Express Male (28 page)

Ellie arched her eyebrows at that. “Really?”

Noah nodded. “Really.”

“So I don’t suck in the field?” she asked hopefully.

“Oh, you suck horribly in the field,” he told her enthusiastically. “Immediately into your assignment, you blew your cover. Then you enlisted the aid of a civilian—one suspected of the very crime you were investigating—to help you. Then you got caught breaking into the office of another suspect. And you didn’t discover anything about the case on your own that we didn’t already know.”

Well, yeah, okay, when he put it that way…

“But,” he added, “you are phenomenal working the other side of the team.”

The other side of the team? she repeated to herself. But that was the side of the team where all the techno and computer geeks worked. All the brainiacs. The people on the other side of the team weren’t kick-ass. They were…They were…

“They do kick-ass work on the other side, Ellie,” Noah said. “The field agents are the heart of this organization, but the people who work the other side are the brains. You’re a member of the elite working the other side.”

She narrowed her eyes at his phrasing. Was he using
you
as a universal pronoun, or a personal one? Did he mean…

“What do you mean?” she asked.

He grinned. “I mean, Ellie, that not only will you pass your training class, but we’re moving you to the top of the list of graduates waiting for openings as agents. We want to put you right to work. Not in the field,” he hastily clarified, “but as the brains behind the fieldwork. We want you to be the one who assimilates, evaluates and articulates the information collected by the field agent to whom you’re assigned to work.”

She wasn’t sure what to say in response to that. Except maybe, “So then I don’t have to clean out my desk?”

Noah smiled. “Only long enough to move your stuff to another one,” he told her.

She was going to be an agent, after all. Okay, so maybe not the way she’d originally envisioned, but still. She had to admit she’d kind of enjoyed doing the analysis last night and writing up her report this morning. It had been interesting to see it all laid out and fascinating to find the connections and relationships of all the facts presented. Instead of finding the pieces to the puzzle, Ellie had put them together. Instead of painting the big picture, she’d interpreted it. And when she’d slipped the report into its envelope this morning, she’d been inordinately proud of herself for what she’d done. No, she wouldn’t be a field agent. But she’d still be a spy. A kick-ass spy, too, according to Noah’s own assessment.

So she was going to have to make a few adjustments to her career plans. So what? She’d be lying if she said she was disappointed in the new path her career had just taken. She just hoped they didn’t stick her with some jerk field agent who gave her a hard time.

“We want you to start immediately,” Noah said. “Tomorrow, you’ll move the contents of your desk—and yourself—to a new division. And you’ll be assigned to a temporary partner until your new partner completes his training.”

They were pairing her with someone new? she thought. That was odd. Normally, the newbie agent was attached to a veteran for a while, to learn the ropes from someone who was familiar with the job. They must be shorthanded or something.

“So who will I be working with?” she asked. “If it’s someone from my training class, why hasn’t he finished yet?”

Noah glanced at Daniel, who threw another telling glance back at him. “Well, I have someone specific in mind,” Noah said, “but he hasn’t accepted my job offer. He hasn’t declined it, though. And of course, if he does accept, he’ll still have to complete the required training. Not that Mr. Beck hasn’t already proved himself to be a more than effective field agent. Protocol is protocol. And by the time he finishes his agent training, Ellie, you should be pretty well seasoned to break him in as your partner.”

Ellie shook her head in disbelief. They were offering Daniel a job?
Her
job? The one she’d wanted for years?

The job to which she was in no way suited? she made herself admit. Hell, she’d realized that even before Noah had. And she herself had credited Daniel with gathering the greatest amount of—and most incriminating—information about Truman. He really had proved himself to be an excellent field agent. Even without realizing what he was doing.

But now that Ellie thought about it, she had to admit that Daniel had a lot in common with the field agents of her acquaintance. He was cocky and adventurous, and he had a very high opinion of himself. But even beyond that, he was quick thinking, resourceful, courageous. And as much as he enjoyed his job at ChemiTech, she knew he wasn’t quite happy with it. He loved research, for sure. But he got bored with it fast. Working as a field agent for OPUS would be a lot like doing research for ChemiTech. Except that it would be infinitely more exciting and never, ever boring. Daniel would always be challenged. It made perfect sense that he’d be interested in accepting the job.

And he was looking at Ellie now as if he was totally ready to accept Noah’s offer but wanted to see how she reacted first. In that moment, she knew if she gave him the slightest indication she was disappointed by the turn of events, or that she begrudged him the job she’d wanted and didn’t get, he wouldn’t take it. He’d keep working at ChemiTech, a career for which he’d studied a long time, and to which he was suited well enough, and which he liked fine. But he was clearly excited by the prospect of working for OPUS. He’d enjoyed playing the role of spy, gathering information secretly, risking his safety, contributing to the downfall of a Very Bad Man. He wanted the job. Ellie could tell. But he wouldn’t take it if it meant hurting her.

“He’d be perfect, Noah,” she said with a smile. “And he’s smart enough to accept your offer.”

B
Y THE TIME
Ellie’s boss wrapped up their meeting, Daniel was barely listening to what the guy was saying. He figured he’d hear it all again once he started his training. Right now, he was way more interested in Ellie than anything some suit had to say.

She really didn’t seem to mind that he’d been asked to take the job she’d wanted. And she actually seemed to be happy about working with him after he got her job. His job. Whatever. Which was good, since he was
really
happy about that himself.

He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her after that night in Sebastian’s office. Making love with her had been the most incredible thing that had ever happened to him. Before that night, sex had always been a steamy, mind-scrambling event. With Ellie, it had been a steamy, mind-scrambling,
meaningful
event. Sex with her had been a million more things than just physical. She had added dimensions and textures and levels of awareness he hadn’t known could exist when two people came together that way. Before Ellie, he’d always considered sex to be little more than a bodily function. Now, it was nothing less than a sharing of souls.

Working with her, he’d be seeing even more of her than he had before. It had never occurred to him to be anything other than a research chemist. Science had been his life since he was old enough to ask why the sky was blue and the grass was green. As a kid, he hadn’t been able to get enough of finding the answers to those questions and a host of others that popped into his head. He’d received his first chemistry set when he was eight years old, and there had been no going back after that. Creating a new and different product from two or more very different sources had fascinated him.

But somewhere over the ensuing years, his work had ceased to be as fulfilling as he had thought it would be. New projects were exciting for a while, but then his interest began to ebb. Working with a team, inside a corporation, he wasn’t the one-man show he’d been as a kid. Teamwork was fine for people who enjoyed being part of a team. But Daniel liked making discoveries on his own.

And working with Ellie on her assignment over the past couple of weeks, he’d realized there were some questions that were even more compelling than scientific discovery. Questions that had to do with human nature instead of Mother Nature. Behavioral science instead of physical science. Daniel had been completely captivated by his search for the leak. Now, he couldn’t wait to finish his training and start doing it full-time.

When Noah Tennant finally dismissed them, Daniel and Ellie muttered perfunctory goodbyes and walked out together in silence. It wasn’t until she thumbed the call button for the elevator at the end of the hall that one of them finally spoke.

“Congratulations,” she told Daniel as she trained her gaze up at the numbers over the elevator door instead of him.

“Back atcha,” he replied.

She mumbled what sounded like “Thanks,” then a moment of stilted silence ensued as they
both
looked at the numbers above the elevator doors.

Finally, Daniel said, “Look, Ellie, are you sure you’re not mad that they offered me the job you wanted? Or more to the point, that I accepted it?”

“Of course I’m not mad,” she said. But she still wasn’t looking at him, so Daniel couldn’t quite rid himself of the sensation that everything might not be okay. “I haven’t completely switched gears yet,” she added…still not looking at him, “and it’s going to take a few days to get used to my new job description, but…” She shrugged. “Hey, I get to be a kick-ass spy. That’s all I ever wanted.”

“That’s all?” Daniel echoed. “There’s nothing else you want?”

It was only when she finally turned to look at him that he knew everything would be okay. Because the way she smiled at him then made his body heat skyrocket.

“Well, there’s no
thing,
” she said. “But there is some
one.
”

He smiled back. “Anyone I know?”

She nodded. “You know him intimately, actually.”

“Something tells me you do, too.”

“Not as intimately as I intend to know him,” she said.

“But we’ve got a long time to work on that.”

He lifted a hand to her hair, then skimmed it down over her cheek and jaw. “Yeah, we do,” he agreed as he completed the single step that brought their bodies together. Roping his arms around her waist, he pulled her close. “And you know, Ellie,” he added, “I think you and I are going to work together really well.”

She looped her arms around his waist and pulled him close, too, pushing herself up on tiptoe to brush her lips lightly over his. “Better be careful, Daniel,” she said softly. “You know my work is my life.”

He dipped his head to hers, meeting her halfway this time. “Baby, that’s what I’m counting on.”

M
ARNIE WAS SEATED
on her living-room sofa with a good book and a glass of even better shiraz, and was trying to pretend she wouldn’t be leaving in the dark hours of the morning to head off to God knows where, when she heard a faint rapping on her front door.

Dread uncoiled in her stomach as she looked up from the book. The last time someone had rapped faintly on her front door, it had been Noah, coming to share dinner, and more, with her. Would that he had been able to include himself in that
more—
well, other than physically—she might not be sitting on her sofa right now with a good book and a glass of even better shiraz dreading the faint knocking at her front door. Instead, she might be spending these last hours before leaving for her assignment with him.

Then she realized it doubtless
was
him at her front door. Who else could it be? Adrian Padgett wouldn’t knock. He’d just silently slip in and scare the hell out of her—or worse. For nearly a month, Marnie’s life had been consumed by Noah. She’d been on an indefinite leave of absence from both her jobs due to a fictional family crisis, had seen or spoken to virtually none of her friends. Everything she’d done had centered on Noah and OPUS. Even her house felt different since his invasion of it. Memories and reminders of him filled every room. She wondered if there would ever be a time in her life again when she didn’t feel connected to him in some way. Unlikely, since she’d been changed irrevocably by her experiences with him.

Sighing, she went to answer the door. Sure enough, Noah stood on the other side of it, dressed as always in his spy suit—well, as always except for the night they’d spent together as something other than spies. But he wasn’t alone. Behind him, at the top of her porch stairs, with her back to Marnie, stood a woman. And the moment Marnie saw her, something exploded in her belly with a force nothing short of atomic.

“Come in,” she said to both of them.

The woman spun around at the summons, and Marnie felt her knees begin to buckle. Quickly, she backed into the house, not stopping until she felt the bump of her piano bench against the backs of her legs. That completed the crumpling of her body, and she sat down with a solid thump as Noah and her sister entered. But where Noah turned left, moving toward Marnie, Lila went right, to the other side of the room. She turned to face Marnie fully, however, their gazes connecting at once.

Marnie stared at her sister in silence for a long time, telling herself she was seeing what other people saw when they looked at her. Lila Moreau was her mirror image, on the side of the mirror where it didn’t belong. An odd Alice in Wonderland sensation wound down her spine, tumbling into her belly with an indelicate thud. Something hot and furious expanded in her chest at the same time, and the double whammy of sensation made her feel a little light-headed. She closed her eyes against the wooziness, counted slowly to five, then opened her eyes again. But she was still looking at herself outside herself, and it wasn’t a comfortable place to be.

Gradually, though, she began to notice small differences. Yes, Lila Moreau’s face was identical to her own, as was her size and body type. But her features seemed a little harder than Marnie’s, a bit sharper, even, as if they’d been more deeply etched into her skin. Her clothing, too, was entirely different—all of it black, a color Marnie normally shunned—and all of it skintight. The spandex miniskirt hugged her hips like a second skin, as did the scoop-necked top above it. Even the black leather jacket hanging open over both somehow clung to her curves.

Marnie felt like a third-grader in her own lavender sweater and flowered skirt, her feet stuffed into well-worn clogs while Lila’s sported spike-heel ankle boots. Lila wore her hair differently, too, dyed a few shades lighter and falling free to barely skim her shoulders where Marnie’s longer tresses were bound at her nape. And when Lila shrugged off the jacket and tossed it into a nearby chair, Marnie saw that her body type, too, was actually different from her own. Bumps and ridges of muscle rose on Lila’s upper arms—flexed as they were when she settled her hands on her waist—and elegant lines of sinew were evident in her thighs and calves. Her nails were manicured to perfection with a bloodred crimson where Marnie’s were bitten down to the quick.

They were identical, she thought as her attention returned to Lila’s face. But they were absolutely nothing alike.

“Lila Moreau,” Noah said, his voice seeming to come from a million miles away, “meet your sister, Marnie Lundy. Marnie, Lila.”

How odd, Marnie thought, to have to be introduced to one’s twin. Neither woman acknowledged the introduction, however, not verbally, not physically. It occurred to Marnie that Lila must be having thoughts similar to her own, wondering who was this stranger who looked exactly like her. It was possible she even resented Marnie. How would Marnie have felt, after all, had she been the twin who grew up disadvantaged and poor while her sister’s upbringing had been warm and rosy?

She was about to speak, thinking she should probably be the one to make the first gesture—this was, after all, her house, making her the hostess—when Lila suddenly took a few broad strides across the room. She stopped a foot away, her gaze still fixed on Marnie’s, her expression completely unreadable.

“I don’t know about you,” she said, her voice like Marnie’s, yet not, “but this is some weird shit to have to take in.”

For a second, Marnie had no idea what to say. Then she stood to face her sister and smiled. Then she expelled a single soft chuckle. Finally, she said, “Weird shit indeed.”

That made Lila smile, too. Another moment passed where the two women only stared at each other, then Lila covered the last step separating them and drew Marnie into a hug. Not a great hug. Clearly her sister wasn’t very familiar with the gesture. In fact, she hugged like a man, with a single fierce embrace and a few quick pats on the back. But it was a hug just the same. Without hesitation, Marnie wrapped her arms around her sister’s shoulders and hugged her back. But no sooner had she completed the action than did Lila spring away again. Obviously she wasn’t used to being hugged back, either.

Ah, well, Marnie thought. It was something they could work on.

“We have a lot to talk about,” she told her sister.

“Damned straight,” Lila replied.

“You’re going to have to make it quick,” Noah interjected.

It took a moment for her to understand what he was talking about. Such was the impact of her sister’s appearance. Finally, “Oh, right,” she said. She managed a nervous smile. “They’ve trained me to be a spy like you. Well, not like you,” she hastily amended, “since I’m sure you’re a lot better at being a spy than I will be. Especially since I’m supposed to be—”

She broke off there, when understanding dawned. Marnie was supposed to be posing as Lila because Lila was missing. And Lila was missing because she was supposed to have turned traitor and tried to kill someone. Now she was back. Which meant…what?

She looked at Noah, who was looking at Lila. Then she looked back at Lila to see that she was looking at Noah. And they were looking at each other in a way that made something cold and unpleasant twist in Marnie’s stomach. The two of them were connecting on a level that didn’t include her, and she was reminded that this wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened.

Nor could she help thinking it wouldn’t be the last. Now that Lila was back, would she and Noah pick up where they had left off? Even though Noah had assured Marnie that he and her sister had shared nothing more than an isolated physical coupling years ago that would never happen again, she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe that was all there had been to it.

At least on Noah’s side. Why else would he have been so reluctant to talk about it? And their first physical encounter had come about when Marnie had left her own mousy shell to slip into Lila’s blond bombshell. He kept insisting whatever had happened with Lila was over. But time and again, she’d caught him looking at her in a way that made her think he was superimposing her sister over herself, and liking her better that way.

Would he and Lila get together again? she wondered. Did Noah still have feelings for Lila, in spite of his insistence to the contrary? And if he and Lila did take up together again, how would Marnie be able to tolerate it? A woman in love with her sister’s man? Could there be a worse cliché?

“So what does all this mean?” she finally asked.

It was Noah who looked back at Marnie first. “It means OPUS has had a nice, long chat with Lila, enough so that things are starting to make sense. Though we still have a lot to go over with her. She’s uncovered some new information about Sorcerer that we need to study in depth before carrying out the rest of the assignment. But Lila insisted she be able to see you first. And,” he added in a softer voice, “it also means that you’re being relieved of duty, Marnie.”

She wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or resentful. She’d been dreading leaving in the morning, and terrified of what would happen once she arrived at her final destination to deliberately draw out a man who’d endangered her. But she’d been training for two weeks to do just that, and a part of her had actually been looking forward to the challenge, if for no other reason than to prove to herself she could step outside her normal safe life and return to it intact.

“We needed you to pose as Lila,” Noah continued when she remained silent. “With Lila back, that won’t be necessary. Plus, she has new information about Sorcerer that’s required us to make some amendments to our original plan. The new plan will be better carried out by Lila.”

Marnie told herself she should be relieved. Instead, for some reason, she felt slighted. There was no question that her sister was the better woman for the job. But then, it wasn’t the job making Marnie feel the way she did.

“I see,” she said quietly.

Noah frowned. “Look, I know this is coming out of nowhere. And I apologize for the abruptness of it all. You gave your entire life over to OPUS for weeks, and you’ve been preparing for something very dangerous. Now, suddenly, we’re telling you we don’t need you. We appreciate everything you’ve done, Marnie. We’re grateful. But you can step down now and go back to living your life on your own.”

OPUS was grateful, Marnie repeated to herself. OPUS appreciated her. Too bad it wasn’t OPUS she’d given the past three weeks of her life to. Those had gone to Noah. Had anyone else asked her to perform the job he’d asked her to undertake, she would have stuck by her original decision not to go through with it. It was Noah who had made her feel she could do it. Noah who had made her feel needed. Noah who had made her feel, period. Falling in love with him had been infinitely more dangerous than any assignment OPUS would have asked her to complete. Because Marnie
would
have come back from her assignment intact. Of that, she was certain. She wouldn’t be so lucky with her feelings for Noah. Parts of her were going to be broken forever after him.

One thing he was right about, though. She would go back to living her life on her own. No way would there ever be room in it for anyone else but him.

“Well, thank you for your consideration,” she said softly.

Something shadowy darkened his eyes for the briefest of moments, then disappeared before Marnie could identify what it was. He opened his mouth to say something, evidently thought better of whatever it was, and closed it again.

So Marnie filled the awkward silence with an awkward invitation. “I have a lovely reserve pinot noir that I’ve been saving for a special occasion,” she said. “We can have it with dinner.” As she extended the invitation, she looked at Noah, to include him, too, even though she wasn’t sure how he—or she, for that matter—felt about him being included.

But he started shaking his head before she even finished asking, something that suggested he was no more comfortable about the situation than she was. “I can’t,” he told her. “Thanks, but I have another obligation. Besides, you two don’t need me horning in while you get caught up as much as you can in one evening.”

Marnie wondered if his obligation was to another woman. Then she told herself it didn’t matter. She had no claim on him. She never had. She never would. Whatever Noah did with his life, it wouldn’t include her anymore. If indeed it had ever really included her at all.

“If it’s all the same to you,” Lila said, “I’d just as soon skip the wine. I don’t drink. Not unless the assignment calls for it. And even then, I make it look like I’m consuming a lot more than I really am. Usually, I’m a teetotaler.”

A surprised sound erupted from Noah, just loud enough that the two women both turned to look at him. He seemed faintly embarrassed at first, then shrugged. “Guess that explains how you’ve always been able to drink any man under the table.”

Lila smiled. “You’re all
such
suckers. If men didn’t spend so much time looking at my ti…uh, I mean my breasts,” she quickly amended with a glance at Marnie, evidently remembering she wasn’t in her usual company—not that Marnie didn’t wince, anyway. “I couldn’t get away with half the stuff I do.”

“Well, wine is rather a hobby of mine,” Marnie said, “but I also have a nice selection of teas.”

“Do you have lovely decaf green tea?” Lila asked.

“I do, actually.”

“Perfect.”

“Ladies,” Noah interjected, still obviously uncomfortable, “it’s been, ah, lovely, but I really should go. Marnie,” he added, turning to look at her. But he hesitated, as if he wasn’t quite sure what to say.