Forbidden Fantasies Bundle(126)

Hadley leaned forward. “Until I believe it. If you’re wrong, or if you’re lying, I expect you to find him and correct the mistake.”

Bailey said nothing, but the “or else” hung in the air between them.

Hadley rose and moved to the door, turning back only when he reached it. “I’ll be watching you.”

Well, shit, Bailey thought as the door closed behind Had. He was already watching her. She hadn’t been followed to the Blue Pepper. She was certain of that, but Hadley must have had someone tailing Gage Sinclair. And he must have had her followed when she left the restaurant. That would explain the strange feeling she’d had that she was being watched.

Bailey frowned. It also meant that someone had followed her to Zoë McNamara’s apartment. That meant she had to find the connection between Zoë and Jed Calhoun before Hadley Richards did.

Bailey rose and paced back to the window. Clearly, Hadley Richards didn’t trust her. If he became convinced that she’d bungled the hit on Jed Calhoun six months ago, it wasn’t likely that he was going to rely on her to take care of it this time, despite his instructions for her to correct her mistake. The question was how much time did she have?

She glanced around her office. She certainly wasn’t going to make any arrangements from here.

After opening her desk, she pressed a button and when the false bottom of the drawer snapped up, she retrieved two files that contained everything she knew about Jed Calhoun and Frank Medici. After placing them in her bag, she added the new file on Zoë McNamara. Then Bailey moved into her outer office. Number one on her agenda was to find out who was following her and lose them.

“Margaret,” she said to the neat, prim woman behind the reception desk. “I have some appointments that will keep me out of the office for the rest of the day. Did you get that information I asked for?”

“Right here.”

When Margaret handed her the file that contained the work that Zoë had done for Hadley Richards, Bailey glanced at the first page and saw it instantly. This was the link she was looking for—and it didn’t bode well for Jed Calhoun.





12




ZOË PEERED OUT the back window of the taxi for the fifth time since she’d left the Woodbridge Hotel. As far as she could tell, she wasn’t being followed. She’d avoided Ethan’s men, who were waiting for her in the lobby, by taking the stairs, exiting the hotel through a side door and walking five blocks to hail a taxi.

If she didn’t trust Ethan, she could hardly trust any men he’d sent to watch over her. And she wasn’t about to lead them to Jed. If she could find him.

She turned around and leaned back against the seat, trying to relax. Her work at the CIA hadn’t involved any cloak-and-dagger stuff. What sleuthing she’d done had been from the safety of her desk. Of course, there’d been that little hum in the blood when she’d broken into something that was supposed to be “protected.” But there’d been nothing to compare to the adrenaline rush she’d experienced last night, escaping from real live thugs.

Or being seduced by a sexy James Bond type.

Every time she thought of Ethan, the tension in her stomach knotted tighter. And dammit, her heartbeat quickened. Why? The man had made love to her to get the envelope that had been addressed to Jed. That was pretty obvious. He’d used her, and she’d fallen for it. She wasn’t sure what made her angrier—that she’d been so gullible or that if she ran into Ethan right now, he might have very little trouble seducing her again.

Zoë shut her eyes and sighed. What in the world was happening to her? Three weeks ago, she’d had a nice, orderly life. Her goals had been clear, and she’d been proceeding in a straightforward path to achieving them.

She’d also been bored to death. And her sex life had consisted of doing research and engaging in daydreams with a fantasy lover—code name Lucifer!

Then she’d met Jed Calhoun, and everything had changed. She’d never experienced that kind of instant and powerful attraction to a man before. Making love with Jed had triggered some sexual freedom in her that she couldn’t seem to get under control. She’d taken a bite of the forbidden apple. And then a second.

Worse than that, she couldn’t seem to summon up even a shred of regret that she’d given in to temptation. In less than three days, two handsome, exciting and very different men had desired her and made love to her as if they’d meant it. She hugged the knowledge close and found she couldn’t prevent the delight that coursed through her.

She’d spent most of her life trying to be her parents—intellectual, reserved, detached. Their entire existence was focused on getting published, getting grants, getting appointed to prestigious positions. She was pretty sure she didn’t want to go back to that kind of life.