Cold. Hard. Dangerous.
Thomas had a firm, square jaw, a blade-sharp nose and sculpted cheekbones that gave him a strong, fierce appearance. His deep, golden eyes reminded her of a lion’s gaze. Maybe because every time she looked into those eyes, Noelle felt as if he were a predator and she was his prey.
We’re partners. Partners. Mercer had sent them on this trip to Alaska because they were supposed to be hunting a killer. Together.
“You’ve never killed anyone,” Thomas said as he tilted his head to study her. “Death is a way of life for EOD agents.”
“Yes, well, I’m sure this will shock you, but FBI agents see plenty of death, too.” Death was rather her specialty. “I know killers, and you can trust me to do my job.”
Her job... Her job was to question the suspect they were pursuing. To break through the very public façade the man presented and to determine if Alaskan Senator Lawrence Duncan was the man who’d recently plotted the destruction of the EOD.
Thomas’s eyes narrowed just a bit as he gazed at her.
And there it is again. He was looking at her with a touch of familiarity. As if he knew her.
Too well.
But Noelle hadn’t met Thomas Anthony until she started work at the EOD just a few months before. They were most certainly not intimately acquainted.
No matter how Thomas might glance at her.
“You’re doing it again,” Noelle blurted. Then she could have bitten her tongue when his face tensed. She was normally so much better at controlling her emotions and her responses to people, but Thomas just put her on edge.
“Doing what?” Thomas asked voice totally emotionless.
“Staring at me...as if—as if we’re—” She floundered because what Noelle really wanted to say was...As if we’re lovers. But they weren’t. No way would she have forgotten him.
It was just...the intensity in his eyes...the heat...
“I make you nervous,” he said.
Why lie? “Yes.”
“Because you know what I’ve done.” His gaze slid to the files on the seat beside her. “You read all of our files, right? When you were trying to decide which EOD agent was actually a psychotic killer in disguise.”
That had been her first assignment at the EOD. This outing to Alaska was her second.
“So, what’s the verdict, doc?” The doc was mocking, but Noelle was a doctor, a psychiatrist. She’d been trying for years to understand the demons that chased people.
Ever since she’d woken up in a small, southern hospital with her life shattered around her.
“Tell me...” Thomas continued with his gaze assessing. “Am I dangerous? Am I psychotic? Is that why you tense up every time I get near you?” He leaned forward. “Are you afraid I’ll hurt you?” Then, before she could respond, his jaw hardened even more. “Because that’s not the way things work at the EOD. You trust your partner, or you don’t trust anyone.”
She couldn’t seem to take a deep enough breath. Thomas filled the space around her so completely.
The pilot’s voice floated over the intercom then, announcing their impending landing.
Thomas leaned back.
But Noelle’s hand flew out. She touched his wrist.
Thomas stilled.
“I know you’re not psychotic. You’re a soldier. A damn fine one, at that,” she added because it was true. “And if I seem nervous...” Tell him. “It’s not you, really. I have a...very hard time getting close to people.” Mostly because Noelle had made a habit of putting a wall between herself and others.
Once, that wall had been necessary for Noelle’s survival. But now, she didn’t know how to live without that protection.
His gaze dropped to her hand.
Noelle slowly pulled her fingers back.
After a moment, Thomas’s stare lifted once more to her face. “You’ll be closer to me than you will be to anyone else.”
Goose bumps rose on Noelle’s arms. Was that a promise? Or a warning?
Then the plane began its descent, and she held back the other questions she wanted to ask him.
* * *
THOMAS ANTHONY WAS used to danger. He was used to pain. He was used to surviving any and every hellhole on earth. As an Army Ranger, his job had been to get the mission accomplished, no matter what.
But his job had never involved working intimately with Noelle Evers, not until now.
She doesn’t remember me.
He’d known that, of course, from the beginning. From the first day he’d glanced up at the EOD and found himself staring into her warm, hazel eyes. Just looking at her had been like a punch to his gut. He’d wondered if she’d seen the flare of recognition in his eyes, but...
No, she hadn’t shown any awareness of the past they shared.
That was a good thing. Her not remembering helped him. Because if she ever did remember what he’d done...
She’d be terrified of me.
Even more afraid than she already was.
And, despite her words, Noelle was afraid of him. Thomas knew a whole lot about fear, and he was certain of the emotion he saw in her eyes.
“The senator will see you now,” Paula Quill said as she pointed toward the closed door on the right. The woman’s blond hair was pulled back in a perfect twist, and her face was schooled to show not even a hint of curiosity about their visit. As the senator’s assistant, Thomas figured the woman was used to keeping that mask of hers in place.
They were in the senator’s mansion, a too-big, mausoleum-type place Thomas didn’t like. But they’d needed to track the man back to his lair, even if that lair was in one of the most isolated spots in Alaska.
“He’s waiting in his study,” Paula added. Paula was pretty, a woman in her early twenties, and based on what Thomas knew about the senator, Paula was exactly the guy’s type. The senator was single, and from all accounts, quite a ladies’ man.
The EOD also suspected the man was a killer.
Noelle breezed past the other woman and headed into the senator’s study.
Noelle and Paula...they were night and day. Paula was icy reserve, cold perfection.
But Noelle...with her dark, red hair and her striking face...she was heat. Fire.
Passion.
The senator turned at Noelle’s approach, a fake smile on his face. Senator Lawrence Duncan was forty-two, rich and currently the chief suspect in the recent bombing of the EOD office in Washington, D.C.
Someone with a whole lot of power had hired an assassin—a man known as the Jack of Hearts—to take out EOD Director Bruce Mercer and to destroy the EOD in the process.
Right now, all of their intel was pointing to Senator Duncan as being that person in question.
“Senator Duncan.” Noelle’s voice was smooth, giving no hint at all to her southern roots. “Thank you for seeing us today.” She offered the senator her hand.
And