AMBUSHED Read Free

you
were the right man for this assignment.
    Before Jordan could answer, another man came
charging up.
    He was blond, in his late thirties, athletic
and dressed in a dark suit. “FBI special agent Lee Overhouse. We’re
getting you out of here.”
    They were escorted to an SUV and taken to
FBI headquarters a few blocks away for debriefing. In a comfortable
conference room, Jordan laid down some ground rules.
    “We’re a mess,” he said. “Both of us want to
take a shower. And change our clothes. I’m sure you’ve got
something we can wear.”
    Agent Overhouse probably didn’t like the
delay, but he complied.
    “Thanks,” Elizabeth said to Jordan when they
met again in a conference room a half hour later, both wearing FBI
sweatpants and tee shirt.
    As they ate sandwiches and drank coffee,
they told the agent what had happened.
    While Elizabeth was finishing up, Jordan
called Frank Decorah and made some requests.
    Fifteen minutes later, they were back in
another Town Car.
    As they buckled their seat belts, Elizabeth
glanced at him, her expression tense, and he wondered what she was
going to say now.
    “I’m exhausted,” she murmured.
    “Understandable.”
    She leaned back and closed her eyes. Was she
hiding something from him or just worn out? The question made his
stomach knot. When he’d thought they might not get out of the
building alive, he’d told her they were going to talk. Now he was
cursing himself for making the offer.
    They sped north out of the city. When the
car finally stopped and the driver cut the engine, Elizabeth sat up
and looked around in surprise. “This isn’t the safe house. Where
are we?”
    “A farm in Western Howard County that
Decorah owns. I wanted to take you somewhere you could relax.”
    She peered at the Victorian cottage set in
landscaped grounds. “This is a farm?”
    “It used to be. Now it’s a fortified
guesthouse.
    They climbed out, and the driver unlocked
the front door. “I’ll be in the auxiliary quarters,” he said.
“We’ve got three other men here tonight.” He looked at Elizabeth.
“You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
    “Thank you,” Jordan said to the driver,
thinking they might be safe, but he had plenty to worry about.
    He led her into the house, through a front
hall to a comfortably furnished parlor.
    They both stood awkwardly in the middle of
the room.
    “You should get some rest,” he said.
    “Not until you make good on your
promise.”
    Before he’d absorbed the shock of her words,
she stepped forward and pulled him into her arms. Cupping the back
of his head, she brought his mouth to hers. Their lips met in an
act of spontaneous combustion as they exchanged a hot, frantic
kiss.
    When they finally broke apart, they were
both breathing hard.
    “I guess you’re not the man of stone you
pretend to be,” she gasped.
    “Jesus. Is that what you thought?”
    “What was I supposed to think?”
    “That I was doing my job.”
    She stopped the conversation again with
another kiss that damn near emptied his brain of blood.
    “You’re reacting to almost getting killed,”
he managed to say.
    “Damn right. And to you,” she whispered
against his lips, “We’ve been through hell today. Now we’re safe,
and we can do anything we want. Anything we both want.”
    “Elizabeth.” He whispered her name, just a
puff of breath against her lips. She seemed to drink in the
syllable.
    “I assume there are bedrooms here,” she
murmured. “Maybe we should find one.”
    She linked her hand with his, leading him
down the hall to a room that was probably charming. All he saw was
the bed–and Elizabeth.
    When she reached for him, he surrendered to
what he had been feeling for weeks. Gathering her to him, he kissed
her with a desperation that he was helpless to deny, plundering her
mouth, feasting on her, absorbing her sweetness.
    As the kiss broke, she stepped back and
reached for the hem of her tee shirt, pulling it over her head and
tossing it away