Besides, this was business. He hadn’t asked Hannah to dance out of romantic interest, but because she was talking to Jake’s former college roommate and current CIA contact, preventing him from leaving. While Jake and Hannah danced, Edgar Downing would slip out of the party unnoticed.
Just as they found a clear spot on the dance floor, the fast music stopped and the DJ shifted to a slow, romantic tune. Again, Jake ignored the twinge of conscience that this was Luke’s baby sister. He wasn’t interested in Hannah, only doing his job. He took her right hand in his and slid his left hand around her waist, pulling her close enough to make sure he kept her attention off Edgar and on him. The material of her silky slip dress felt soft and feminine against his fingers. He could smell her hair.
“So you’re a teacher?”
She peeked up at him. Her long, straight locks shifted, slipped off her shoulder and cascaded down her back. They grazed the top of his hand. “I was.”
He grimaced. “Sorry. I forgot Luke told me you got laid off. I didn’t mean to bring up something unpleasant.”
“Oh, that’s all right.”
Jake noticed that though she was talking and dancing, her eyes had begun to move again. He didn’t think she was looking for Edgar. He believed it was a coincidence that she’d engaged his CIA boss in conversation the very minute Edgar needed to leave for another appointment. He suspected Hannah’s lack of eye contact was the shyness he had been expecting to find when he’d first tapped her on the shoulder.
Not only had she always been a bit timid, but Jake was also nine years older than Hannah. Plus, he was quarterback of the football team that had won the state championship fifteen years ago. No team had ever come close to their record. Jake himself got a college scholarship out of it. When he graduated, he talked Troy Cramer, owner of one of the biggest software companies in the world, into forming an investment partnership. Troy put up the money and Jake investigated and chose the investments. Now Jake was also rich.
He was older, wiser, sophisticated, and in the small town of Wilburn, Pennsylvania, he was a legend. To a woman like Hannah, who hadn’t even left home for college, dancing with him could be as intimidating as being asked to dance by Brad Pitt. Especially when her own life was in such a downturn.
“There’s little point in trying to run from the truth,” Hannah continued. “I got laid off thanks to some cutbacks. And I’m not the only one to get the ax, so everyone in town knows.” She met his gaze. “Wil-burn is too small of a place to run from things like that.”
He wasn’t prepared for the impact of staring directly into her pretty green eyes and didn’t have time to brace for the bolt of lightning that sizzled through him. He hid his reaction with a grimace. “I’m still sorry for bringing it up.”
As if dismissing the topic, she returned her gaze to Jake’s party guests. Her eyes once again surveyed the crowd. “I suppose I should tell you happy birthday.”
“If you bought me a gift, that’s happy birthday enough.”
Just as Jake had hoped, his silly remark brought her attention back to him. “Very funny.”
He smiled, continuing the teasing because he hated that she seemed so dejected. “It wasn’t intended to be. I like presents.”
“Right. I get it now. That’s why you gave yourself a party.”
“It didn’t seem as if anyone else was going to give me one.”
She laughed. “Then everything Luke told me about your vanity must be true.”
“Absolutely,” Jake agreed, tightening his hold on her waist, thrilled he had made her laugh. He knew he couldn’t have her. He absolutely, definitely would not date the little sister of a man who knew the sordid details of Jake’s love life. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy dancing.
Though the song was slow, he spun them around as if they were waltzing. He felt alive and wonderful and though he knew dancing with Hannah was part of the reason, the other part had more to do with Edgar recruiting him to work full-time for the CIA.
After eight years of being an Agency courier, someone who traveled so much that he could do pickups and deliveries for them, Edgar had approached him about becoming an agent. Not being able to shoot a gun and knowing absolutely nothing about covert operations, Jake had questioned Edgar’s sanity in making the offer, but Edgar reminded him that he traveled so much that he knew certain cities like the back of his hand. He knew currency. He knew languages.
With that explanation, Jake had become unexpectedly interested. Not because he craved adventure—though he did—but because he was bored. So Edgar’s offer appealed to him, and he told Edgar that if the CIA agent could show him he could handle this job, he would take it.
To prove to Jake that he could do this, Edgar had arranged for a more risky courier assignment. On Wednesday, Jake was to deliver a passport that had been sewn into the cover of the Day-Timer that Edgar had brought tonight as a birthday present. Jake would then “forget” the Day-Timer in a Paris café and it would be picked up by a waiter, who would drop it in the trash to be taken to a Dumpster behind the restaurant. An agent would pick it up and deliver it to the wife of an Iranian diplomat who had refused to defect until he had proof his wife was safe.
Though he hadn’t yet fulfilled the assignment, Jake knew he could do it in his sleep and within a few weeks he would be on the CIA payroll. In spite of the fact that becoming an agent would probably mean he could have to quit working for Troy, Jake knew he had found the way to make his life interesting again. And that knowledge filled him with absolute joy.
“I don’t mind being happy and confident. I’m lucky,” he said, teasing Hannah again, making sure she enjoyed this dance as much as he did. “My life panned out beautifully. I have more money than I could ever spend. And I’m not too bad-looking if I do say so myself.”
“You don’t have to say so yourself,” Hannah said, though her eyes were focused anywhere but on him. “Just hang around the bar. Most of the women there are talking about how attractive you are in that tux.”
And she’d noticed. No wonder she wouldn’t look at him. She didn’t want him to see she found him attractive, too. “Well, I think that’s only fair since I am the birthday boy. I should be the center of attention.”
She snorted with disgust. “Right.”
Jake laughed again, spun them around, but the song ended and Hannah quickly stepped away. Jake decided that was good. He liked her and they definitely had some kind of chemistry, but this was his best friend’s little sister. If he as much as kissed her goodnight, Luke would probably punch him.
“Thank you for the dance.”
“You’re welcome,” Hannah said, turning and scampering away from him.
Hannah Evans had no idea why Jake Malloy had asked her to dance, but she did know he wouldn’t ask her again. Why? Because she was a dimwit.
Within two minutes of sliding into his arms, she’d had to admit that she had lost her job, which could only make her seem pathetic. Then to make matters worse, she couldn’t keep eye contact because his eyes were so…well…powerful. Dark and focused, they glowed with the confidence of a man who had been around the world several times for business…and for pleasure. Even if she had dared to dream that he had asked her to dance because he was attracted to her looks—and from the once-over he had given her before he’d led her out to the dance floor, she had actually thought he was—she knew men like him preferred their women on the sophisticated side.
If there was one thing the regular citizens of Wilburn—including herself—were not, it was sophisticated. Wealthy residents like Jake and Troy Cramer, who globe-trotted, had formal parties and mingled with heads of state, were the exceptions, not the rule. If Jake hadn’t known that before, she had succeeded in proving it when they’d danced. She had probably also