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She subsided against the seat, thinking hard.

She reviewed their interactions from the time they’d met, looking for signs that Ian thought she didn’t belong in the field with him.

Examples were abundant, now that she stopped to think about it.

The way he kept charging to her rescue over and over was proof enough.

As if she couldn’t take care of herself and needed a big, strong man to barge in and haul her out of danger.

She could take care of herself, damn it.

He guided the truck into the upscale neighborhood surrounding embassy row as if he had a destination in mind. “Where are we going?” she finally asked.

“To see a hacker.”

“A computer hacker? Why?”

“All we’ve got right now is a money trail. Since I had to stick around the Scientist’s house to pull you out of the fire instead of following him, I lost his physical trail.”

There it was. The subtle dig about having to save her. Was he even aware he was doing it? “You didn’t have to come into that house after me. I could’ve gotten out on my own.”

“Oh yeah? How long would it have taken you to figure out the house was burning down over your head? We barely made it out alive as it was, and only because I dragged you out of there against your will.”

“When that far section of the basement ceiling collapsed, I would’ve caught on pretty fast.”

“You didn’t want to leave even after that happened.

If I hadn’t been there and forced you to leave, you would’ve stuck around too long in that basement collecting evidence.

And when you got upstairs, you didn’t know which way to go to get out.

Face it. I saved you. You and your evidence would have burned up without me. ”

Yup, she had been right to suspect his motives. He didn’t like women doing his job. Well, that was just tough. Eyes narrowed and jaw tight, she asked, “Who’s the hacker?”

“We’re here. Come on. I’ll introduce you.”

They’d parked behind one of many multi-story brick row houses. In this part of town, these big old structures had mostly been converted to condos. They stepped inside a building, and sure enough, a lobby and elevator waited inside.

Ian punched a number code into the pad in the elevator, and it lurched into motion. He must know this hacker pretty well to have the elevator code to the guy’s place. Maybe the hacker was a woman. That would explain the stud muffin ex-SEAL having the code.

Damn him! Now he had her jealous over some random woman he’d slept with! He’d gotten way inside her head without her even noticing. Begone from my mind, Ian McCloud .

God. If only it was that easy to quit thinking about him. Or to quit craving sex with him.

The elevator door opened at the top floor and Ian knocked on the lone, snazzy stainless steel door that occupied this smaller lobby. Penthouse, then. The door buzzed and opened, and a petite blond flew through it, launching herself at Ian with a squeal of delight.

He had brought her to see one of his other conquests. Seriously? A knife of…something painful…twisted in her gut and she pasted on a polite smile out of long habit.

The blond finally unwrapped herself from around Ian enough for her feet to touch the ground.

Piper was staggered to see the change in him. Genuine happiness lit his face and…crap…love shone in his eyes. He loved this woman.

The knife completed gutting her and she felt her heart and entrails spilling out onto the ground as she stood there. Was he effing married ? Her brain exploded into swearing and mental hair tearing. Surely, he wouldn’t have the gall to bring her to meet his goddamned wife?—

“Piper, this is Katie. My baby sister.”

Sister. Oh holy fuck. His sister .

Thank God. She was actually hyperventilating a little. Piper shook herself mentally and took a belated step forward, holding out a hand to Ian’s sister. “Ian’s talked about you. And I’ve heard of you from André. I’m an aid worker for Doctors Unlimited.”

“Awesome!” Katie looked back and forth between her and Ian observantly. It wasn’t like she would see anything going on between them. Ian had pretty much taken care of that when he’d broken into her room in Djibouti. “Come on in.”

Piper restrained a gasp as they stepped into a magnificent and modern space. If this was what the future of interior design looked like, she was all for it. “Wow. This place is gorgeous,” she blurted.

Katie looked around fondly. “Alex decorated it. But I wouldn’t change a thing.” She bent down to scoop up a lime green plastic thing that looked like an oversized tablet computer. “Except for adding more baby toys.”

“Where is my little princess?” Ian asked, looking around expectantly.

“She and Alex are at the park. They should be back any minute. In fact, let me text him to let him know you’re here. I know he’ll want to see you.”

Ian grinned boyishly, and he and his sister chatted and poked jokingly at each other for the next few minutes.

Piper reeled at this relaxed, happy side of him. The family man. He was charming when he wasn’t in mission mode. What else about him didn’t she know? Intense curiosity to find out filled her.

Katie had just returned from a kitchen that looked straight out of a science fiction future with glasses of water for her and Ian when the front door opened. A handsome, dark-haired man and arguably the cutest toddler Piper had ever seen blew through the door, laughing together.

“Un-cuh Ian!” the little girl squealed. Like her mother, she launched herself at Ian and wrapped her little arms around his neck as if she was going to strangle him. The sight of him with a child wrapped in his powerful arms melted Piper’s ovaries on the spot.

Alex—that must be the famous Doctor Alex Peters, a legend within Doctors Unlimited—clapped Ian on the shoulder. “Good to see you, bro.”

The two men traded interesting looks. Mutual respect, but something more. An acknowledgement that they were natural enemies who had incongruously become friends. Frowning, Piper glanced back and forth between them, trying to suss out what she’d just seen.

Alex asked, “How’s the knife wound? No pain or complications from being back out in the field with it?” Was this the fiancé who’d stabbed Ian and left that fresh, red scar on his belly?

There was that weird look again from Ian. “Nah. It’s good. I’m sorry to report that your attempt to gut me has officially failed.”

She’d half-thought Ian was kidding when he’d said his future brother-in-law had stabbed him. Apparently not.

Both men looked over at Katie affectionately. Comprehension burst across Piper’s brain. The two men might not particularly like each other, but they both loved Katie. For her sake, they were willing to put aside their differences and get along.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Ian,” Katie announced. “I wanted to talk with you about the wedding. It’s in October, and I need you to arrange your work schedule to be home for it?—“

Alex interrupted gently. “If I’m not mistaken, this isn’t entirely a social call to spoil your niece, is it, Ian?”

Katie sighed and stepped forward to lift the toddler out of her brother’s arms. “C’mon, Dawn. Let’s get you some lunch while the boys go talk business.”

Piper couldn’t blame Katie for assuming that it was just the boys on a job. Alex gestured for Ian to follow him to what turned out to be an office, and Piper trailed along, hating feeling like a third wheel.

Alex closed the office door behind them and Ian surprised her by saying, “Alex, this is Piper Roth, my partner.”

“We’ve never met, but I’ve seen your name on the Doctors Unlimited roster.

” He stuck out his hand, and she shook it, a little startled.

For a surgeon, he had a hell of a strong grip.

And a shooter’s callous at the base of his thumb.

How did he get a hold of the D.U. roster, anyway? That was supposed to be confidential.

Ian interrupted her perplexed ruminations with, “We’re tracking a terrorist who appears to have designed a weaponizable virus and disappeared with a lot of it. We need to pick up his trail and are hoping you can help.”

“What can you tell me about this terrorist?”

Piper listened as Ian recited what they knew about Yusef Abahdi and where they’d last seen him.

Alex looked over at her expectantly. “Talk to me about the virus.”

How did he know about her biomedical background? It wasn’t something that came up in casual conversation.

Suspicious and a little creeped out, she answered, “The virus appears genetically engineered with material gathered from Ebola and Lassa patients. Some or all of the Scientist’s research notes are being analyzed as we speak.”

Alex’s attention swung back to Ian. “You said he had a lot of it. Are we talking samples in petri dishes, or gallons of it ready for dispersion?”

“Gallons. He put three big coolers in the back of his vehicle.”

“He won’t have flown commercially, then. He either drove to a destination in Africa somewhere or he took a private flight to his final destination.”

Ian asked, “Can we track his flight?”

Alex shook his head in the negative. “Huge chunks of African airspace don’t have radar coverage. It’s been rumored for years that commercial-sized aircraft fly back and forth illegally between Africa and South America without ever being spotted on radar.”

“I was hoping you might be able to track his money” Ian responded.

Alex nodded. “It’s the logical way to proceed. Guy like him, though, might be getting paid in cash. Could be hard to spot.”

“What about the little girl?” Piper added. “I’ll bet he spends money on the grid to get stuff for her.”

Alex nodded thoughtfully. Then, he opened a laptop computer sitting on his desk and typed what seemed about the length of an email message. He leaned back. “This could take a while. I’ve got a few of my best people on it. If there is a trail, they’ll pick it up.”