Tanner stood waiting with Cam next to the vehicle. As Blair and Diane slid out, she wrapped her arms around both of them. “Hey, you two okay?”

“Just shaky,” Diane said.

“We’ve got a fire going and a nice bottle of wine waiting for you,” Tanner said.

“I don’t even want to think about why you need your security people,” Blair whispered against Tanner’s ear, “but I owe you for the rest of my life for them.” She closed her eyes, trying to banish the sight of Cam lying on the floor. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t even go there,” Tanner said grimly. “I’m just sorry I wasn’t there myself.”

“You did exactly what we needed.” Blair eased away from Tanner. “Is Emory inside already?”

“Yes, she volunteered to check out Stark and Tanner’s security guard.” Cam wrapped her arm around Blair’s waist as they walked to the house. “Stark took a hard hit and I ordered her to stand down. I’m sorry, but I need to contact Wozinski to find out what’s going on back there.”

“I understand. Just promise me you’ll try to get some sleep tonight, too.” Blair held the door open and waited until everyone else disappeared inside before asking, “Do you need something for your ribs?”

“No, it’s tolerable. I’ll wrap this up just as soon as I can.” Cam cupped the back of Blair’s neck and kissed her gently. “I love you.”

Blair kissed her back, far less gently. “I love you too.”

“If that’s a come on, I might be too tired to deliver tonight,” Cam said.

“It is, but I think I’m too tired to accept delivery.” Blair gave her a gentle push. “Go do what you have to do. There’s always a shower to look forward to in a few hours.”

“Where’s Diane?” Blair asked when she looked in on Adrienne and Felicia in the living room.

“She wanted to be alone,” Adrienne said. “Do you think she’s all right?”

“She will be,” Blair said. “It’s the first time she’s ever been shot at.”

“If she needs a little escape from all of this, she can stay with Tanner and me,” Adrienne said. “The atmosphere around here might be a little intense for her the next few days.”

“Tanner never mentioned you had such a knack for understatement.”

“Speaking of my spouse,” Adrienne said, rising, “I should find her and get her home before she decides to stand guard herself.” She glanced at Blair. “She’s more than willing, if you need her—”

Blair shook her head. “No. And you’ve both done enough. We’re fine.”

“We’ve got plenty of people to secure this location,” Felicia added, setting her coffee aside and standing as well. “I’m going to check in with the commander.”

“And I want to see Emory,” Blair said.

She bade the others goodnight and walked down the hall to the bedroom the agents used when they were off-shift. As she knocked on the partially open door, it swung open before she could catch it, affording her a glimpse of Emory Constantine leaning over a semi-nude young woman stretched out on the bed. Steph Fletcher, one of Tanner’s security guards.

“Sorry.” Blair started to close the door.

“That’s all right,” Emory called. “We’re done.”

Blair stepped inside as Emory drew a sheet up to the shoulders of the wiry, short haired redhead. “I’m going to leave my cell number right here on the bedside table.” Emory crossed to a small desk and scribbled something on a piece of paper that she then placed next to the redhead’s holstered weapon. “Six hours of bed rest, minimum. If your chest pain gets worse, you develop a cough, or you feel lightheaded, call me immediately. Otherwise, I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”

“Look, thanks.” Steph was already pushing herself up, clearly intent on returning to duty. “I really appreciate everything, but—”

“You know, Steph,” Blair said conversationally. “I bet Tanner would put you right on the inactive list if she thought you weren’t a hundred percent. Not that anyone would tell her…”

Steph groaned and flopped back down. “Okay. Okay, I got it. Roger on the six hours bed rest.”

“Thank you.” Emory followed Blair into the hall. “Is there someone who can give me a ride to a hotel?”

“We have plenty of room right here,” Blair said as they returned to the living room. “You can stay here until Cam is sure that it’s safe for you to go home.”

“I don’t know precisely what went on in that hallway, but I heard some of the conversation among the agents on the way here. That man…that man might have been trying to kill me. I certainly can’t endanger you or—”

“No one is going to let you leave, Emory, and no one wants you to.” Blair found a half-empty bottle of wine, refilled her glass, and poured another for Emory. “I’d be very grateful if you’d look at Cam later. She’s been through a lot this past week and…” She realized her hand was trembling and put the glass down abruptly.

“Of course I’ll look at her,” Emory said.

“Thank you. Is there anyone you need to call? The White House will take care of devising some story for the press, but if there’s someone who’s going to be worried about where you are tonight—”

“No, there isn’t.” Emory reached for her wine. “Since my divorce last year, I’ve been living in the family home with my mother. She travels a lot, as do I, so it works out very well for both of us. Right now she’s in Milan.”

Blair curled up on the sofa and regarded Emory thoughtfully. “Well then, consider yourself our guest.”

“All right. Of course.” Emory gestured to her evening dress. “Do you have clothes I can borrow? One of the security guards gave me his jacket in the car, but I gave that back to him when we got here.”

“Between Diane and me, I’m sure we can outfit you.”

“In that case, I gratefully accept. I can e-mail my chief technician with instructions for the lab in the morning. This will give me a chance to check on Steph again, too.”

“Is she badly hurt?”

Emory shook her head. “I don’t think so, but blunt trauma to the chest can be tricky. I’d feel better if I could x-ray her and get a cardiogram, but that’s out of the question.”

“If you think it’s necessary, Tanner is very good at making arrangements for that sort of thing without a lot of fuss.”

“You mean no records?”

“Pretty much.”

“Somehow I get the feeling none of this is new to you.”

Blair sighed, kicked off her shoes, and propped her feet on a leather hassock. Sometime in the last year she’d gotten used to living with danger. Not just the vague and barely countenanced possibility of harassment or kidnapping that she’d grown up with, but the life and death reality of bombs and bullets. Her lover had almost died, her friends had been shot, and she had been exposed to a potentially lethal bioweapon. “No, it’s not new.” She smiled wearily at Emory. “And I don’t think it’s going to go away—ever.”

“What the hell went wrong?” Matheson barked into the cell phone as he paced in his motel room. The need to change locations frequently and the inability to easily access his funds were wearing on him.

“He wasn’t a professional, sir, and the targets were very well covered,” the colonel said. “We knew using a civilian might be a problem.”

Matheson sighed. “It was still a good plan to use someone who would be seen as targeting Constantine, but relying on amateurs is too risky. We’re going to have to handle this ourselves.”

“It won’t be easy without inside help, sir.”

“According to my friend in the Company, they’re most likely back on the island, and it’s not impregnable. If Lawrence doesn’t surface soon, we’ll have to force her out.”

“Sir?”

“We’ll start eliminating her contacts.” Matheson relaxed his grip on the phone. “One by one.”

Chapter Nineteen

“If we’re going to shower together,” Blair whispered in Cam’s ear, “we have to get up now.”

“Did you wake up with an urge?” Cam murmured.

“Mmm. A big one.” Blair teased the rim of Cam’s ear with the tip of her tongue and pressed her pelvis against the crest of Cam’s hip. “I went to bed with one, and it just kept growing.” She reached around Cam’s body and caressed her breasts and abdomen. “Of course, if you’re really tired, I could probably manage on my own for a while.”

Cam rolled over onto her back and pulled Blair on top of her. “Who needs a shower.”

Grinning, Blair sat up and straddled Cam’s waist. Keeping her weight off Cam’s bruised hip, she grasped the hem of her T-shirt and stripped it off over her head. She let it fall onto the floor beside the bed and skimmed her hands slowly over her chest and down her abdomen, watching Cam follow the movement of her hands on her own body. “How do you feel this morning?”

“Surprisingly okay.”

Blair trailed her fingers along the inside of her thighs, her fingertips brushing Cam’s abdomen as well as her own legs. When Cam’s muscles tightened, she felt an answering tension between her legs. “Shoulder stiff?”

Cam raised both arms and cupped Blair’s breasts. “Not at all.”

Blair closed her eyes as her nipples hardened and her breasts swelled against Cam’s palms. “Still, let’s be sure you don’t overdo it.” She rocked her pelvis in a slow steady glide on Cam’s stomach, pressing a little harder with each stroke as the delicious pressure built. She covered one of Cam’s hands on her breast with her own, and with her other opened herself so she could rub more of her rapidly swelling sex over Cam’s belly. Soon the steady pump and glide of her hips gave way to short, erratic thrusts and she moaned softly. “Oh God, you feel so good.”

“Blair,” Cam whispered. “Open your eyes, baby.”

Smiling crookedly, Blair blinked and struggled to focus. “Sorry. I’m so close, I almost…” She took a shuddering breath. “I need to back off a minute.”

When she started to lift herself away, Cam shook her head.

“No, don’t move.” Cam kept one hand closed around Blair’s breast, the nipple vised between two fingers, and slid the other between Blair’s legs, palm up. Her fingers slipped down the hot, wet valley until her fingertips dipped just inside. “Now make yourself come in my hand.”

Blair caught her lip between her teeth and bent forward to wrap both hands around Cam’s arm, just above her wrist. “Tell me…if I hurt you.”

“You won’t. I want to feel everything.” Cam started a steady tug and squeeze on Blair’s nipple. “Fill my hand. Come on, baby.”

With a groan, Blair pushed hard against Cam’s hand, circling herself over the smooth firm muscles at the base of the palm. Soon she was balanced on a razor’s edge. Panting, she frantically sought Cam’s gaze. “I’m going to come.”

“Don’t hold back,” Cam urged hoarsely. “I need all of you. Everything.”

“Push inside me,” Blair gasped, her back arching. She jerked Cam’s arm hard between her legs, trying to force Cam’s fingers into her.

Cam buried her hand, her palm riding hard over Blair’s clitoris again and again.

“Oh God, Cam,” Blair cried, “there. Oh right there.” The muscles in her stomach and thighs shook violently as she tightened inside, over and over. When she couldn’t hold herself upright any longer, she tried to brace herself on one arm, but managed only to collapse on her side next to Cam, Cam’s hand still inside her.

“All right, baby?” Cam kissed Blair’s closed eyelids, then her mouth. “Blair?”

“Mmm, oh God, wonderful.”

“Ready for that shower?”

Blair snuggled a little closer and smoothed her hand down Cam’s stomach, smiling against Cam’s throat as she felt her twitch at the touch. “In a minute,” she murmured, caressing lightly. “Or maybe two, if you can behave that long.”

“I’ll do my best,” Cam groaned.

“That should do nicely.”

Renée Savard stifled a groan and eased to the far side of the bed, trying desperately not to shake the mattress. Her knee was so stiff and swollen, she feared she might have to crawl to the other side of the room where she’d left her cane propped against a chair two days earlier. Only two days ago, when she’d actually been walking fairly comfortably unaided. Of course, that was before she’d thrown herself down on top of Diane Bleeker and then sprinted fifty feet down a hallway and hurled herself into the back seat of a limousine.

“Can you walk?” Paula whispered.

“I’m just taking it slow,” Renée replied. “Go back to sleep, sweetie.”

Paula pushed the covers aside and started to sit up. “I’ll get your cane.”

“Don’t, Paula,” Renée said more sharply than she had intended. Knowing she must sound angry, she turned onto her side and stroked her lover’s arm. “Hey, I’m sorry. But you should stay in bed for a little while longer.”

“Where are you going?” Paula caught Renée’s hand and intertwined their fingers.