She had no idea what he’d been doing with his personal life. No one did.
Nina was smart. She’d played the only card she could since he knew damn well how important it was that the agent he went in with had a good cover. They might have been able to go with bodyguard.
But girlfriend worked fine for him. In fact, he could take it one step further since those assholes would likely treat her like crap if they thought he wasn’t serious about her. He rounded the corner and caught sight of her standing in the doorway, holding it open like she still might be able to force them to leave.
He knew better.
“Don’t be so coy, baby.” He strode in, coffee and breakfast in hand. He winked her way before turning to their unwanted guests. It didn’t escape his notice that she had her clothes from the night before over her arm when they’d agreed she would be naked and waiting for him this morning. “Nina here is far more than my girlfriend. She’s my fiancée. I know we didn’t want to tell anyone until we could have a party, but after what happened with Dad last night, I don’t think we can wait.”
“You’re not engaged.” Deanna had a shocked look on her face that told him she was genuinely emotional.
Damn. His mother had called that one. His mom had told him to watch Deanna because she was far too invested in their personal relationship. He’d assured her they didn’t have one, but it looked like his admin didn’t agree.
Well, then Nina could help him out with that because he needed to keep those boundaries firmly in place.
“I assure you she is.” He set the coffees on the counter along with the breakfast sandwiches and pastries he’d gotten since he didn’t know if she preferred savory or sweet. He reached a hand out to her. “Unless you changed your mind, baby. You still going to marry me?”
She didn’t miss a beat, taking his hand and letting him haul her close. “Not a chance, cowboy.”
He lowered his lips to hers and could feel the stiffness in her body, though she welcomed the kiss readily. “I love it when you tease me.”
“No.” Deanna paced the floor of the suite. “This is some kind of joke. You aren’t even dating anyone.”
He needed to get Nina up to date and fast. He kept her hand in his as he faced the intruders. “I met Nina through a friend of my mother’s. I was headed out to Loa Mali to an engineering conference and I had a few days. I spent them with her. As you know I’ve been on the road for six weeks. Nina has come out to be with me whenever she could.”
“You were on oil rigs,” Deanna pointed out.
“Oil rigs still have private rooms,” Nina shot back, placing a hand on his chest. “Trust me. If you want to get to know a man, spend three days on a rig with him. You find out a lot about his habits.”
That hand felt awfully possessive. Yes, this could work out perfectly for him. “Hey, I took you to Loa Mali on a private plane. It wasn’t all bad.”
She went up on her toes. “I’m going to get dressed. I didn’t think I would have to meet your coworkers until we got to the retreat. I’m going to change.”
She winced slightly as though she realized the mistake she’d made.
“I’ll get rid of them,” he promised.
He tilted his head down and she came up to brush her lips against his.
“I’ll explain. I promise,” she whispered.
She thought he was way smarter than he was. Or more trusting. Fuck. He couldn’t tell her he’d known why she’d said what she said. He needed a plan or she would walk out on him and then he would lose the girl and his father would be angry he’d screwed everything up.
But first, he had to deal with the snakes in his suite. It did not escape him that every one of them was on the Agency’s list. He couldn’t see it. He knew that trio could be hard to take at times. Still, he couldn’t see them betraying not only the company but the country. However, figuring out who was the spy was Nina’s job and he was going to let her do it.
If he could pull off the fiancée thing. He nodded and she strode off to the bedroom—after she took her coffee and the bag of breakfast goodness.
He turned to the intruders, and he didn’t have to pretend to be irritated. He fucking was irritated. “You want to explain why I’m not having a very nice morning with the woman I’m going to marry?”
“You want to explain how you’re marrying a woman no one has met?” Deanna asked. “I don’t buy this, JT. What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t give a damn about what you want to do with your romantic life. I want to know what’s going on with David Malone,” Jordy said.
“Why isn’t he going on the retreat?” Patrick stood behind Jordy. “He hasn’t missed the retreat in twenty years. Your email said something about his health. Did he have a heart attack? Because we have the right to know if the CEO of the company is on death’s door.”
“And how could you send out that email?” Deanna complained. “That should never have gone out. We have people to do that. People who know how to word things so you don’t spark a bunch of rumors that could potentially tank our stock.”
He winced. “Yesterday was rough. I didn’t think about it. I’m sorry. My father is fine. He had his gallbladder out. His recovery time is minimal, but he needs to take it easy for a few weeks.”
Deanna’s shoulders came down from around her ears. “All right. I’ll write up a brief report and I’ll handle
