Seduction in Session (42 page)

“Hello, it’s Captain Spencer for the president,” he said with a wink to the older of the two secretaries who ran Zack’s appointments with the ruthlessness of a warrior protecting her city from the barbarian horde.

“You don’t have an appointment.” Mrs. O’Neal frowned his way. “And he’s busy right now with his press secretary.”

Dax glanced down at her desk. There was the latest edition of a tabloid sitting there with a huge picture of the president and a gorgeous brunette on his arm. He recognized her as an actress of some repute. She was stunning and just about as plastic as a woman could be without being considered a cyborg. She was so far from Zack’s type.

What the hell was going on?

“He won’t be with her for long,” the younger receptionist said with a huff.

Mrs. O’Neal shushed her, but it was obvious neither woman approved of the president’s actions.

The door opened and Elizabeth stalked out, her eyes red.

“Elizabeth, do not step foot off these grounds without a guard. Am I understood?” Zack stepped to the doorway, his eyes on Elizabeth and his tone cold enough to freeze the reflecting pool on the Mall.

Elizabeth didn’t look back, merely took a deep breath. “I understand, Mr. President. I understand that you’re not the man I thought you were.”

“Then we’re on the same page. I expect you at the two o’clock meeting. Don’t be late.” He looked up at Dax. “Come on back. Mrs. O’Neal, if you would tell Roman we’re ready for him.”

Dax managed to wait until the door closed. “What the hell was that?”

Zack was always gentle around Elizabeth. He never raised his voice to her. Dax had expected the two of them had simply been waiting for Zack to leave office before they started dating publicly.

“It’s nothing,” Zack said, moving to one of the two couches before the fireplace. He gestured to Dax to take the other.

“She looked really upset. And since when do you date overly Botoxed actresses?” He sat, wanting the world to shift back to something he recognized. Zack wasn’t a playboy. He’d had a few girlfriends and they were always serious. He was monogamous, and the women were smart and discreet.

Zack’s jaw turned into a stubborn line. “It’s none of your business.”

“Don’t pull the president crap on me, Zack. It might work on Elizabeth, but I remember why we call you Scooter. I’m the one who carried you to the nearest ER to make sure your dick still worked so don’t tell me it’s none of my fucking business.”

Zack stared at him for a moment and then his mouth split into a grin and he laughed. It was good to hear his friend laugh.

After a moment, Zack shook his head and sat back. “Sometimes I think my father was right to have one child and only one child. He told me when I was a kid that he wanted to put all his effort and energy into making me successful. Brothers, he told me, are just distractions. He should have mentioned that they’re also pains in my ass.”

“You’re the dipshit who let Mad rope you into this weird family. Now tell me why Elizabeth was crying.”

The smile fled in an instant. “I can’t risk her.”

Shit. “You think whoever killed Joy might use Elizabeth as leverage.”

“Or they might just kill her outright. Until we know who this Sergei is and what he wants, I can’t be too close to her. I wanted to fire her and get her as far away from me as possible, but Connor pointed out a few problems with that plan.”

“If they don’t believe you, she has no protection. You need to keep her close so the Secret Service can watch her. Shit. So Plastic Woman is for show?”

Zack nodded. “I’m taking a page out of Mad’s playbook. I met her at the White House Correspondents’ dinner a while back. I’m going to escort her to a couple of functions. Lara has promised to put it front and center on Capitol Scandals for the next few months. I’m afraid Elizabeth misunderstood my affection for her.”

Bullshit. Dax ached for his friend, but he understood. “And when this is over?”

Zack sighed. “I’m afraid I just burned that bridge. But she’ll be alive at the end of it. That’s all I can give her.”

The door opened and Roman walked in with a handful of papers. “Dax, thanks for coming on such short notice. How was the wedding? Connor’s a bastard. He finally gets married and all we get is a text from Vegas?”

Dax smiled, remembering his best friend’s very hasty wedding. Only Dax, and Senator and Mrs. Armstrong had been invited to the quickie wedding in Vegas, but it had still been lovely.

It had reminded him of everything he lost when he’d lost Holland.

“It was a great wedding and the senator plays a mean Texas Hold’em. Connor didn’t want a lot of press. Now that he’s quit, the Agency won’t hide his identity anymore. But he promises to have a small family reception the next time we’re all in town.”

Roman sank down beside Zack. “I heard you’re going back to your ship.”

“It’s time.”

Roman slapped a piece of paper on the table between them. “I don’t think so. Not yet, brother.”

“What is that?”

Zack leaned forward. “The translation of the note Lara retrieved from the nursing home. Natalia’s ‘insurance policy.’ We’ve also managed to get some reports on the woman now that she’s dead. It appears she was working with high-level Russian intelligence at one point.”

“I thought this was about the Russian mob.”

“After the fall of the Soviet Union, a lot of Russian intelligence shifted to the
Bratva
. They took over much of the country. We believe at one point Natalia’s husband was KGB. She was found in one of the girls’ schools and turned into a prostitute at a young age. I don’t know how it happened but she married, probably because she was pregnant. Then we believe her husband used her to spy on my father and everyone who came through our home in Moscow.”

“Did you get translations of Lara’s recording?”

“Yes. They confirm a few things we know. She talks about being moved from place to place and always having a new identity. She was tired and she says something about the regime. Apparently she didn’t like the new guys. I have to assume that’s the
Bratva
she’s talking about,” Roman said.

“She thought she knew Connor.” It had been there in her eyes. The minute she’d seen Connor, they’d lit up.

Zack shrugged. “No idea. Her memory wasn’t what it used to be. We’ll never know. For now, we’re operating on the idea that someone in the Russian mob knows something about my father that could potentially hurt me or the country. Given what a bastard my father is, it could be anything. I’m waiting for a blackmail demand.”

“And the note?”

Roman turned it around. “It was a bounty list going back almost thirty years. You see the name is listed on the right. On the left is how much would be paid out to the assassin. There are twenty-three names
worth over fifteen million dollars, and we believe they all have something to do with whatever is coming our way.”

“You want me to investigate this?”

“Dax, look at the fourteenth name,” Zack said grimly.

Dax picked up the list, a chill going through his system.

ADMIRAL HAROLD SPENCER

“My father committed suicide.” He sat back, his whole world spinning.

Roman shook his head. “Did you ever really believe that? I didn’t. Your father was murdered by the same people who killed Joy. Her name is the last on the list.”

“And my mother’s name is number eight.” Zack stood up, rubbing at his head. “She died in a car accident. At least I thought she did. Now I don’t know a damn thing.”

Dax stared at the paper, his eyes not quite focusing. His father had known something and he’d been killed for it? The bastards had made it look like a suicide, very probably setting his father up for the scandal that made everyone believe that good man would take his life.

Maybe it was time to investigate again. Maybe he could clear his father’s name.

Dax stood up. “I’m going to need you to pull some strings for me, Zack. I’m due to report in a couple of days.”

“I’ll handle it. You’re on a special assignment for me now. I’ll have credentials made for you. Anything you need, you’ll have clearance for it. Dax, if we can find out why they killed your father, maybe we can figure out who killed my mother and Joy. And what their master plan might be.”

Dax nodded. “And we can stop whoever’s coming for you, brother.”

*   *   *

T
hree hours later, he had his paperwork and his bags packed. He turned his bike to the southwest. He had a stop or two to make, then he was off to find his father’s killer. He had to talk to the NCIS
agent who’d investigated the admiral’s death. Special Agent Holland Kirk.

He was probably the last man she’d ever want to see again . . . but too bad for her.

He revved the engine and headed home, to New
Orleans.

Dax and all the Perfect Gentlemen will return in

BIG EASY TEMPTATION

available soon from Berkley.
Keep reading for a special preview . . .

Washington, D.C.

Present Day

Y
ou’re sure you want to do this?” Connor stood beside him outside the condo he now shared with his wife, Lara.

“I have to find out.” Dax set his helmet on the seat of his bike and pulled his gloves on. “My father’s name was on that list.”

Only days before they’d tracked down the mysterious Natalia Kuilikov, a Russian woman connected to the Hayes family when Zack’s father had been an ambassador to the Soviet Union, before the fall of the Wall. She’d written a diary people had died for, including his dear friend Maddox Crawford. All clues led to the
Bratva
, the Russian mob, being responsible for the murder. Connor and Lara had recently spoken to the older woman. Moments after a bullet ripped through her forehead, they’d discovered Kuilikov’s handwritten notes in Cyrillic.

The translation had come back as a dead pool—a list of assassination targets.

Joy Hayes had been on that list, as had Constance, Zack’s mother.

Admiral Harold Spencer had been on that list as well. Dax damn sure wanted answers.

His father had been gone for three years. His death had been declared a “suicide.” Dax hated to think about any of it—not the scandal that had come before his father’s death, nor the horrible time after it, and definitely not the investigation that ended with him losing Holland Kirk—the woman he’d long idolized—forever.

Until he’d seen that translation, he’d never intended to set eyes on her again. She’d betrayed him in the cruelest fashion possible by closing her investigation after giving it as much thought as someone opening an umbrella on a rainy day. In the blink of an eye, she’d made a judgment call that gave the press free license to vilify his father. She’d torn down his family to further her career. Oh, he’d paid her back. Now nothing lay between them but anger and regret.

But he couldn’t let this case rest in peace anymore. Things had changed.
He
had changed. Armed with new evidence, Dax intended to personally make sure Holland opened the investigation again—and give the facts the due process they deserved.

“Yes, his name was on the list,” Connor agreed in that tone that let Dax know he was being handled with care. “I’ll look into it. Lara will help. You know we can do a lot. You don’t have to go back to New Orleans. Zack pulled strings and got you placed on a special assignment here in D.C., but you have a little time left. Why don’t you spend it with us?”

Connor knew damn well what was waiting for him in New Orleans. Or rather, who. “Thanks, buddy. But I think I’ll spend it with her.”

Connor grimaced. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid. You two will only tear each other up. You’ve done some stupid shit over that woman.”

Like waking up after a bender to find himself married to someone else? Connor had a point; some of the worst moments of his life had been because of Holland Kirk.

Dax shook that reality off. “I’ll be fine. I’m certainly not going to
drink myself into oblivion and marry whichever woman happens to be next to me.”

“Her best friend. You married her best friend,” Connor pointed out. “Don’t expect her to be helpful. Hell, I half expect her to bite your head off.”

“Yeah? Well, I expect her to finally give me the truth.” He picked up the helmet before pulling his best friend into a manly hug. “I’ll call you if I need anything. I’m going to get to the bottom of this. For my dad. For Zack.”

Someone was playing a dangerous game with his friend, the president. Unfortunately for whoever it was, Zack was one of Dax’s closest pals. They’d already lost Mad to this nasty business. Dax refused to lose anyone else.

Holland Kirk was either a pawn or a power player. He would damn sure find out which.

With a nod to Lara on the balcony above, he hopped on his bike and revved the engine. He headed southwest, toward New Orleans and the only woman he’d ever
loved.

Shayla Black
is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of more than forty sizzling contemporary, erotic, paranormal, and historical romances produced via traditional, small press, independent, and audio publishing. She lives in Texas with her husband, munchkin, and one very spoiled cat. In her “free” time, she enjoys watching reality TV, reading, and listening to an eclectic blend of music. Shayla’s books have been translated into about a dozen languages. She has also received or been nominated for the Passionate Plume, the Holt Medallion, Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, and the National Readers Choice Award. RT BOOKclub has twice nominated her for Best Erotic Romance of the Year, and also awarded her several Top Picks and a KISS Hero Award. A writing risk-taker, Shayla enjoys tackling writing challenges with every new book. Find Shayla at ShaylaBlack.com or visit her Shayla Black Author Facebook page.

New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author
Lexi Blake
lives in North Texas with her husband, three kids, and the laziest rescue dog in the world. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance that she found success. She likes to find humor in the strangest places. Lexi believes in happy endings no matter how odd the couple, threesome, or foursome may seem. Find Lexi at
LexiBlake.net.