In the Dead of the Night (5 page)

His dark eyes met hers.
Did she imagine seeing a glint of panic in them?

Yet, her heart skipped a beat as worry sliced through her.
Was it just the concussion? The lack of memory? Or something more that made her wary all at once?

Allan took a deep breath as he considered Jenny, her face clouded with worry. He couldn’t help the attraction he felt for her. Her body begged to be cuddled. Her hair smelled of some kind of a floral fragrance that made his head spin every time he drew close. Her brows knitted together in a fit of anxiety.

She ran her tongue over her tempting lips
, and he longed to do the honor next. Yet he had to remind himself he served to protect and help her regain her memories…nothing more.

Jenny was bound to be hurt emotionally if he took the relationship too far.
Especially when he couldn’t even trust his own emotions.

Jenny asked, “Allan, are you having doubts about us?
I must seem like a perfect stranger to you now.”

She was more than that.
A luscious, warm, tantalizing woman who stirred his loins dangerously. That definitely
wasn’t
part of the job. When he’d saved her, a part of him felt like he was her guardian angel, for now and ever. He still had to remain near her in that capacity, but the way she enchanted him made him realize how much he missed having a woman to call his own.

“Listen, Jenny, we haven’t known each other
—”

Dale broke in as he stepped into the doorway.
“Maybe you need to take a break, Allan. You’ve been beating yourself up over Jenny for the last several days. Why don’t you take a walk along the beach, and I’ll stay with her?”

Allan combed his fingers through his hair.
He knew Dale thought he was saving his butt by not allowing him to break his cover, but Allan hadn’t intended to tell her the truth. With irritation lacing his voice, he finished his statement. “As I was saying, Jenny, we met each other, and then before long, got married. So no, we haven’t known each other for very long.”

Jenny smoo
thed the comforter over her lap, her gaze shifting from Allan to Dale, and back again. “If you need a break—”

“No.”
He wasn’t going to let Dale do the job he was supposed to accomplish.

The abruptness of hi
s answer made her lips part. He realized at once he had to get a grip on his emotions. Before he could speak, she regained her composure and asked, “You don’t mind if I ask you more questions, do you, Allan? I mean, it’s driving me crazy not knowing anything about my past and about you. But…but, I’m sure you’ve been under a lot of strain. I mean, what with a new marriage, some thug nearly kills me, now I don’t even know you—”

Before he could speak, Dale waved a soda he held in his hand at Allan.
“Can you handle it? Or do you want me to fill her in?”

Allan cut him a glare.

“All right, but remember…” Dale started to leave, then turned to Allan. “I’ll be
close
by if you need anything.”

He walked out of the room.

Confusion reigned in her green eyes. Dale’s tone of voice had definitely been a warning. What in the hell would she make of it now?

She reached out to Allan.
“Come sit with me.”

Her eyes misted when he pulled a chair next to the bed.
He wasn’t trying to be mean. He couldn’t be what she expected him to be…a loving husband. The woman’s catlike eyes bore into his soul. She was like a newborn babe with no past, no foibles, totally innocent—except she was one hot looking, twenty-four-year old—single and available. More than available—willing and wanting—but only because she thought he was her husband. And damn, she felt guilty because she couldn’t remember him.

He would fill her in on the details of her life the best he could, to help her recover her memory.
He had no problem with that, as long as the questions didn’t get too personal. “What do you want to know?”

“Do I have any sisters or brothers?”

“You’re an only child.”

“What about my parents?
Are they alive and well? Do they know about my injury?”

“You sent them a message when you came to yesterday.
They’re on a world cruise right now.” In actuality, her parents had been told Jenny won a three-week world cruise vacation. Postcards from various locations would be sent periodically to “show” her trip progress. A personalized note forging her handwriting would be added to lend authenticity.

“Oh.
Do I work?”

“Not currently.
You quit your job as an accountant for a tax firm in Waco, Texas.”

She’d given notice at her job, the Agency had discovered.
But not in person, by mail. The letter had been sent on Friday and wasn’t received at her office until Monday. Yet she’d never made mention of it to her boss at all during work Friday. Her manager couldn’t understand why she’d upped and quit her job. Jenny had given no reason, just that she was quitting.

Was Jenny really committing to Wilson for the long run?
Certainly none of the other women had given notice at their jobs before he killed them. Or maybe, Jenny didn’t send the notice. Nothing added up.

“What about you?
You said you work for the government,” she asked, breaking into his thoughts.

“Secret agent stuff.”

Dale coughed and hacked in the living room, apparently inhaling his soda by accident. Inwardly, Allan smiled.

Jenny’s lips curved up, devilishly sexy.
His hormones stirred. “So you’re my secret agent man. Do you have a phone in the heel of your shoe?”

He smiled back at her.
A woman who could take a joke appealed, but when she found out it was true, what then? He berated himself. First and foremost, he was a professional, there to protect her. Nothing more. Relationships were built on trust. Theirs was a total lie.

“Phone shoes went out with the dinosaurs.
Now all we have is a plain old cell phone like everybody else uses.”

“Except remember to tell her it’s got a scrambler on it
, too, so the villains can’t monitor our calls,” Dale hollered from the living room, his voice couched in irritation.

“Yeah, well,
that
was a secret,” Allan retorted, winking at Jenny.

“Have you two known each other long?”

“Too long,” Dale replied.

She chuckled. He loved the sound of her light laughter
. Blast it all. Just the fact he had to keep reminding himself he was bound to protect her from Wilson and his cohorts meant he was losing his focus. Her eyes sparkled in a way that should have been forbidden, making it virtually impossible for him to concentrate on the mission.

Again she smiled, as if she read the turmoil escalating in his mind.
“Allan, what about
your
sisters and brothers?”

“None.
Like you, I was a spoiled rotten only child.”

Her lips curv
ed up. She had no right teasing him with her feminine wiles. “So how did we meet?”

“You rescued me from the clutches of the I.R.S.”

Her brows rose. “Serious business.”

“Yeah, you did a marvelous job on my taxes.
After that, I knew I couldn’t afford to lose you.” When it came to taxes, he left it up to accountants, but he’d never had the luck to get one who looked as good as her.

“I don’t remember doing tax work.
I guess then it was strictly a financial arrangement between us.”

Dollars and cents had nothing to do with the kind of arrangement his body wanted with hers.
She raked her long, shimmering pink fingernails over the comforter, tracing the hibiscus designs. He wanted her to apply those wicked nails to his back and scratch the itch she’d created in him.

“Somebody had to keep the money straight,” he said, trying to maintain the conversation and focus on business.

“Were we going to wait to have children? I mean, since the two of us were spoiled rotten?”

He groaned inwardly at t
he notion of her belly swelling with his child. The woman was undoing him in bits and pieces. Dale chuckled when Allan didn’t respond.

“Reading something funny in there, Dale?” Jenny asked.

“Yeah, real funny.” Dale’s words dripped with amusement.

Allan knew it wasn’t the last he’d hear of it either.

Jenny reached over and patted his leg. “Do you think I can go for a walk on the beach?”

Dale appeared in the doorway like a sprinter at the finish line.

She looked up at him. “Are you sure
you’re
not my husband?”

He laughed.
“My wife and three kids wouldn’t be happy with that arrangement.”

Her cheeks colored.
“Sorry.” Then she frowned. “Are they here on vacation with you?”

Allan turned in his chair
, glad to see Dale on the hot seat for a change.
Yeah, smart ass. How do you backpedal out of that one?

“This is our once-a-year fishing excursion.”

“Your wives get to stay behind and take care of the kids?” She glanced from Dale to Allan. The look on her face indicated she wasn’t impressed that the men would take off for the islands and leave their wives behind with the children.

Dale said, “We switch off and the guys take care of the kids while the wives go to a resort they’d prefer.
But at other times we enjoy family vacations. Went to Disney World this last summer. My wife’s been here once. She grew tired of how messy the kids got. Said it wasn’t a vacation for her at all.”

“What about you
, Allan? You come here to fish, too?”

“Not me.”
The last time he’d come here was to recuperate from a bullet in the shoulder. Nice relaxing vacation. Being here with Jenny this time was sure to be anything but relaxing.

“Sun and surf?”

“Not much surf.”

“I want to take a walk on the beach.
Maybe swim.”

“Let me ca
ll the doctor.” Dale stepped away from the door.

She sighed.
“Handy man to have around.”

“He can be useful sometimes.”
Allan ran his hands over his thighs trying to think of a way to tell her the truth about their situation without her going ballistic. “Listen, about us—”

Dale peeked into the room.
“The doctor said if she feels fine, to take it easy. He warned against swimming yet, though. Her equilibrium might be a bit unstable.”

She smiled.
“I’m ready then.”

Allan didn’t budge from his
chair. “Are you sure?”

“You can throw me over your shoulder and carry me back to the room if I collapse.”

Primitive cave man notions filled his mind with wicked thoughts. Her dressed in a loincloth, her breasts exposed, rosy pink nubs waiting for his touch, and him wearing nothing more than—

Her lips curved up.
“Or a lifeguard can, if there are any available.”

Hell, he didn’t need some muscle-bound, deeply tanned, Tarzan taking care of Jenny.

She started to pull her covers aside, then hesitated. “Can I have some privacy?” She asked Dale, but Allan rose from his chair so suddenly, he nearly knocked it over.

“We’ll be waiting for you.”
Allan strode across the floor and bumped Dale out of the room, then shut the door.

Allan grabbed his arm, then headed onto the balcony.
With the warm breeze blowing in their faces, he said, “Jeez, Dale, you’re worse than me on this job.”

Dale smiled.
“You know they say to tell as much of the truth as you can. It’s easier to fabricate around it. There’s something about her that makes me want to be honest with her.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling.”

“Well, don’t tell her the truth about the husband thing.” Dale leaned over the wrought-iron railing. “What are you going to do about tonight?”

Allan knew what Dale was getting at, and frankly
, he didn’t want to say. But there wasn’t any hiding anything from him. They’d been friends for too many years. Not only had Allan been the best man at Dale’s wedding, he’d stayed with Dale at the hospital, one overwrought father, when his first two kids were born. Allan had missed being there for the third child while he was on assignment, but by then, Dale was getting the hang of it.

A seagull screeched while another skimmed above the sea.

Allan glanced over at Dale. “I’m sleeping on the couch.”

Dale nodded, a smile tugging at his lips.

“Don’t give me that smug look.”

Dale grinned.
“Yeah, well, I’ll bet a twenty you’ll join her in bed tonight.”

“I wouldn’t do that to her.”