Page 43 of Edge of Danger

He looked over at the army general questioningly, and that entire end of the table rolled its collective eyes. The scorebecame clear. A civilian contractor was being forced upon the military intelligence establishment for some political reason or another. Maybe a turf war in Congress, or someone insisting on a pet Congressional aide get to play spy for a few weeks.

This was going to be a goat rope, in other words. He was stuck escorting around the amateur and praying like hell the guy didn’t screw up a vitally important investigation. He appreciated the silent nod to his skill that his bosses thought he could still do the job with a civilian in tow. But Christ, this was way too important an op to turn into a show-and-tell mission.

“Is there any way we can dodge this civilian adjunct?” he asked in resignation. “Classify the mission at a higher level or deem it too time critical to take the time to bring a contractor up to speed or something?”

“Sorry, Ian,” the general rumbled. “You’re stuck with a partner.”

Apartner? “I’ll be in charge, though. Right?” he asked in alarm.

“Yeah, sure. No problem,” the general replied soothingly. Too goddamned soothingly. What the hell was going on?

“If one of you could fetch the contractor?” the general murmured to the phalanx of flunkies lining the sides of the room.

A door opened and he looked up curiously to see who they’d stuck him with.

He stared.

And swore.

Piper.

No. No way. He was not working with her on a mission he now knew to be of vital national security import. He’d already been forced to let a potentially deadly international terrorist slip through his grasp because she was too gung ho—or just plain stupid—to stay out of a burning building.

“I’m not working with her!” he blurted at the exact same moment she blurted, “I’m not working with him!”

“What seems to be the problem?” The general asked mildly, while looking back and forth between the two of them warningly.

Ian closed his eyes for a long moment. He damn well couldn’t tell the big boss the truth—that he couldn’t keep his hands off her and his mind on work with her anywhere close to him.

He sighed. Took a deep breath, and said heavily, “There’s no problem. I just didn’t expect to see her here. She surprised me. That’s all.”

“Uhh, yes. That’s all,” Piper chimed in. “It’s an unexpected…surprise… to see Agent McCloud here.”

None of the people in the conference room had gotten there by being dimwitted. The collective group looked back and forth between him and Piper suspiciously. He pasted a fake smile on his face and pointed it in her general direction. Thankfully, she caught the hint and returned a plastic, pleasant expression.

For the first time since she’d stepped into the room, he really looked at her. Wow. He’d never seen her look remotely like this. Gone were the combat boots, dusty fatigue pants, utility belt, and assault weapon. She wore a tight skirt and a white silk blouse that hugged her curves until a man had to sweat a little.

And then he caught sight of those sheer black hose with a retro seam up the back and high-heeled, fuck-me shoes with sassy red soles. A definite urge to mop his brow came over him.

Jesus. She looked like a woman. A confident, sexy, all-woman one. The kind of female he’d steerwaywide of in a bar. He wouldn’t exactly call himself intimidated by women like her—they just weren’t his type.

She didn’t look the least bit pliable or easy to manage. Frankly, she looked like hell on heels. It didn’t help matters that she was currently glaring at him as if she was contemplatingshoving her hand down his pants, grabbing his testicles, and looping them over his ears. Right here, right now.

Huh. He missed the girl with the assault rifle. He knew where he stood with that woman. But this one? She was a mystery to him.

Piper froze as she locked stares with Ian. He was here ahead of her? Basking in the credit forherintel, no doubt.Bastard.

She took one aggressive step forward before André Fortinay boomed, “There she is. The lady who will be assisting you in finding and stopping the Scientist. I promise, she will pull her weight. She has a master’s degree in biochemistry and worked at the Centers for Disease Control before she came to work for us. She knows the handling protocols if you encounter live virus samples.”

Her gaze hardened into a killer glare aimed at Ian. She was supposed to assist the jerk who’d screwed her in bed and then screwed her career?Oh, hell to the no.

She said firmly, “I would prefer to be the lead agent and have Mr. McCloud assist me. The nature of the materials we’re tracking make my expertise crucial to the decision-making process.”Hah. Take that.

Ian replied evenly, “Given the dangerous nature of the mission to date, I would suggest that my operational experience is paramount and I should be team lead.”

Piper’s jaw tightened until it hurt. Her fingernails positively ached to gouge his eyeballs out. Slowly and painfully.

The Army general interrupted their burgeoning argument. “This will be a joint op. Mutual cooperation, you two. Got it? This Scientist potentially has enough of the live virus to wipeout a major city. We’re talking tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths, here. I need you both to share your toys, play nicely together, and figure out what his target is. Find him and stop him by any means necessary. Understood?”

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