Free Killer Secrets by Lora Leigh Page A

of us," she finally
whispered, surprising herself with her introspection.
    She had been doing that a lot these past months.
Reflecting, thinking, considering the choices she had
     
    made, and her life in general.
    She was thirty years old. She had a failed marriage behind
her and no children. Her marriage to Kane
    Austin had been the first casualty of her secret life and
covert activities.
    She had no family but Jason, and so few true friends that
at times the loneliness bore down on her.
    And lovers? They didn't last long even when she did find
time to get involved with a man. She was too
    intent on partying and playing. They didn't really know
her, so they had no idea why the parties, the trips,
    and the shopping were so damned important.
    No one really knew her. Except Jason. And Ian. That part of
her that she hadn't even known herself,
    had only begun learning in the past year, ached with
loneliness. Ached for the man who held himself just
    out of reach.
    Ian knew her. Ian had done what no one else had, he had
made it a point to learn about her. He knew
    about her parents, about Jason, but more importantly, he
knew who and what she was. He had informed
    her, his voice filled with amusement the night he slipped
into her condo, that he knew her as no one else
    ever would. And he was right. He knew how to touch her, how
to make her heart and her body come
    alive. And he knew the woman she hid from the world.
    Which could be a liability if she thought there were so
much as a chance of his turning against the friend
    who lay so helpless in that damned clinic.
    "Where do you go from here?" Jason kissed the top
of her head before moving slowly away.
    "For now, I wait a bit." She shrugged, turning
back to him. "He'll show up."
    "You seem certain." His gaze was piercing in the
dark.
    Kira hid her smile. "I am certain." He was
growing as desperate for her as she was for him. She
    dreamed of nothing else, and sometimes, she thought of
nothing else.
    "I have a few contacts here," he told her.
"Let me know if you need invitations."
    "Dozens have already poured into the hotel," she
reported. "The flies are converging like a plague."
    Jason grimaced. "I was hoping to eat dinner
tonight."
    Kira widened her eyes innocently. "What did I
say?"
    "Trouble," he muttered. "That's all you
are."
    Kira rolled her eyes. She was growing tired of that
accusation.
    Six
    IAN STOOD AT HIS BEDROOMwindow, the technologically
advanced night-vision goggles sitting
     
    securely over his eyes as he stared at the bedroom window
in the villa across from him.
    He should have been ashamed of himself. Hell, he was using
a set of military hardware that even soldiers
    in the field didn't have yet, to spy on a woman. He watched
as Kira leaned her head back against Jason
    McClane's chest and lifted her hands to clasp the ones at
her shoulders. The pose was entirely too
    intimate, too close. He felt anger twitch the muscle in his
cheek as McClane kissed the top of her head
    and rubbed his cheek against her hair. He knew he wasn't
the least impartial when it came to Kira, and
    possessive instincts he didn't know lived within him were
now tightening at his gut.
    He wanted to kill McClane for touching her, and that was a
bad thing. As the two moved back from the
    balcony doors, Ian pulled the goggles free of his face and
tucked them once again into the wall safe.
    The villa the Eventeses had leased for the season had every
amenity, right down to personal safes in
    each bedroom.
    Pushing his fingers through his hair, he paced his darkened
bedroom, feeling lust edging into desperation
    as he thought of her, possibly allowing another man to
touch her.
    He shook his head. He'd watched Kira and her uncle together
before, and though there was a surfeit of
    affection, there seemed to be no sexual tension. But that
assurance wasn't easing the tightening in his gut,
    or in his cock. He knew it wasn't even possible that she
would do something like sleep with the bastard.
    He knew