Ashley lay awake listening to Cole’s heart beat against her own as she thought about their earlier conversation. She knew he was trying to protect her. She’d known since Paris. He would always protect her. Even if it meant leaving her. She had no intention of allowing him to do that.

Her mind whirled with possibilities and plans. First things first, they had to leave the prison of the cabin. Getting him to agree to move in with her wasn’t going to be easy. She moved closer to him and finally closed her eyes and fell asleep.

When she woke, she could hear Cole in the bathroom.

“Morning.” Cole smiled as he moved across the room towards her.

“Morning.” The sun was streaming through the windows, heating the entire room. “How about another walk today?”

He glanced out the window, then nodded. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll head down and cook us up something while you get ready.”

She watched him leave and rushed to get ready. After a quick shower, she walked down the stairs and heard Cole talking on the phone. She tried to tiptoe down the rest of the stairs, but he must have heard her because he hung up the second she got close enough to hear him clearly.

“Breakfast is almost ready.” He turned and smiled at her.

“Who was that?” she asked, sitting down at the bar.

He glanced at her as he set a plate of eggs and toast in front of her. “Who?”

She sighed heavily. “Really?”

Chuckling, he nodded. “My boss.”

“And?”

“New plans.” He sat beside her and started eating.

“And?” she said again.

“There’s a team coming up later today,” he said between bites.

“Why?” she asked. “What kind of team?”

“My team.” He took a deep breath. “We’re not safe here anymore.”

“What?” She instantly tensed, her eyes going towards the doors.

“Easy.” His hand rested on hers. “We’re okay right now. I called for backup when I heard some rumblings about…” He dropped off and shook his head. “It’s just an extra precaution. Eat.”

They ate in silence. She was too anxious to swallow anything more than a few bites of scrambled eggs and nibble on the dry toast.

For the rest of the time they were alone there, the minutes seemed to tick by. She jumped at each creak in the floorboard.

“Why don’t you go upstairs?” Cole said after half an hour of her trying to focus on her book. Cole was working on his laptop at the table and each time her eyes strayed from her book, she found him watching her. “Take a bath, relax.”

“I’m not going to let my guard down now.” She tossed her book next to her on the sofa and stood up, wrapping her arms around herself. “Haven’t you watched horror flicks, any of them? Everyone knows the moment you are alone or get naked, the bad guy jumps out from the closet.”

Cole’s chuckle stopped her. “Sorry.” He coughed lightly to cover it up. “Go on.” He motioned for her to continue.

“Maybe if I had something else to go on.” She moved over and sat next to him. “Tell me who’s after us, exactly.”

He leaned back, reached for his laptop, and after a moment, spun the screen around.

A very faint, very fuzzy picture of a beautiful woman dressed in all black filled his screen.

“Badumna, it’s her code name,” he said.

She glanced up at him. “Code…” A smile caused one side of her lips to curl up as her eyebrows shot up. “Do you have a code name?”

He smiled back and shook his head. “None that I’m telling you.”

Her eyes moved back to the screen, taking in everything she could about the woman. “She doesn’t look too bad. Pretty.” She tilted her head. The woman was probably a year or two older than she was. It was hard to tell from the fuzzy image.

“Don’t let her looks fool you. She’s one of the deadliest assassins for hire in Russia. Rumor is, she’s the one that got Jason Dickerson.”

Ashley’s eyes jumped up to his. “The Lord Bishop of London?”

“The very same.” Cole clicked the mouse and another image flashed. This time, there were two fuzzy men in dark black.

“We think these two are hers. The one on the left used to be Interpol, the other was FBI.”

“One of ours?” She leaned closer to the screen.

“It’s amazing who will sell out. Even we aren’t immune.”

Her skin crawled. “Was it one of those men who broke in…”

His hand touching hers stopped the dark thoughts.

“Yeah, we’re sure it was Anton who attacked you, but they could have both been there that night. We’re not sure.”

“Do either of them have blue eyes?” she asked out of the blue.

“Both of them do.”

“Why?” She pushed the computer back to him. “Why us? Why you? What did you do?”

“This is where it gets tricky.” He clicked again, then turned the screen and she smiled.

“The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Rembrandt.” She frowned up at him. “Stolen years ago.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “What has this got to do with all this?”

“One of the largest art thefts in the world, 1990. This one and a dozen other pieces were reported to have been seen at a Russian mafia member’s home outside of Moscow.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“That’s because it’s been under wraps. We sent a team in, but the paintings had been moved.” His eyes met hers. “To Paris.”

“Is that…” His nod stopped her. “But?”

“Instead of meeting our informant, I had a run-in with Badumna.”

“She’s the one that shot you?” Her voice rose.

“Yes.” He reached across the table and took her hand.

“Where are the paintings now?” she asked after getting her emotions back in check.

He shrugged. “After Paris, we lost the trail.”

“Then why have they followed you here? If you don’t know anything else?”

“Good question. My guess is, Badumna wanted to finish the job. Her kill record has never been tarnished, until now.”

“You’re Harry Potter?” she asked, under her breath and he tried not to chuckle at the comparison. “She wants to kill you because you lived?”

---

Cole heard the car drive up and dropped Ashley’s hand. “Stay put,” he said, just as his phone chimed. Glancing down at it, he smiled. “Relax, it’s RJ.” He glanced out the window and waved at his boss. Tony and Greig, two other field agents he’d worked with on past cases, stepped out of the back of the car and waved up at him.

He knew there would be an hour of bringing the team up to speed and checking the perimeter.

He helped Ashley stand up. “Why don’t you head upstairs, relax a little while we take care of business?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but then she took a deep breath. “Promise me you’ll keep me posted?”

“Promise.” He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

After she disappeared up the stairs, he let his team inside and got down to business.

When Ashley surfaced again, it was dark outside. He’d walked the outside of the house twice, making sure all the new security measures were in place.

After introducing Ashley to his team, he helped her heat up dinner.

“We’ll be out of your way as much as possible,” RJ explained to Ashley over some of Mrs. Anderson’s pot pies. “You won’t even know we’re here.”

“Right,” Ashley said, glancing in his direction.

“We’ve taken the rooms on the second floor and will take shifts making rounds outside,” RJ continued. The man had a way of calming and defusing situations.

By the end of dinner, Ashley was almost eating out of his boss’s hand. She laughed more over dinner than she had since he’d run into her in Paris. Jealousy surfaced quickly.

RJ wasn’t your typical smooth talker. The man was very large and very intimidating looking. However, with his dark skin and thick Brazilian accent, women fell at his feet instantly.

Greig and Tony, for their parts, looked like they had just stepped out of the Matrix. Both men had crew cuts, wore all black, and never showed emotion. Cole, along with everyone else in the office, called them the Smith brothers. He’d worked with both men on several other jobs and trusted them more than any other agents.

Tony was currently on rounds, leaving Greig sitting in the command booth, which was nothing more than a table set up in the basement with all the computer screens that were hooked up to the security cameras.

“Thank you for dinner. I’ll take these down to Greig and Tony.” RJ stood up and grabbed the other two pot pies they had heated up. “If you need anything…” RJ’s eyes moved from Ashley’s to his. “We’re here.”

“Thanks,” Cole said, dismissing him quickly.

Already, he knew Ashley felt safer having them around.

He smiled over at her. “So, what do you want to do now?”

She glanced around the empty room and sighed. “I suppose I could go for that relaxing bath now.”

He chuckled. “How about I join you?” He stood up and took the dishes to the sink. “We can do these later.” He took her hand and led her up the stairs.

He watched as her eyes moved over the closed doors on the second floor. Stepping into the bathroom, he shut the door behind them as she started to fill the bathtub.

“It’s a little small for both of us.” She turned towards him. “Don’t you think?”

He smiled. “We’ll make do.” He ran his fingertip down her cheek. “Now, there is a matter of too many clothes that we’ll have to remedy.”

She smiled, and he could have sworn he heard a purr escape her lips as her eyes closed slowly.

Taking his time, he peeled off the oversized sweatshirt she was wearing.

“How’s the head?” he asked as he pulled it over her head.

“One hundred percent.”

He kissed her slowly as the rest of their clothes melted away. By the time he’d removed all of them, he was wondering just how he was going to fit into the tub with her.

“Ashley,” he groaned as her naked body slid against his own.

“Now,” she moaned. “I can’t wait.” She arched for him.

Taking her hips in his hands, he spun her around and bent her over the countertop. He entered her as she held onto the marble. His eyes met hers in the mirror as he held still, embedded deeply inside her heat.

“More,” she moaned. Her hips slowly started to circle, causing the last hold on his control to break.