No one with half a tablespoon of morality did, but sometimes it was necessary. Eli Nelson was a danger to everyone on Liam’s team. If Liam’s instincts were correct, he might be a danger to everyone in the world. Nelson had already attempted to sell state secrets to China. Balanced against all the danger, hurting Avery Charles’s feminine heart was the lesser of two evils. “But this case is different. This is Nelson, and we won’t get anywhere if we try to play by the rules. He wouldn’t hesitate to fuck anything he had to in order to get the information he needs. We can’t either. There’s too much at stake.”
Ian settled the baseball cap he was wearing over his head, pulling out the Oyster card he’d bought earlier. Liam found his own. The little card was the gateway to the Tube and the easiest way to get anywhere in London. “I left the Agency because I didn’t like the man it was turning me into, but I’ll admit that I need to get Nelson. I need it. Until I see that man six feet under, I won’t be able to rest. He nearly killed my brother, and he used my team to sell this country out. The Agency hasn’t done shit to bring him in, so I’ll do it myself. Which is precisely why I’ll handle the girl. Send me her file. I’ll make contact tomorrow.”
He reached out and grabbed Ian’s arm. “No, you won’t. It’s my bloody fucking op, and I’ll take the girl.”
Ian’s eyes went positively arctic as he looked at the hand on his sleeve. “Watch it. Your Irish is up.”
Fuck all. Liam took a long breath and forced himself back into his bland Midwestern accent. He’d perfected it over the years because it was better camouflage than his real accent. For the first several years he’d worked at McKay-Taggart Security, only Alex and Ian had known his real voice. He needed to pull it together. “Sorry. It’s hard being surrounded by it.”
“Yes. A damn good reason for you to be at home.”
Liam had heard this argument about a million times. “I understand the way this city works better than anyone on the team, and I still have underground contacts. My op, Ian. And my mark.”
Ian’s voice got low, his mouth firming to a stubborn line. “Just see that the reason you’re staying is the op and not the girl. What I didn’t say before, but you’ve almost certainly picked up on, is the fact that she seems amazingly innocent and is very likely to be submissive. You know the signs. She’s been painstakingly polite and she defers to everyone. When the museum docent talked to her, her eyes slid right to the floor. She’s a sub and a sweet one at that. A dangerous combo for men like us. I’m not stupid, Li. The reason you hang out with club subs is that they’re hard core and just looking for some fun. That woman in there is not looking for a good time. She’s serious, and this can only end one of two ways. One, she’s dirty and you’ll feel like shit because you’ll send her to jail or a grave. Two, she’s clean as a whistle and you break her heart because if she’s as innocent as she looks, she’ll have to fall for you in order for you to get into her bed. And you’ll feel like shit. You’ve worked backup for years. Are you really ready to take the lead?”
He’d been a pussy for years, hiding behind his teammates and letting them take all the real risks. Sure he’d gotten shot at on occasion, but running the op meant taking responsibility for the health and safety of everyone involved, and that included Avery Charles if she was an innocent bystander.
“I’m ready.”
Ian nodded. “Then it’s your op. But the minute Nelson rears his head, I take over.”
Ian pressed through the turnstile. Liam took a deep breath. One hurdle over. Now he had to figure out the best way to get close to Avery Charles.
It didn’t help that the very thought of sliding into her bed got his dick hard. Yeah, he couldn’t lie to himself. She might be some sweet, innocent thing, or she might be hiding something dirty beneath all that sugar.
Either way he knew exactly what Avery Charles was. She was trouble. Luckily he was a man who could handle a little trouble.
* * * *
Avery smiled at Simon Weston. He was a very nice man, and she was so deeply uninterested that she had to fight back a yawn.
And that really wasn’t a nice way to think. He’d been nothing but polite to her. She forced herself to focus in on him. Simon was very sweet and often made her laugh, but they were in completely different departments so they hadn’t had occasion to spend much time together.
Though he seemed to try to be around her. It was a mystery.
“I was telling Jason the other day that he simply had to try the new Indian place in Soho. The fish curry is amazing. Nothing like I got when I went to Bangalore, but it’s the best you can get in London.” Simon leaned forward a little. “You know we could go there for lunch one of these days. The food here can’t be great.”
It was overpriced, and she often had to scarf it down on her way back to Charing Cross, but nothing could compete with the views. She’d spent her hour looking through the Elgin Marbles rooms, carefully reading every placard, amazed that she was looking at the very same work that had decorated the Parthenon. She almost teared up thinking about it, but Simon Weston didn’t seem like a man who would understand that a bunch of ancient marble could fire her imagination. It pointed out to her that while she had many fascinating conversations with her very intellectual boss, she was lonely. Thomas was into economics and business. Though he tried, she could see his eyes glaze over the minute she started talking about art. Simon was the same way. And she was drifting. What had he said? Oh. The food. “It’s okay. A sandwich is a sandwich, though I’ve come to really love salmon and cream cheese.”
She had a bit of a distracted brain.
Simon’s fingers drummed along the table. “Rumor has it you come here every day.”
She stopped, hands in mid-motion of bringing her sandwich to her mouth. “There are rumors about me? Gosh, you guys must be really bored.”
She was the dullest thing in the world. Her great and grand scandal was forgetting to recycle on occasion. Well, that and the fact that everyone assumed she was sleeping with her boss. Which she wasn’t.
Simon grinned. He was quite adorable. He was tall and lean and had Hollywood-actor good looks, but he also seemed a bit calculating. She couldn’t figure it out, but there was something in the way he looked at her that made her feel like he was sizing her up and making decisions based on some matrix in his head. “Well, life at United One Fund can be quite boring, but with the boss in town, it’s picked up considerably. We’ve never met the big guy in person, you know. And meeting his lovely assistant was even better.”