Dev was plagued with doubts about having taken Mackenzie to bed.
Until now, he’d never lost control of his sexual urges and let them blind his caution or his logic. But, he’d fallen in love with his spirited British image consultant and his need to be her lover was like a fever in his blood. It obliterated his resolve to keep her at a distance until he could complete his mission and reveal himself honestly to her.
As she slept peacefully in his arms, he knew he’d found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. The woman he wanted to marry and with whom he wanted to raise a family. He smiled. Mackenzie already had a daughter. Eliza would be his daughter too, and they could have at least a couple more children together if Mackenzie was willing.
It’s too early to make plans, the voice of reason argued. There’s so much you need to sort through.
A soft knock on his bedroom door delivered the reality check he’d stubbornly refused to acknowledge.
Hans always knocked once before he entered. Dev only had time to look down quickly and make sure Mackenzie’s nudity was fully covered by the sheet before his ‘personal assistant’ entered.
Shock was followed immediately by disapproval on the older man’s face. Then, he gestured angrily for Dev to get his butt out of bed and follow him outside.
Shit!
Gently, he disentangled himself from Mackenzie’s slender limbs so he didn’t disturb her as he got up. It was impossible to drag his gaze away from her as he threw on his robe. Sleeping soundly, her thick hair just as shiny as the satin fabric of his pillowcase, she was perfection. He knew he’d store this image of her in his mind’s eye forever.
‘What the hell were you thinking?’ Hans demanded furiously as soon as Dev reached the study and closed the door behind him.
‘This is serious, Hans.’
‘Damned right it’s serious! After all these years of meticulous planning, we’re so close to bringing the Scampinelli family to justice. How could you let yourself lose sight of the main goal?’
Dev clamped his jaw so hard, pain reached the joint. ‘After years of living for revenge, last night I realised there’s more to life.’
Hans cursed. ‘This yacht racing series has been a windfall. You know it’s going to allow us to tighten the noose around the Scampinellis and their whole network of contacts.’ He threw his hands up in the air. ‘We couldn’t have planned it better ourselves. Two months at the most for God’s sake, then it’ll all be over!’
‘No. I’ve told headquarters a month. Tops.’
‘Impossible.’
A couple of weeks ago, a month or even two would hardly have seemed like any time at all considering all the years he’d worked towards this end. Yet, now he’d found Mackenzie—now he’d made love to her—a month without her seemed like a life sentence.
‘In a month, she might have developed feelings for Gabe—or for someone else,’ he worried aloud. ‘I’m not prepared to gamble my future on settling a score from the past.’
Hans drew himself up to his full, impressive height and looked as immovable as a mountain. ‘Are—you—serious?’
‘Gabe’s threatened to remarry if I don’t toe the line and find someone I can be serious about.’ He ran his hands through his hair in sheer agitation. ‘I’m afraid he’s got Mackenzie in his sights.’
‘If she decides to marry your brother, she obviously isn’t serious about you,’ he launched back scathingly.
‘Gabe’s everything I’m not. At least he’s everything she thinks I’m not.’
‘Yet, she still ended up in your bed.’
That was true. The pull between them was impossible to overcome even though she didn’t approve of his reputation.
‘You obviously haven’t thought this through!’ Hans’ complexion became a mottled red. ‘You told me how much you grieved when Eden died. You expressed a need to bring those linked to her murder to justice. I can’t believe that after all this time, energy and focus, you’d lose sight of your goal.’
‘I want to stop the Scampinellis and their drug running, but now I also realise I need to be free to live and to love. Eden was my past, Hans. Mackenzie is the person I most want to share my future with.’
‘You’ve fallen so heavily for her in such a short time?’ Each word was laced with shock.
‘Yes.’ He’d never been more certain about anything in his life.
‘Why Mackenzie?’
‘Obviously she’s smart and beautiful. She’s also strong and passionate.’ They were all reasons he’d fallen for her without even mentioning the incredible chemistry between them. But, his love for her went deeper. ‘She’s incredibly caring and she sees beyond the playboy image I adopt and believes in me the way no other woman has. She brings out a depth of caring in me too, that makes me want to be with her.’
‘Good grief!’ Hans groaned, rubbing his palms over his face. ‘This is a nightmare.’
‘When I’m with her I’m really alive.’ As he spoke, he marvelled at the woman he loved and all he felt for her.
Hans let loose with a colourful curse and resumed his pacing. ‘You can have Mackenzie when all this is over, Devereaux, but you can’t have her now.’
‘I’m not prepared to jeopardise my chance with Mackenzie to bring the Scampinellis to justice.’
‘You’re telling me you’re prepared to let those who as good as murdered your sister— and have caused the misery and destruction of countless other lives in pursuit of their own wealth—go free?’
Shit. It was emotional blackmail and Hans bloody well knew it.
Guilt and raw need warred within him. He leant against the edge of his desk as emotional fatigue hit hard. Four years ago, he’d been determined to destroy the family who’d supplied the drugs to the man responsible for Eden’s death. He’d begun systematically attacking their financial empire through Ploutos Corporation, and thought his actions would be untraceable. The transactions had been untraceable to most of the world, and to the criminal element he targeted. Even if the commercial moves he’d made against the Scampinellis had been traced to Ploutos, nobody could connect him with the corporation he’d established.
So he’d thought.
He hadn’t figured his activities would send up all sorts of flags on the Interpol computer, nor that his actions would be of great interest to MI5, who were also heavily invested in bringing the family down.
MI5 pointed out to him that as fast as he used Ploutos to weaken or destroy one of the family’s financial ventures, another took its place.
‘Work with us,’ he’d been told by the MI5 handler who’d approached him, ‘and you won’t just see the family responsible for your sister’s death become destitute, you’ll see them behind bars.’
At MI5’s direction Dev had built up his playboy reputation. The world had believed his layabout idleness, womanising and drunkenness were a reaction to his grief at his sister’s death. Hell! He’d played the role MI5 had painted for him so well, even Gabe believed it.
A couple of years of the playboy pattern had seen him in a position to achieve the first goal of MI5. He’d formed a casual friendship with Vito Scampinelli—the son of the Mafia Don, Maurizio Scampinelli. For the past year, Dev planted bugs in Vito’s homes and vehicles. There were even some planted at the nightclub tables which were Vito’s favourite haunts.
The MI5 handler he’d met with at Club Tango had told him he was to invite Vito to watch the yacht racing series and arrange for the après parties to be held in clubs owned by the Scampinelli family. Apart from the races in Santaliana, the rest of the series were to be held in cities which were Mafia strongholds. MI5 wanted to know for certain who Vito partied with in those places and they wanted Dev there partying alongside the wrong crowd so he could supply MI5 with names. Then, they’d finally move in to close the trap they’d set around the family.
MI5 was so close to springing the trap, but they maintained they needed Dev to continue in his role in the short-term. Dev ran his hands up over his forehead and through his hair. For so long he’d wanted to see justice done. He owed it to Eden, and all those whose lives were ruined by the Scampinelli drug empire, to make sure these criminals went to jail.
‘Devereaux!’
Dev turned back to face Hans, the undercover MI5 agent who’d assumed the role as his personal assistant.
‘Have you listened to a single word I’ve said?’
‘No.’ The admission was made without a shred of remorse.
‘This is no walk in the park, Devereaux! Have you completely lost sight of the fact that you’re putting your life in danger? You have to get Mackenzie to leave for her own safety. She can’t be around you.’
Hans’ words hit hard. Suddenly, Dev was freefalling—rushing towards the earth with a chute that wouldn’t open because he realised Hans was right. If the Scampinellis discovered he was working against them, they would come after everybody he loved. Gabe had his own bodyguards, but Mackenzie and Eliza were soft targets.
‘Send her back to England,’ Hans directed.
‘I can’t do that. I’ve told her I’m interested in a serious relationship.’
‘You selfish bastard! Were you so worried your brother might steal a march on you with her that you wanted to stake a claim on her and totally disregarded that any relationship with you at this point will place her in danger?’
Shame burnt through Dev. Hans was right. He was a selfish bastard. Although he loved Mackenzie, he’d known it was too early to act on his feelings. Had he subconsciously been determined to claim her before Gabe could? God, but he hoped that hadn’t coloured his behaviour towards the woman he loved.
It was easy in hindsight to say he should’ve stopped and thought about her safety and her feelings above all else. He knew the fact that he hadn’t made him less worthy of her love. The emotion and passion between them had been too compelling to deny.
‘I can make this right,’ he said with conviction. ‘I love her. All I have to do is tell her the truth and ask her to give me some time to distance myself from the Scampinellis so I can ensure her safety before we go public about our relationship.’
‘You know you can’t divulge the nature of your mission to anyone.’
It frustrated the hell out of him to know Hans was right. If he told Mackenzie, she’d worry. She’d already gone to Club Tango to investigate his activities and he couldn’t see her going back to England meekly and waiting for him while she assumed he was in danger. Who knew what she’d do in that circumstance?
‘Walk away from this young woman for the time being, Devereaux,’ Hans advised. ‘Come through this and you can pursue her afterward.’
Bloody hell! Hans had no idea what he was asking. ‘I’m not sure I can walk away from her.’
‘Then, I’m going to intercede. I’ll do it in such a way she’ll want to go.’
Everything in him screamed out in denial. He fought with conflicting emotions. To have to end his relationship with Mackenzie before it had even began … To have spent one night with her and leave her would inflict so much hurt upon her if she thought it was because he’d used her …
‘Sometimes, one has to be cruel to be kind,’ Hans said.
He’d heard it a hundred times. After a harsh, audible exhalation he said, ‘What are you going to do?’
‘Don’t worry. She won’t come to any physical harm. I’ll simply ensure she believes I have to eject lovers from your bed every morning. I’ll pity her as the latest in your long line of women whose names you don’t even remember.’
‘No.’ She couldn’t believe that was all last night had been to him. ‘I don’t want her to think I’ve used her, and I don’t want her to think there have been a long line of lovers before her.’
‘You should’ve thought of the whole picture before you took her to bed.’
Having salt rubbed into his wounds was sheer hell.
‘Clean break, Devereaux. At the moment, she needs to believe she means nothing more to you than a one-night stand.’
Knowing it was the right course and accepting it were two different things. He still railed against the course of action Hans suggested. ‘She’s dedicated to her work. Even if she thinks I’m an utter bastard, I’m not sure she’ll quit.’
‘Leave that to me.’ Dev didn’t like the promise in Hans’ words. ‘Another month or two—’
‘One month only.’
‘—and we’ll have the Scampinellis exactly where we want them.’ Hans put his hand on Dev’s shoulder in an uncharacteristic gesture of support—a show of compassion that wasn’t in keeping with the way he was going to act against Mackenzie. ‘The time will pass quickly.’
In all the time since Eden’s death, Dev had never known such an urgent need to see her killers behind bars.
‘In the meantime, I’ll contact London. They’re sure to have a solution to your other problem.’
‘I don’t follow you.’
‘If you want to stop your brother from pursuing Mackenzie, you have to look as though you’re embarking on a serious relationship, right?’
Dev nodded.
‘Headquarters can provide you with a female agent who can assume the role of your more serious love interest.’
‘Mackenzie will despise me.’ Dev hung his head. The world he’d entered weighed in on him. But, it was better to have her think for a short time that he was a complete, unfeeling bastard than to put her in jeopardy if, somehow, he blew his cover. He hoped to God that when all this was over, she’d listen to his explanation and forgive him. At least he hadn’t told her that he loved her. Hopefully when he said the words, she’d believe him.
‘Okay. Do what you have to do.’ The words emerged through a throat that was so achingly tight it hurt him to speak. They were, perhaps, the hardest words he’d ever had to utter.