Charlaine Harris - Must Love Hellhounds

The CIA had known that, had used that when they’d brought her in. They’d depended on her loyalty-not just to her country, but to her fellow operatives. Whatever the CIA had given her, though, it hadn’t been enough after they’d told her to assassinate James.

And Geoff was a bastard for using that knowledge, too-but he was also determined to see that his family would be enough.

He lost sight of her a moment later. Damn, and double damn. The person he’d been looking through had come out of his reverie and glanced away from her.

When he slipped into Maggie again, she was studying his face. “Given how protective he is, I’m surprised that Ames-Beaumont hasn’t tried to force you out of the field.”

“You can be sure he’s tried. The first time I was shot, he threatened to break my legs every four weeks to keep me in bed.”

“The first time?”

“The scar you’ve seen was from the last-the latest one. That was eight months ago, in Colombia. And it was the first time I was too far from a Ramsdell facility. So I wasn’t patched up with vampire blood.”

By the movement of her head, Maggie was nodding. “Sir Pup carries blood in his hammerspace for emergencies. I haven’t had to use it yet-and I didn’t realize it healed that well.”

“It’s not completely miraculous. The others did leave a bit of scarring.” He wondered if his easy posture and the hint of his smile looked as casual to her as he hoped it did. “And it’s because of the blood that Uncle Colin will soon have his wish.”

Her vision darkened at the edges, as if her eyes had narrowed. “How so?”

“Ramsdell is building a new facility in San Francisco. The research will focus on the blood, which Uncle Colin has never allowed before-and so my focus will change, as well. I’ll head up security and operations, and only go out in the field when it’s necessary. And I’ll take a more direct approach when I do.”

“No more playing the doofus.”

He suppressed his wince. Even knowing “doofus” was true-hell, it had been deliberate-it wasn’t an easy thing to hear her say. “Yes.”

“And you’ll be living in San Francisco.”

“Yes.”

“Why the change?”

“It’s time. I’ve been protecting the family so long, I haven’t had time to start one for myself.” Whatever form that family took. “And I came out of Colombia; Trixie didn’t.”

Her gaze returned to his face. “She was… your guide dog?”

“For ten years.” He felt the familiar twinge in his chest and pushed through it. “She spoiled me. And traveling doesn’t have the same appeal without her. So when Uncle Colin told me about the plans for the San Francisco facility, I told him I would help him out.”

Her gaze settled on his mouth before moving to the photo of the lighthouse on her laptop. “There’s no interesting story behind my scars,” she said. “I wish I had eaten bullets, because that would mean that I’d taken a calculated risk. But it was just a mistake. I went left when I should have gone right. And I can’t tell you who carried me out.”

She couldn’t, but she didn’t need to; her implication was clear. James had.

“In other words,” Geoff said. “You want to save him from the demon, too.”

He thought she shrugged, but he found someone looking at her too late to be sure.

“I don’t know if he needs to be saved. But I’m not sure I could kill him. Not if the only reason is that he knows too much.”

Is that what she thought her role here was? That they expected her to perform a cold-blooded assassination?

“We’re just here to get Kate out, Maggie.”

“And then?”

“Uncle Colin will step in.” Which wasn’t, Geoff reflected, the best way to put it. He shook his head, and tried again. “When Katherine was eight, we were visiting a neighboring estate, and the lady of the house mentioned a locket that had gone missing twenty or thirty years earlier. My sister told her where to find it. The locket was of some historical significance, so the story was written up in the local paper. Just a minor little piece. But within a fortnight, two government men arrived at Beaumont Court to talk with her. When they left, they said they’d be calling on us again. My mother rang Uncle Colin. We didn’t hear from them again… but they are still alive.”

From across the café, he caught the edge of her smile. “He scared them.”

Terrorized them, because their deaths would only raise more questions. But fear created an ally of sorts; those two men would forever deny finding out anything unusual about Katherine or seeing the need for further investigation.

“And so if James can be persuaded to remain silent,” Geoff said, “we have no problem. The demon, however-”

“Needs to be slain.”

“Yes. But we’ll not likely be handling that, either.” From beside his chair, he heard an eager chuff. He shook off the memory of the giant demon dog, its teeth closing over Maggie’s arm. “And, so. No murder required. Just a rescue.”

Maggie was studying his face again. Specifically, his mouth.

“Maggie,” he warned. “Don’t look at me like that.”

Her gaze dropped to his hands.

“Not there, either.”

She met his eyes. He’d known few people who could hold his sightless gaze for more than a couple of seconds.

“I look everywhere,” she said.

“Yes. But not for as long as you look at me.”

She closed her eyes; he saw darkness. He heard the scrape of her chair. Warm lips pressed hard against his. Her fingers raked through his hair. His shocked inhalation brought her into him. Christ, she smelled incredible. Tasted like heaven. He wanted more, wanted to see her, too. But the idea of finding another pair of eyes to look through had barely begun to form when every sensation that was Maggie left.

Then she was back in her chair, and he was staring at his own astonished expression.

She looked down at her toast, picked up another slice. She must have noticed that her fingers were unsteady at the same moment that he did-her gaze snapped to the street, to the sidewalk, and began its familiar skip from face to face.

“I shouldn’t have-”

His temper flared. “You’ll not apologize for it.”

“Your sister is still missing.”

Yes, she was. Bloody hell. Katherine wouldn’t begrudge either of them that kiss, but dammit-there were priorities.

He nodded, pushed his hand through his hair. It’d felt better when Maggie’s fingers had done it. “More lighthouses, then.”

Blake found the lighthouse half an hour later.The photo had been taken from a position nearer to it than Katherine was, but it gave them a direction: about thirty miles north.

They’d only been on the road for a few minutes when the demon came to see Katherine again. In the passenger seat, Blake’s shoulders straightened, his eyes squinting slightly. As if, Maggie thought, he were trying to urge Katherine to look at something more closely.

“He’s GQ again. And he’s speaking to her, but Katherine isn’t… ” Blake tilted his head, frowning. “She’s not looking at him, so I’ve no idea what he’s saying.”

She shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was. “Can you read lips?”

“Not perfectly. Enough to catch a word here and there, put it together. Come on, Kate, you know I need to see his face.”

Oh, no, Maggie thought. She glanced in the rearview mirror, saw Sir Pup gazing steadily back at her. A hellhound wouldn’t know, and a man might not realize what that meant-but Maggie could guess.

Katherine was attracted to the demon. Probably trying not to be… but still attracted.

Demons, unfortunately, could be charming, so that their lies dripped like honey. And the shapes they took were usually as gorgeous as sin.