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In his line of work he’d learned to take his pleasure where he could and not to linger for too long. Dr. Elizabeth Cameron was not the type to go for a thorough roll in the hay and then walk away. She was one of those women with a commitment fetish. She didn’t do casual sex. Probably didn’t even understand the concept. From what Hennessey had seen, the woman was all work and no play. Completely focused.
If she agreed to do the job, that would be a good thing. He damn sure didn’t want a lesser surgeon screwing up his face. Not that he considered himself the Hollywood handsome type but he got his share of second looks. Including one or two from the good doctor. Though he doubted she would admit it in this lifetime. Just like before, she wanted to pretend there was nothing between them. In reality, there wasn’t, not really. Just that one night. The night he’d saved her life but she would never own up to it. She would only remember his manhandling and overbearing attitude. But something had sparked between them that night…in the dark.
The chemistry had been there. Strong enough to startle him almost as much as it had her. She’d hated it and her extreme reaction had only made bad matters worse. But then, he loved a challenge. He’d felt the electricity between them again today. But like before, she’d wanted to ignore it. What did all that attraction say about the relationship she’d had with Maddox? Maybe there was a little bit of the devil in all of us, he mused, even the straitlaced doc.
Well, she might prefer to ignore him, but if the director had his way, she might as well get used to having him around. They would be spending the next three weeks in close quarters. Not that it would be a hardship. He thought about those long, satiny legs hidden beneath that conservative peach-colored skirt. The lady had a great body. She worked out. He’d watched her. She kept a hell of a boring routine. Yet there was no denying that blond hair and those green eyes were attractive even if she did make it a point to camouflage those long, silky tresses in a bun and those lovely green eyes behind the ugliest black rimmed glasses.
Well, attractive or not, hot in bed or not, Elizabeth Cameron held the key to his future. He hoped by now she understood that. His survival in the upcoming mission depended upon his ability to fool the enemy.
The idea of sporting another man’s face held no real appeal, but if it got the job done Hennessey could deal with it. He could even manage to put up with the doc’s company for a couple of weeks and maintain the necessary level of restraint. What he wasn’t at all sure he could handle was her constant analysis.
He recalled quite well the way she’d studied him that one time. Her lover had apparently related a number of tales about the legendary Joe Hennessey, none of which had sat well with Miss Prim and Proper.
Half the stories were exaggerated and the other half were nobody’s business. But that wouldn’t keep her from holding his past, real or imagined, against him.
Hennessey put his life on the line for his country all the time. The last thing he deserved was some holier-than-thou broad, however talented, treating him like he was the scum of the earth. Throw that in the mix with the undeniable physical attraction and he came up with distraction.
He’d learned the hard way that if a guy thought with his privates in this business he ended up dead. He’d had his share of ladies along the way, but he never let one distract him from the mission.
He didn’t intend to start now.
The door swung open and Hennessey came to attention. A leftover habit from his days in Special Forces. Anytime a superior officer was about, he came to attention as was expected.
Directors Calder and Allen moved into the corridor, closing the door behind them. A frown pulled at Hennessey’s mouth. Where was the woman? He’d thought the plan was for him to be called in once they’d broken the news to her. Had she outright refused to do the job?
That would be just his luck. Damn. He wanted the best. And she was it.
“Agent Hennessey,” Calder announced without preamble, “Dr. Cameron would like to see you now.”
Hennessey blinked. “Alone?” He didn’t relish the idea of the confrontation with no one else around to temper it.
Calder nodded. “She hasn’t committed to the request. She insists on speaking to the operative assigned to the mission first. If she continues to resist, you have my authorization to enlighten her.” He qualified his statement with a warning, “Her participation is essential, but she doesn’t need to know any more than absolutely necessary.”
With a heavy exhale and a nod of understanding, Hennessey stated for the record, “Yes, sir.”
As he reached for the door, Dawson stopped him with a hand on his arm. “I know your reputation, Agent Hennessey,” he cautioned quietly, “don’t do anything you’ll regret. Dr. Cameron is a nice lady.”
“I think Agent Hennessey is aware of proper protocol,” Director Calder suggested, his tone as stern as his expression. He would tolerate no roadblocks now or later. The reprimand was meant for both Dawson and Hennessey.
For the first time since going to the hospital to pick up the good doctor, Hennessey removed his eyewear. He’d worn the dark glasses inside purposely, to remain anonymous until the decision was final. Apparently there was going to be no help for that now. He hoped like hell she wouldn’t let that one night influence her decision.
Hennessey leveled an unflinching stare on Dawson. “I have never jeopardized a mission or an asset.”
“Just remember,” Dawson persisted despite the director’s warning, “that she is a very valuable asset.”
Hennessey shoved his sunglasses back into place and opened the door. He didn’t need Dawson telling him how to do his job. He had no intention of getting tangled up with Dr. Cameron. There might be some sexual energy bouncing back and forth between them, but she definitely was not his type.
Opinionated women were nothing but a pain in the ass.
Like he’d said before, some things don’t require thought.
ELIZABETH COULDN’T SHAKE the idea that she knew the other agent. There was definitely something familiar about him. That mouth…the way his presence overwhelmed the atmosphere around him.
It couldn’t be him.
She would remember if it was him. It wasn’t like she could forget that night. That one night. She shivered. She’d tried not to think about it, but every now and then it poked through the layers of anger and guilt she’d piled on top of the memory. He’d practically held her hostage. He’d made her feel things she hadn’t wanted to feel. A hot, searing ache, a yearning deep down inside her. It had been wrong. A betrayal. And with him no less. David had told her all about Special Agent Joe Hennessey. His dark, alluring charm that the ladies couldn’t resist; his ruthless single-mindedness. An agent like no other.
She wondered if David would have spoken so highly of him if he’d known how close his supposed friend had come to seducing her…how close she’d come to allowing it?
Heat infused her cheeks, rushed over her skin at even the memory of those few hours. He’d cast a spell on her. Made her want to forget everything and everyone else. Thank God she’d come to her senses.
Chafing her arms she banished the disturbing memories. She had to figure this out…had to find a way to make them see that she could not do this. She simply couldn’t do that to David’s memory.
Only, David would want her to help.
If lives were in danger he would want her to do whatever necessary to help his fellow agents. But she needed more information. Surely they couldn’t expect her to do this without further clarification.
And, dear God, could she do it?
Could she recreate David’s face on another man?
SHE STOOD on the far side of the room, her back to the door. For about three seconds Hennessey hesitated, admiring the view. She might be a pain in the ass, but he could look at hers all day. Nice. All those hours on the stair-stepper clearly made a difference.
He closed the door, allowing it to slam just enough to get her attention. Startled, she whirled to face him.
The frown of utter confusion telegraphed her first thought loud and clear: What the hell do you want? She had no doubt expected the directors to return with their man in tow. The last person she’d expected to enter the room was him.
“Dr. Cameron, I’m Special Agent Joe Hennessey.” As he moved toward her he reached upward and removed his concealing eyewear. “If you’ll recall we met once before.”
Her eyes rounded and that cute little mouth dropped open. “You!” The single word was cast like an accusing stone.
He tossed the glasses onto the conference table and propped a hip there. “You remember me,” he offered, his smile infused with all the charm in his vast ladies’ man repertoire.
She pointed to the door then to him, her confusion morphing into disbelief. “It’s you he wants me to prepare for this mission?”
Hennessey flared his hands. “That’s right. Is there a problem?”
Her head moved from side to side as all that confusion and disbelief coalesced into outrage. “You’re nothing like David,” she accused.
Well, she had that right but he saw no point in bursting her bubble where her former lover was concerned. “I’m the same height and build. The hair color is close enough, the eyes will be an easy fix with colored contacts.” He shrugged, the control necessary to hold back his own patience slipping just a little. “I don’t see the problem.”
She blinked rapidly, her head doing that side-to-side thing again as if the very idea was blasphemy. “You’re not like David,” she argued.
He pushed off the table and moved toward her, lowering his voice an octave, slowing the cadence of his words as he recalled the numerous taped conversations he’d listened to. “I can do anything it takes to get the job done, Elizabeth.” Her head snapped up at his use of her first name. He said it with emphasis, the same way Maddox used to. “You’d be surprised at just how versatile I am.”
Her pupils flared. She shivered. But it was the little hitch in her breathing that actually got to him, made his pulse skitter and chinked the armor he wore to protect his emotions. He shook his head and looked away. How the hell had he let that happen?
“You expect me to trust anything you say?”
Well, she had him pegged, didn’t she? Apparently she’d accepted every rumor she’d heard as fact. “Bottom line, Doc, I can’t do this without you.” His gaze moved back to hers and he saw the concern and the hurt there. Dammit, he did not want to hurt her. Maddox had done that well enough himself, but she would never know it. “Will you help me or not?”
She tilted up that determined little chin and glared at him, a new flash of anger chasing away the doubt. “And if I refuse, what then?”
“People will die.”
She blinked, but to her credit she didn’t back off. “So I’ve heard. Can you be more specific? I need to know what I’m getting into here.” Her compact little body literally strummed with her building tension.
The question kind of pissed him off. Or maybe it was the glaring fact that he couldn’t keep his mind off her every reaction, couldn’t stay focused. “You know, Doc, according to Director Calder, you generally don’t question his requests. I understand this is personal,” he growled, “but do you really think Maddox would have a problem with me borrowing his face for a little while?”
Her fists clenched and Hennessey had the distinct feeling that it was all she could do not to slap him. Good. He wanted her responses to be real, wanted to clear the air here and now. He didn’t need her hesitation coming back to bite him in the ass down the line.
“David would probably say it’s the right thing to do,” she said tightly. “It’s me who has the problem.”
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her misplaced loyalty. He couldn’t help wondering if, when he died, anyone would think so highly of him. Not very damned likely. He was far too open to lead anyone that far off track. Well, except for his targets and that was his job.
In his personal life he kept things on the up-and-up. He never lied to anyone, most especially a woman.
He liked women. Before he could put the brakes on the urge, his gaze roamed down the length of her toned body, admiring those feminine curves, before sliding back up to that madder-than-hell expression on her pretty face.
He liked women a lot. They knew what they were getting with him. If he and the doc did the deed there would be no questions or doubts between them.
But that wasn’t going to happen.
Mainly because it would be stupid.
Not to mention the fact that she looked ready to take off his head and spit down his throat.
Fine. If she wanted to play hardball, he was game. “You want to know specifics?” He leaned closer, so close he could see the tiny flecks of gold in those glittering green eyes. “You’ve completed makeovers on fourteen operatives in the past thirty months. Two of those operatives are dead.” One being the man who taught him everything he knew, but he didn’t mention that. He had no intention of giving her any personal ammunition. In addition, holding on to control was far too important for him to let his personal issues with this mission get a grip right now. He kept those feelings tightly compartmentalized for a later time. “If I don’t stop these guys the rest of those operatives will end up dead as well.”
“That’s…that’s impossible,” she stammered, some of the fight going out of her. “How could they know who and where these people are? Who has access to that information?” Her gaze dropped to his lips but quickly jerked back up to his eyes. She looked startled that she had allowed the weakness.
Hennessey laughed softly, allowing his warm breath to feather across those luscious lips. Damn, he was enjoying this far too much. Maybe he should just cut loose and say what was on his mind. That he would do this with or without her help, but that if she had a couple of hours he would show her what she was missing if she really wanted to know how well he lived up to his infamous reputation.
Dumb, Hennessey. Focus. Apparently she was experiencing almost as much trouble as he was.
In answer to her question, he tossed her a response she was not going to like. “You want to know who has access to those names and faces? Directors Calder and Allen, of course, the president, your former boyfriend, me and you.” He said the last with just as much accusation as she’d thrown at him earlier.
She shuddered visibly, inhaled sharply, the sound doing strange things to his gut, making him even angrier or something along those lines. “Could someone else have gained access to the files?” she demanded, hysteria climbing in her voice.
He shook his head slowly and prepared to deliver the final blow. “Not a chance. Since Maddox is dead and, well, the president is the president, I’d say that narrows down the suspect list to the two directors outside that door.” He hitched his thumb in that direction. “And you and me.”
Fury whipped across her face, turning those green eyes to the color of smoldering jade. “If you think this tactic is going to pressure me into a yes, you’re sadly mistaken, Agent Hennessey.”
“Suit yourself.” He straightened, a muscle in his cheek jerking as he clenched his jaw so hard his teeth should have cracked. It took a full minute for him to grab back some semblance of control. “Then consider this, Dr. Cameron.” He glared down at her, his own fury way beyond reining in now. “If you don’t do this most likely my mission will fail, then those operatives will eventually be found and murdered, one by one.”
She held her ground, refused to look away though he knew just how lethal his glare could be. “You said two are already dead?” she asked. Her voice quavered just a little.
“That’s right,” he ground out, ignoring the twinge of regret that pricked him for pushing the jerk routine this far. “And so are their families.” He fought the emotion that tightened his throat. He would not let her see the weakness. “You see, Doc, these people aren’t happy with just wiping out the list of agents who’ve gone against what they believe in, they play extra dirty. They kill the family first, making the agent watch, and then they kill the agent, slowly, painfully.”
Her eyes grew wider with each word. The pulse fluttered wildly at the base of her throat. She didn’t want to hear this, didn’t want to know. Too bad. It was the only way.
“So, it’s your choice,” he went on grimly. “You can either help me stop them or you can try to sleep at night while wondering when the next agent will be located and murdered.”
She did turn away this time. Hennessey took a deep breath and cursed himself for being such an idiot. Saying all that hadn’t been necessary. But, on some level, he’d wanted to rattle her—to hurt her. He wanted to get to her when the truth was she’d already gotten to him. He’d lost control by steady increments from the moment the director ordered him to start watching her weeks ago.
He had to get back on track here, had to keep those damned personal issues out of this. If the director got even a whiff of how he really felt, he would be replaced. Hennessey couldn’t let that happen. He had to do this for a couple of reasons. “I shouldn’t have told you,” he said, regret slipping into his voice. As much as he’d needed her cooperation, he’d gone too far.
When she turned back to him once more, her face had been wiped clean of emotion, and her analytical side was back. The doctor persona was in place. The woman who could go into an operating room and reconstruct a face damaged so badly that the patient’s own family couldn’t identify her. No wonder she walked around as cold as ice most of the time. It took nerves of steel and the ability to set her emotions aside to do what she did.
He should respect that.
He did.
It was his other reactions that disturbed him.
“What do you want from me?”
The request unnerved him at a level that startled him all over again.
He focused on the question, denying the uncharacteristic emotions twisting inside him. “I need you to do your magic, Doc.” His gaze settled heavily onto hers. “And I need you to work with me. You knew Maddox intimately. Help me become him… just for a little while. Long enough to survive this mission. Long enough to do what has to be done.”
For three long beats she said nothing at all. Just when he was certain she would simply walk away, she spoke. “All right.” She rubbed at her forehead as if an ache had begun there, then sighed. “On one condition.” She looked straight at him.
The intensity…the electricity crackled between them like embers in a building fire. She had to feel it. The lure was very nearly irresistible.
“Name it,” he shot back.
“When this is over, I give you back your face. I don’t want you being you with David’s face.”
He wanted to pretend the words didn’t affect him…but they did. He’d be damned if he’d let her see just how much impact her opinion carried. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he insisted.
“Then we have a deal, Agent Hennessey. When do we start?”
Chapter Four
Elizabeth sat in her car as the purple and gray hues of dawn stole across the sky, chasing away the darkness, ushering forth the new day.
She’d managed a few hours sleep last night but just barely. Her mind kept playing moments spent with David, fleeting images of a past that had, at the time, felt like the beginning of the rest of her life.
How could she have been so foolish as to take that risk? She had known that a relationship with a man like David was an emotional gamble, but she’d dived in headfirst. The move had been so unlike her. She’d spent her entire life carefully calculating her every step.
She’d known by age twelve that she wanted to be a doctor, she just hadn’t known what field. As a teenager, pediatrics had appealed to her, in particular helping children with the kind of diseases that robbed them of their youth and dreams. But at nineteen her college roommate had been in a horrifying automobile accident and the weeks and months that followed had brought Elizabeth’s future into keen focus as nothing else could have.
Watching her friend go from a vibrant, happy young woman with a brilliant future ahead of her to a shell of a human being with a face that would never be her own had made Elizabeth yearn to prevent that from ever happening again…to anyone.
She’d worked harder than ever, had thrown herself into her education and eventually into her work. That burning desire to do the impossible, to rebuild the single most individual part of the human body, had driven her like a woman obsessed.
Elizabeth sighed. And maybe she was obsessed. If so, she had no hope of making it right because this was who she was, what she did. She made no excuses.
