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Deanna’s shoulders came down from around her ears. “All right. I’ll write up a brief report and I’ll handle the press. I was already going to the retreat, so I can get you up to date on everything very quickly.” She frowned. “I made your father’s travel arrangements. He said he was bringing a new assistant with him. Her name was Nina, too.”

Fuck. He was not a damn spy. “Yeah, Dad wanted to ease Nina into the business part of our world, and he thought the retreat would be the perfect place to do it. The fact that she’s also his future daughter-in-law isn’t really anyone’s business. I’m sure it would have come up, but he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. It was also going to be a good way to spend time with her. Instead she got to sit in a hospital room and listen to my parents bicker about how long he would have to stay in bed. Now, if you don’t mind, we drove out here to Dallas late last night so we could get everything we need for the retreat. I’ll be in the office tomorrow if you need anything. I’ve got a meeting with our security company at one, and I would like to spend some time with my fiancée. Deanna, do all the things you need to do, starting with getting these two out of my suite.”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but she simply nodded. “Gentlemen, you have your answer.”

“I don’t have any proof,” Patrick replied. “He could be lying.”

Deanna stepped in between them, which was a good thing because he was about to show Patrick how he handled assholes.

“He’s a terrible liar,” Deanna said with a tight smile. “Trust me. I would know if he was lying. We’ve reached the end of his patience. You have your answer. Let’s get back to the office.”

She sent him a look that let him know this wasn’t over.

He closed the door behind them.

“I can explain.” Nina was standing in the doorway to the bedroom, a worried look on her face. She’d put on her clothes from the night before and despite a few wrinkles, looked all buttoned up again.

It was not how he wanted to spend his morning. He needed more time with her.

He held up his phone. “You’re Nina Blunt. You work for McKay-Taggart.”

She let out a sigh of obvious relief. “They sent you an email with my dossier.”

Yep. He’d read it the day before, but she didn’t need to know that. “I guess we have a lot to talk about.”

She shook her head and walked around him to get her shoes. “We do, but I got a call from my boss. The CIA agent we’re going to be working with is in town and wants to meet right away. I need to get to the office. Perhaps we can talk later this afternoon. We can definitely talk about how this is going to work. Girlfriend would have been easier than fiancée, but we have to go with it now. You need to contact your parents in case the assistant decides to ask about our out-of-nowhere engagement.”

“They’ll treat you better if they think you’re going to be a member of the family,” he said.

“You shouldn’t concern yourself at all with how they’ll treat me.” She managed to make what should have been a suggestion sound like an accusation. “I can handle whatever they throw at me.”

There had been another reason for him changing her plan. “I probably wouldn’t bring a girlfriend to something like this, and my employees would know that.”

She nodded as she slipped into her heels. “All right. Well, we’ll need a good cover. We can discuss it at the office.”

“Or we could talk about it over dinner,” he suggested. He could see thenoon her face, but he had a counter. “We need to spend time together. Look, I know this is weird, but I was coming back up here to ask if I could see you again. I don’t see how this changes anything at all except that we don’t have to take a week or two before we go on an actual date.”

Her eyes widened and she grabbed her purse. “It changes everything, Mr. Malone.”

Oh, she was upset, and he wasn’t sure what that was about. He only knew he wasn’t going to let it stand. But he could giveher some space. For now. “I look forward to seeing you this afternoon, Ms. Blunt.”

She rushed out the door and he admired her very lush backside as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed his brother’s number.

“Hey, I just got off the plane. Everything okay?” Mike asked.

“I slept with my McKay-Taggart contact and she’s freaked out about it.” It was best to own up to everything when it came to his brother. “And you’re going to tell me why.”

He could do his research, too.

After his brother stopped cussing.

CHAPTER 4

“All right,everything is ready and you’ve got all your new ID that identifies you as Nina Banks, but we’ve hit a snag and we’re probably going to have to redo it all under a new name,” Big Tag was saying. “Did you get the email I sent out?”

Nina sat in the conference room at McKay-Taggart. Unlike the London office, this one wasn’t set in a gorgeous botanical BDSM club like The Garden. The Dallas office was sleek and modern, reminding her this was all business and she shouldn’t be thinking about the gorgeous man next to her as anything but a client. JT Malone had shown up long before she’d thought he would, walking into the conference room with his twin, Michael. His identical twin, though it was easy to tell them apart. Michael was grave and serious, where JT’s smile lit up the room.

She forced herself to focus on the authority figure. “Yes, sir. I got it this morning. I don’t think it will be an issue and it won’t require a new name. I think the best cover would be going in as Mr. Malone’s friend. From what I understand, plus ones are perfectly acceptable at this retreat.”