Free Heart Shot by Elizabeth Lapthorne Page B

admitted. “Only a truly depraved person could remain untouched by it. But these things are necessary. Most people out there, ‘normal’ guys wouldn’t be able to begin to understand. That’s why the world needs people like us, to protect the others. We keep this side of reality away from them.”
    She recalled he’d been protecting someone earlier this morning. That thought jingled in her mind, there was something else there, something she was missing.
    “…he got out safely though…he’s in no immediate danger…”
    What were the chances? She’d been conducting surveillance on Marshall, Fin had been protecting someone. Could there have been two different targets in the same café?
    That seemed far too much of a coincidence to her.
    “If I said I’d been looking into a man suspected of selling secrets, one who was in that café, would it mean something to you?” she questioned carefully.
    Fin sat upright, clearly hanging on her every word.
    Funny, she’d expected a reaction from her admission of her work and got none. Now, she’d casually alluded to her so-called mission and she couldn’t have got his attention sharper if she’d grabbed his arm and shaken him.
    “Keyton Marshall?” Fin asked.
    Emily pursed her lips together, certain now that the job had been a crap one from the beginning. She nodded.
    “I should have called James and refused the job last night when I watched him read Green Eggs and Ham to his children.” She shook her head and sighed. “I didn’t see how a man who’s clearly devoted to his family and clean-cut life could be selling agents of the Crown in dirty dealings.”
    Fin beamed at her as if she’d handed him the sun and the moon.
    “What?” she asked.
    He stood, crossed over and sat next to her on the couch. He placed his hands on her waist and pulled her onto his lap. Off balance, Emily turned, her thigh now pressing into his half-hard cock. She laughed, delighted but completely bemused.
    “Oh yes, you’re such a bad person, Em. A real hard case. Stained and tainted beyond repair.” His words were filled with laughter and teasing, so she knew he didn’t mean them harshly. “A woman with the courage to knock back orders she doesn’t agree with. Someone who takes the time to investigate and be certain of the facts before she commits to any action. You realize it’s people like you who keep Agents like me alive? You do the hardest cases we can’t touch and keep our integrity. You’re bloody amazing.”
    Emily leaned down and kissed him. Heat flared between them, threatening to consume them both again.
    “I doubt Preston, or many of your co-workers would see it in the same way,” she suggested as they broke apart.
    “I think we need to talk to Preston, and Keyton,” Fin said.
    Emily frowned. “And James?”
    “No.” Fin shook his head. “Not yet. Let’s hear what Keyton has to say for himself before we open that can of worms.”
    “Fin, James wouldn’t have set me up. Why should he? I’m sure he’s got plenty of people who work for him, presumably many who could kill me if he was inclined to get rid of me.”
    “Have you ever been to his office? Seen which division he works with? Has James ever taken you for training or seminars inside Thames House? Or Parliament?”
    Emily chewed over Fin’s questions. They were ones she’d asked herself before, but she had always been able to laugh off as paranoia going overboard. Her confidence shaken, she raised a hand to stop his words. She didn’t want to push him further and possibly crack something irreparable within her.
    For years, the knowledge she was doing the right thing had been all she could hold onto. Taking that away from her—she didn’t know what would happen, or what she’d discover she’d become.
    “That’s enough,” she said, her tone low. “Call Preston and Marshall. Set up a meeting. Somewhere public and central.”
    Fin glanced at the clock on the wall. Emily’s gaze slid to it,