His daughter had been running scared for too long. For a woman who wanted family more than he’d ever wanted the glory of thwarting enemies of his government, she was way too dedicated to her job. It was time she settled down.

He and Lynn wanted grandchildren. They’d talked about it, but they were never going to get them if Elizabeth expended all her maternal energy on those two kittens she’d just adopted when she’d started feeling like the condo was too empty. Why hadn’t she thought of bringing another person into her home?

Lynn thought she was gun-shy about relationships and marriage. He agreed, but he wasn’t willing to take his wife’s approach of letting Time be the great healer. Trying to fix her up with eligible men didn’t work either. His daughter was extremely strong minded when it came to some things and dating was one of them.

But Elizabeth had had three long years and instead of opening up, she’d grown more wary. Less willing to accommodate another person in her life.

She worked atrocious hours, but she dismissed his warnings in that regard as a joke. She could not take seriously that he of all people would really be telling her that she was too wrapped up in her job. But that was exactly what he thought.

His absentee parenting and Lynn’s focus on her political causes instead of Elizabeth’s emotional welfare had taken a toll neither of them had seen until too late. Then the wedding fiasco had happened with Alan Hyatt and Elizabeth had withdrawn completely from the risk of any sort of relationships.

She had few friends and held her coworkers at TGP at a distance so she didn’t make any more. He didn’t know what made his daughter tick, but she was his only child and he loved her, even if she’d never accept how much.

But he had a plan to show her and that plan included getting himself some grandchildren. He’d always been one hell of a tactician and his daughter didn’t know it, but she was his most important case.

He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when he instituted Step Two in the Plan.

Chapter 3

Beth walked into the briefing room, her mininotebook in one hand and a cup of mocha java light in the other. Six agents were in from the field, a pretty high number for their smallish agency, and she was prepared for a longer than normal briefing. Which meant being in close proximity to Ethan for longer than she’d like. Or rather longer than was good for her.

She liked being in the same room with him way too much.

She took her seat at one end of the long conference-style table and waited for the others to arrive. Ethan was the first one in. Of course. “Mornin’, Sunshine.”

“Good morning, Ethan.” She kept her face averted, her attention ostensibly on her small computer monitor, but really she didn’t want him to see the blush that his casual endearment caused.

He’d started calling her Sunshine soon after she began working for TGP. Other agents had picked it up, saying it fit her because of her sunny but shy smile. Only she never forgot that he was the first and, somehow, it always felt more personal coming from his mouth. It wasn’t like yesterday’s baby, but it was bad enough.

Especially after the dreams she’d had the night before. It was bad enough that she couldn’t stop herself fantasizing about him, but now he’d taken over her subconscious, too. And her subconscious had no limits like her conscious mind. She’d woken up screaming from pleasure in the middle of the night and had to take a soothing shower before she could go back to sleep.

“Have a nice dinner with your folks last night?” he asked in that whiskey-smooth voice that made her inner thigh muscles clench tighter than her Thigh Master.

She squirmed inobtrusively, trying to ease the ache that never quite went away anymore. “Yes. Mother was entertaining a political protégé and his new fiancée.”

“Sounds like fun.”

She looked up then to find his green gaze fixed on her and she had to fight the fear that he knew just what kind of effect he had on her. “If you consider an evening spent discussing the best way to procure a caterer and how far in advance the right church has to be booked for a wedding, then it was fun.”

“You don’t like talking about that kind of stuff?”

“Not particularly. No.”

“Why not? I always figured you for the orange blossom and white picket fence type of woman. I’d say that kind of talk was right up your alley.”

If he knew the kind of fantasies she had about him, he wouldn’t make such assumptions. The only kind of fences she thought about lately were the type she could tie him to and then have her wicked way with all that incredible male flesh. “I guess you don’t know me very well, do you?”

“You saying I’m wrong?” He sounded truly shocked by the prospect…and intrigued.

She wondered why? She wasn’t the intriguing type. “Dead wrong. Weddings and marriage are off my radar.”

“Forever?” he asked disbelievingly.

She sighed. “For a long time.”

The only man she was interested in at the moment was him, but she wanted his body not his heart. As candidates went for future husband of the year, he was everything she knew didn’t apply.

“You surprise me, Sunshine.”

“It’s good to know that even a crack agent like yourself can’t read me completely.”

He looked at her and in that instant she felt like he was seeing inside her, that the fantasies she had were laid bare. Her mind told her it was impossible. The decadent fantasies she had could not be seen on her face, but it was all she could do to break eye contact with him.

It helped that two more of the agents had come into the room. Isaac, a big black man with bulging muscles that even a suit jacket could not hide, a smoothly shaven head, and a rich, deep voice that sounded like hot fudge pouring over ice cream, was talking to an older agent. Bennett looked like a mild-mannered accountant but had a black belt in judo and could kill with his bare hands. He was also a crack computer hacker.

They were discussing the newest covert camera developed in the technology lab and sat down still arguing its merits and shortcomings. It was a good thing Vannie wasn’t there to hear them. She’d have broken something over Isaac’s head for sure. He was of the opinion that a lady’s compact with a camera was passé and that the lab shouldn’t waste their time developing outmoded ideas.

Soon after Isaac and Bennett’s arrival, one of the female agents came in. Elle had glossy black hair and was almost six feet tall. She was also gorgeous, but was more lethal than the older male agent who had come in before her. She could handle any weapon and throw a knife to kill a mosquito at a distance.

A second later, Jayne came in. She was one of their deepest cover operatives. The world knew her as a highly exclusive exotic dancer, but in reality, she was one of their best agents. Beth had always wondered why she and Ethan never hooked up, but in the two years she’d worked for the agency, she’d never seen Jayne give any man even a second blink, much less a look.

Alan sauntered in behind her, talking to Drew. Drew wasn’t a regular field agent but was so conversant in the world of high-tech that he was invaluable to the agency in his role as information gatherer. He knew when things were going down and spent hours every day tracking the movement of technological information worldwide.

Alan was smart to be picking Drew’s brain about his first case, as she was sure he was doing.

“What’s that look for?” Ethan asked.

Her gaze skittered back to him. “Look?”

“The one you’re giving the new guy. For someone who denies interest, you sure are watching him intently.”

“I’ve been watching everyone as they come through the door. I’m taking notes. Would you like to see?” she asked as she spun her mininotebook for him to see where she was logging each agent’s attendance on her spreadsheet. “It’s my job.”