LITMIR.BIZ

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nose. You broke my frigging nose!” The kid started throwing punches without looking.

      Jake sighed, wishing the kid would simply go down easy. He hated having to inflict more damage in order to subdue an obvious nonprofessional.

      “Hey, what’s going on out here?”

      A sudden bright light from the bar’s open back door, along with the sound of someone shouting, took Jake’s attention away from his assailant. For only an instant. But it was enough time for the kid to get in one last smash at Jake’s side and then break away. Jake stumbled to the left while the kid made a mad dash down the side of the building and out of sight.

      It took everything Jake had in him not to chase after his attacker. The mission always comes first.

      The bartender stepped beside Jake. “Are you okay? You want me to call the cops? “

      Jake straightened up as he shot the wrinkles out of his lightweight leather jacket. “No need to call anyone. It was a simple misunderstanding.”

      The last thing he needed was for the Bozeman cops to question him. If this attack had come twenty miles south in the little town of Honey Creek where Jake’s main assignment would be taking place, talking to the sheriff wouldn’t be a problem. The sheriff there knew the FBI would be in his town conducting an undercover operation. But here? Not worth all the effort.

      “Well, if you’re sure.” The bartender shrugged. “Oh, yeah. The reason I stepped out here is that woman you were asking about is in the bar. She came in with several friends, but they’re gone now. She’s sitting at a small table all alone. Is that what you wanted? “

      “Good work.” Jake shoved a few bills into the bartender’s hand. “Remember not to tell anyone I was asking. Right?”

      “Yes, sir.” The bartender grinned and put his fingertip to his lips.

      Annoyed that he hadn’t been able to question his attacker, Jake tried to tell himself that it must have been a simple robbery attempt. But his gut told him that wasn’t true. It would’ve been a huge coincidence, and Jake had never believed in coincidences.

      Foul-ups on this job had started from the get-go. The man he was supposed to meet in Honey Creek had turned up dead a few days ago—before he could tell Jake anything. That put a giant kink in the FBI’s information stream.

      Jake had frantically put together a fall-back plan with the help of Jim Willis, his partner back in Seattle. He’d spent most of the past twenty-four hours memorizing facts and backgrounds that Jim had supplied.

      Following the bartender inside, Jake rubbed at the knuckles on his right hand, absently opening and closing the fingers. He stopped to stand in the shadows behind the bar, taking time to study his new target and running over what he knew of her in his head.

      Late twenties with shoulder-length bright red hair, she was one of his original informant’s two daughters. The other daughter reportedly kept nearly constant company with a new boyfriend, whereas this one, a single, quiet librarian, seemed like a much easier mark. In addition, the other daughter also had more involvement in the secondary aspects of this case. For one thing, she’d had at least one good reason to want to see her father dead.

      When Jake finally spotted his target in a far corner, the sudden kick of attention from his libido surprised the hell out of him. Where had that come from? He hadn’t taken much interest in the opposite sex beyond a few brief liaisons in the past ten years. And it would not have been his choice to start noticing again in the middle of an undercover mission. The timing was inopportune at the very least.

      Then again… He reconsidered the idea as he continued studying the woman who was sipping wine and flirting casually with the bartender. Maybe his own…uh…interest would add a layer of reality to the mission. He and his partner Jim had devised a plan calling for Jake to pretend a romantic relationship with this target. The idea was to insinuate himself with her first. Then she would introduce him to the rest of her family and the others in Honey Creek while he took his time gathering information.

      Jake suddenly thought pretending a romantic relationship might not be such a hardship. The mission always comes first.

      Mary Walsh fidgeted in her seat and sneaked a glance around the bar. Maybe she was being foolish. Coming to a librarians’ conference and expecting to find a wonderful stranger who would introduce her to the joys of womanhood seemed a bit incongruent. Probably there wouldn’t be one real man in this whole hotel.

      But Mary was determined to find out in the little time she had left at the conference. Her life was already changing, enough, in fact, that she could scarcely keep up. For one thing, her father, the one who had supposedly died fifteen years ago, had suddenly turned up dead—again! She had barely managed to put all her baggage behind her and now she was facing memories of her childhood one more time. Damn him anyway.

      Mary took a sip of her wine and tried to calm down. Then, staring absently at the remaining rose-colored liquid, she winced. Her therapist would have his own breakdown if he knew she was using alcohol as a substitute for food. He expected her to go for a nice long run instead.

      But, well, screw him. He wasn’t the one who’d had to fight hard to change his whole life. And after coming this close to her ultimate goal, she was the one who’d been smacked in the face with the same old problems she’d thought were far behind her, not her therapist.

      After all, who else in the entire world but the Walsh family would have a father who’d died not once but twice, for pity’s sake?

      She raised her hand and signaled to the bartender for another wine. A new start. That was what she needed. She was all done preparing for life. This latest mess her father had brought down upon the family had clinched it for her.

      Mary was ready to start living.

      “Hey. This seat taken?” The deep male voice brought her head up and she stared into the most wonderful pair of ice-blue eyes.

      Wasn’t that what Nora Roberts, her favorite romance author, once wrote about heroes who had stark blue-colored eyes like this? As much as Mary had memorized nearly every word in her favorite novels, right this moment she could barely remember her own name for sure, let alone any particular quotations.

      “Um. Is that a pick-up line?” Now why was that the first thing out of her mouth? She would scare him away.

      “Maybe. But can I sit anyway?”

      Oh. This guy was cool. “Sure. I might not mind being picked up tonight.”

      He raised his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth curved in the most interesting version of a smile that Mary had ever seen. She noticed his rugged chin then, and the even craggier jawline. His eyes were cold, deep pools. Deep and full of secrets. Icy was certainly the right word for them.

      His black jeans and black leather jacket added to the picture of a hard man. And wasn’t that a scar running from his eye to his temple?

      She realized she might’ve been wrong. Nothing about him seemed heroic. Fascinating and handsome, maybe. But he was not a romance hero.

      He reminded her of the newest actor to play James Bond. Yes, definitely. This guy looked like a secret agent.

      “The name’s Jake,” he said as he turned to signal the waitress. “Jake Pierson.”

      He sat down and stuck out his hand. “And you are?”

      “Mary Walsh.” She took his hand and a shock wave ran up her arm.

      Pulling back, she tried to look calm and pleasant instead of making a wisecrack. Wow. They had electricity between them. Just like in one of her novels. This guy was going to be it. For sure. She promised not to mess things up for herself.

      The waitress brought Mary’s wine and asked Jake for his order.

      “Whatever you have on tap will be good.” He gestured to Mary’s wine. “And

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