Code Name: Nanny (SEAL and Code Name #5)(84)

“127. Then I cross-checked by age. I’d put her somewhere between twenty-five and thirty.”

“Sounds about right.”

A chair squeaked. Gabe could almost see Izzy hunched over a small and breathtakingly expensive laptop that was probably on loan from a top-secret government program. The No Such Agency was Gabe’s best guess.

“That was more manageable. Only twelve this time.” Izzy’s chair squeaked again. “I ruled out all the agents from California, because they wouldn’t use someone local. Too much risk of recognition.”

“And?”

“Bingo. Her name is Savannah Mulcahey. Her friends call her Summer.”

Savannah.

Damn, it suited her. At least, it would if she ever let go and forgot about her job for more than sixty seconds at a time. Gabe let the word slide over his lips, savoring the slow vowels. “What else did you find?”

“She works out of the Philadelphia field office. There was a problem with her partner last year. Summer was hurt then.”

Gabe listened to Izzy’s description of the attack that had ended in the death of Summer’s partner. Izzy had come up with far more than Summer had revealed, including details of the harassment that had come after her partner’s death.

Someone was definitely going to hear about this, Gabe vowed. He’d start with Tate Winslow. Let a senator rattle their cage and see how long it took to get action.

“Gabe, you still there?”

“All ears. What else?”

“Not much. There’s no husband and no parents living. Just one sister. That’s it for family.”

“Nice job. Next you’ll be giving me her medical records and grocery list.”

“I didn’t realize you wanted them.”

Gabe felt his eyes drift closed. “Very funny. Better hit the sack, Teague. We’ll meet you near the back parking lot.”

“One more thing.” Izzy cleared his throat. “Summer’s a nice lady. Excellent moves and good judgment, too. In case you’re interested, I hear that she hasn’t been involved with very many men. No one at all in the last two years.”

Gabe frowned. “Who said I was interested?”

“No need to snap, Morgan. You asked for information and I got it. To continue, according to her supervisor’s last performance rating, she’s one of the best he’s ever seen and she’s married to the job. Sounds a whole lot like you, come to think of it.”

Gabe ignored the curiosity in Izzy’s voice. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you that gossip is downright crude?”

“Only every day.” Izzy chuckled. “Then she proceeded to nail the whole neighborhood and half my teachers at school. Man, the woman was inexhaustible. Made my life hell.” Izzy was still chuckling when he broke the connection.

After putting away his phone, Gabe checked his elastic bandage. The compression was helping to control the swelling already. Next step, pajamas.

He didn’t usually wear them, but he wasn’t about to let Summer see his knee in this shape. There would be no stopping her questions then. More important, he needed all the distance he could manage with her warm, sexy body only inches away from him in the bed.

Not that a pair of pajamas was going to be much help, he thought grimly.





[page]chapter 30

She was sound asleep, her foot dangling from beneath the covers. She sighed, one leg shooting off the bed, giving Gabe a view of excellent thighs beneath a blue nightshirt.

He ignored the desire ratcheting to his groin.

He told himself it was simple, uncomplicated lust, the kind any normal male would feel finding a beautiful, complicated, prickly-as-hell female asleep in his bed. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled to see that she’d left his side of the bed empty, with the covers neatly turned back.

Something worked into his chest, but hell if he could put a name on it. Not simple lust, not mere male curiosity. Something jarringly protective.

Hell, again.

All thoughts of sleeping on the sofa vanished. How could a man resist an invitation like turned-down covers when he was dead on his feet?



Gabe woke up with his hand on Summer’s hip and her leg wrapped around his thigh. For long moments he didn’t move, feeling his blood slam down to places he shouldn’t have been thinking about. How the hell did a man stay oblivious when a woman’s half-naked body was wedged against him?

Grimacing, Gabe tried to disentangle himself, but Summer gave a throaty sigh and burrowed closer, her soft breasts thrusting against his chest. Gabe figured she was having a nice fantasy of her own, because her nipples were hard, clearly evident through her cotton nightshirt.

Gabe closed his eyes as her fingers slid across his chest, settling below his waist. When her hand started to move lower, he gripped it hard, biting off a curse. In her exhaustion, Summer seemed oblivious to her movements. Her breath puffed softly as she lay facing him, her hair a dark curtain on his pillow.

There was a gut-wrenching intimacy to sharing a pillow, Gabe realized. Though he’d never thought about it before, it felt more personal than sharing sex. Or maybe it was the way Summer lay, completely trusting, her body relaxed and vulnerable beside him.

Sleeping Beauty had a few thorns, Gabe thought wryly. She had trust issues the size of Texas, her relaxation skills were abysmal, and she was married to her job.