I nod my understanding to Rust, the receiver to my ear already. “Hey, buddy. How’s the pretentious scotch?”

“Still pretentious,” Aref’s smooth English-laced accent answers with a laugh.

“Were your ears burning? Rust and I were just talking about you.” I give my uncle a salute as he leaves.

“Only good things, I hope.”

“Always. What can I do for you?”

“Elmira and I are hosting a few friends on our yacht this weekend. We were hoping you and your woman could attend.”

My woman. I smile. Is she mine? Does she want to be?

“It’ll be an overnight sail along the Columbia River. We’ll stay in the mouth, given the water’s too choppy beyond that at this time of year. What do you say?”

“Sounds perfect.” For more than one reason.

Chapter 28

CLARA

I’ve never seen Warner’s brow quite so furrowed. “Anything closer than that and we risk being spotted.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“They likely wouldn’t do anything until you’re in deeper waters. It’ll be twenty minutes to reach you, if we gun it.”

I laugh it off to alleviate my handler’s worries, even as mine linger. “Relax. If so much as a hair on the back of my neck spikes, I’ll fake a stomach bug and grab one of the Jet Skis. It’s that simple.” Luke’s too genuine to be able to hide his suspicions of me, I remind myself. He has no clue.

But what about Aref?

Luke said that the billionaire businessman, who must be a part of this ring, specifically asked that he bring me. Has Aref discovered who I really am? He’d have to have a ton of money and powerful connections to crack through the agency’s undercover operations files. But, based on what I saw of him, if anyone could pull it off, it would be Aref.

“Relax, Warner. This is a great opportunity to get intel. Drinking, intimate setting. Seriously, I’ll be okay.” After a pause, I add, “Sinclair seems to think so.” I’ve already had a call from the big boss telling me as much.

Warner folds his arms over his chest, his jaw tense. “He called you again?”

“Like you said, he wants to win this case.”

Warner answers with a head shake, clearly unimpressed. His eyes drift down to the plunging neckline of my red silk dress. Luke warned me beforehand that the invitation calls for formal attire; that Elmira likes to go all out when she throws these “little gatherings.” I feel ridiculous, leaving the condo dressed like this mid-afternoon. “Did you get your own cabin, at least?”

I wonder if Warner’s like this with all his female undercovers. My gut is beginning to tell me that he isn’t. That the extra attention, the way he drops everything for me—including his girlfriend’s sister’s wedding—may have less to do with his devotion to the job and more about an interest in me. It’s too bad I just don’t feel the same way about him. Maybe I would, if I weren’t on this case. Maybe when I’m done with it, things will change.

“I don’t know, big brother. I’ll figure it out. That’s the least of my worries.” A conflicting storm of trepidation and excitement brews inside me. Luke’s words from the other night rang true—I know he meant what he said about not pushing me—but will it be the same when I’m lying next to him in a bed?

And how exactly will I feel?

I stoop down to scratch Stanley’s ears. “You be good for Uncle Jack, you hear?” Stanley responds with a yelp and a few licks of my hand. “See? He’s okay with me going. Be like Stanley.”

“You want me to lick you?”

I smack his stomach. “And if I don’t come back with the yacht, Stanley’s all yours.”

Warner glowers at me.

“We’re so happy you could join us, Rain.” Elmira somehow manages to make her London accent sound seductive. She’s in another long, flowing dress, this one as black as her hair. A plunging neckline and smattering of diamonds hanging from a gold chain diminish the fact that she has next to no curves.

She certainly has the princess genes in her.

“Thank you for inviting us,” I offer as a man in an all-white suit swoops in to collect my overnight bag wordlessly.

“Cabin Five, please, Gabriel,” Elmira directs him with a graceful wave of her delicately toned arm. “And our other guest will be in Cabin Six, right across the hall.”

I glance back to watch Gabriel slip Luke’s bag from his hand, admiring the tailored silver-gray suit he arrived in at my condo.

“Luke said you may be more comfortable with your own room,” Elmira explains, a curious flicker in her obsidian eyes.

“If it’s not putting anyone out.”

“We have just enough room.” She pauses. “You look surprised about these arrangements.”

The truth is, I’m floored. This guy is given the perfect excuse to get into bed with me for a night, use the old “Oops. Sorry, I was asleep,” cop-a-feel move, and he’s not using it? In fact, I’m sure he’s setting himself up for a lot of inappropriate questions and obnoxious comments, if these men are an eighth of what the guys I work with are like.

“Come.” She turns up the stairs to the second deck, giving me the view of her bare, slender back. It’s way too cold to be dressed like that. “We’ll be setting off shortly. Let me introduce you to everyone.”