
Hovering next to the door, Gabriella’s unease shot geyser-high when she recognized one of the male voices inside as Ian Ross’s. Her proudest moment when she left active duty, as adjunct to one of the most decorated Ranger units in the U.S Army, had been when Diamond offered to test her skills. Gabriella had worked with other LOTN agents and done well enough that Diamond had indicated that she was being considered for a solo mission, the golden ring that all the LOTN operatives lived and died for. But the fact that Ross was joining them for the upcoming discussion signaled that her days at LOTN w
ere likely coming to a painful and short-lived conclusion.
Tentatively knocking on the door, she swallowed past the lump in her throat and followed Diamond’s curt order to enter. Once inside, her nervousness ratcheted to astronomical heights. Not only was Ian Ross sitting across from Riley Davis in one of the club chairs circling an ornate steel and glass coffee table, but another man was planted between them. Gabriella didn’t have time to do more that cast a furtive glance at the eye candy who casually nodded to her. For a brief moment she asked her self-sabotaging devils why, oh, why, did so many men who looked like they’d stepped off the cover of GQ also look as dominatingly powerful as this man did. As though he held her fate in his elegant hands.
Looking up at the wall, Gabriella groaned, knowing that her fears were warranted. Not only was she faced with three powerful individuals who clearly were deciding her future, but the lights on the wall-sized screen confirmed that they had been reviewing the video of her last mission. The mission in which she took down the Diablos Cartel leader, and killed his second in command. And, incidentally, the mission in which she disobeyed four direct orders from her commander. Not to mention one from Ian Ross, who, according to her fellow agents, never stepped in unless it was absolutely necessary. To her knowledge, the only times he did, the agent in question never again worked for LOTN.
Gathering her shredded emotional reserves, Gabriella focused on her boss who should have been her most dependable supporter. She forced herself to take a deep breath and spoke in as natural a tone as she could muster, trying not to notice how high and squeaky her normally modulated voice was.
“You wished to see me, Riley?”
Confirming that not only was her leader not her most dependable supporter but that she may have been her least, Diamond answered curtly, “I wouldn’t have ordered you to come here, Gabriella, if I hadn’t wanted to see you.”
Biting down hard on her now swollen bottom lip, Gabriella did her best to swallow past the golf ball sized lump lodged in her throat. Not daring to look at the two men who were no doubt enjoying her unease, Gabriella decided that since she was going down, she would do so graciously. Or, if not graciously, at least with her head held high. Sucking in as big a breath as her overworked lungs could manage, she tipped up her chin and met Diamond’s cold gaze.
“I understand that you are angry with me, Col. Davis. Clearly I’ve disappointed you. While that is painful to me, I understand.”
When Riley didn’t answer, merely hardened her gaze, Gabriella’s hair-trigger temper flared. All right dammit, she’d been fired before and she was being fired now. But if these two, make that three, supercilious people thought they could humiliate her, beat her down, they were wrong.
Biting her lip so painfully hard she was sure it was bleeding, Gabriella said carefully, “Thank you for meeting with me.”
She glanced up at the now blank television screen and nodded. “Clearly, you have more than necessary grounds for dismissal. I agree. Now if you will excuse me, I won’t bother you further.”
As quickly as she could, Sapphire turned and sprinted to the door. It was a graceless exit but knowing that the angry tears burning her eyelids would fall at any minute she was determined not to let any of them see her crumble. To her surprise, it was Ian Ross’s voice, not Diamond’s, that stopped her at the door.
“Not so fast, Lt. Shaw. I think it is safe to say that Col. Davis and I wouldn’t have invited you here if we didn’t have something to say to you. Now if you would be so kind, will you please join us?”
Gabriella forced herself to look at the handsome commander who was regarding her solemnly. She noted that he was pointing to the chair across from the dark haired man who had yet to speak. Forcing her shaking legs to carry her over to the chair, Gabriella plopped down, not knowing how she could stand upright another second. Deciding that Ian Ross was unexpectedly the least frightening of the inquisitor trio, she met his gaze. To her surprise, his lips were curled up at the edges in the slightest of smiles.
Instead of addressing her, Ross spoke to the man Gabriella still had not looked at.
“What to do you think, Jase? Think this feisty young woman can be brought to heel enough to trust her on the mission?”
The eye candy came to life and drawled, “Well, Ian, I guess that depends on who’s in charge of the ‘heeling’ process.”
Chapter 3
Gabriella gasped at the insolent assertion by the heretofore silent man across from her. For the first time Gabriella allowed herself to look directly at him. Infuriated at his arrogance and intending to tell him so, she wished that she’d continued looking at the floor. It would have been much safer. Swallowing her astonishment she forced herself to meet his eyes and then wished to God that she hadn’t. Gabriella knew handsome men. She’d even met a couple who were as good looking as the man she’d dubbed “eye candy.” But “eye candy” didn’t begin to describe the dark-haired man sitting across from her.
Leaning back in his chair studying her, his easy posture spoke to his confidence, his assurance, that he was as powerful as he knew himself to be. She’d met any number of men in the Special Forces who had that easy arrogance. They were hot shit and they knew it. His body didn’t surprise her. For most of the last six years, she’d bunked with units of superstars who paid as much attention to their bodies as they did their weapons—as they should. After all, their ultimate weapons were their bodies. That, and their brains that were as strong and impressive as their eight-pack abs and bulging biceps.
The seated man was at least six feet tall, more likely six two or three. He was lean, hard, not muscle bound. His body was one thing but it was his eyes that had Gabriella struggling to breathe. It was bad enough that his dark, almost black hair hung to his collar and curled rakishly over his forehead. Coupled with the black beard shadow, he looked for all the world like a pirate. Full, sensuous lips, a strong jaw and molded cheekbones created a stunningly handsome man.
Gabriella had grown up close to Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. That gave her the advantage of knowing the man’s heritage. It was why his emerald green eyes, the color of storm crossed seas, set off by arched black brows and sinfully long eyelashes, didn’t shock her as they might others. There was a name for these men. They were called Black Irish, and were among the most beautiful men and women the Emerald Isle had spawned. The man sitting across from her was one of them. As much as she was angered by his arrogance, she was positively undone by his sensuous beauty.
Ian broke into her jumbled thoughts. It took her a moment to realize he’d been speaking to her.
“Gabriella, I would like to introduce my colleague, Colonel Jase Malone.”
Nodding to the man, he said, “Jase has worked for over ten years in more hellholes than I knew existed. He is one of my most able men and commands the most important and, I might add, dangerous missions.”
Ian’s lip quirked up as he turned to Jase.
“Jase, meet Gabriella Shaw, known by her Ladies of the Night code name as Sapphire.”
During Ian’s introduction, Jase hadn’t taken his eyes off of her. Gabriella forced herself to hold his gaze, not look away. She’d die before she let him intimidate her further. She could have told Ian that introductions weren’t necessary. In a sense she already knew this man. Not Jase in particular. But he clearly was part of the breed that she had been fighting for most of her adult life. He had all the telltale signs of a manipulative asshole, the kind of man she’d learned to avoid. Their charming manners and drop dead looks masked a powerful, controlling dominance that she ducked at all costs. His next words confirmed her expectations and sent a shiver of unease flickering across her overwrought nerves. His voice was pleasant, with a trace of humor. Glancing up at the video screen he arched a brow.
“I feel as though I already know you, Gabriella. But I’m pleased to meet you in person.”
Gabriella admitted this man might be even more dangerous to her psyche than the usual bad boy. She redoubled he
r efforts to harden her shell and met his insouciant gaze head on. Struggling to be as nonchalant as he was, she dug her fingernails into her palms and pressed her curled fists into her lap. Taking a deep breath, she managed to control her voice.
“I’m pleased to meet you, Col. Malone.”
When he merely nodded, Gabriella was infuriated that she had inadvertently addressed him formally when he had chosen to call her by her first name. Intentionally, she was sure. She chided herself. Good God Almighty, in one sentence she had ceded control of the situation to him. Determined to retrieve the ground she’d granted to him, she added with an indifferent shrug, “But since we apparently are on a first-name basis, let me add that I, too feel as though I know you, Jase. That I’ve met you many times before.”
To her horror, he actually laughed at her intended slight. As did Ian. The only thing that kept Gabriella from being thoroughly mortified that they saw through her bravado, was the annoyance that crossed Diamond’s face.
Before Diamond could break in or Gabriella could come up with an appropriate rejoinder, Jase undercut her intended rebuke.
“Touché, Gabriella. And, yes, given that we are likely to be working together, first names are in order.” His eyes danced with humor, but she didn’t miss the edge in his next words.
“As for knowing me, Gabriella, I trust you agree that first impressions can be misleading. They don’t begin to reveal the totality of the man—or in your case, the woman. May I suggest that we allow one another time before we write each other off? I believe it could be to our mutual benefit.”
Gabriella shrugged again as if her stomach wasn’t churning with a sensation that bordered on nausea. How in hell could she deal with this, with him? She was already at a huge disadvantage. Clearly the three of them had been viewing the devastating videotape and been discussing her. Deciding if they could trust her on the op they were considering. It was professionally painful. Even though she wasn’t sure that she could work with this man, Gabriella wasn’t stupid. It looked as though Diamond might actually be considering her for the job. The fact that Ian was present confirmed that it was an important mission. Knowing the importance of her response, she managed to curb her annoyance. But, she refused to let him gain the upper hand.