had seen action in the Queen’s bedroom a time or two. But Ben’s situation was different. He was just trying to keep Quinn safe from herself. To do that, he needed to keep her secluded on the third floor until he could make alternative arrangements.
“I’m sure Josslyn has something she can borrow.” He decided to shoot straight with the housekeeper. “But I do need to speak with her right away. It’s a matter of national security.”
Thankfully, his buddies remained stoic behind him. For her part, Terrie narrowed her eyes and scrutinized him as if he was a scuff on the marble floor in the Cross Hall.
“Of the three of you, I had you pegged as the most responsible,” she finally said. “Don’t let me down.”
She turned on her heel and headed toward the kitchen.
Griffin snorted as soon as her footsteps faded on the marble. “You brought a damn stranger with questionable connections into the Crown and spent the night in bed with her. How does that make you more responsible than us?”
“Because she was unconscious?” Adam quipped.
Ben ignored them. “Look, can you just keep an eye on her while I check out a lead?”
Both men reluctantly agreed. He made his way to the stairs and jogged up the three flights to the top floor of the residence. As he rounded the corner into the Center Hall, he was greeted by the frantic yipping of Fergus, the Scottish terrier belonging to the First Lady’s ailing father. The little dog made a beeline for the laces of Ben’s boat shoes.
“Don’t even think about it, you little monster.”
He scooped up a knotted sock and tossed it across the room. Fergus took the bait and dashed down the hall. Before the dog could return, Ben hurried into the room where he’d left Quinn sleeping a couple of hours ago.
“Hey! Have you ever heard of knocking?” Christine chided him.
But he didn’t hear a word the other agent said. All of his attention was instantly laser-focused on the second woman in the room. The one wrapped in nothing but a fluffy white towel; her cheeks rosy from the warm water. The long, tan legs he’d dreamt of having wrapped around him again were still slick with moisture. Just like that, the erotic image she posed had him hard as a rock.
As if she was aware of the potency of her allure, she raised her chin a notch, meeting his stare with a challenging one of her own. Suddenly, it was all he could do to keep from reaching beneath the turban on her head and tangling his fingers in silky strands of her hair. Or, better yet, sliding his tongue along the soft skin covering her collarbone.
Damn it. This would never do. He needed to get his head—the one housing his brain—in the game and get some answers.
“Christine, can you give us a minute?” He didn’t bother breaking eye contact with Quinn.
“Leave you two unchaperoned and risk the wrath of Terrie? I don’t think so.”
When he didn’t answer, Christine huffed a beleaguered sigh. “The things I do for you idiots,” she mumbled.
With a little more force than was necessary, she shut the door behind her. For a long moment the only sound in the room was the hum of tension radiating between him and Quinn.
“We need to talk,” he began.
“Thank you,” she murmured softly at the same time.
Her husky tone nearly took him out at the knees. He shook his head to refocus. “What?”
She inched forward giving Ben a bird’s-eye view of her dewy cleavage. He swallowed roughly.
“I said thank you. For saving my life.” She gestured toward the canopied bed. “And for . . . comforting me last night. Agent Groesch said you stayed with me.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t going to let you drown without finding out why the hell you trashed my boat.”
He wouldn’t regret his harsh tone, even when she took a step back. Although he did regret losing the enticing view.
“I didn’t trash your boat.”
He waited for the telltale signal she was lying, but there wasn’t one. Only annoyance. Both surprised him.
“Then who did?”
She looked away, but he was in no mood to put up with any more duplicity from her. He was tired and horny and both afflictions seemed to be forcing him into making rash decisions. Closing the distance between them, he wrapped his fingers around her chin and tilted it so they were once again eye to eye. He would make her talk.
But the alarm he saw shadowing her