Page 154
Story: Riches and Romance
“Canadian,” Ian retorted. “With their politeness and weird bacon. I fear the Canadian more than any other.”
Charlotte was the one rolling her eyes now. “Can we cut the kid talk and focus on the actual Brit in our midst?”
Big Tag grinned. “Nina’s not stuffy. I heard she took her last bullet like a champ. Avoided the roofie the bad guy slipped into her tea but took one to the chest.”
“Well if I’d known he was going to shoot me, I would have had the tea,” she admitted and held up the wine she’d taken from one of their suspects. “Speaking of drinks, I’m not about to drink this. It’s probably fine, but once roofied, twice shy and all that.”
Charlotte took the glass from her. “I can find something for you. This house has a bar in almost every room. I’ve always liked the Malones. How is it going between you and JT?”
“We get along quite well,” she replied.
“How was the shopping?” Charlotte asked, expectation in her tone.
“It was fine. We’ve been three times this week. Apparently, I need a lot of clothes.” It had been paradise. Everywhere they’d gone the world had opened up and invited her in. Or rather JT. Back in London, she could barely get the bloke who ran the register at Tesco to look up from his phone. “We got everything we need for the retreat. Well, everything we need that we can get at a shopping mall. I assume Sandra and Hutch have all of our equipment, including my gun. I don’t want to take it with me in case security decides I look sketchy.”
Charlotte studied her for a moment and then sighed. “I hate it when Ian’s right.”
Ian smirked. “I told you she was into him.”
“I’m not into him.” She wasn’t about to tell the man she’d slept with the client all week.
Charlotte shook her head. “If you weren’t into him, you would have been more excited about the shopping. Unlike Alex and Eve, Ian and I have spent time with you. You flipped out when you got to escort that pop star around Harrods, and you didn’t even get to buy anything.”
It had been such fun to watch the young woman shop. She’d been bright and peppy and kind. She really should have enjoyed the shopping more, but every time they went to a store her mind had been on JT. “I’m not into him.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you were,” Eve said from her place next to her husband. “JT is one of the nicest men I’ve ever met. Knowing what I know about him and what I know about you, I would say you’re a decent match on paper.”
“I’m still confused about how we went from Nina going in as an assistant to fiancée. I get that she couldn’t go in as JT’s assistant, but fiancée is a big leap,” Alex said.
Ian waved that off. “I can tell you what happened. JT saw her and decided he wanted in her pants. Excuse me. Knickers. He got all flusterpated, and next thing you know they’re engaged. Is everyone buying it?”
“They seem to be,” Charlotte replied. “Ava is selling it, though you should know they’re talking about you being a gold digger.”
She shrugged. “That was inevitable. It’s good because at least they’re not talking about me being a former Interpol officer. Is my Nina Banks ID holding up?”
Big Tag seemed to get serious, and he crossed to the bar where he opened the bottle of Scotch. “So far it’s solid, but Adam is worried because someone used that name on the Deep Web. He’s got some contacts he keeps up, and someone is looking tobreak your cover. They don’t have anything yet, but it definitely goes beyond what the PI did. From what I can tell he ran a skip trace on you and spent that first afternoon tailing you. Has he followed you since?”
“I haven’t seen him again,” she promised. She didn’t like the idea that someone was going deeper. “It could ruin the whole op if they connect me to Interpol.”
“Yeah, well I have no one else to send in,” Tag said, offering her a glass. She took it. This one she would drink. “Everyone knows Charlie and Eve, and Erin was willing to go but Theo was a whiny manbaby.”
“She just gave birth, Ian,” Charlotte pointed out.
Big Tag’s lips quirked up. “Two weeks ago. She’s already bugging me to send her on assignment. You can’t keep that chick caged, but she’s got a problem. Unfortunately, despite his maternal nature, Theo can’t actually produce breast milk, though he’s got some solid B-cups after all that sympathetic eating.”
The women all frowned Tag’s way, but Alex had a solid laugh.
“Sorry,” Alex said in a not-sorry way. “Theo was insufferable. It makes me almost glad he was dead the first time around.”
Eve rounded on her husband. “Too soon, Alex. It will always be too soon to joke about that.”
Alex held his hands up like he was warding off an attack. “I said almost. Come on, angel. Theo’s been obnoxious. He was a walking, talking encyclopedia of pregnancy, and he lorded it over everyone. Like the rest of us haven’t been around pregnant women. I had to deal with your surprise pregnancy and we had an infant. There’s barely nine months between Hunter and Vivian.”
Eve’s lips curled up as she turned Nina’s way. “I didn’t think I could get pregnant so we adopted two boys, Cooper and Hunter. A couple of days after we brought Hunter home, I found out thatmiracles happen, and that’s how we ended up with three kiddos when we were pretty sure we wouldn’t have any.” She shifted back to her husband. “And Erin was in the same situation. Give them a break. It’s perfectly reasonable he would be a little obsessed.”
Alex waved her off. “Well, he’s still obsessed. You watch it. He’s going to be the ultimate helicopter parent to that little girl. But seriously, Erin would have been wrong for this particular job. She would have threatened the suspects until they all confessed and we wouldn’t be any closer to figuring it out. Also, she would have driven JT insane. Don’t worry about the Deep Web inquiries. They won’t have time to figure out who you really are. Adam worked with Hutch on the construct. It’ll hold.”
She hoped it would. “Everyone’s in place at the resort?”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154 (Reading here)
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213
- Page 214
- Page 215
- Page 216
- Page 217
- Page 218
- Page 219
- Page 220
- Page 221
- Page 222