Free The Desperate Game: (InterMix) by Jayne Castle Page B

a troublemaker. He’d been promoted anyway but not into a position of leadership. An unusually perceptive commanding officer had seen the hard edge of stoic perseverance that underlined everything Zachariah Justis did and had recommended him for special intelligence training.
    “You’re like a dog with a bone, Justis. You just keep gnawing on something until you’ve digested the whole damn thing. And then you look around for the next bone. You need to work alone; you’re too goddamned independent to be part of a team. But you’re smart, and there’s a certain ruthlessness in the way you approach bones. I think you’re just what G group is looking for.”
    But he hadn’t been quite what G group was looking for, Zac recalled wryly. Oh, he’d done all right for a while. The training had interested him, and he’d liked the prospect of being alone in the field. But in the military you never really were your own boss, regardless of how the system was set up. And once again he’d started questioning orders. Some of the bones he’d been given to gnaw inspired more queries than answers. And Zac was always looking for answers. But the military didn’t always want all the answers uncovered. Zac and G group had parted company with a general understanding that he just didn’t fit the profile of military intelligence personnel.
    Life after that had not altered significantly. He’d had other assorted career opportunities, but although he’d usually gotten the jobs done, he hadn’t always been thanked for the way he’d accomplished the task. He’d been slow coming to the realization that the role for which he was best suited was that of small, independent businessperson. Zac had another taste of the tequila and considered the fact that Guinevere Jones had been much quicker to understand her personal career objectives. She was doing at thirty what he’d waited until thirty-six to attempt.
    That thought led him to recall the interesting little adventure at Cal Bender’s house the previous night. The evening had been a revelation in some ways and a quiet affirmation of some inspired guesses in others. Most of those guesses had concerned the nature of Guinevere Jones. Zac’s mouth crooked for an instant as he recalled the sense of excitement that had unwillingly emanated from her as she’d followed him into the cottage. He’d wanted to laugh at the time, but he hadn’t dared. She would have assumed he was laughing at her when what he really wanted to do was let her know he shared the adrenaline rush.
    Zac toyed with the tiny tequila glass and thought about how long he’d stayed awake after dropping Guinevere off at her apartment. He’d gone back to his own place and spent more than an hour speculating on the kind of excitement she would reflect in the heat of passion. His body had seemed tense and awkward for quite a while last night. The physical reaction was alarming in some ways. At his age he should be in better control of himself. But in other ways it had been curiously exhilarating. It had been a long time since a woman had affected him like that. He wondered if Guinevere had experienced any trouble getting to sleep.
    Russ Elfstrom’s approach through the shadowy bar cut off further speculation on the subject of Guinevere Jones. Automatically Zac glanced at his watch. Russ was only a few minutes late. He watched his friend coming toward him and thought about how little Guinevere liked the man. Not unnatural under the circumstances. After all, it had been Russ who had finally caught up with her little scam on the StarrTech computers.
    “Sorry I’m late.” Elfstrom apologized as he took a seat. “Got held up with a conference in Starr’s office. He wanted a report. I told him I’d be able to give him a more complete one after I’d talked to you.”
    “Is Starr getting restless?” Zac considered that possibility. The chief executive officer of StarrTech, Hampton Starr, was paying the tab after all. It