Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(24)

“Again, I’m going to ask you to be reasonable,” Tag insisted. “What happened an hour ago changes everything. If she’s got someone gunning for her, she needs protection. You can’t watch her back and your own. Bow out gently tonight. Tell her you changed your mind and you think she needs a younger Master. I’ll introduce her to Case and you can handle this whole situation the way you should—from the background.”

“If you try to pawn my sub off on your f*cking brother one more time I’m going to be the one throwing punches, Tag.”

Tag slapped the table. “Two thousand. I will bet you two grand you’re getting married at the end of this. Come on, man.”

He wasn’t ever getting married. He wasn’t built for it. He’d known what he was born to do since the day he’d met Franklin Grant. He couldn’t do that anymore. Not until he cleared his name and found out who’d burned him at the Agency. That man was the one working with McDonald. That name was why he was doing all of this. Yes, he wanted to take McDonald down. Yes, he wanted to stop the senator’s network from ever making money off American lives again, but he wanted back in. He wanted his name back, his job back. He wanted to grind down the people who had sold him out.

No. He wasn’t getting married and he wasn’t getting close to Faith McDonald. Once he got her in bed, he would see that she was like all the rest. And then he could move on with his life.





CHAPTER FOUR



Faith poured a cup of chamomile tea and wondered if her hands were ever going to stop shaking. It had to be six or seven hours since it had happened. Now she was back at Theo and Erin’s three-bedroom ranch house and she wondered if she should stay after all. Had she made the right choice? Should she call her dad and head down to the safety of his Houston mansion?

“Hey, you going to be all right?” Erin had changed into pajama bottoms and a tank top, her face scrubbed clean. She’d been hovering all night, and Faith was worried Erin had gotten into serious trouble over what had happened.

“I’m good.” She put on a happy face. That was what she did. It was the same fake smile she used when her father forced her to go to campaign rallies. “I am sorry I seem to have gotten you into hot water with Theo’s brother.”

“Oh, she’s not simply in trouble with Theo’s brother. She’s in trouble with Theo.” Theo looked delicious in nothing but a pair of jeans. He strode into the kitchen and planted himself behind Erin, his hands finding her hips. The man couldn’t seem to take his hands off his sub.

Which brought her to the other reason she was wondering if she shouldn’t run to Houston.

“Erin’s in trouble with everyone tonight.” Master T stepped in after Theo. Unlike her friends, he was still completely dressed, with the exception of his Stetson. He’d taken that off and placed it on a table in the living room. “But I suspect she’ll pay for it and be back in Theo’s good graces in the morning.”

Erin tried to move away from her Master, but he wasn’t having that. She sighed and then relaxed back against him, his arms winding around her waist. “Theo often takes his job far too seriously and uses his position to his own advantage.”

Theo’s lips curled up in a secretive smile. “That’s the thing, baby. Sometimes you think we’re playing checkers when we’re really playing chess, and that’s about the time I take the queen. I’m going to spank the queen tonight because she was very naughty.”

There was no way to miss how Erin’s eyes softened at the thought. She wanted that discipline.

Faith wanted it too. It had been a stressful day and she wanted to feel a soft flogger on her back and let go of the tension. It was way too early for that. Wasn’t it?

“I wasn’t thinking,” Erin admitted. “I’ve relaxed since we came home. When Faith said she needed a few minutes, I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“You wanted to yell at me in private, Erin. That was why you let her go and that’s why you’ll be over my knee in a few minutes.” Theo’s tone held a bit of a bite, the Master coming out.

“Well, I’m back on the job now. Did Big Tag find out anything about our super-dead *?” Erin asked.

Master T leaned against the sink, his body all lean muscle and sharp lines. “We should have some kind of ID on him by tomorrow. He’s got a tat that makes me think he spent some time in prison, so he’ll likely be in AFIS.”

“You get to use AFIS?” AFIS stood for Automated Fingerprint Identification System and was used by government law enforcement agencies. Not private investigators.

“The company I work for has some discreet contacts with law enforcement,” he explained. “We took prints off your attacker and called in a friend with the DPD. He’ll keep everything very quiet, but he’ll get us a name by tomorrow, I suspect. We’ll regroup and go from there.”

She wasn’t sure her father, with all his contacts, could work that quickly. He would also be hampered by the press. Maybe she was making the right call. “I’m sure this is about my dad.”

“Are you? This couldn’t have anything to do with what happened to you in Ghana?” Master T asked.

Just like that the world seemed to go cold. She had to force her hand to close around the mug or she would have dropped it. Ghana. She tried so hard not to think about Ghana. “No. That was an isolated incident. A crime of opportunity, in your vernacular.”