Dare Me, page 23
"I'm willing to sacrifice what I have to, Sean. I want Macy back." With a smile, his friend finished off the last of the ravioli, wiped his hands on his jeans and then clapped him on the shoulder. "I thought you might be thinking along those lines." He dug into his back pocket and pulled out a tiny purple velvet bag, one Dante instantly recognized.
"Where did you get that?" he said, swiping the small sack out of his hand.
"From your place. The minute I saw Macy on that monitor, I figured you'd need it." Sean grabbed a bottled water from the refrigerator, gave his friend a salute and then let himself out the back door. "Call me when you set the date, okay?"
Once he was alone, Dante untied the gold string and turned the contents of the sack into his palm. Part of him couldn't believe that he'd kept the ring, after all these years. Part of him was terrified Macy would say no. But for the first time in his life, he knew one thing throughout his entire body and soul—he wanted Macy as his wife, even if he'd have to save the world to accomplish his task.
When he heard footsteps down the hall, he pocketed the ring.
"I have the countercode," Macy announced, her face flushed with excitement. "I just transmitted the series to the T-45 operatives at the Russian Central Command. The system will be down in minutes, and from their remote location, there is no way the terrorists can launch the missile. We've won!"
He inhaled deeply and pasted on his dourest face. "That, my dear Macy, remains to be seen."
Macy paced her room, which didn't do much to curb her anxiety since she only needed about three steps in either direction to go from wall to wall. Nearly a half an hour had passed with no official word from Abe or the coterie of agents sent into Russia. Could the computer program have failed to reconstruct the code correctly? Had they missed a mirror somewhere in the house that contained a crucial combination? Fear and doubts swam in her brain, propelled by the most puzzling turn of the day.
Dante's sudden coolness.
She slammed onto the bed, her hands shaking. She'd given him what he wanted by making love with him in the early morning hours. Now that he'd tasted her again, was his appetite satisfied? Could she have been so gullible with her emotions? Now that she knew the truth, she accepted her own culpability in the destruction of their relationship nine years ago. She hadn't trusted that he'd take care of her. She'd abandoned him. She hadn't believed in their love.
Now she did. And she wasn't about to allow misconceptions to ruin her chance at love again. When he finally appeared in the doorway, dressed in casual slacks and a polo shirt, his face clean-shaven and his signature scent teasing her from a distance, she stood, ready to fight for what she wanted. Dante.
"What's the news?" she asked, her gaze darting to the paper he held loosely in his hand.
"The code worked," he answered simply, his smile so small, an icy stream of dread coiled through her veins. "The system is disabled and the terrorists can't launch the missile. They're attempting to escape. The Russian army has three in custody, picked up just on the other side of the fortified pass."
Strangely, he didn't hand her whatever missive he was holding. A communique from Abe? Her orders? A commendation from the president? Or maybe the note had nothing whatsoever to do with her.
From the intense look in his eyes, she doubted that scenario.
"What's wrong?"
Dante shrugged. "It's over. You can go back to France and never see me again."
She stepped back, remembering only after she stumbled that the bed was right behind her. "No, Dante, I can't." With a deep breath, she strode forward, searching his eyes for some clue that would tell her what his assumption was really all about. "You don't really think I can do that, do you? Leave, after what happened between us?"
He folded his arms over his chest. "Three days ago, you said you could sleep with me and leave without giving me a second thought."
"Three days ago, I didn't know how much you'd changed or how wrong I was about what happened in the past."
His eyes widened, the gray finally lighting with a glimmer of something she'd best describe as hope. "You truly have forgiven me?"
She pressed her lips together. "I was as much to blame as you, for not trusting you. For putting my own career aspirations ahead of our love. The truth was, Dante, I wanted to join T-45 long before Russell screwed me over. When I thought you'd betrayed me, I jumped at the chance to leave. Maybe because staying would have meant I'd have to choose between you and advancing my career."
Which, she realized, she'd have to do right now. As a T-45 agent, there was no way she could continue an intimate relationship with the head of a rival organization.
She looked up at Dante. Obviously, he'd read the writing on the wall, too.
Damn.
Macy slipped back to the bed, sighing as a sudden wash of emotions threatened to swamp her. She wanted Dante, but she wanted her job, too—and she couldn't have both. She'd just begun to shake her head in disbelief at the cruelty of love and fate
when he finally handed her the paper he'd been holding.
She scanned the page, then sought his gaze to make sure she could believe what she read. "This is your resignation from the Arm."
He closed the door behind him, then dropped to one knee in front of her. "Yes, it is."
She couldn't catch her breath. Her vision shook, along with her hands. "I don't understand. You're the head of the agency, Dante."
His grin was crooked and brimmed with a singularly suave charm that would make her insides flutter until the day she died.
"And I've had a good, long run," he said. "Nine years on top should be enough for any man, don't you think?"
She crunched the letter as she threw the paper on the bed and then grabbed Dante's hands. "No! You can't give up what you've worked so hard for."
Warmth from his silver eyes nearly melted her into a puddle on the bedspread. "I'm not giving up what I've worked for, Macy. I'm finally taking it. I love you, Macy. I was too stupid to fight for you nine years ago, but now I've learned my lesson. I've had my glory days. The spy business hasn't held any appeal for me for a long time now."
In as few words as he could, Dante told Macy about how he'd nearly died during a covert operation. She nearly held her breath while he opened his heart and, in a rush of honesty, confessed how the one thought that had kept him alive on the operating table and had bolstered his determination during his recovery was the possibility of having her in his life again. "Took a world crisis to give me the opportunity, but I don't care," he concluded. "Please, Macy, give me another chance."
Thankfully, she resisted the nearly insurmountable urge to pace and instead stayed seated when Dante whipped a gorgeous diamond ring from his pocket.
"I really wanted to hide this and then see if you could find it, but I guess you've had your fill of lost items for a while."
He gently took her left hand and slid the impressive gem onto her ring finger. The gold band encircled her perfectly and the weight of the stone seemed to find immediate balance on her hand. "Dante, I—"
"This is the ring I bought you nine years ago, Macy, but I'm grateful that I never had the chance to ask you to marry me then. Neither one of us was ready. Now we know how much we mean to each other, how much we can accomplish together. Please, Macy Rush, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
Before she could reply, an Arm operative knocked on the door and announced a top-secret communique from headquarters. Dante told the poor sap to shove it under the door, which he did. With an apologetic shrug, he retrieved the letter, scanned it, and then laughed heartily.
"What is it?" she asked, joining him. "It's from your boss, or I should say, your former boss."
Macy grabbed the paper and read. Her jaw dropped. When her gaze met with Dante's, the twinkle in his eye made her suspect he'd had something to do with this turn of events. "Did you do this?"
"What? Make Abercrombie Marshall retire and tap you as his successor? No, my dear, even I'm not that powerful. Besides, he's not really retiring. Read the note on the bottom."
In his woefully bad handwriting, Abe had jotted a personal note to Macy, informing her that he'd just been appointed as the new head of the Arm. He was finally returning to the outfit that had drummed him out on account of his skin color thirty years ago— and now he was in charge.
"Bully for him," Macy said. "He'll do wonderful things with your legacy, Dante."
Dante shook his head and shrugged, as if he was pleased but truly didn't give a damn. "Now, back to the proposal on the table."
Macy allowed the paper to drift to the floor and slid her arms around Dante's neck. She saw no reason to beat around the bush. "Yes."
Dante's eyes widened. "That's it? Yes? What's the catch?"
She grinned, remembering how she'd questioned
him similarly just a few days ago. "Catch? Well, there is the fact that I love you, too. And I'm not a patient woman, with time for long engagements. But if you want something more . . ."
He snaked his hands around her waist and tugged her close so that their bodies aligned perfectly. "May I make a suggestion?"
She nuzzled his neck with her nose, inhaling that spicy tobacco scent she'd crave forever, even if he was with her every single day. "Feel free."
"I was thinking that your flat in Paris is much too small for two people."
The warmth of his skin acted like a magnet to her lips. She managed to hum her understanding and agreement as she bathed his neck in slow, erotic kisses.
"So I figured I could fill my spare time looking for an old house to renovate. You know how I love old houses," he said.
She pulled back and eyed him with naughty suspicion. "I don't suppose you'll want a similar deal to the one we had here, do you? Something like, T can't spend time in a room until we've made love there'?"
With a chuckle, he buried his nose in her hair and dropped gentle kisses on her face. "Works for me. We could try out multiple rooms in multiple houses, until we find just the right spot. You game?"
Macy laughed, secure in Dante's embrace and certain
for the first time that they had a real shot at a future together. "With you, Dante, I'm game for anything."
USA Today bestselling author Julie Elizabeth Leto has built a reputation for writing ultrasexy, edgy stories that push the envelope of traditional romance. And yet she's a die-hard romantic who firmly believes in creating stories about strong, powerful, charming heroes and about heroines who can take care of themselves and embrace their sexuality, even while they are searching for the right guy to share their heart with. A Florida native, Julie lives in her hometown with her husband, her daughter, a very spoiled dachshund named Lady, and a large and beloved extended family. She's written more than twenty romances for various publishers and has her first female action-adventure novel coming out in summer 2005. For more information about Julie's upcoming releases, visit her Web site at www.julieleto.com
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Table of Contents
Playing for Keeps
Nothing to Lose
Dare to Desire
www.jillshalvis.com
Cherry Adair, Jill Shalvis, Julie Elizabeth Leto, Dare Me
