Twin Temptation. Cara Summers

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СКАЧАТЬ up a set of rules to follow so that they kept out of each other’s way. The list with its bullets and highlighted passages had been Jase’s introduction to the highly organized world of Jordan Ware.

      And though she was a very attractive woman, their relationship had never progressed down a more intimate path. Instead, she’d become like a sister to him, competing against him for grades, nagging him when he’d gotten so wrapped up in a project that he’d forgotten to keep in touch with his family and even criticizing his selection of dates. In Jordan’s opinion, Jase had a tendency to attract what she’d termed “psycho babes.”

      Jase’s lips curved at the memory. The first thing he’d done when he’d left the navy and decided to set up a security business in New York City was to call Jordan. His goal had been to enlist her help in finding an apartment. Instead, she’d suggested he move in with her. If it didn’t work out, he’d at least have more time to find a place of his own. That had been a year ago, and so far everything had gone very smoothly. Jordan, who’d worked for her mother’s jewelry design studio since she’d gotten her master’s degree, had put him in touch with a few clients, and he’d even done some work for Eva Ware Designs. In fact, there was a job he’d left hanging when he’d taken on the hostage-negotiation project.

      Once he entered the terminal, Jase glanced around, spotted a secluded niche and headed toward it. Before he caught a cab, he needed some privacy to check in at his office. He’d been out of contact for far too long, and his patchwork of odd flights home hadn’t allowed any calls. Even at this hour, there’d be someone at Campbell and Angelis Security picking up the phone. With any luck, it might even be Dino Angelis, his partner of six months.

      Sure enough, someone answered on the second ring.

      “Campbell and Angelis Security.”

      Jase frowned as he tried to place the familiar voice. Not Dino. His partner’s voice was much deeper and he didn’t speak with a drawl. But it couldn’t be who he thought it was. His brother D.C. was currently serving with the military police on a second tour of duty in Baghdad.

      “D.C.?” Jase asked.

      “At your service. Where are you? Dino and I were getting worried.”

      “I’m at La Guardia. What are you doing in my office?”

      “Since I got here two days ago, I’ve been holding down the fort and helping Dino out. Got my leg busted up a little, and the army decided that I should take some leave time while I got it back in shape.”

      Jase frowned. “How bad is the leg?”

      “Nothing that can’t be fixed.”

      “Does Mom know?”

      “I spent a week in Baltimore and let her pamper me. I gained at least five pounds while I checked out Darcy’s latest boyfriend.” Some of Jase’s tension eased. If his brother had the time and energy to torment their kid sister, then he must be on the mend.

      “Are you going to tell me how bad the leg is?”

      “You’re as bad as Mom. It’s going to be fine. With any luck I’ll be back in Iraq by Christmas.”

      Jase didn’t see that as lucky. But he knew he’d gotten as much out of D.C. on the subject of his injury as he was going to. “Let’s go back to my first question. What exactly are you doing in my office? And where’s Dino?”

      “I came to pay you a surprise visit and Dino offered me a temporary job. Right now I believe he’s at his fiancée’s apartment.”

      It was thanks to Dino’s pretty fiancée Cat McGuire that Jase had been able to persuade Dino, his old navy buddy, to become his partner last December.

      “Where are you staying?”

      “Dino fixed me up temporarily with an empty apartment in their building. Not that I get to spend much time there.”

      “Business is good, I take it?” Jase asked.

      “So good that you’ve been missed, bro.”

      More of Jase’s tension eased. If Campbell and Angelis had to take on some extra help, Dino couldn’t have found a more perfect person than D.C. His brother had a sharp and inventive mind and the kind of intuition that made for an excellent cop. Unable to stop himself, he yawned hugely. What he needed even more than a good night’s sleep was work. One lesson he’d learned when he’d been working special ops was that the best way to dim the images from the previous operation was to immerse yourself totally in a new one.

      “By the way, your roommate, Jordan Ware, has been trying to contact you. Mom told me that the two of you are sharing an apartment again.”

      “When? What did she want?”

      “About a week ago. She talked to Dino and asked him to pass on a message to contact her if you called in.”

      Once again, Jase frowned. Jordan never called him at work. Then he pushed the small worry aside. No doubt she’d called the office because his cell phone had been worthless where he’d been for the last few weeks. At any rate, he’d see her sometime tomorrow.

      “Hold down the fort. If Dino calls in, tell him I’ll be in the office tomorrow afternoon.” Once Dino brought him up to speed on all their active files, he knew exactly which case he would start on. He’d promised Eva Ware that he’d look further into that break-in and robbery at her Madison Avenue jewelry store. In his opinion, it had to have been an inside job, and that worried him a bit.

      “Right now, my aim is to crash for at least twelve hours,” Jase said, then added, “Thanks for covering.”

      “I live to serve.”

      

      A BIT DIZZY from sleep deprivation and jet lag, Maddie let herself into Jordan’s Soho apartment. During the last few days, she’d managed to lose all sense of time. The only reason she knew that it was shortly after midnight was because she’d asked the cab driver who’d driven her from JFK.

      According to her estimate, she’d spent nearly eighteen of the last forty-eight hours on an airplane. Severe thunderstorms in the midwest had delayed her flights both to and back from Santa Fe. She’d barely been at the ranch long enough to pack what she thought she’d need for a three-week stay in New York. Jordan, the lucky girl, had only had to make one flight.

      In the very short time they’d spent together before Jordan had insisted she immediately fly back to the ranch and set things in order for the switch, Maddie had learned that her sister was a ruthlessly organized woman who gathered data, made lists, assembled files and was quite used to having her “suggestions” followed. Had Eva Ware been like that? Maddie wondered. Would she ever know? She hoped that Jordan was right and that by switching lives each of them would come to know the other parent better. But she was beginning to feel a sense of loss that she would never have a chance to talk to Eva about her design process.

      And Jordan would never hear Mike Farrell’s laugh.

      Not that her sister wouldn’t discover as much as she could about the ranch and their father. The woman was meticulous. She couldn’t think of one thing that had escaped Jordan’s attention. Jordan had even suggested that since Maddie possessed very few outfits appropriate for the city and Jordan experienced the same СКАЧАТЬ