did a double take, his eyes growing wider at her unexpectedly playful response. Seeing him caught off guard only made Lily want to laugh that much more—served him right. He caught her eye and they stared at each other for a moment. The wind fluttered, whipping her dark hair around her jaw, and he smiled, his expression softening. Lily sat back. Wow. Time to rein it in, Andrews.
“Sorry, please continue,” she said, smiling wryly.
“There’s been chatter that his COO, Rowland James, is working behind the scenes on certain business deals that could put the company, and subsequently the family, in harm’s way. My objective has been twofold—protect Elsworth and his family, and gather as much intel on Rowland James as possible to put him away and neutralize any possible national security threat.”
“Wait.” Lily’s brows pinched together. “Couldn’t the local cops take care of protecting his family? It seems a bit extreme to bring in black ops for babysitting duty.”
Derek hesitated.
The muscles in Lily’s shoulders constricted. She didn’t have time, or the mental energy, to walk into anything with less than complete transparency. Fair? Hardly. But he’d come after her. The ball was squarely in her court, and she wasn’t waiting around to see if Derek would play nice. Not this time. She jumped up.
“Lily. Wait a minute. Where are you going?”
“If you won’t be honest with me, then this partnership—or whatever you want to call it—is over.” She turned to leave.
He reached for her hand, wrapped his fingers around her wrist. She jerked away and glared at him.
“Read me in. Now. Or I’m gone.”
“Damn, woman. You’re impatient.”
She was running on a short fuse, no doubt. She tilted her head to the side, stared him down.
He sighed. “Rowland James is a known associate of multiple enemies of the state—”
“What?” She paced, her mind crunching Derek’s information. She glanced over her shoulder and frowned. “Then why in the world is he allowed anywhere near ARME?”
“He hasn’t broken any laws. Until he trips up and does something quantifiably targeting the United States, our hands are tied.”
“Why can’t John fire him?”
“It’s not that simple. Over the last two years, Rowland has been quietly buying up stock and currently owns 30 percent of ARME’s stocks. The board would have to have a majority vote to oust him from his position, but he could still use his controlling interest in the company to get some of his own people on the board.”
She shook her head. That made sense, but damn, she hated political bullshit. “Unbelievable. And the rest of this happy equation?”
“As you already know, ARME is one of our government’s leading suppliers for all things military and its top research facility. If John was out of the picture, Rowland James would be the most likely candidate to replace him.”
“Which is a huge problem.”
“Exactly. He’d have complete access to all of our top-secret projects.”
Now everything made sense. Lily sat.
“Obviously, that’s something the US government would like to prevent—at all costs. That’s where you come in.” He motioned toward her. “Not to whore yourself out, which is crude, by the way...”
Lily cringed, her cheeks growing warm. Though it had saved her on more than one occasion, her Spanish feistiness also got her in just as much trouble. Case in point? Yesterday.
“But with the way you’ve been trained...get inside his inner circle, find the evidence we need and put him away. Permanently.”
“If this Rowland James character is so hard to get near, how do you propose I do it without raising his suspicion?” Lily reached for Dakota and stroked the soft hair on his ears. Without giving Derek a second to respond, she continued slowly. “Because he will be suspicious.”
“All we have to do is find the right opportunity for you to be in the same room with him, and he will come to you.” Derek turned, pinning Lily with those damn eyes of his. She all but forgot to breathe. “Guaranteed.”
Bouncing her foot, she tried her best to push back the flutter in her stomach. Her nerves tingled in anticipation. “And when will such an opportunity arise?”
“Saturday night. There’s a black-tie event at the Joslyn Art Museum for the who’s who of Omaha. Rowland will be attending.” Derek stared straight ahead. “How’s your calendar looking Saturday?”
Her calendar was wide-open—had been for months—but she shook her head. “I can’t just waltz into this event and saunter up to someone like Rowland. It’ll raise too many red flags...if I can even get close enough to him.”
“I know. That’s why I’m going with you as your date.”
“Wait. What? You’re going...” The bouncing halted. Lily glanced over at Derek, who silently stared out over the river. She tried to play it cool, but the idea of spending an entire evening with Derek was surprisingly appealing.
“John has a previous engagement and asked me to go in his place.” Derek looked over at her. “Care to join me?” he asked softly.
This was exactly the type of mission she lived for, craved...missed desperately. And having Derek as her partner for the evening wouldn’t be so bad, either. Lily prayed she could maintain a poker face. No need to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d roped her into this mission hook, line and sinker.
“It’s in three days. That’s not a lot of time to prep.” She shook her head and began to rattle off the imperative information she needed. “Bodyguards, arrival times, accessibility...”
“So I take it you’re in?”
Her second chance looked back at her, his gentle eyes burning away all her defenses. Lily looked out over the river and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. This was the opportunity she’d hoped for—after not knowing, not acting, and walking away.
Redemption.
With one word, her entire life would change. She just didn’t know whether it was a good change or not.
Only one way to find out.
“Yes.”
Wednesday, September 17, 6:00 p.m.
LILY HAD BALKED at meeting at Derek’s place, which had been a relief. He’d rolled the dice by dropping in on her at the river and gotten lucky. Very lucky. Taking up shop just across the street from her was a different matter entirely. He hadn’t quite figured out how he would have explained that one away if she’d accepted his
