she realized that he no longer held her, and that both of her hands had somehow found their way to his shoulders and lingered there, she stepped back, turning away. Her pin-straight hair fell forward around her face, hiding her from the onlookers as MacAlister settled the situation with the manager. Risa wanted to hide, to process what had happened and to get away from the crowd. The urge to run, to get back to her apartment where she was safe, assailed her.
What were all these people thinking? She dared to look up, finding the manager looking relieved as MacAlister spoke to him quietly. Anna, MacAlister’s sister, was studying Risa curiously, sending Risa back into hiding behind her hair. Kristy was gathering up the clothes she’d tried on, triumphant in wrangling a discount. Risa looked down, her fingers touching the small white tag hanging from the T-shirt she had on.
Kristy touched her hand and Risa drew back reflexively, as she always did. Except with MacAlister. Her fingers moved to her lips as she remembered the kiss—it was a touch, an intimate one, and she hadn’t drawn back. She’d stepped closer. There hadn’t been any painful blankness or sense of disconnection. In fact, MacAlister’s kiss was the first time she’d felt connected to something, to someone, since she’d awakened from her coma. Realizing it made her want to run—and made her want to have more.
She was staring at him, and he pursed his warm lips thoughtfully, staring right back as if he had every right to look at her so possessively.
“C’mon, you two. Enough of the lovey-dovey stuff.” Kristy broke the visual lock between them, handing Risa some purchases to carry as she leaned in close, whispering, “And you have some explaining to do—fiancé, huh?”
MacAlister must have overheard, and when Risa opened her mouth to correct Kristy, she closed it again, thinking better of it. She didn’t know why MacAlister was here.
She smiled at Kristy. “It was a surprise. It’s not what you think.”
“Yeah, there seems to be a lot of that with you.” She winked. “What a hottie. I wouldn’t mind having a surprise like that. Maybe two.”
Risa was thankful that her new friend appeared to be teasing, and Risa dutifully followed her to the counter, where they could pay and get out.
Risa wondered what the agency had deemed so important they’d send one of their top field operatives. Daniel MacAlister was no lightweight—she’d worked with him before and she’d rarely met anyone so focused on his work, so determined to get the job done. He was intelligent, dedicated and lethal. Apparently, this time, his mission involved her.
If he’d come to kill her, she’d be dead already. A man like that wouldn’t bother wasting his time dallying in department stores; he could have picked her off cleanly, no matter where she was. She also knew, while MacAlister had killed in the line of duty, he wasn’t an assassin. So it had to be something else.
Hope sparked suddenly as her mind worked over the scenarios—maybe the agency had changed their position on her employment and had a use for her even if she didn’t have her superpowers. Could he have been sent to retrieve her for service?
“God, he’s incredible! Look at that butt….” Kristy sighed as she shamelessly ogled Daniel, who walked just ahead of them. Risa wondered if he’d heard; if so, he gave no indication. He was handsome, she thought rather experimentally; she wasn’t used to thinking about men in those terms. The only men she’d been around were Dr. Laslow and the operatives she’d worked with—or the terrorists and other subjects she’d had to examine. Needless to say, she’d never noticed any of their backsides. She tried not to notice MacAlister’s, but Kristy was right—it was nicely shaped. Toned, tapered, muscular. She felt her pulse pick up a little, and looked away, focusing on Anna, who walked at his side.
Risa was dying to get out of the store and get some answers. The security guards and manager were gone, crisis averted. As the clerk rang up her purchases while Kristy watched to make sure she received her forty percent discount, Risa moved closer to where MacAlister stood, silent and watchful.
“I’m not your fiancée.”
He shifted cool eyes to meet hers, and arched an eyebrow, shaking his head ever so slightly as if to say not now. How could she read him so clearly, without so much as a word spoken between them? The connection she had with him drew her, in spite of her worries about his presence.
“I don’t believe that’s your sister. Is she another agent—”
“I most certainly am not,” Anna interrupted. “I am his sister, one of two. Apparently, Daniel hasn’t told you much about the family he’s trying to convince you to join.”
Anna had rejoined them after breaking away to pay for her own purchases, and MacAlister’s very nice lips thinned as he realized his sister had overheard Risa.
Anna turned to Daniel. “Is this why you’ve come back to the Cape, Daniel? To tell us you’re getting married?”
MacAlister—Daniel—looked like a cat about to crawl right out of his skin. Risa crossed her arms and gave him the same cool look he’d been sending her. It was his story that they were engaged, let him deal with the fallout.
“Not exactly. That was a small lie, I have to confess.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Anna sounded dismally disappointed.
“Risa and I were in a…relationship. She quit and moved away, and we never had the chance to really share our feelings. Work was always in the way. I came here to remedy that.”
Risa turned, thinking she heard the sales clerk sigh—or was it Kristy? Still, she said nothing, holding his gaze in a dare. The next thing she knew, Anna was at her side, sliding her arm through Risa’s and hugging her close. Risa stiffened at the contact, ready to bolt, but Anna’s hold was firm.
The expectant mother shined at Risa, then at her brother. The reality sank in for Risa—they really were brother and sister. Anna was not an undercover operative working with Daniel, or some woman he’d randomly picked up in the store for cover. Everything took on a surreal blur that Risa couldn’t process.
Anna’s voice was joyful as she said, “Well, I don’t care what the reason is. The important thing is that you’re back, and if Risa is the reason for that, then we’ll all welcome her with open arms. She’s part of the family already, as far as I’m concerned.”
For the first time since this entire fiasco began, Risa saw uncertainty flicker in Agent MacAlister’s placid gray eyes. Smiling brightly in his direction, she capitalized on the weakness she’d found and hugged Anna’s arm closer.
“Well, Daniel,” she said his name deliberately, getting used to the less formal address, “I’m very interested in anything you came here to tell me.”
3
“CAN I ASK YOU something?”
Kristy’s voice interrupted Risa’s thoughts, scattered as they were. All she wanted to do was get back to her apartment and find out what the hell Daniel MacAlister was up to. He claimed that Risa was the reason he was staying in Falmouth instead of with his family in Harwich, but that was just a cover. Risa knew he had to be on assignment, and she needed details. She responded to Kristy absently, hoping there wasn’t going to be more talk about how attractive Daniel was.
“Sure, what?”
“Do
