“I have everything with me,” she said, smiling back at him gently as he turned to face her. “Do you have any idea how much you remind me of your father when you stare off like that?” she asked him fondly. “He solved his most difficult problems here on this porch.”

Her voice echoed with the memories.

“He solved most of mine out here, too,” he sighed. Damn, he could have used his father’s advice now.

Jared rubbed his neck tiredly. He had returned from Texas that morning to find his mother awaiting him with the news that Kimberly’s safety could possibly be in danger and the plan she had set in motion to protect her.

“Does Madison know you’re behind William’s brilliant plan?” he asked her suspiciously. He had a feeling the Senator only knew what Carolyn wanted him to know.

She smiled serenely. “Daniel might not approve of you marrying his daughter, but he’s very well informed of your qualifications to protect her.” Not exactly an answer, but he knew that tone of voice well. He wasn’t going to get any more out of her.

“And how much does Kimberly know?” he asked her.

“That she’s to protect you, the team is to protect both of you. It’s simply a matter of protecting two birds with one shield so to speak. You are aware of the budget crunch the government is in the middle of, dear. Cost effectiveness is a major consideration.”

He snorted at that one.

“When does she arrive?” He needed time to go over the information his mother had brought with her and get his own plans in place.

“She’s leaving D.C. this evening. They should arrive here at the farm by morning. Kimberly is less than pleased with the assignment as I understand it, but I’m certain she’ll settle in nicely.”

Jared cast her suspicious look. “Are you sure there’s nothing you’re leaving out here, Mother?” Carolyn Raddington was as sharp as a dagger when the need presented itself, and he could clearly glimpse the sharp edges in the cultured, cool tones of her voice.

She watched him with a gleam of laughter in her eyes as her lips curved at the corners in a sedate smile. “I’ve told you everything I know, Jared,” she said soothingly, causing him to wince. Damn, he knew there was something she was holding back now. The only thing he was confident of was that it would be personal information, rather than anything he needed to keep Kimberly safe.

He faced her, resignation filling him now. He had stayed away from Kimberly, just as he had known he should, and now, for some reason, they were being thrown together in such a way that keeping his distance would be impossible.

The need for her was eating him alive. He tasted her kiss on his lips, could smell the sweet scent of her on the air around him. And at night, when he should be sleeping, he was stroking the tormented length of his cock instead, fighting to ease the hunger racking him. He hadn’t been back to The Club, even though he had a job to do there. He didn’t think he had enough control to restrain himself if he found Kimberly there again.

“Are you staying all night?” he asked her as he opened the kitchen door for her and stood aside.

“Not this time,” she said, her voice soothing, compassionate. “I need to get back to D.C. by morning. I have a luncheon I can’t miss.”

He shook his head. His mother had her fingers in too many organizations and charities for him to keep track of. She was a political dynamo, and he hoped Madison realized the gem he had in her. If Carolyn had her way, she would see the Senator standing in the Presidential wings. He just hoped she knew what the hell she was doing.

He escorted her to the front of the house and out to the limo awaiting her. Kissing her cheek, he saw her into the back of the car and watched as she rode away. She had brought the seeds of his destruction with the information on Kimberly and the threat endangering her. God help them both, he didn’t know how the hell he was going to keep his hands off her.

Chapter Five

“Matthews, you and Adams have days, Lowell and Danford can take nights,” Kimberly informed the four men as they were escorted by Jared’s housekeeper to their individual rooms. The men were downstairs, Kimberly was upstairs. Right next door to Jared.

“Will do, Kimberly.” David Matthews nodded his dark head solemnly, his puppy dog eyes smiling back at her. “Lighten up, we shouldn’t be here long. Raddington doesn’t seem the type to really like company.”

Kimberly snorted. Jared had stopped just shy of rude when they drove in that morning.

“What the hell an ex-Special Forces soldier needs us for, I have no idea. He didn’t look like he had grown lazy,” Tim Adams grumped as he tossed his suitcase on one of the two double beds that filled the large bedroom.

The agents’ rooms were connected, two to a room, at the back of the house. The rooms were airy and comfortable, but not exactly homely. Jared evidently wasn’t one to encourage overnight guests.

“He’ll get used to it.” She shrugged as though unconcerned, but it bothered her as well.

Jared was considered one of the best soldiers in the Special Forces when he retired after his father’s death. His record was impeccable, his mission successes rated at ninety-nine percent. He could take out all five of the bodyguards sent to protect him, and likely take on a full assassination team with the advanced notice he had been given.

She focused instead on the four men she had been assigned. She was aware that Jared had approached her father in regards to what he considered suitable for a husband for Kimberly. Senator Madison had been extremely derogatory when he relayed that information to her.

As though I would consider him,he had told her, derision thickening his voice. You need restraint, Kimberly, not a man as deviant as you more than likely are yourself.

Deviant. He had no idea, she thought in smug satisfaction as she wondered if he had any idea how effectively she had sidestepped the Trust’s conditions. Anal sex might not be the most satisfying act, but it eased the fury and the tension that drove her.

But he knew Jared’s interest in her now, and she knew how the Senator worked. One of the men with her was sent, not to guard anything, but to report back to the Senator instead.

“Keep your eyes open and keep me updated,” she told the four as they watched her now. “I’ll get unpacked and meet you back down here for dinner. The housekeeper said it’s five sharp, no later. Let’s try not to disturb his routine too severely.”

She actually preferred to make certain they didn’t disturb Jared at all; he hadn’t looked pleased with their presence.

Taking a deep breath, she moved down the hall to the back stairs and climbed them quickly to return to her own room. It was on the far side, a small suite with a large queen bed that looked so damned inviting she wanted nothing more than to sink into it. She had spent nearly a week with little sleep and it was making her sluggish. She couldn’t afford not to have her wits about her on this job.

She closed the door behind her, locking it automatically as she moved through the small sitting room and into the much larger bedroom. The deep forest green carpet cushioned her feet as she kicked her sneakers off her feet and moved them to the side of the door.

Her suitcase sat on the large rosewood trunk at the bottom of the bed, opened invitingly, her gown lying on the top of her serviceable clothing. Closing the lid to the case, she stared around the room silently. The dark cherry wood furniture made the room seem warmer, comforting. This room was meant to pleasure, to soothe, and it did that far too well.

“Do you like the room?”

Kimberly jumped in surprise as she turned, facing the door on the opposite side of the room that Jared had managed to open without a sound.

Her breath caught at the swift punch of desire that contracted her womb and sent heat spreading through the vulnerable flesh between her thighs. She could feel the thick, warm juice spilling along the folds there, preparing her for him, making her ache all the more.

He looked good enough to eat. Leaning against the doorframe, his muscular arms crossed over his chest, his gaze somber as he watched her. His gray eyes were stormy, the color flowing and ever-changing as tension thickened the air around them.

“It’s beautiful.” She cleared her throat, hiding her grimace at the thick huskiness of her voice.

She was so weak. She pushed her hands into the pockets of her jeans as she fought the need to touch him, to taste his kiss again. Her heart was racing out of control, the blood pumping furiously through her veins and echoing in the swollen bud of her clit.

Drawing in a deep breath, she swallowed tightly as she watched his eyelids lower sensually. She could see the sexual tension moving through his body. Darkening his eyes, swelling the front of his jeans.

“You know this won’t work,” he growled the words at her. “You, here, in this house. I couldn’t even keep from putting you in the room beside mine, how much longer do you think it will be before I have you in my bed, Kimber?”

Images too hot to escape flashed through her mind. His hard body bare, perfect, muscles gleaming with sweat as he came over her, his powerful thighs moving between hers…

“I didn’t want this. Not for you, nor me.” She shook her head fiercely, fighting the temptation. And it was a temptation. The need to go to him, to accept him and to forget the vow she had made so long ago.

She remembered his kiss, dark and intoxicating, the sensations whipping through her system as his lips dominated hers, his tongue forging past hers to take possession of her mouth.

“I know you didn’t. And I know what we’re both risking.” He straightened from the doorframe. “It’s why I’ve stayed away from you. It’s why I jack off at night instead of kidnapping you and tying you to my bed where I can fuck you at will. It’s why I think this is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done in my entire life.”

He gripped her shoulders, ignoring her gasp as he pulled her against him, his head lowering.

She was caught. Helpless. God, he tasted too good. Too hot and seductive. Her hands gripped his hard waist, her lips opening for him as his tongue pressed past them, a groan vibrating from his chest as she met it with her own.

This wasn’t a kiss. It was a possession. It was a hunger, a temptation and an addiction. And she couldn’t get enough. She wanted to wrap around him, to lose herself in the pleasure and the heat that was Jared.

“God help us both,” he growled as his lips tore free of hers, only to string nipping little kisses across her jaw, along the line of her throat.

His arms were wrapped around her, holding her still as he bent to her, his lips burrowing beneath the opened neckline of her blouse to run his tongue over the smooth, swollen curves of her upper breasts.

Her head fell back, helpless against the pleasure, her muscles unable to hold her neck upright now as streaking delight seared through her.

“Jared.” She arched to him, to his touch.

Her nipples ached, throbbed for the touch of his mouth. This was insanity. It was too much temptation, but it was unlike anything else she had known. This wasn’t an urge, nor was it an exercise in controlling the fury that sometimes built within her. This was a firestorm taking over her body and her mind. Heat and lightning and a demand that he only fed as his tongue licked over the lace edge of her bra.

“You taste as good as I knew you would,” he groaned roughly. “Like sweet honeysuckle and summer heat. God help us both, Kimber, I don’t think I can control the need to touch you, to taste you.”

She had a week to remember this. A week to regret, to need, to ache for even the simplest, smallest touch.

“Jared.” She fought to find her breath, to speak past the clawing, brutal arousal rising in her body.

She couldn’t speak further, couldn’t make anything more intelligent than a long, drawn out cry of blistering hunger escape her throat as his lips managed to push the cup of her bra aside enough to allow his tongue to rake the hardened point of her breast.