Secrets

“Yeah, the oil magnate. He’s the reason you were pulled into this mess.” Anger roughened his voice for a moment. “Your captors thought they could ransom you for a fortune.”

No, they hadn’t. They’d just pla

Je

His arms curled around her as he pulled her up against his body. Powerful, hard, hot—those words perfectly described Brodie. She wanted to just stay there with him. To forget the rest of the world for a while.

But forgetting wasn’t an option for her. Especially not when she could hear the pounding of footsteps right outside their safe house.

Gasping, she tried to pull back from him.

“Easy.” He let her go and rose to his feet. Brodie jerked on a pair of cargo pants and peered through the thin crack between the window and the long, dark curtain. “It’s my men.”

His men. Okay, right, but his men could not see her naked. Je

When he opened the door, Je

“We have a chopper waiting for you, Ms. Wesley,” one of those men said. He was tall, with blond hair and bright blue eyes. “You’ll be on your way home in less than an hour.”

Home. She didn’t really have one of those. Her gaze slid back to Brodie. She shouldn’t ask this, but Je

It wasn’t every day that a man risked his life to save her.

But Brodie shook his head. “I have to stay for mission containment. That’s your flight to freedom, not mine.”

The others were watching them. Did they know what had happened in that safe house? Je

She closed the distance between them. She rose onto her tiptoes and, putting her mouth close to his ear, asked, “Will I ever see you again?”

His body was so tense against hers. “Hopefully, you won’t need to see me.”

She eased away from him.

“Try not to get kidnapped again, and you won’t need me.”

Not get kidnapped? No, she couldn’t make that promise. He didn’t understand the world she lived in.

Her gaze swept over him. Lingered. He hadn’t been what she’d expected, and she wouldn’t be forgetting him anytime soon.

Je

“I’m...I’m sure your father will be glad to see you,” Brodie’s gruff voice followed her. “He moved heaven and hell to find you.”

Glancing back, Je

And that would be a miracle, actually, considering that her father had been dead for ten years.

She followed her new guards and slipped out the door. The men with her were saying that she had to hurry, that her safety depended on a quick departure.

So Je

Yes, he’d been unexpected...and Je

Too bad he had no clue who she really was.

Chapter One

Six years later...

A ghost from his past had just walked right through his office door. Brodie McGuire shook his head, an instinctive response, because he could not be seeing that woman. There was no way she was standing there. No way.

Usually she only appeared in his dreams.

She couldn’t have just walked into his office at McGuire Securities. She was far away, some place safe and no doubt with—

“We have a walk-in appointment that I was hoping you could handle,” Brodie’s older brother, Grant, told him. “This is Je

“Wesley,” Brodie finished, then cleared his throat because that one word had sounded like a growl.

Grant’s brows climbed. “You two know each other?”

Yes, they did. Intimately.

“Well, that just makes things easier.” Grant flashed a broad smile. “Ms. Wesley, I will leave you in my brother’s capable hands.”

Brodie realized that he’d leaped to his feet as soon as he’d gotten a look at Je

Grant glanced over at him, a faint frown on his face. Brodie offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile as he hurried around his desk and toward Je

Grant hesitated a moment more; then he slipped from the office. The door shut quietly behind him, and, just like that, Brodie was alone with the woman who’d been in his dreams for far too long.

Brodie almost reached out and touched Je

To play it safe, he tucked his hands in his pockets and just inclined his head toward her. “Been a long time, Ms. Wesley.” He was impressed that his voice came out sounding so calm.

Her laughter sounded the way he’d thought it would. Sweet, light, musical. She hadn’t laughed when they’d been together in the Middle East. She’d been far too afraid for laughter. He’d hated her fear, and he was damn glad to see her like this...happy.

“And here I was worried you wouldn’t remember me,” she murmured. Her smile flashed, a wide, slow smile that made her deep brown eyes light up. “But I really think you can drop the ‘Ms. Wesley’ part, don’t you?”

Then she made a terrible mistake. She came forward and wrapped her arms around him. Her scent, a light lavender, drifted in the air as she hugged him. He probably shouldn’t have wrapped his arms around her and hugged her so tightly. Probably shouldn’t have inhaled her scent so greedily. But he did.

She fit against him, perfectly so. He’d thought that before, on that long-ago night.

Je

He’d changed plenty. Most of those changes were on the inside, though, because he was good at keeping his mask in place. Brodie forced himself to let her go, when he wanted to hold on to her tightly.

That part hasn’t changed, either.

After the night they’d shared together, he’d wanted to grab hold of her and never let go. But the mission had waited. Her life had waited.

He eased out a slow breath, and his gaze swept slowly over her face. Her eyes were big, dark, almond-shaped and framed by the longest lashes he’d ever seen. Her hair was a black curtain around her, and her skin was a warm, sun-kissed gold.

Her face was all high cheekbones and lush lips. Her forehead was high, and her chin was a little pointed, hinting at her stubborn nature.

He’d learned a lot about her in twenty-four hours, and he’d sure never been able to forget her. Six years... That was one hell of a long time for a woman’s memory to haunt him. “You still look beautiful,” he told her softly.

Her smile flashed again. “Still charming, huh?”

There was no accent to her voice, nothing to give away her roots, but he knew she’d been raised in the South. That bit had been in the dossier he’d been given on her.

He studied her a moment longer, cocking his head. “Why are you here, Je