Love and Let Die (27 page)

“There are always solutions to problems. Sometimes it just takes a willingness to get one’s hands dirty.” Baz set his empty bottle down on the table. “We all know the Agency doesn’t like to get blood on its hands. It would rather farm out that work to its friends. They won’t help you. They’ll deny that you’ve ever helped them.”

She’d always known that. “I didn’t expect them to give me a job recommendation.”

He shook his head. “You’re not thinking big enough. The world is changing, and women like you can make a place for yourself.”

“I think Charlie doesn’t know her place at all.” Ian was standing in the doorway, his broad frame dominating the space. “I asked you to go to bed.”

“You told me to go to bed,” she corrected. “I thought I should find out if I was going to be catching a plane tomorrow.”

He frowned, shaking his head as though she’d said something a little crazy. “No. I’ve worked something out with Damon. I told you I would.”

Damon Knight good-naturedly shoved his way past Ian, joining his partner on the couch. Unlike Baz, he had a glass of Scotch. “You’re going to give me everything you have. I mean every single hard drive you own.”

“What?”

Ian’s face was a stony mask. “You’re getting out of the business.”

She let the words settle over her because they didn’t make a lick of sense for a few moments. “You made this decision?”

“Yes.”

The arrogance of the man astounded her. She stood, unwilling to sit while he loomed over her. “I won’t do it.”

She would rather go with Knight back to England and take her chances there. At least Chelsea would have some protection.

He stepped up, invading her space. “You fucking well will. Adam is going to your place to get the computers tonight.”

“You can’t do that.” She clenched her fists, angry tears in her eyes. What the hell was he thinking? How could he do this to her? To Chelsea? “We need that information.”

It was their protection, a wall against the world. It was the only thing they had.

“No, you don’t. You’re out of the business from now on. The money you stole or made from selling information is going to be divided between MI6 and the Agency, and it goes straight into their anti-terrorism budgets.”

“What?” It came out as an angry screech. She couldn’t run without money. She couldn’t hide. Panic threatened to overtake her.

Ian’s hand came out, gripping her arm. He looked over at the Brit crew. “We’ll take this discussion to the bedroom. Chelsea is in one of the upstairs rooms. Alex and Eve are bedding down in the dungeon. You two can fight over the last bedroom. Don’t hurt each other, though. It’s got something called a daybed that won’t actually fit either one of you. The other one can take the couch. I don’t give a shit.”

He started hauling her out of the living room.

“Ian, this is not happening.” She wasn’t going to allow him to take every bit of protection she had.

“It is. If you’re worried that Adam could get hurt by your security system, you should know he’s already disabled it. He’ll move the money in the morning, after the Agency has signed off on the deal.”

“What fucking deal?”

He stopped, turning her toward him. “The one that keeps you out of prison. The one that just might give you something of a normal life.”

“I don’t get a normal life, Ian. If you take away my ability to make deals and move easily, you’re sentencing me to death. It’s not just the CIA and MI6 who want me. Have you cut a deal with my uncle?”

He didn’t seem to have an answer for that.

“No, you haven’t because he wouldn’t take a deal. Not one that doesn’t include my head in a box on his desk. So I have to come to the conclusion that you’re really protecting your own ass and giving me up.” She hated the fact that tears were running down her cheeks, but she couldn’t help it. “Is this what you wanted, Ian? Do you want to know that I’m dead because you took away everything that could have protected me? Is that going to make you feel better?”

How could she have misjudged him so badly?

He took her by the shoulders. They were still in the hallway, not far from the Brits. “I’m trying to protect you, Charlotte. I’m trying to protect my people, too. Do you want a shootout? Because every single one of my people will try to protect you. They’ll kill or die trying to keep you safe. Is that what you want? Because we can start a war.”

With MI6 and then very likely with the Agency. She hadn’t thought about anything except getting back in his arms. She hadn’t thought about what it would cost them all. “No. Just let me go with them and it can be done.”

“You’re not going anywhere except to bed.” He started down the hall again.

She tried to dig her heels in. “Ian, stop. I’m not going to be put to bed like a five-year-old.”

He simply turned and hauled her into his arms like she weighed nothing at all. “Five-year-olds have more sense than you do.”

It was more than she could take. She hauled off and hit him, slapping him right across that square jaw of his. “You can’t do this to me.”

“Watch me.” If he felt any pain, he didn’t show it.

She kicked and fought, but he just kept walking. “Let me go. Fucking let me go.”

His arms tightened around her. “Don’t you think I want to? Damn it, Charlie, I wish I could, but you’ve made that impossible.”

“It’s easy. Put me down and turn your back and you’ll never see me again.”

He kicked open the door to what looked to be the master bedroom. “I can’t. And I can’t seem to stop trying to save you. I know you have zero interest in my protection, but you’re fucking going to accept it this time. I made a mistake the first time. I gave you a choice. You don’t get one now.”

He set her on her feet.

She took off for the door.

An arm went around her middle, drawing her to him. “Don’t make this hard on yourself, Charlie.”

She kicked back, trying to get away. It was a stupid play. She knew it. There was absolutely nowhere to go. She would either end up with the Brits or Simon and Jesse, and they would all haul her back to Ian. But she couldn’t stay still, couldn’t submit to this.

“Calm down.” Ian bit out the command, his mouth right by her ear. “They are still listening to us. I have no doubt. So you calm down right fucking now and act like an adult.”

The accusation stung, but anything she said at this point would be meaningless.

His breath was warm against her ear, and despite the fact that he was a bastard son of a bitch, her body responded to him. Yeah, she hated that now, too.

“They think you’re The Broker. Don’t say anything. Just nod or shake your head. Chelsea’s The Broker, right?”

She thought about lying to him. Just on principle. She nodded anyway.

“Did you know she’s blackmailing key officials in four different governments?”

A little gasp came out. What had her sister done?

“I’ll take that as a no. Your little sister is doing more damage than you suspect, and you’re the one who’s going to take the fall. You won’t let her go down for it. I know you. So someone has to protect you. That’s my name on our marriage license.”

“I’ll give you a divorce. Hell, I’ll have Chelsea make it so the marriage never happened.” It’s what she should have done in the first place. She should have left well enough alone.

“It’s too late for that.” He kept one arm securely around her waist as he started to back up toward the bed.

Maybe reason would work. She softened her voice. “Ian, you don’t want to get involved in this. Call Adam off. Tell Simon to turn his back for a couple of minutes. I’ll wake up Chelsea and we’ll get out of here. I won’t bother you again.”

“You bother me every minute of every fucking day, baby. You have since the moment I met you, and I’ve been fighting it. I’ve fought it so hard since you came back. Every good agent knows when one tactic doesn’t work, it’s time to try another one.”

He turned her neatly so she was facing him, his arm unwinding. But before she could make a move to get away, he had both her wrists in one big hand.

And a nice length of rope in the other.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying something new.” He wound the rope around her.

Charlie tried to take off. She bolted for the door, frightened not of what Ian might do, but that after all the shit he’d poured on her that she might still let him do it. She couldn’t be the girl who took a guy’s crap and then fucked him. She just couldn’t.

He was on her in a second, pulling her down and pinning her to the plush carpet underneath them.

“Get off me,” she yelled.

“I can’t.” He was perfectly calm. She could think this was an everyday occurrence if it hadn’t been for the massive erection pressed against her.

Despite the fact that she tried her damnedest to get a knee in his crotch, he held her down and had her wrists bound together in no time at all. He tested the knots, as though he gave a shit.

“Is it too tight?” Ian asked, his voice quiet and serious.

She stayed silent, not willing to give him anything. He’d taken her world away and then expected her to submit?

“Charlie, baby, talk to me. I can’t stand this. I hate that I shut you down. I don’t want to. I want to be cold. I want to not care. I can’t. I can’t let you go.”

“You’re taking away my options.”

“Because I gave them all to you last time and you fucking didn’t choose me. You chose everyone but me. I’ll fix this. I’ll save you. Choose me, Charlie. Choose us. Trust me. Give me the option of being your hero.”

She had, she suddenly realized. She’d chosen Chelsea over him. She’d chosen herself over him. At the time, she hadn’t seen it that way. It had seemed like a clear path, and she hadn’t considered once turning to him and telling him the truth. How would a man like Ian handle that? He would shut down. Ian needed to be needed and she’d trusted his worst enemy over him.

He was asking for another chance. Or was he just trying to get her to comply?

How could she know?

“Ian, just untie me and let me go to Chelsea.” She had questions for her sister. If Chelsea was blackmailing politicians, they were in more trouble than she’d imagined.

His face tightened. “I can’t. I can’t trust you not to run.”

Frustration welled. “You’ve made sure I don’t have anywhere to run to, Ian. I have nothing to fall back on if Adam has taken those hard drives and you’re going to give them my money.”

She would be all alone in the world again. She would have to start over and hope she lasted long enough to make it. Her whole soul cried because he was the one who had put her here. Her love. Half her soul had banished her to death and pain.

He hauled her up, lifting her into his strong arms. “I’m giving them whatever it takes to keep you out of jail. If you give them the ten million in your accounts, and you stay out of trouble, they’ll leave you be. I worked on this deal. I had to promise some very important people a couple of favors. My favors can mean dangerous things. Don’t fucking tell me I’m trying to hurt you, Charlie.”

Ten million? She stilled in his arms. He knew exactly how much she had. Chelsea had told her Adam had found their bank accounts. She had almost twenty-five million in their accounts. It came from the money she’d stolen from Nelson and her uncle and the money they had made from brokering information. Tears pricked her eyes again, but for a different reason this time. Ian was trying to tell her something, but he couldn’t just say it outright. Was he really trying? Was he really saving her? “You gave them the whole ten million? Ian, that’s everything I have.”

They could be listening. She had to be careful. Hope fluttered in her chest, a babe she’d thought was stillborn but who had just taken its first breath.

He laid her down on the massive bed, fastening her wrists to the hook at the headboard. “I did. All of it, Charlie.” He winked her way.

He’d left her a security blanket. She could find new info. She could build their business again, but the money was paramount if she needed to run.

He stared down at her. “Trust me.”

She closed her eyes. She loved this man and he’d hurt her. She’d hurt him. She’d cost him damn near everything, and she was threatening it again. Her uncle could take out his whole crew. So far they had handled the trouble, but they could lose one of their own.

Trust. She almost didn’t understand the word.

Ian needed it. He needed her to trust him. It was like a code written into his DNA. He was the type of man who would love one woman and then be done. She was his. She was the one who could complete him but her history had fucked them both over.

She had a choice. Him or Chelsea. She’d chosen Chelsea the first time. Her sister had been so young and in need, but they were stronger now and Chelsea was almost off the radar. No one believed she had done anything wrong. Chelsea could walk away.

“So you’ve cleaned up
my
problems?”

His hand came out, smoothing back her hair. “Yes, thank god your sister has stayed out of trouble.”

She mouthed her next question.
Why?

He leaned over, his mouth right over her ear. “I told you. I tried. I tried to rid myself of this need, but I can’t. I need you. I can’t get you out of my fucking head. I haven’t been able to for five fucking years.”

“After today, I should walk away. It would be better for everyone in your life if I disappeared.” She owed him the truth. After everything she’d done to him and his friends, she couldn’t lie.

“I can’t.” He stood over her, his body hard and ready. “I can’t let you go. You asked me a question. I didn’t answer.”

She asked him if what they’d had those years before was real. “Was it real? It felt real. It was real for me. I married you.”

His shoulders slumped. He leaned against the wall, his eyes never leaving her. “I married you. I loved you, Charlie. With everything I had, I loved you, but you didn’t reciprocate.”

How could he think that? “Ian, I’ve spent five years trying to work my way back to you. How can you think I didn’t love you?”

“You didn’t need five years. You needed to trust me. You needed to trust me more than Eli Nelson. You didn’t.”