Chapter Seven

Answering the door with a barely covered hard-on while chained to the woman whose taste lingered on his lips wasn’t exactly the way Lucas had imagined this part of the mission going down. Then again, nothing had gone according to plan since he’d set eyes on Ruby Macintosh. He should be used to it by now, but it still made him twitch. A man had to stick to the plan, otherwise everything turned to shit.

Ruby grabbed her robe from the armoire, shoved her free arm through the sleeve and then tied it closed toga style so her chained arm remained outside of it. Then, she gave him an appraising look. As soon as her gaze dropped below his waistband, her cheeks went pink and her attention jumped back to his face. “Do you have anything you can put on?”

“I’m not a silk robe kinda guy.”

Her lips twitched, but instead of the smile he expected, she let out a huff of frustration. “You have to put something on.”

Considering the fact that her brother was already in mid-meltdown, it was solid advice. He scooped up his suit pants from where they hung over the armoire’s open door and awkwardly tugged them on with his free hand. Tucking his protesting cock down one pant leg and zipping them shut took a bit of work, but he managed. Confident he looked completely ridiculous in slacks and a bare chest, even if slightly more appropriate, he opened the door.

Ruby’s brother stormed through the opening, followed by Sgt. Talia Clausen, who looked as pissed as Jasper had sounded when he’d bellowed through the door. He was a big guy and had that whole crazed, mad-dog-ferociousness vibe going on. Lucas stepped in front of Ruby before Jasper could get within arm’s reach, blocking her from a possible—if improbable, going on the siblings’ history—attack. The move put his chained arm behind his back, but he wouldn’t need both arms to kick Jasper’s ass if it came to that. The guy was as tall and bulky as his sister was petite, but it would take someone a helluva lot bigger to get through Lucas to hurt Ruby.

The woman in question, however, had other plans. With a swift shove from behind, she moved in alongside of him. Jasper glanced down at the thin silver chain connecting Lucas’s and Ruby’s wrists and muttered a few choice curses before letting out with something much, much louder. “What in the hell are you thinking, Ruby?”

“That my baby brother needs to remember how to use his inside voice.”

“Really?” he asked, his voice dropping a few decibels. “We’re ten months apart, so you can stop the baby brother shit, especially when you’re the one acting like an idiot. Do you even know who he is? He’s with the—”

Lucas moved to smack the words right out of the other man’s big mouth, but before he was even halfway to the target, Jasper grimaced and his whole body jolted straight for a second before slouching back to normal.

Jasper slapped his hand over the brand-new, small red welt on the side of his neck and glared at Clausen. “You have got to stop doing that.”

Clausen, who stood only a few inches shy of Jasper’s six-foot, two-inch frame, didn’t back down. “It’s set to the lowest voltage rating, and it was only for a second.” She pocketed the Silver Knight’s prototype stun gun, disguised as a flashlight, that she’d just used to shock him. “Anyway, I warned you what would happen when you wouldn’t stop ranting on the jet.”

“And I told you what would happen if you zapped me again.”

“She’s done this before?” Ruby took a threatening step toward Clausen, had more than half a foot of height on her, not to mention some of the best fighting skills of the Silver Knights.

Lucas raised an arm to put a roadblock in Ruby’s path at the same time Jasper sidestepped in front of the tall, redheaded Silver Knight. It was probably to protect Ruby, but Lucas’s sixth sense said otherwise. Yet another thing he’d have to have a word about with one of his best agents.

“Who are you?” Ruby asked while pushing against the barrier of his forearm.

Like a good agent, the other woman remained cool. “Clausen. I’m with him.” She nodded toward Lucas.

Before Ruby could ask any of the 482 questions he could practically see rolling through her head, Lucas held a finger to his lips. He’d swept the room for listening devices before dinner, but hadn’t since they’d returned. Clausen closed her mouth immediately. Jasper and Ruby wore matching outraged expressions but didn’t utter a word.

He crossed the room with Ruby in tow, the silver chain taut between them, stopping at the armoire and taking out his shave kit from the shelf above the hanging rod. “Look, Jasper, I know I’m not the guy you expected your sister to fall for. I’m sure that like your dad, you’d hoped she’d pick Joey.”

He took out what looked like a smartphone, but was actually an RF signal detector that could detect any listening devices and most wireless cameras. He continued to ramble on about how he and Ruby were perfect for each other as he and his intended circled the room checking for bugs. Finally, when no alerts popped up on the screen, he laid the device down on the vanity table. Now they could get down to it.

“Bring me up to speed, Clausen.”

“Do you want to go somewhere more secure?” She looked pointedly at Ruby.

“Well, since we’re currently chained to each other.” He lifted their connected wrists while Ruby shot an annoyed look at him that did nothing but make him want to kiss her until she again made that little moan she made only a few minutes ago. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

Jasper grumbled under his breath and glared at Lucas.

He did not have time for this. “However, little brother needs to wait in the hall. Quietly.”

“That’s not gonna happen.” Jasper took a step forward, the look in his eyes just daring Lucas to try and move him.

The ego on this one was unbelievable. Lucas stuffed down his natural, inborn instinct to beat some respect into the drug-dealing asshole. “You’re our prisoner, or did you forget the two kilos of cocaine we found on you?”

Clausen cleared her throat. “There’s been a development, sir.”

His stomach twisted. God, he hated developments.

“I stay,” Jasper said, cocky satisfaction written all over his smug face. “Ruby gets off this island as soon as we can get that chain off her wrist.”

Lucas’s blood pressure skyrocketed. “You’re not in the position to be calling the shots.”

“Actually, the United States government says that I am.”

“Bullshit.”

“It checks out, sir,” Clausen said.

Lucas whipped his attention over to the Silver Knight agent. She had the tense, pinched look on her face of a woman about to go before a firing squad.

“I got back channel confirmation on the flight over here,” she said. “He’s with the agency.”

Of all the explanations she could have given him, that was the least expected. He mentally scanned over the brother’s and sister’s files until he hit on the one factoid that made it all make sense. Rolf Macintosh wasn’t their biological father. That honor went to a low-level gangster in New York. They’d been born in the United States and therefore had dual citizenship. Add to the mix the fact that every governmental spy agency from the Kremlin to Washington and everywhere in between wanted to keep tabs on Rolf Macintosh’s criminal empire, and the CIA turning Jasper into a protected asset made perfect sense.

“You’re sure.” He already knew the answer, but had to ask.

Clausen nodded.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ruby said, her words so soft they barely registered, even if the amount of fury pouring off her could be measured onto the Richter scale. “I agreed to this whole farce to protect you.”

The smart-ass slid off Jasper’s face, replaced by a softer, more concerned look. “Rubes, how many times have I told you that I don’t need your protection anymore? You, however, are in way over your head. You can’t be here for what’s about to go down.”

She crossed her arms, yanking his connected wrist over so it lay against the knot of her robe. “What exactly is that?”

“The less you know the better,” Jasper said.

Her brother may have known Ruby for his entire life, but even after only a few days, Lucas knew she wasn’t going to let go that easily.

She jerked her chin up. “I already know about the gun sale.”

“Jesus. Are you trying to get her killed?” Jasper glared at Lucas, his gaze dropping to Lucas’s arm held out at an awkward angle. “Or just get some entertainment while you search for the date and location of the exchange? She’s not one of us. She doesn’t know the rules. She could get hurt—or worse.”

It took everything Lucas had not to look over at the twisted sheets on the bed. What happened to Ruby after the operation was finished wasn’t his concern. He had to focus on keeping Elskov safe. The mission didn’t have room for anything else. Still, he moved over so not even a fraction of light could get between them.

“That’s not going to happen.” He wasn’t fooled by the bored look on Jasper’s face as he looked between them and then the rumpled bed.

“Oh really?” Jasper asked when his attention landed square on Lucas.

“Dammit, Jasper,” Ruby hissed. “I’m not an idiot.”

“No,” Jasper said, his voice low and tight. “You’re just a cover.”

Ruby stiffened. “Something I agreed to so I could clean up after one of your messes again.”

“Me getting caught wasn’t an accident.” Jasper shoved his fingers through his hair. “I needed to make contact with the Silver Knights, and I figured with the arms exchange coming up, they’d fall for the cocaine in the trunk hook, line, and sinker. Which they did.”

The only thing in life Lucas hated more than being taken for a fool was the watery split-pea soup he’d survived on when his mother was still alive. A setup. He’d built his entire carefully considered plan based on a setup.

“He kept his mouth shut about all of this until we left for Fare Island. At that point, I couldn’t get him to shut up,” Clausen said from her spot by the door, her hands clasped behind her back, and her back straight in the Silver Knights version of at ease.

Brain spinning, he ran through the possibilities. They were still there. He’d have to figure out how to mix the interfering Americans in on this operation, but he’d find a way to keep it minimal.

“What’s the CIA’s interest in this?” he asked.

“Same as yours,” Jasper responded. “We have to stop the exchange.”

“There is no ‘we.’” No. There was Elskov and then there was everyone else.

Jasper shrugged. “You’ll have to take that up with the U.S. government because that’s who I take my orders from.”

Since killing him and dumping the body out the window wasn’t an option, Lucas ground his teeth together as he enjoyed the mental picture of Jasper sailing through the midnight sky without a parachute.

“How long?” Ruby asked, her voice shaking just enough to yank Lucas back to the here and now.

Jasper’s mouth formed a tight line, and for a second it didn’t seem like he would answer, but he did. “They recruited me when I was on my post-university trip to New York.”

“That was years ago.” Ruby’s gray eyes widened with shock. “You never told me.”

“I couldn’t. Anyway, if you’d known what I’d been doing for the past five years, you would have worried more. I know you.”

“At least one of us can say that,” she snapped.

“Rubes.” He reached out for his sister, but she rebuffed the attempt. “Don’t be that way. I didn’t have a choice about telling you.”

The benefit of growing up as a foster kid meant his family drama was of a different shade than what he was seeing between sister and brother. For him, hate was just hate and neglect only neglect. But the animosity and hurt building between Ruby and Jasper had a different feel to it, the kind that would sink this operation if he didn’t get them to stop now.

Lucas spoke up. “We only have a few days to find the location of the exchange. Do you have leads?”

“Nothing beyond that it’s supposed to happen this weekend. The betting money is on Sunday. Rolf doesn’t trust me enough to give me details, so it’s a good thing I’m such an amazing snoop.” Jasper said. “As much as I hate this marriage ruse, at least it got me back on the island so I could track that information down—even if I had to bring along my latest flavor of the week.”

“Just what I always dreamed about being called.” Clausen rolled her eyes in disgust. “Finally, after working my ass off in the academy and then Silver Knights training, my dream has come true.”

“Then we start tomorrow,” Lucas said, already sorting out a plan that took the new factors of Jasper and Clausen being on Fare Island into account. “We have to get the location of the exchange.”

“It’s gotta be on his phone,” Jasper muttered.

Rolf had the phone fisted in his tight grip when he’d greeted Ruby and Lucas after they’d arrived on the island. At the dinner table, the crime boss had only briefly looked up from the glowing screen during the meal as the phone lay between him and his right-hand man. Even the recon photos of Rolf the Silver Knights had on file showed the phone.

“He does seem attached to it,” Lucas said. Too bad the simplicity of the answer didn’t make the solution any less complex.

“His life’s on that fucking thing,” Jasper said, rubbing the spot on his neck where Clausen had zapped him. “It’s encrypted, secured six ways to Sunday, and you’d need your own personal army to peel it out of his grasp.”

Lucas shrugged. “Sounds simple enough.”

Jasper looked at him as if he were delusional. He wasn’t. He was just determined not to let anything stand in his way. This arms deal could not happen. He had to figure out how to do that without outing Jasper, blowing his cover, endangering Ruby, or violating the queen’s edict not to harm Rolf Macintosh. A child’s game for a guy who’d figured out how to navigate the foster system by the time he was seven, survive on the street by the time he was thirteen, and play for the good guys when he joined the Elskovian army at eighteen.

“Just remember that—” Jasper pointed at the chain at connecting Lucas’s and Ruby’s wrists. “is just pretend. Don’t fuck with her because you think you can. I know the truth about you.”

“No one is fucking with me,” Ruby said, getting right in Jasper’s face. “But you sure are pissing me off.”

“Rubes, you don’t know him. He’s not who you think he is.”

Lucas couldn’t argue with that. It was, after all, exactly how he liked it.

“Oh, stuff it.” Ruby jammed a finger into her brother’s chest. “I’m a big girl and can take care of myself.”

She whirled on the ball of her foot and turned to face Lucas. The glint in her eye screamed out trouble, but before he could do anything, she’d raised herself up on her tiptoes, cupped his face in her hands, and planted her lips on his. The kiss was like a triple shot of akvavit on the first day of winter. It burned in the best way and blasted the rest of the world to smithereens. It was total madness—the kind he’d always sworn off—but ignoring her sweet tongue as it begged for entrance into his hungry mouth wasn’t an option. The moment he opened his mouth and invited her in, the tone of the kiss changed. Shock and awe melted away in the face of such heated need on both their parts. Then, as fast as it began, it ended with her hand moving down to his chest and pushing him away and turning back toward her brother.

“Now get out of here before the Sparrow realizes you’re wandering around after-hours,” she said, her chin high and gray eyes gleaming.

“Too late,” her brother snipped. “I already told him I was giving Talia the grand tour.”

“At three in the morning?” Lucas asked, still trying to get his bearings back.

Jasper shrugged. “I sold it.”

“He pretended to be drunk,” Clausen said, her hand on the bedroom doorknob.

“Then be sure to sell it on the way back to your wing,” Ruby said.

Jasper stalked over to the door, stopping right as Clausen opened it. He turned back to stare down Lucas. “Remember what I said.”

Hating that her brother was right to warn Ruby off him, Lucas fell back on the best defense mechanism any kid from a fucked-up background had: exaggerated sarcasm. “Don’t worry, if I was wearing shoes right now I’d be shaking in them.”

Taking the initiative, Clausen stepped outside the door and let out a simpering, tipsy giggle. “Nighty night then, lovebirds,” she said in a singsong voice and then tugged Jasper out into the hall with her before closing the door behind them.

The silence after all of the noise of the last twenty minutes bore down on him. Ruby’s shoulders slumped, and she lifted a palm to the back of her neck and rubbed. The urge to replace her touch with his own and comfort her was as overwhelming as it was misplaced. He couldn’t give in, but he wasn’t a total monster. What had happened between them before her brother barged in hadn’t been just for their cover, but it couldn’t happen again.

“Ruby—”

She held up a hand and shook her head. “Just don’t, okay? Let’s chalk it up to strange circumstances and forget about it so we can concentrate on getting the information you need, so I can get the hell off this island and away from every lying, manipulating one of you.”

That should be all he wanted. It was all he wanted. So why did her dismissal sting so much? After doing an awkward shuffle scoot to get back onto the bed and under the covers, he laid his head down on the pillow that still smelled of her lust, knowing that would be the one question he really didn’t trust himself to find the answer to.