“Warned? I mean you no harm. I assure you.” He pressed her hand between his, holding it far longer than necessary. “The detour was a last-minute decision. As with yours, my night has been rather odd.”
He was taller than she’d realized. Videoconferencing could be misleading. But his eyes were just as dark and his features even more appealing. He wore gray dress pants and a white shirt, yet he’d folded back the sleeves, partially revealing a tattoo on his forearm. His thick brown hair brushed his shoulders and the diamond stud shimmering on his earlobe gave him a rakish air. She’d called him “the pirate” until she’d learned his name and she suspected the nickname would amuse him.
“What can I show you or are you here to see someone else?”
He moved his hand to her shoulder as he said, “Relax, cara, this is not a surprise inspection.”
“I’m sorry. Osric has been particularly challenging today.”
“Thus the reason for the parting shot?”
She smiled, ignoring the irrational urge to wrap her arms around him and press her face into the warmth of his throat. “Exactly.”
His hand slid to her elbow, an unmistakable caress. “James and Tias are waiting for our call. We presumed it was important. You’re not usually so persistent.”
James? She pressed her lips together and started across the room. She’d heard Milliner called general so often she’d begun to think that was his first name. “I’m honestly not sure how important it is. I’ll let you three decide.”
His hand moved to the small of her back as they walked down the hall. The warmth of his fingers sank into her skin, the gentle pressure far more arousing than it was meant to be. Why was she so…aware of him? She sure as hell wasn’t sex-starved. Osric had made sure of that. But Osric treated her like a blowup doll. He played with her when he was in the mood and walked away without a second thought.
And Roberto would be any different? Who was she kidding? If she encouraged the interest in his dark eyes, the most she could hope for was a few minutes of pleasure. She’d already compromised her self-respect to increase her standing with the backers. She was not going to do it again!
The quandary was ironic. In college she’d craved male attention, longed to participate in the sexual escapades transpiring all around her. Instead, her intelligence and ambition kept men at bay. Now her intelligence and ambition led her to a situation where she was sequestered with a group of men, vastly improving her sexual appeal.
Refocusing her mind on the present, she led Roberto to the conference room and he ushered her inside. They sat on opposite sides of the large oval table and angled their chairs toward the massive video screen. Roberto used his cell to notify the others that they’d arrived. Carly had no idea how they remotely activated the projector, but there were no controls in the conference room. Or if there were controls, Carly had no idea how to access them.
The video screen came alive, dividing into six neat segments. Tias, a striking Asian woman in her late forties or early fifties came online first. General Milliner’s image appeared a few seconds later.
“What have you learned?” Tias prompted.
Carly thought the question was meant for her, but Roberto answered. “The entire convoy is lost. That wily bitch knew exactly were to strike and how to hurt us. This will set us back weeks, perhaps months.”
“We don’t know that it was Nehema.” General Milliner was a little too quick to defend the “wily bitch” and the other two backers glared their impatience at him. “The three I took from her belong to a powerful tiger clan. This could be—”
“If anyone associated with the girl’s clan knew enough about our operation to strike the supply convoy, the complex itself would be under attack. Therians don’t waste time with subtleties.” Tias managed to command attention without raising her voice or changing her expression. “This was Nehema and we all know it.”
“Were you aware that the girls are related to Osric?” Everyone looked at Milliner, confirming Ava’s suspicion that he had acted alone.
“I knew it was a possibility,” he muttered. “The Therians have closed ranks. It’s going to be harder and harder to get our hands on test subjects. Greater risks will have to be taken. You might as well get used to it.”
“The deed is done. There is no avoiding the ramifications.” Tias dismissed his defensiveness and turned to Carly. “How are your reserves?”
Rather than give Tias false hope, she took a moment to mentally inventory her supplies. “If I focus entirely on the new test subjects, I might be able to stretch my current stock out for a week.”