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  The Double Recall 1

  The Forgetful Spy

  Life is a series of choices.

  Faltering Protocol agent, Rachel Miles, can’t afford to bungle another mission, but her growing desire for Colin may ruin her well-laid plans. Choosing between doing her job the way her boss wants it done or giving in to her overwhelming attraction for a man she barely knows, she selects Colin.

  Laurie’s Peterson’s life is comfortable, quiet and pleasantly boring until she meets an exciting, gorgeous stranger who won’t take no for an answer. Should she risk her comfortable life and risk hurting the aunt who gave up everything to take care of her for a man she’s just met?

  Undercover agent, Colin Riley, loves two very different women. Rachel, outrageous, sensual and mysterious, who saves him from a murderous Columbian drug lord. And Laurie, the sweet librarian whose gentle innocence makes him yearn for a life he can't have.

  How can he choose between them?

  Especially once he realizes they’re the same woman.

  Sensuality Rating: SCORCHING

  Genre: Romantic Suspense

  Length: Full Novel (75,000 words)

  THE FORGETFUL SPY

  The Double Recall 1

  Lara Santiago

  EROTIC ROMANCE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THIS E-BOOK: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to one LEGAL copy for your own personal use. It is ILLEGAL to send your copy to someone who did not pay for it. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book.

  THE FORGETFUL SPY

  Copyright © 2007 by Lara Santiago

  ISBN: 1-933563-21-4

  First E-book Publication: October 2007

  Cover design by Jinger Heaston

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2007 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Dedication

  I’d like to dedicate this story to my kids. They ‘did’ help with this book by acting out a couple of fight scenes for clarity.

  Thank you both for being so ecstatic about beating up on each other in the name of better writing.

  I love you both more than life itself, and with this dedication, I hope I’ve persuaded you to pick out a very nice nursing home for me someday.

  L.

  THE FORGETFUL SPY

  The Double Recall 1

  LARA SANTIAGO

  Copyright © 2007

  Chapter 1

  “I think I may have killed someone,” Laurie Peterson whispered. Saying the words out loud made her chest constrict.

  She took a deep breath to calm her rioting nerves and the acrid smell of burnt coffee assailed her nose. Squeezing the already damp cloth straps of her purse between her nervous fingers, she glanced at the stern-faced police detective seated behind his desk. He didn’t respond to what Laurie considered a very shocking confession. His silence initiated a compulsive need to ramble and explain.

  “I experienced a blackout or something and when I woke up…” She paused and chanced another glimpse at his face. The frown there wasn’t encouraging, so she stopped speaking completely and sent her focus to her lap.

  Detective Hubbard remained motionless and quiet. Bravery wasn’t the strongest gene in her pool but she met his gaze again because the silence unnerved her. He stared at her, unblinking, arms crossed securely over his chest, his eyes narrowed. The silence stretched between them. Laurie glanced around to see if anyone else had listened to her confession.

  No one seemed to care.

  He finally blinked once.

  “You ‘think’ you may have killed someone? Who was it?” His surly tone combined with the smirk shaping his mouth conveyed his obvious disbelief.

  Laurie sighed inwardly. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know who you killed?”

  He pushed back further in his chair, eliciting a squeaked protest, and re-focused his gaze to the ceiling. Laurie resisted the urge to correct his grammar.

  The foolishness of saying the words out loud to another person convinced her she shouldn’t have made this trip. The detective was probably calculating the fastest way to get her into a straight jacket and directly to the nearest psychiatric ward for a padded cell and a psyche evaluation.

  Perhaps it was where she belonged. If she explained everything, she might get a one-way ticket anyway. Instead of leaping up and running to avoid prosecution and incarceration, she remained seated on the edge of the uncomfortable wooden chair facing his desk. Lack of sleep made her stupid. She’d wanted an opinion. She suspected she was about to get a lecture instead.

  He dropped his head to pierce her with a cold stare. Certain a “crazy person” lecture was imminent, she was caught off guard a heartbeat later when a wide grin encompassed his mouth.

  “Is this a joke? Did Colin send you to harass me?”

  Tilting her head to one side she pursed her lips and frowned.

  “Who’s Colin?”

  Detective Hubbard slid his gaze around the room as if searching for a hidden camera.

  Ok, so maybe the missing time she’d experienced wasn’t within the purview of the Millbrook City Police Department, but it wasn’t a joke either. She’d driven thirty miles from her hometown this afternoon because she didn’t want to confess to any of the local police officers she knew. Working part time at the local library she came in contact with law enforcement from time to time.

  The vivid dream of fighting with a stranger was as fresh now as it had been when she’d awoken yesterday morning. In the dream, she’d struggled for her life against a burly attacker, wrestling for possession of the gun she held. The sudden bang of the gunshot, the smell of hot metal and spray of blood from her attacker completed the gory nightmare.

  In the dream, a strong, triumphant emotion of relief ran through her like electricity, unlike when she woke to a feeling of horror at the memory this morning.

  At breakfast with her Aunt Fiona, Laurie had picked up the paper shocked to see by the date printed on the front page that three days had passed. Since her aunt didn’t comment about a disappearance of any kind, she kept her fears close. She asked a few questions to ascertain what might have gone on while she’d been sleepwalking through three days.

  What was more frightening than the wrong date on the paper was the lead story blazing on the front page regarding the mysterious shooting victim. Had she killed someone?

  They hadn’t identified the murdered man or shown his picture, but Laurie worried she’d done something appalling. The nightmare, fresh in her mind, seemed more memory than dream. She had convinced herself she was guilty of something.

  Guilt had driven her to Millbrook and the unhappy detective seated before her now. It was clear she shouldn’t have wasted the trip. Keeping her wild notions to herself was the best course of action. Panic at her foolhardy confession engulfed her.

  Laurie stood abruptly and stepped away from the detective’s desk. “Never mind. I’m sorry to have taken up your time.”

  He stood when she did. His face softened with compassion for a
brief moment. “Have a seat, ma’am. You might as well tell me what’s on your mind.”

  Laurie looked around the room once more. No one seemed remotely interested in hearing that she had recurrent bouts of missing time, including Detective Hubbard.

  Her blackouts were increasing in number and length. Usually only a few hours would pass, but this week three days had gone missing. What had she done? Perhaps she didn’t want to know.

  In the dream she was skilled with a weapon but in her real life she’d never held a gun. The missing time with the new nightmares had disturbed her enough to bring her here, but not enough to make her stay.

  “I’ve made a mistake.” A big one. Laurie turned toward the door and made a hasty retreat.

  “Wait,” Detective Hubbard shouted behind her. The shrill ring from the phone on his desk almost made her heart stop beating, but had no impact on her legs.

  He snagged the phone and answered, “Hubbard.”

  Laurie slung her purse over one shoulder and didn’t look back as she hurried to make her exit.

  Taking an immediate right through the open door she shot towards the top step of a narrow dark stairwell. Luckily, she only had one flight of stairs to traverse before she escaped.

  Fairly skipping down every other step in her haste to get away, Laurie kept the landing to the main entrance in view.

  Once there, it was a sharp right, a final short flight of steps to reach the lobby, one last hallway and out the front door to freedom.

  She hit the platform with forward motion on her side as her purse banged her ribcage. Rounding the corner to the final few steps, she plowed hard into a wide, muscular chest ascending the stairs. Her momentum and the law of physics conspired against her to cause the stumble. Weightless for a split second, she stiffened and closed her eyes as the hard wooden railing loomed ready to smack her forehead.

  Instead of bouncing her skull off the railing and taking a tumble down the stairs, she felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around her, clenching her in a light embrace.

  Physics and motion, however, wouldn’t be ignored any longer and together they stumbled toward the lobby hallway. Laurie braced herself for a worse fall that didn’t come.

  It was a testament to the man’s strength and balance that he kept them both on their feet instead of tangled in a broken heap at the bottom of the short flight of stairs.

  The stranger clutching her tight managed to stabilize them against the wall midway down the steps.

  Over her head she heard, “Whoa! What’s your hurry, darlin’?”

  “Sorry,” Laurie said under her breath. “I need to go.”

  He relaxed his arms and she moved to pass, but tripped over his booted foot. She grabbed his arm to keep from falling the rest of the way down.

  This time he hugged her even more firmly against his brawny body. He backed down the remaining three steps until they were safely on the lobby level as she clung to him. It was not a hardship. He smelled very nice. The fear from threat of capture subsided in favor of learning about the man she held.

  While her face was buried against his firm chest, she took a deeper breath of his clean masculine scent. She failed to release him when it was certainly prudent to do so.

  “You okay?” His fingers brushed a tingling path down her spine stopping at her waist.

  Laurie realized she’d let him distract her from escape and pulled away quickly. “Yes. Thank you.” Glancing into his dark brown eyes was yet another big mistake. Mesmerized, she squeezed his forearms. Her hands wouldn’t cooperate or let go of him.

  He didn’t let go either. The hand grazing the belt at her waist squeezed gently as his delicious chocolate gaze held her rapt attention. “Are you sure?” He grinned. “I’m happy to hold on until you’re completely ready.”

  Laurie inhaled again and wondered what was wrong with her. She suspected it was because she hadn’t been this close to a man in so long. He felt…wonderful. His fingertips traced a path of small circles up the back of her shirt from her waist to her shoulder blades. Prickles raced along her spine at being touched. Laurie melted closer to his body’s furnace-like heat.

  Brushing a kiss at her temple, the stranger made her acutely aware she’d been alone far too long. The warmth of his lips burned into her forehead. She wanted more. Wanted his lips on hers. A kiss. She tilted her head to seek his mouth as her eyes slid shut for courage. His low moan of appreciation fueled her hunger and sent a shard of fear through her heart.

  Popping her eyes open, Laurie was a mere breath away from the kiss she desired. She eased closer until she achieved contact. His firm mouth caressed her lips softly. The power of the touch sent her nerve endings into a full tailspin of sensation. Laurie relaxed and melted closer. The sizzle of his tongue brushing across lower lip woke her up.

  Good heavens. What was she doing?

  Laurie stiffened. “Please, let me go.”

  “Sorry. I—”

  Laurie slid past not wanting to hear whatever he was about to say. She fought turning back for one more peek and lost. She couldn’t control the urge of yearning curiosity. Still moving down the empty hall to make her escape, Laurie glanced over one shoulder.

  Perched at the foot of the stairs, he watched her escape. Staring at him again, she caught his lazy perusal. He smiled in a sardonic bad boy way as if he’d naturally expected her to turn back. The captivating stranger simply took her breath away. He wasn’t overly tall, perhaps just over six feet in height, but even a short glimpse told her he was lean, muscled and experienced. The longer second look confirmed her initial assessment. He was completely gorgeous and not her type at all.

  What was her type? Probably a Mr. Boring Fish Lips Kisser.

  The detective Laurie had been ready to confess all to came into view on the stairs when she glanced back a third time. The detective ignored her in favor of the man she’d bumped into.

  “Colin! It’s about time you got your ass down here…”

  The rest of the detective’s exuberant statement was cut off by the swoosh of the spring-loaded door snapping shut behind her as she exited the building. Running across the porch, then down the short flight of stairs to the parking lot, she forced herself not to look back anymore. She didn’t stop until she was tucked inside her car with the doors locked.

  Stupid. Stupid. Foolish idea.

  But that kiss was worth the trip. Stop it. That barely qualified as a kiss. Until he licked you.

  Laurie drove out of the parking lot refusing to acknowledge the impact of the stranger’s lips on her wild imagination. The memory of his tongue tracing her lower lip pulsed through her vivid and lonely imagination.

  She checked her rearview mirror repeatedly to ensure she wasn’t being followed. As if she’d even know if someone was tailing her. Releasing a long breath, she vowed never to do this again. So what if she had blackouts, dreamed about shooting guns and snuck around in strange places? So what if she found a bloodstained white shirt stuffed in the far back of her closet?

  So what if it was the shirt she’d worn in her nightmare as she pulled the trigger of a huge gun, wounding a faceless foe and causing the spray of blood. So what if the spot of blood on the sleeve of the strange shirt was an exact duplicate of the one in her dream?

  * * * *

  Colin Riley watched as the gorgeous blonde who’d crashed into him disappeared from sight. His mouth was on fire from the chaste kiss. Damn. Combined human combustion might have resulted if they’d made it to the French level. Without conscious effort, his body turned to follow her.

  “Colin! It’s about time you got your ass down here for a visit.” His cousin punched him just below his shoulder distracting him from following her lovely ass out the double doors of the police station.

  “What’s up, Billy?” Nodding once at the door Colin asked, “Did you scare another girl away? Who was that?”

  Billy shrugged seemingly unconcerned. “I don’t know. Some silly chick babbling about blackouts and other nonsens
e. Glad you’re here, man.”

  Colin glanced back at the door she’d run through. “She was kind of pretty.”

  Billy cocked his head to one side and gave him a quizzical look. “Nah. Too uptight.”

  “Well, she was pretty in a prim school teacher sort of way. Let’s chase her down and I’ll see if it turns out she’s wild underneath all that proper exterior?”

  “Forget it.” Billy circled a finger around the side of his head indicating his opinion that the girl was crazy. “You want women for tonight, we can do better at any bar in town. Ready to tie one on like old times?”

  “Hell, no. I’m leaving the country in the morning. Last time I left here with a hangover the size of Texas. I spent the longest flight of my life in the aircraft john puking my guts up. Not this time.”

  “New assignment?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Anything exciting this time or the same old boring crap?”

  Colin forced a practiced grin. “Same old boring crap. I’m headed for Europe. I’ll be trapped in some dinky office in London checking routine information for importers and exporters on the watch list.” Colin hated to lie. Hated that he was so good at it. He wasn’t going to Europe.

  Billy shook his head. “You need to get a more exciting job with the government, dude.”

  He nodded, sighed and pasted a practiced regretful look on his face for the benefit of his cousin. “Tell me about it.” The truth was his ‘true’ job was plenty exciting.

  Colin glanced back to the door where the intriguing blonde with the sultry lips had disappeared. Shame she’d left. He imagined without a doubt that underneath her prim school teacher exterior rested the body and spirit of a siren.

  If he hadn’t been leaving on assignment in the morning, he’d have chased her to find out for certain.