Licensed to Marry

by Charlotte Douglas

  He reached across the well between the seats, took her hand and squeezed it gently. “Things have happened so fast, I haven’t had time to tell you I think you’re a pretty special lady. Your father would be proud.”

  At the mention of her dad, her ever-present grief surfaced, and she brushed away a tear. She had to concentrate on avenging her father and not let her sadness overwhelm her. “That’s the whole point of all this, to catch Daddy’s killers. I’ve never favored the death penalty before, but now I’m ready to make an exception. I’ll do whatever it takes to bring these terrorists to justice.”

  “Like marrying a total stranger?” Kyle’s sunny grin eased her sorrow. “You’ve got spunk.”

  “You call it spunk. I call it crazy, but I guess I’ve been crazy since Daddy died. Having my world turned upside down was enough to drive me over the edge.”

  “You’re one of the sanest people I’ve ever met. Otherwise, I’d never have agreed to this scheme. I’ve put my life in your hands.”

  Admiration was evident in the expression on his handsome face. She stared into eyes like a green ocean, deep enough to drown in, then yanked her glance away. She liked Kyle Foster. Too much. If she didn’t maintain her detachment, she’d find herself as heartbroken when he finished his assignment, annulled their marriage and left her as she had been when Curt deceived her. She didn’t need more heartache, so she tamped down her emotions and changed the direction of the conversation.

  “You’ve never been to the Institute?”

  “Flew over it once in the ranch chopper, but not close enough to see it clearly.”

  They had followed the turnoff to the entrance to the blind canyon where her father had built the facility of his dreams. Ten-foot chain-link fencing topped with razor wire stretched across the mouth of the canyon, a gate with a guardhouse the only entrance. Kyle slowed the car as they approached, and the gate swung open with an electronic hum. A guard waved them through.

  Kyle scowled and bit back a curse.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He jerked his head back toward the entrance as the SUV passed unchallenged through the gate. “That’s something that will have to change. I’ll speak to Monty Slater about it tomorrow.”

  “The gate?” she asked.

  “Not the gate. The guard. First, he didn’t make us stop to show identification. Anyone could have been driving this car. He shouldn’t have opened the gate until he was certain who we were. Second, he wasn’t armed. And third, even if he had been armed, he shouldn’t be alone. It’s too easy to overwhelm one person. The Black Order could bring a caravan through that gate and meet no resistance.”

  Laura shivered. She hadn’t realized how inadequate the Institute’s security was. By the time Kyle and Monty Slater, the security specialist, finished their inspection tomorrow, she was certain they’d find other weaknesses in the facility’s protection.

  “Stop here,” she told him. “It’s the best view.”

  Kyle had slowed the SUV when he entered the gate, and now he braked at the lip of the canyon before the road dipped to the valley floor. Ahead, the road forked. To the left, the road traveled up along the side of the canyon wall to the director’s house. She looked at her home where she’d lived for the past year and tried to see it through Kyle’s eyes, as if for the first time.

  With its gleaming expanse of windows that soared two stories high, its solid log walls and wide welcoming porches and balconies with terrific vistas, it resembled an expensive hunting lodge. Behind it, the canyon wall had been excavated to provide a large, level lawn that surrounded the house.

  “That’s it.” She pointed to the house. “Home, sweet home.”

  Kyle gave a whistle of appreciation. “That’s a big place. The three of us could get lost in there.”

  “Daddy wanted room to entertain the staff, but not all the rooms are huge.”

  “And the bedrooms?”

  His tone was neutral, but the topic of his question made her pulse race. “Five, more than enough for all of us.”

  “That’s going to be a problem.”

  “I don’t see why. We each have our own room—”

  “And if someone’s suspicious and keeping an eye on the house, they’ll be watching the lights go on and off, checking which rooms are being used. We’re supposed to be newlyweds, remember?”

  This was a problem she intended to nip in the bud. “Then I guess you’ll have to get used to dressing and undressing in the dark.”

  Kyle laughed. “You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

  She grinned back at him, glad the tense moment had passed. “I try.”

  She pointed past the main house where the road snaked through a copse of fir trees. At the far edge of the forested area, a series of condominiums, smaller but in an architectural style that matched the main house, seemed to hang perilously from the canyon wall. “Staff housing.”

  “Looks like vacation hideaways.”

  “Daddy wanted the staff and their families to be comfortable, especially since we’re out here in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Speaking of nowhere—” Kyle’s glance swept the valley floor “—where’s the lab?”

  “Take the right fork into the valley.”

  Kyle eased the car down the steep road and circled a high grassy hill that rose from the canyon floor.

  “Stop here,” she directed.

  He braked and gazed around him at the grass-covered hillock and bare canyon walls. “What am I supposed to be looking at?”

  She grinned, pleased at the deception. “The laboratory.”

  “Right. Your father was not only a microbiologist but a magician. His lab’s invisible.”

  “That’s right. It is invisible.” She stifled a laugh at his perplexed expression. “Drive ahead, just around that curve. Then stop again.”

  Kyle did as she instructed. Around the curve, he halted the car once more and glanced to his left.

  “Wow.”

  He exhaled the exclamation as if someone had punched him in the stomach, delighting Laura with his response.

  “See, I told you it was invisible—at least everywhere but here.”

  “It’s underground!”

  “Except for this side. The three-story glass facade provides light and solar heating. With the rest of the building built into the hill, we take advantage of geothermal heating and cooling. Keeps the electric bills down.” Her smile faded as she remembered the other reason for the design. “Having the lab underground also provides easier containment if we ever have an accident.”

  “That’s a scary thought,” Kyle said.

  She nodded in agreement. “There’s a built-in alarm system with panic buttons in every room. If there’s a spill or contamination of any kind, someone hits the alarm, a siren sounds, and huge shutters with impermeable membranes close over the entire facade. If we move fast enough, nothing harmful escapes into the atmosphere.”

  “What about the people inside?”

  “There are various safe areas throughout the building, but everyone would most likely don hazard suits and start the cleanup.”

  “Let’s hope that never happens.”

  Laura nodded in agreement. “When you’re dealing with deadly viruses and bacteria, you learn to be careful. Want to see inside?”

  “Not yet. I’d rather greet all the staff at once at the meeting you’ve called for tomorrow morning.”

  The late-afternoon sun, about to disappear over the rim of the canyon wall, glinted off the lab’s high windows. Kyle started the car again and continued up the road, which looped past the staff condos and eventually led to the director’s house. He pulled into the circular driveway and stopped by the front steps. With the boundless energy that never ceased to amaze her, he hopped from the car, circled it and opened the door for her. Together they climbed the broad front stairs, and Laura fumbled in her purse for her key.

  While she was trying to locate it, Kyle suddenly grabbed her, pulled her
close, and before she could utter a protest, pressed his mouth to hers. She started to resist, but he quickly moved to nibble at her ear and whispered, “Play along with me. We’re being watched.”

  Participating in his kiss didn’t prove a hardship. Although her mind still reeled from surprise, her body responded readily to the warmth of his embrace, and she relaxed in his arms, lifting her lips for another kiss, savoring the honeyed taste of him, reveling in the aromas of sunshine, soap and leather, and his distinctively masculine scent. Because he was only a few inches taller, she had merely to stand on tiptoe for their bodies to meld into a perfect fit. She wrapped her arms around him and flexed her fingers over the taut muscles of his back.

  Excitement thrummed along her nerves, underlaid by a more powerful feeling. In Kyle’s arms, she felt safe again for the first time since her father died.

  Kyle pulled away and graced her with a grin so ridiculously lopsided and enchantingly appealing that her stomach somersaulted.

  “The key?” he said.

  Still intoxicated from the force of his kiss, she couldn’t make sense of his request. “What?”

  “I have to unlock the door if we’re going to do this right.”

  Blushing at her awkwardness, she reached into her purse, found the key and handed it to him. With a quick flick of his wrist, he unlocked the door, thrust the key in his pocket, then scooped her into his arms as if she weighed no more than a blade of grass.

  “Smile, Mrs. Foster,” he muttered under his breath. “You’re supposed to be enjoying this.”

  Shaking away her bewilderment, Laura threw her arms around his neck and assumed a radiant expression. Playacting wasn’t hard. She felt radiant in Kyle’s arms, swept over the threshold in his strong arms like a real bride.

  Once inside, Kyle kicked the door shut and set her on her feet. “That was close,” he said. “If I hadn’t caught a glimpse of someone watching from the trees, we might have blown our whole cover.”

  “Who was it? What did he look like?”

  Kyle shook his head. “Couldn’t tell. Don’t even know if the person was male or female. Whoever it was was making an effort not to be seen, but he was still watching as we came through the door.”

  A shiver rippled down Laura’s spine before her common sense kicked in. “It could have been entirely innocent. One of the staff out for a walk and curious to see what I’m up to.”

  “Maybe. Anyone here know about the wedding?”

  “Only C.J.”

  “Good. I know she’s kept our secret. Tomorrow I can gauge reactions in the staff meeting when you announce our marriage. It’ll be interesting to note who isn’t surprised.”

  Still feeling chilled, she crossed the room to the thermostat on the far wall and turned up the heat. The furnace kicked in with a faint whisper of moving air, and a current of warmth eddied about the room. “I still find it hard to believe we have a traitor on staff. I know them. They’re all good people.”

  Kyle’s appealing grin had disappeared, his face now set in grim lines. “Even good people have their breaking points. Some even have a price. You have to remember, you can’t trust anyone but C.J.”

  “And you.”

  His smile returned. “If you can’t trust your own husband, who can you trust?” He headed for the door. “I’ll bring in the luggage and see if I can sneak another look at our resident snoop.”

  Before opening the door, he turned back. “This house have an alarm system?”

  Laura shook her head. “Daddy never thought we needed one.”

  Kyle grimaced. “I’ll add that to the list for Monty Slater tomorrow.”

  A few minutes later he manhandled the luggage into the foyer. “Lead the way.”

  Laura preceded him up the stairs and stopped at the first door. “This is my old room. It has twin beds, so you can sleep here and keep Molly with you until she becomes accustomed to the house.”

  Kyle merely nodded, but kept hold of the suitcases. “And your room?”

  She continued down the hall. “Right next door.”

  Stepping into the spacious master bedroom that had once been her father’s, she was confronted immediately by the immense king-size bed that faced soaring windows that overlooked the forest, and felt a fleeting moment of regret that her marriage to Kyle wasn’t real, that he wouldn’t be sharing her bed that night. Then she thrust the enticing notion aside.

  Kyle deposited all the suitcases on the bed, then opened his and began hanging his clothes beside hers in the immense walk-in closet.

  “Wait.” The command came out more strident and high-pitched than she’d intended.

  Clothes in one hand, hangers in the other, Kyle turned at her order and contemplated her with a raised eyebrow, his left one bisected by the fascinating crescent scar.

  Feeling flustered and embarrassed—and angry at him for putting her in such a position, she lifted her chin and met his green gaze with an unflinching stare. “We agreed you’d sleep in the other room.”

  “That’s right,” he said in an agreeable tone before returning to the closet. When he’d finished hanging up his clothes, he removed his shaving kit and stepped around her where she stood like a sentinel in the middle of the room. He entered the master bath and unpacked his toiletries, lining them neatly on the marble countertop.

  Shaking her head in confusion, she followed him into the bathroom. “If you’re sleeping in the other room, why are you unpacking in here?”

  He grasped her gently by the shoulders and gazed into her eyes. “I know this is hard for you, and I promise not to intrude on your privacy any more than necessary. I can sleep next door, but my clothes and personal belongings have to remain in this room.”

  “Why?” His closeness, the touch of his hands on her shoulders and the gentle understanding in his voice were making her giddy. “No one comes in here but me.”

  “I hope you’re right. But if anyone should become suspicious and arrange to search the house, we don’t want to give ourselves away by obviously occupying separate rooms.”

  Realizing his reasoning, she felt foolish, having assumed he’d been pushing himself on her by moving into her room. From the little she’d learned about Kyle Foster, she should have known better. He had a rare quality not often found in today’s world: he was a consummate gentleman.

  Later, however, after a quick supper of soup and sandwiches when Kyle had sequestered himself in her father’s office with the personnel files, Laura sat alone before a roaring fire in the family room and sipped a cup of herbal tea. Experiencing an irrational pang of disappointment that Kyle wouldn’t be sharing her room and her bed, she convinced herself her feelings were strictly the result of fear. With an unknown traitor in their midst, she felt safer the closer she was to Kyle.

  She viewed him merely as a protector, she assured herself. After what Curt had done to her heart, she doubted she’d ever fall in love again.

  THE NEXT MORNING, Kyle stood in the rear of the laboratory’s conference room and observed the various members of the staff as they filed in and took seats around the table for the specially called meeting. He’d spent hours the night before memorizing personnel records, placing photographed faces to names and faxing data to Court at the ranch so that he could run background and credit checks on everyone.

  Keeping busy had almost helped him forget he shared a house, particularly a closet and a bathroom, with a woman who made his pulse race. Luckily, by closeting himself in Josiah’s study, he’d placed enough distance between him and Laura to be able to concentrate. That is, until she knocked on the door at ten o’clock and entered wearing a frilly robe and a sympathetic, blue-eyed smile, and carrying a tray filled with cinnamon-laced hot chocolate and homemade cookies. If the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, Laura had the route clearly marked. He’d shooed her away quickly before he’d been tempted to play newlyweds again. Unlike the previous afternoon, he’d have had a hard time claiming bystanders were watching in the middle of the Qu
inlan home.

  Jerking his thoughts back to the present and his assignment, he silently delivered himself a stern lecture on the dangers of pretty distractions like Laura Quinlan. He had a traitor to catch, an apparently wily and creative informer who’d managed to operate in the intimate surroundings of the lab with a staff that was more like family, and yet had managed to fool them all.

  Kyle surveyed the room as he waited. In such pleasant surroundings he found it hard to believe that evil such as the Black Order could exist, even though his memories of the capitol bombing told him otherwise. On the third floor of the laboratory building, the floor-to-ceiling glass wall of the conference room offered a breathtaking view of the mountain ranges in their fall splendor. High above a nearby peak already crusted with early snow, a bald eagle circled, riding on the currents of a chinook wind that warmed the autumn day. Inside, an oblong table of light wood with matching chairs in a Scandinavian design were the only objects of furniture in the room.

  Kyle watched Dr. Lawrence Tyson enter first. Tall and rangy in his immaculately pressed lab coat, the scientist’s craggy, wrinkled face and thick gray hair made him appear older than his fifty-two years. With a murmur of greeting to Laura, he took his place beside her at the head of the table, plopped a yellow legal pad in front of him and commenced doodling with a Mont Blanc pen while waiting for the others.

  C.J. came next, accompanied by Dr. Melinda Kwan, the only other female on the staff. An attractive Asian-American with smooth, sculpted features and thick black hair cut blunt above her shoulders, Dr. Kwan cast a curious look at Kyle before seating herself at the foot of the table, as far as she could get from Dr. Tyson. Once her fleeting glance of inquisitiveness had disappeared, she assumed an impassive expression that Kyle found impossible to read.

  Interesting, he thought, and wondered if distancing herself from the head researcher indicated animosity toward her colleague or simply a desire to sit near the door for a quick getaway once the meeting ended.

  From the other end of the room, Laura caught Kyle’s eye and smiled, and for an instant the sweetness of her expression drove his entire mission from his mind. Keeping up their just-married appearances, he returned her look with a warm grin, then forced himself to turn back toward the door to scrutinize the latest arrival.