Hello My Angel - Sue Brown Page 0,44
act to the manor born, even if it was two hundred years out of time. He was a good man, but he had his foibles.”
“It still doesn’t explain about the middle-aged women.”
“Gideon made a stupid mistake when he was a new operative and still out in the field.”
“What kind of mistake?” Josh asked as they dodged a woman who stopped suddenly, more interested in her phone than her surroundings.
“He got involved with a beautiful young woman on his staff and fell in love. He was absolutely besotted with her. He told me afterwards he knew from the minute he laid eyes on her she would be the love of his life.”
“I thought Chopper Barnes was the love of his life,” Josh said without thinking. He looked up to see the sad look on Cal’s face. “Oh, you do mean Chopper.”
“We’re all young once. I’ve got a photo of her in her twenties. She was a stunner.”
“Okay, so he targeted her while he was on assignment, but he fell in love instead.”
Cal nodded. “There are times when we have to use whatever we have to get information.”
“You mean you fuck it out of them,” Josh said flatly.
“If we have to,” Cal said.
Josh sucked in a breath and counted to ten. He knew it happened. He just didn’t want to think about Cal using his beautiful strong body as a tool to get intel.
“But you’re not meant to fall in love with your marks.”
“No. What Sir Gee failed to spot was that she was there to seduce him.”
“He was the mark?” Josh whistled. “He must have been furious when he found out.”
“He was, but worse than that, he’d failed in his assignment. He let her go rather than kill her. The higher ups were furious. He nearly got canned.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t.”
Cal gave a wry smile. “There was a surprising twist. She had also fallen in love with him. She turned double agent. She was the best sniper the agency ever had.”
“So they had their happy ever after,” Josh said.
“Yes and no. Gideon had a black mark against him and he had to fight to stay in the service. He didn’t want anything to do with her when she first came over.”
“She broke his heart?”
“She damaged his career, but worse, she hurt his pride. He’d been so overwhelmed by lust, he missed what she was.”
Josh grinned. Cal was always the pragmatist.
“It took a long time but eventually Gideon forgave her and they became lovers. Gideon never forgave himself for being so easily targeted. He never made that mistake in the field again, but he never employed a young woman in any capacity.”
“So why didn’t he employ men?”
“Ultimately, Gideon was a ladies man. He didn’t really get on with men at all despite the gentlemen’s club and all the trappings. Gideon just liked women. From that moment he only employed older women. It worked out really well for him and also for the women. Without wishing to be sexist, it’s not always easy to find a job when you’re an older woman.”
“And he trained them to kill.”
“Yeah. He and Chopper thought it might come in handy one day. But now there are a small group of middle-aged women who need something to do.”
Josh raised an eyebrow. “You have a group of invisible assassins and you don’t know what to do with them?”
“They’re hardly the invisible man,” Cal pointed out.
“When did you last notice a middle-aged woman?”
Josh knew he’d scored by the sudden interest in Cal’s eyes.
“Point taken.”
“So that’s it? The whole story of why Sir Gee employed middle-aged women?”
Josh was disappointed at such a prosaic explanation. A bad affair was anti-climactic.
Cal’s lips twitched. “You don’t think espionage is dramatic enough?”
“He thought with his little brain instead of his big brain. It’s men the world over.”
“I did the same thing,” Cal pointed out. “Remember Ramon? I thought I was sleeping with a DEA agent and in reality, I had no idea who I was sharing a bed with. Angel, are you growling?”
“Maybe,” Josh said curtly.
He really had a hard time dealing with Cal’s previous lovers. Even the idea of Cal sharing a bed with somebody else made him want to hiss and spit like his cat. Dammit, he really missed Mr. Truffles.
Cal pulled him in for a hug. Josh resisted for a moment, then leaned in close.
Cal brushed a kiss on the top of his head. “I like the fact you’re possessive over me even if there is no need. Ramon was a long