She gave him a friendly elbow to the ribs before settling against his chest.

“Ethan, it’s Hotwire.”

“Any word for me?”

“Officially? No. But ten months ago, a young woman in Oregon killed herself. She was attending a community college not far from Prescott’s home when they met. They started dating and she stopped attending classes. She’d lost her job for not showing up and had a miscarriage due to drug usage and possible sexual trauma the week before she killed herself.”

Ethan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I didn’t find anything about this during my investigation into him.”

“Your perp did a good job of hushing his connection to the girl up.”

“But you found it.” It irked Ethan that he hadn’t.

“Her parents died when she was fifteen. Her older sister finished raising her and was helping her through college. The sister is a DEA agent by the name of Rachel Gannon. She confided her fears for her sister and then about the suicide to a friend of mine.”

“And let me guess, the DEA agent has taken a leave of absence, her whereabouts unknown.”

“Yes. My friend’s worried about her, but he hasn’t said a thing to their superiors. She’s a hell of a sniper and she’s more lethal with a knife than Wolf.”

“This doesn’t feel good.”

“I concur.”

“Damn. You think Rachel Gannon is planning personal revenge.”

“If you can stop her, you’ll be saving a life worth preserving.” They both knew Hotwire didn’t mean Prescott.

“She could have killed him at the party the other night.”

“If she was the one who was there. Yes. I’ll send you a picture for verification of her identity. But personal revenge plans aside…she’s still her country’s servant.”

“You think she wants to stop the plans for the UGCV getting into enemy hands before she offs Prescott.”

“That’s my guess.”

“Whit is going to lose his mind if I pull her into our investigation.”

“You don’t have to pull her in to stop her, but if you don’t, you’ll be robbing her of the closure she needs.”

“I’ll talk to Beth about it.”

He got a kiss on his cheek for that and couldn’t help taking her lips.

Hotwire was laughing and calling his name when Ethan remembered he was still on the phone. “Save it for when I’m not on the other end of the line. You’re making me miss Claire.”

“Where is she?”

“She went shopping for the baby with Josie. She and Nitro are staying for a few days before she goes back to classes.”

“Where’s Nitro?”

“Outside scaring the wildlife.”

“I heard that,” came from the other side of the room. “I’m going to tell Claire that our Medicine Men believe a woman should stop having sex the last three months of her pregnancy for the safety of the baby.”

“The man is getting serious,” Hotwire said, sounding far from worried. “I think I need to go kill him.”

“I’ve got a man I wouldn’t mind skinning like a snake and staking out in the sun to dry.”

“Do tell.”

Hotwire swore when Ethan told him what Prescott had done with the video and Beth.

“You watch her, Ethan.”

“I plan to.”

“I mean it. This man is a sadistic son of a bitch. I have a feeling that young woman in Oregon was one in a long line.”

“Beth will be safe.”

“If you need us, you call.”

Ethan felt something strange in his chest. Beth was right. He didn’t have a lot of friends, but because of his need to know what had really happened when his great uncle died, he’d made some good ones. “Thanks. I’ll remember that.”

“You were there for me when I needed you to help me keep Claire safe from our own government.”

“All part of the job.”

“You just keep believing that.”

They hung up a minute later after Hotwire reminded Ethan to bring Beth to visit Montana when the case was over.

The next couple of weeks were an exercise in frustration on one side for Ethan and pure bliss on the other. He was having no luck cracking Prescott’s ICE, but living with Beth was pure pleasure. He liked being with her. Even when she was cranky waking up in the mornings and slapping at his hands when he touched her in front of the agents coming in on rotation to help him listen to the audibles from Prescott’s bugs.

She acted like she enjoyed the intimacy of living in the same house, too. She definitely more than liked the pleasure they shared in the privacy of their bed at night. Holding her in his arms was addictive and he didn’t relish the thought to returning to living and sleeping alone. The closer the end of the case got, the more he considered what to do about that.

Beth was preparing a report on investment opportunities for Prescott when his secretary told her he wanted to see her in his office again.

He had a complacent expectancy about him that made her leery, but she forced a smile. “You wanted to see me, Mr. Prescott.”

“Please close the door, Beth.”

She did so, but was glad that their conversation was being overheard by Ethan and the other agents back at the cabin. This was one man she had no desire to ever be completely alone with.

He stood up from behind his desk and came toward her. “Beth, I’m not going to beat around the bush. I care about you. When I met you for your interview I knew you were special.”

She backed up toward the door. “I’m involved, Arthur, you know that.”

“Yes, I know.” Prescott looked pained. “To a man who is not worthy of you.”

“You’re wrong. Ethan is really wonderful.”

“I’m sorry but, Beth, because of my growing feelings toward you…because of who you are, how very innocent you are…I could not leave well enough alone after the party.”

“What are you saying?”

“I had your boyfriend followed by a private investigator.”

Her lungs froze for a second in stark, utter horror before her brain started working again. “You’ve had him followed? But why?”

Now, more than ever, she appreciated Ethan’s attention to detail when establishing and maintaining cover for a case. Her heart was pounding wildly, but she was confident Prescott’s private eye would not have found anything to compromise that cover.

“I didn’t believe his encounter with Miss Fournier was as blameless as he tried to pretend.”

“But he explained about that.”

“And you believed him. That is to your credit, my dear Beth, but I have evidence that it was not so.”

This was getting really bizarre. “What evidence?”

“This will be difficult for you, but I have some photos to show you.”

He indicated a file on his desk. “Please. Come with me.”

He led her to stand with him behind the desk and then without further preliminaries, flipped the file open.

The picture on top was of Ethan naked, but covered by a sheet. A woman sat on his torso, touching her breasts for his keen gaze. Beth knew that look, he gave it to her when he wanted her. She knew the pictures had to be faked, but even knowing that, pain lanced through her. The very thought of Ethan with another woman was enough to make her physically ill, but Prescott’s machinations filled her with fury. The man was worse than a snake.

Ethan had been right about that. Not that she’d doubted him. But he’d been right about something else, too. Prescott had been spying on them. The picture of Ethan’s face had to have come from times when they’d been in the living room with the curtains open.

Imagining someone watching them, even though they never did anything really intimate until they shut themselves into privacy, made her skin crawl. And Prescott would be the kind of man who got a kick out of something like that.

Forcing herself to dwell on how it would feel if it really was Ethan with another woman rather than her intense anger, she gave Prescott the reaction he no doubt expected. Tears spurted into her eyes as she put her hand over her mouth.