She lay on her back, feeling the emptiness of the bed around her. Just before she woke, she’d been dreaming about the Healy brothers. In her dream, they’d surrounded her with their bodies, all three of them kissing and touching her. It had been heaven.
She rolled over and turned on the lamp. The clock read just past five. These past few weeks, sleep eluded her most of the time, and she was amazed she’d slept this late. Though she knew she’d never go back to bed, she was too tired to get up just yet.
At least I don’t have to go to work today. Back when she’d started working for Dr. Jones, she’d thought it strange that the clinic wasn’t open on Saturdays, but given that it was just a front for organ smuggling, she guessed Jones could do as he wanted.
Nyssa let out a shaky sigh. The Healys never hesitated to reassure her that her work was helping their mission. In the past eight weeks, she had printed out dozens of patient files and smuggled them home to the men. No other women had been kidnapped, and if Codi, Linton, and Bryden were to be believed, it was because of her hard work.
But it was terrifying. Nyssa had been walking on tenterhooks ever since she returned to work as a spy. She was scared she would somehow give herself away and put herself in danger or, worse, destroy the whole mission. When she was at work her heart pumped hard and adrenaline coursed through her veins so that by the end of the day she was totally exhausted. Two days’ reprieve wasn’t long enough.
She heard a voice in the hall and tensed up until she recognized it as Linton’s. “Yeah, talked to RCMP last night,” he said softly. “No one’s tried to get them over the border. Jones is sitting tight.”
Nyssa sighed and tried to relax. None of the men seemed to need much sleep. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard one of them on the phone with their teammates at some ungodly hour.
Whatever the Healys might say, she knew she couldn’t take all the credit for Jones’s inactivity. While she gathered patient files, the men made it impossible for Jones to get the two kidnapped women out of the country. In the past, they’d told her, the smugglers made a run for the Canadian border, but the men were pulling strings to make sure no one resembling Jones or the women could get across.
“No, no phone calls.” Linton’s voice sounded tired. “If he’s communicating with Smith, we aren’t seeing it. I think he’s keeping a low profile.” There was another pause as he listened. “Right. But he hasn’t taken the bait, and I don’t know if he will.”
Nyssa wasn’t happy about that either. She would give anything for one of the men to work in the clinic along with her, but Dr. Jones had yet to hire Linton. The men were doing their best to direct Jones to him, though. They’d put around rumors that the only person who could get an illicit package across the border right now was Linton Wade.
If Jones didn’t fall for it, they would have to keep relying on more conventional means to find the missing women, and so far searching had turned up nothing. No one even knew if the women were still alive.
Linton’s voice had moved down the hall and dwindled to nothing. Nyssa threw off the covers. She’d never sleep now that she’d started worrying about those poor women.
Grabbing her shorts, she dressed and slid her socked feet into her slippers. When she’d pulled on her robe, she paused. Looking at the big empty bed, she remembered that dream she’d had. The heat of their bodies, their sweet kisses.
Reality was a little different than her dream. Each of the brothers slept in his own room, and Nyssa had moved into their guest bedroom. While Nyssa was grateful for their protection and hospitality, she wished her men would sleep with her.
Shit! Where did that come from? They’re not yours, Nyssa. Get that thought out of your head right now.
Every time she was near one or all of them, her body sat up and took notice.
Félix J. Palma
Dan Simmons
H. G. Wells
Jo Kessel
Jo Beverley
Patrick Hamilton
Chris Kuzneski
Silver James
Bathroom Readers’ Institute
Barbara Cartland