Free Enigma: Prologue to Live Wire by Lora Leigh Page A

straight.
    She was eight years younger than he was, she was looking for a life, for a battle to replace the one she had fought for so many years. The battle to bring her terrorist father to justice. But he knew the dangers of not letting her in, the danger to her, and that terrified him.
    Sorrel’s allies would find her and exact vengeance for the terrorist and white slavers death. The thought of the hell they would put her through before they killed her was enough to give him nightmares.
    He knew the risk to himself as well as the team in letting her become involved. She was young, she had no official training, other than what she had received in her desperation to survive over the years. She was an impulsive redhead, and she was weakness.
    “She’s not Catherine, Jordan. She’s not a field agent, and she has no desire to be one.”
    And of course Kira would know exactly why he didn’t want her there.
    Jordan turned away from her. She had known Catherine, though not very well. Hell, they had worked for the same damned agency in the same line of work. Except Catherine hadn’t survived it, because of him. Because he hadn’t been able to protect her and the unborn child she and her husband had dreamed of having. Because she had been a close friend, and when she had placed herself in a situation he hadn’t been prepared, he’d dropped the ball.
    “I never said she was Catherine,” he stated coldly. “I said we’re not an orphanage. Bringing her in would be a risk.”
    “But you’ll bring her in,” she demanded, but with just enough respect that he couldn’t deny the request out of pride..
    Jordan sighed heavily. The knowledge of the debt he owed Kira, her husband Ian, and her Ian’s SEAL team was never lost on him either.
    Together, they had saved his nephew, dragged him out of hell and even now, worked to heal the wounds inflicted on Noah’s soul.
    Besides that, there was also the fact that they were a working unit now. Elite Operations and its backup team was a cohesive unit and throwing a wrench in the works over their choice of a base member wasn’t in his best interests.
    It was the girl in question though, and the risk she posed, not so much to the unit, but to his own self control.
    “Bring her in.” He heard his voice harden and he knew that the fact that he didn’t agree with the choice wouldn’t be lost on Kira.
    “That’s all I needed.” Satisfaction filled her voice, and when he turned to look at her, he saw the amusement in her soft gray eyes.
    “This is a mistake, Kira,” he informed her, knowing the anger was slipping past his careful control.
    She stared back at him, her lips quirking as an unholy gleam of wicked laughter sparked in her gaze. “Why? Because you get hard for her? Think of it this way, Jordan, she’ll add a little spice to your life.” Despite the flippancy in her tone, understanding filled her gaze.
    “I don’t need spice in my life.”
    “Sometimes, that’s exactly what you need to live again,” she said gently. “You’re like Nathan, almost dead inside. Catherine wouldn’t have wanted that for you, and I know Killian doesn’t. She was your friend, Jordan, not your albatross.”
    As he watched her walk away he felt the familiar guilt, the knowledge that even Kira didn’t know the truth.
    He was the reason Catherine was dead. And he would never let himself forget that. Because of it, he refused to involve himself in the lives of his agents.
    He was their commander. He wasn’t their friend.
    He turned back to the two-way mirror that provided a view into the training room and watched Tehya again. He had let her into the Ops, but he would never let her into his bed, or into his life.
    And he swore he would never let her into his heart.
     

    Six Years Later
     

    “Evenin’ Da.”
    Riordan Malone Sr. looked up from the marble gravestone and his silent goodnight, his fingers caressing the sun-warmed stone as though he could reach the woman fate had taken