“Um…that’s wonderful. Thanks.” Her skin itched with discomfort as she unobtrusively slipped her hand back and stood up. “I’ll just collect Ethan and go.”

He stood and took her arm. “Let me walk you, Beth. I may call you Beth?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Should you end up working for me, you will call me Arthur. I do not stand on formality with my closer advisors.”

“Um…thank you.”

He certainly stood on formality with his security team, but he was looking at her like a meal he’d like to devour. While it made her skin crawl, she couldn’t help thinking it was a totally unexpected development. She couldn’t wait to tell Ethan. Surely if Prescott was interested in her as a woman, she had a better chance of worming information out of him that could be useful.

They were thirty minutes from Prescott’s estate back toward Portland before Beth felt comfortable bringing the subject up.

Ethan’s reaction was explosive. “What the hell are you talking about? You are not the agent in charge of securing information. You are the conduit, Beth. You will not encourage Prescott in any way.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. With a little effort on my part, I’m sure I could end up at some of these business meetings he mentioned.”

“It would be totally out of character for your role.”

“Wrong. You’re not looking at the big picture here, Ethan. I’m a fairly intelligent woman. And no matter how shy I am, I’m bound to chafe at restrictions placed on me by an overprotective boyfriend. I can encourage the attraction under the cover of a minor rebellion on my part.”

Ethan’s jaw hardened and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “You aren’t encouraging anything. I mean it, Beth. This man is dangerous and you aren’t trained to play that kind of role with him.”

“I don’t think it takes a lot of training to do the man-woman thing.”

“That’s where you are wrong.”

“You seriously think I need agent training to engage in a light flirtation?”

“You are not engaging in anything with Arthur Prescott.”

“You don’t think I’m woman enough?” She crossed her arms and looked out the window. “I may not be gorgeous like Elle, but he’s already interested, Ethan. All I have to do is encourage him a little.”

“It has nothing to do with your feminine allure. I obviously think you have plenty of that.”

She said nothing.

He frowned. “Believe me, Beth, this kind of thing requires proper training.”

“I just don’t see what kind of training I could possibly need just to flirt a little.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“Maybe I would.”

He shot her a sideways look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, we’ve already agreed that you and I started this sex thing between us because it was good for the case and I’m just wondering if a big portion of your response isn’t training.”

“I never agreed to any such thing.”

“You said the timing was because of the case.”

“That’s not the same thing as saying I’m taking you to bed for it.”

“Whatever.”

“I thought we already had this discussion.”

“We did.”

“But you came away with the wrong conclusion.”

“I don’t think so.”

The noise he made was one hundred percent masculine irritation. “Do you honestly believe that if my response to you was nothing more than part of my training that I would be worried about the level of intensity? Believe it, or not, I’m more professional than that.”

“You said it had been a while. You’re reacting more strongly than you expected, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t part of some master plan.”

“Seducing you was not part of my master plan for the case,” he gritted.

“You didn’t exactly seduce me.”

“Damn right I didn’t. It was entirely mutual.”

“I never said it wasn’t.”

“You implied it was just part of the job on my side.”

She was sure to an extent that was true, but he obviously felt there was more to it as well. The man was really worried about the intensity thing. “Maybe it would be less confusing if it was.”

“Why? So you could compartmentalize me with your other fantasies?”

“It’s more than a fantasy now.”

“Yes, it is. It’s a relationship.”

“Not hardly.”

“What the hell do you mean by that?”

“Do you notice how you swear a lot when you get irritated?”

“It only happens with you.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Ask my mama. She raised me not to curse in front of women, but you wind me up.” And he sounded apologetic about that. Embarrassed even.

“I don’t mean to.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute. You’ve got an ornery streak, Beth, about as wide and deep as a Texas gulley.”

“Gullies aren’t that wide…or deep.”

“They are in Texas.”

“According to Texans, everything is big there.”

“It is,” he said suggestively.

She laughed. “Well, I’d have to agree about some things anyway.”

He smiled, but then went all serious again. “We have a relationship, Beth.”

“We have sex. That you want to keep light.”

“We’re friends and we’re lovers; that makes it more than just sex.”

“If you say so.”

“I do. And I also say that you are not going to encourage Prescott in his attraction to you.”

“If I think otherwise?”

“I’ll pull you from the case.”

“You wouldn’t. It took too long to get this in. You aren’t giving it up on stubborn principle.”

“No, I’m not. But I’ll give it up to ensure your safety. You know he’s dangerous.”

“So you’ve said, but just because he sells information to the enemy doesn’t mean he’s going to hurt a woman.”

“He’s had women and men killed, Beth.”

“Because he knew they were agents. He doesn’t know about me and I’m not going to blow my cover.”

“Are you attracted to him?” he asked through stiff lips.

“Are you kidding? He gives me the willies.”

“And you think you can hide that?”

“I think if I can’t, he’ll like knowing. He’s that kind of man.”

“Which is all the more reason to keep your sweet behind out of his sights.”

“I don’t think it’s my behind he’s interested in.”

“With a man like him, you never know.”

“Now, you’re just being an alarmist.”

“No, dam-darn it, I’m not. Men like him eat women like you for dinner.”

“Give it a break.”

“I’m being serious here.”

“You’re being paranoid.”

“We agreed I was the agent in charge.”

“We also agreed that I’m not brain-dead.”

“I never said you were.”

“Then don’t treat me like it.”

“Disagreeing with you is not doubting your intelligence.”

“Maybe not, but trying to lay down the law without talking about it is.”

“We have been talking about it!”

“Don’t yell at me. We started off with one of your unilateral commands if you’ll recall.”

“Which you didn’t listen to.”

“I listened, I didn’t agree.”

“I’m going crazy here, Beth. Stop arguing with me just for the sake of it.”

“Is that what I’m doing?”

“It feels like it.”

“As opposed to me simply disagreeing with your decision?”

“Yes.”

She laughed. “But I do disagree.”

“And when we disagree…”

She sighed, knowing what he wanted her to admit. “You get final say as agent in charge.”

“Good answer.”

“After due deliberation and discussion.”

“Is there more you want to say on this?”

“Only that I think we should leave the option open.”

“We aren’t going to exercise it.”

“I agree…for now.”

Ethan questioned the sincerity of Beth’s agreement that evening when Prescott called to tell her she got the job. She gushed and used a breathy voice Ethan considered strictly his…for those times when he made her breathless. He tackled her on it when she hung up the phone and she laughed.

“I was nervous. It showed.” She didn’t look nervous to him, sitting there in the chair by the desk. She looked excited, her dark eyes glowing with anticipation.