Midnight Action

Book 5: A Killer Instincts Novel

by Elle Kennedy

Genres: Contemporary Romance; Military Romance; Romantic Suspense

Synopsis

Ex-army ranger Jim Morgan leads a team of elite mercenaries, but eighteen years ago in Paris, he was part of a black ops unit whose mission was to hunt down a rogue operative. In order to trap the criminal, Jim seduced Noelle, the man's daughter-a ruthless act that cost him the love of his life and turned her into a mortal enemy. Now he can't trust her, but he still desires her. He also needs her help . . .



Older, wiser, and unwilling to play the fool again, Noelle runs a group of highly skilled assassins. And she's just been offered the hit of the century: eliminate Jim Morgan. History gives them no reason to trust each other, but with their lives in jeopardy at the hands of a common enemy, the lines between love and hate are soon blurred. Now Noelle and Jim must face the past if they want to have a future-let alone a future together.


Contains mature themes.

Release date: November 4, 2014

Publisher: Berkley

Print pages: 384

Sample

Prologue

Nineteen years ago

The overcast sky and turbulent gray clouds rolling in from the east made for a miserable afternoon. Rain was imminent, and the chill in the air had already sent all of the café’s patrons inside. Only Noelle remained on the cobblestone patio, her gloved hands wrapped around a cup of hot English breakfast tea. She wished she’d brought a scarf, but she’d forgotten it back at the elegant town house in the heart of Saint Germain-des-Pres, the prestigious neighborhood she’d been calling home for the past ten years. Except the nineteenth-century property where she lived, with its soaring ceilings and sweeping gardens, was not a real home.

It was a prison.

She’d come to the Marais district today to escape, but deep down she knew there was no such thing. The numbing pain in her left hand confirmed it—she was trapped. Forced to endure René’s torment, at least for another two months. But once she turned eighteen? She’d be out of that house like a bat out of hell. For good. Forever.

She wasn’t foolish enough to think she could convince her mother to join her. No, Colette had made her choice. She would never leave René, but Noelle was past caring. Past begging her mother to see the light.

Pushing away her bitterness, she took a long sip of her tea. The hot liquid instantly warmed her insides, but it didn’t ease the relentless throb in her fingers. At least two were broken—the index and middle—but her thumb ached too, so perhaps it hadn’t been spared in René’s vicious attack either.

I’m going to kill you.

She silently transmitted the message to her stepfather, willing his subconscious to hear it. And it was no longer wishful thinking—she would kill him. She didn’t know when, couldn’t even begin to figure out how, but René Laurent was going to die at her hands. She would make sure of it.

“Is this seat taken?”

The deep, gravelly voice jolted Noelle from her bloodthirsty thoughts. When she laid eyes on the man it belonged to, her breath caught in her throat.

She blinked, wondering if maybe she’d dreamed him, but then he flashed her a captivating grin and she realized that he must be real—her mind wasn’t capable of conjuring up a smile this heart-stoppingly gorgeous.

A pair of vivid blue eyes watched her expectantly as she searched for her voice.

“There are lots of other seats available,” she finally replied, gesturing to the deserted tables all around them.

He shrugged. “I don’t want to sit anywhere but here.”

She moistened her suddenly dry lips. “Why?”

“Because none of those other seats are across from you,” he said simply.

Her heart skipped a beat, and her gaze...Well, her gaze couldn’t seem to leave his face. He was the most handsome man she’d ever seen in her life. His features were perfectly chiseled, his jaw strong and clean-shaven, his mouth far too sensual. And those eyes...midnight blue and utterly endless. A girl could lose herself in his eyes.

And this girl nearly did, until the beautiful stranger chuckled softly, alerting her to the embarrassing fact that she’d fallen into a trance.

Noelle cleared her throat, feeling her cheeks heat up. “I guess you can join me.” She put on an indifferent voice, but she could tell he saw right through it.

He was studying her intently as he lowered his tall, lean body into the chair opposite hers. As he set his coffee cup in front of him, her gaze landed on his hands. Big and strong, with long fingers and short, blunt fingernails.

“You’re shivering,” he said gruffly.

“It’s cold out.”

“Yes, it is.”

Noelle took a hasty sip of tea, shifting awkwardly in her chair. She watched as he ran one large hand through his dark brown hair. So short it was nearly shaved off. She wondered if he was a soldier. His bulky hunter green sweater and faded blue jeans weren’t exactly military-issue, but something about the way he carried himself, something in his shrewd blue eyes, told her he was much more than a tourist or local college student.

He was also a foreigner—she definitely hadn’t missed the distinct American accent lining his flawless French words.

“You’re from the States,” she remarked in perfect English.

He nodded in confirmation. “Virginia, born and raised. And from the sound of it, you’re American yourself.”

“My father is.”

“Did you ever live in the States?”

“Yes. We were in D.C. for eight years.”

“But now you live in Paris?”

She offered a quick nod. “My mother is French. She and I moved here after my parents got divorced.”

“I see.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

The hiss of a lighter cut through the air as he lit up, bringing a frown to Noelle’s lips.

“Smoking is very bad for you,” she said frankly.

“What can I say? I like to live on the edge.”

He grinned again, and her heart began to pound.

As she tried to control the butterflies in her stomach, his mesmerizing eyes swept over her once more and a thoughtful expression flitted across his face. “You’re beautiful. Has anyone ever told you that?”

Her cheeks scorched again. There was nothing lewd or creepy about the compliment, but the intensity with which he said it made her pulse race. Something about this man affected her in a strange, confusing way she’d never experienced before. She found herself wanting to reach across the table and touch him. Hold his hand, stroke his jaw, place her palm on his broad, muscular chest. The urge only confused her further, and so she avoided his gaze by peering down at her teacup.

“What’s your name?”

Swallowing, she lifted her head to meet his eyes.

And was stunned by the odd combination of heat and desperation she saw in them.

“Noelle,” she murmured.

“Noelle.” His voice came out hoarse. “I’m James Morgan, but everyone calls me Jim, or Morgan.”

Jim. What an ordinary name for a man who was anything but.

“What brings you to Paris?” She was incredibly proud of herself for managing to speak in a steady voice when her entire body was consumed with erratic jolts of heat.

“I’m here on vacation. I have three weeks’ leave so I thought I’d travel until I had to report back to the base.”

“The base...Are you in the army?”

“Yeah. Doing my second tour now.”

“That’s nice. Do you enjoy it?”

His blue eyes flickered with...a glimmer she couldn’t quite decipher. “I do. I enjoy it a lot, actually.”

“Good. It’s important to love what you do.”

“It is,” he agreed, before slanting his head pensively. “What about you? What keeps you busy?”

“School.” Noelle shrugged. “I graduate from high school in the spring.”

She’d purposely emphasized the words so he would be aware of her age, but he didn’t seem distressed by it. She knew he was older—she would pin him down at twenty-one, maybe twenty-two—but the age difference didn’t bother her either.

Waves of tension moved between them. Or maybe it was awareness. She couldn’t be sure, couldn’t quite understand it, but she knew she wasn’t the only one feeling it. Jim’s pulse visibly throbbed in his throat, as if his heartbeat was as irregular as hers. And his eyes...they never left hers, not even once.

“And afterward?” he prompted. “What will you do then?”

Run.

Run and never come back.

“I don’t know,” she said.

Before she could blink, his hand breached the space between them and found hers. The burst of excitement that went off inside her was immediately replaced by the ripples of pain that seized her injured fingers.

Jim must have noticed her agitation, because his eyes narrowed. “You’re hurt,” he said flatly.

Surprise filtered through her. “I—”

He was peeling off her brown leather glove before she could protest, and when her hand was exposed, a deep frown puckered his mouth.

She saw exactly what he did—two black-and-blue fingers swollen to twice their size, and unpolished fingernails that had broken and bled beneath René’s heavy boot.

“Who did this to you?”

His low growl startled her, as did his astute assumption that her injury was no accident. When he gently ran one callused fingertip over her thumb, tears pricked her eyes, but she desperately fought them off. She refused to cry. Crying was a show of weakness, and Noelle was not weak. She would never be weak.

“You need to see a doctor,” Jim said hoarsely.

“No! No doctors,” she blurted out. “I’m fine, honestly. It was a clean break. I’ll just tape them up when I get home.”

His eyes flickered with surprise, and she could have sworn she glimpsed a gleam of admiration.

But he didn’t capitulate, just spoke again, sternly this time. “Your hand needs to be X-rayed at the hospital. There might be damage you’re not aware of.”

“No doctors,” she repeated.

“Noelle—”

She set her jaw. “No.”

The lump of panic jamming her throat doubled in size. He couldn’t force her to see a doctor, could he? Hospitals and doctors left paper trails, and she couldn’t risk leaving a trail that her father might find. Douglas Phillips had raised her to be strong. He’d passed his warrior genes on to her, made sure she could take care of herself.

What would he think if he knew she’d allowed René to have power over her? How ashamed would he be?

Jim released a heavy breath. “Fine. If you won’t go to the hospital, at least let me take you to see a friend of mine.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “What friend?”

“An old army buddy. He runs a small medical practice in Seine-Saint-Denis,” Jim explained, naming one of the more run-down neighborhoods of the city. “He’ll keep the visit off the books if I ask him to.”

Uneasiness swam in her gut, making her hesitate.

“Nobody will ever know you saw him. I promise.”

The total assurance in his tone was impossible to ignore. God, she believed him. She believed that when this man made a promise, he kept it.

“All right,” she whispered. “I’ll go.”

“Thank you.”

Their gazes collided and locked, and that unsettling and thrilling sizzle of connection traveled between them again.

Noelle couldn’t tear her eyes away from his. Her surroundings faded. The wind died into utter silence. She’d never felt this way before. Ever. And she couldn’t even begin to put into words why she was so drawn to this man.

All she knew, right here, right now, on this cold and cloudy autumn afternoon, was that her entire life was about to change.

Chapter 1

Present day

Noelle raised her cigarette to her lips and took a deep drag, sucking the smoke and chemicals into her lungs before exhaling a plume of gray into the night air. The apartment across the street was dark, save for the one light shining in the study where Gilles Girard was currently sipping on a cup of espresso. She’d been watching the Parisian barrister for three days, and she knew that after he indulged his caffeine fix, he’d move on to the bottle of Rémy Martin on the mahogany bar. The guy had expensive taste in cognac. That was for sure.

The lawyer’s west end private residence was located in the 16th District, one of the most prestigious areas in the city. That told her he had the required cash to procure the services of someone like her, or, at the very least, represented clients who could afford her. But she didn’t trust the man. Granted, she didn’t trust anyone, but Girard’s out-of-the-blue request was definitely fishier than most.

He’d contacted her via several middlemen, though that alone wasn’t unusual, considering her number wasn’t exactly listed in any phone books. No, what made her uneasy was the urgency she’d detected in his voice. The job must be done as soon as possible. There’s no room for delay. The harried plea had rung with desperation, and in Noelle’s experience, desperate men spelled nothing but trouble.

Which was why she now lay on the dark roof opposite Girard’s, flat on her stomach with a rifle at her side and binoculars zoomed in on her prey. Watching, waiting.

Girard lived alone. No wife or kids, no household staff. He was in his late fifties, and his choice of attire told her he was an old-school, aristocratic kind of guy. Anyone who wore perfectly pressed slacks, a cashmere Burberry sweater, and a Gucci scarf around his neck, in the privacy of his own home, was someone who valued luxurious items.

Noelle adjusted the zoom on the binoculars and studied Girard’s handsome features and groomed salt-and-pepper hair. There was something very...jaunty about him. And honorable—he seemed like a man with a moral code.

So why was he trying to hire a contract killer?

Frowning, she snuffed out her cigarette on the pavement and extracted her cell phone from the pocket of her tight-fitting leather coat. A moment later, her field glasses revealed Girard reaching for his own phone.

“Bonjour?” came his baritone voice in her ear.

“It’s me,” she answered in French. “It’s time to continue our little discussion.”

She clearly saw the man’s face stiffen through her zoom lens. “You ended our last call very abruptly,” he said in annoyance. “It was quite rude.”

“I told you, I had to check out a few details.”

“You had to dig into my background, you mean.”

“Yes.”

“And are you satisfied with what you found?”

“For the most part.” She lazily ran her free hand over the barrel of her rifle. “Who is your client?”

“I already told you, I can’t reveal that. But I can assure you, my client has no shortage of funds. He is more than capable of paying your fee.”

“Good to know,” she said lightly. “But I don’t like working for shadows, Mr. Girard.”

“Then I’m afraid we’ve got nothing more to discuss. The identity of my client will not be disclosed, mademoiselle. This is nonnegotiable.”

Irritation flared inside her. Christ, sometimes she wished she’d gone into a different line of work. Secretive men were so goddamn infuriating. And yet she didn’t disconnect the call—her curiosity had been piqued the moment Gilles Girard had contacted her, and she wasn’t the kind of woman who walked away from a puzzle. Or a challenge.

“All right,” she conceded. “I can live with that.”

“Good. Shall we discuss the details, then?”

“Not over the phone.”

“Fine. We will meet tomorrow?”

“Tonight,” she said briskly. “We’ll meet tonight.”

“I’m afraid I’ve already retired for the night.”

“No, you haven’t.” Chuckling, she zoomed in closer and saw the flicker of alarm in his dark eyes.

“What makes you say that?” he asked carefully.

“Well, I’m looking at you as we speak, Gilles, and your fancy-pants clothes don’t look like pajamas to me.”

Noelle got great satisfaction from seeing his gaze dart around wildly, as if he expected her to pop out of a closet and ambush him.

She laughed again. “Don’t worry, monsieur. I’m not inside your house. Yet.”

She tossed the binoculars into the sleek black duffel by her side. As she gracefully rose to her feet, the warm August breeze lifted her blond ponytail and heated the back of her neck.

“I’ll see you shortly, Gilles,” she told the panicked man. She paused in afterthought. “Oh, and I suggest you don’t reach for that pricey cognac of yours.”

Suspicion floated over the line. “Why not?”

“Because I poisoned it.”

His startled curse brought a smile to her lips. “Y-you...h-how...”

“Don’t you worry about that, honey,” she answered as she quickly disassembled her rifle, while balancing the cell on her shoulder. “It was just a precaution, in case I didn’t like the outcome of this phone call.”

When he made an outraged noise, she fought a laugh and said, “Out of curiosity, who’s the target?”

There was a pause. “I thought you didn’t want details over the phone.”

“Not about money or method. Names are fine.”

She zipped up the rifle case, then tucked it next to the duffel—she’d leave both on the roof and collect them after her little tête-à-tête with the good lawyer.

“Ah. All right, then.” Girard hesitated. “The target is a soldier. Well, a former soldier. He now works as a private military contractor.”

“A mercenary.”

“Yes.”

Shifting the phone to her other shoulder, she patted her jacket to make sure the weapons beneath it were secure, and then she walked across the gravel-littered rooftop toward the wrought-iron ladder at its edge.

“He’s used various aliases over the years,” Girard continued, “but he’s currently operating under the name James Morgan.”

Noelle froze. “What did you say?”

“Morgan,” Girard repeated. “The target’s name is James Morgan.”

•   •   •

“I met someone else.”

The slender brunette kept her back to him as she snapped the clasp of her bra into place. Her long, straight hair fell down to her panty-clad ass, shimmering in the pale glow of the bedside lamp.

Morgan zipped up his cargo pants and waited for Maya to continue, which she did, with great regret in her throaty voice.

“I should have ended it sooner, but I was...waiting...hoping, I guess.” She turned to face him, her bottomless brown eyes flickering with unhappiness. “I suppose I was silly to think that we might have a future.”

When he didn’t argue, her expression grew even more pained. “I know. You made yourself clear from the start.”

Morgan cleared his throat. “Maya—”

She held up her hand to silence him. “No. Don’t apologize. Like I said, it was silly of me. But Cruz...he’s willing to give me everything you can’t. And he adores Diego...”

Whom you have never even met, was the unspoken implication.

And damned if it didn’t make him feel like a total dick. In the two months they’d been sleeping together, he’d gone out of his way to avoid Maya’s seven-year-old son. Not out of malice or dislike, but, well, he knew how attached kids could get, especially young boys without a father figure in their lives, and he hadn’t wanted to take any risks. He’d known from the onset that his affair with Maya would be a temporary one.

She was a wonderful woman—he couldn’t deny that. Smart, beautiful, hardworking. But relationships didn’t interest him. Sex was all he’d ever wanted out of the arrangement, and Maya had always been more than happy to provide it.

“I want to give my son a good life, Morgan.”

“I know,” he said gruffly, his Spanish coming out stilted even though he normally spoke it impeccably.

Maya slipped into a pale blue tank top and a pair of denim shorts, then walked over and kissed him. She was a tall woman, didn’t even have to stand on her tiptoes to bring her mouth to his, and he kissed her back with more tenderness than he’d ever shown her before.

She blinked in surprise as she pulled back, but the resolve in her eyes didn’t falter. “I had a lot of fun.”

“Me too.” He dragged his thumb over her soft jaw before taking a step back. “But it was bound to end, sweetheart.”

She nodded sadly. “I’ll walk you out.”

They moved through the dark bungalow in silence, with Maya ahead of him, her expression shielded from his view. Although she’d known the score from the get-go, Morgan knew she was disappointed he hadn’t put up a fight about ending it. He could see that disappointment in the slight slump of her shoulders and the weariness in her long strides.

But he wasn’t going to give her false hope or make empty promises. He wasn’t the man she wanted him to be. Husband, daddy—that wasn’t him, and never would be.

“Will you at least tell me about her?”

Maya’s quiet plea made him frown. As they paused in the shadow-ridden front hall, he searched her gaze, trying to make sense of the request.

“Tell you about who?”

“The woman who broke your heart.”

A harsh laugh slipped out. “Oh, sweetheart, I’ve never had my heart broken.”

“I see.” Maya hesitated. “She died, then?”

A thread of discomfort knotted around his insides. Christ. Why did women always assume he belonged to the loved and lost camp? Why did they always feel the need to analyze him, to discover what his demons were?

“I know I’m right,” she murmured. “And I’m never going to see you again after tonight, so what’s the harm? Tell me about her, Morgan. What was she like?”

Morgan stifled a sigh. He didn’t have time for this. Didn’t want this.

But when he opened his mouth, the words that popped out surprised them both.

“She was sweet.”

Maya’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “Sweet,” she echoed. “What else?”

“Strong.” He swallowed. “She was very, very strong. And innocent. And when she laughed...” The lump in his throat made it difficult to go on. “Her laughter was...Fuck, I can’t even describe it. And she always knew what I was thinking. She could read my mind, and it was damn infuriating.”

Maya bit her lower lip. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

An ache tightened his chest. “Yes. She’s dead.”

“I’m sorry, Morgan.”

He managed a shrug. “Yeah, so am I.” Before she could question him again, he dipped his head and brushed his lips over hers. “Take care of yourself, Maya. Maybe I’ll see you around in town sometime.”

“Maybe.” She sounded noncommittal, and he could feel her retreating from him as she flicked the dead bolt and opened the front door to let him out.

He stepped into the night air without another word, and headed for his SUV without looking back. The soft click that met his ears told him she’d closed and relocked the door.

The moment he slid into the driver’s seat, he popped open the glove compartment to retrieve the nine-millimeter Sig Sauer stashed there. He never brought a weapon into Maya’s little bungalow—he didn’t want to scare her—but he felt naked without his trusty Sig. Even now, just sitting in his car, he didn’t feel fully comfortable until he placed the gun next to his thigh, within reach of his right hand.

Letting out a breath, he started the engine and reversed out the dirt driveway. He didn’t glance in the rearview mirror to get a final glimpse of the house. Their time together was over, which meant it was time to move forward.

And if there was one thing Jim Morgan excelled at, it was never looking back.

Still, his heart felt heavy as he drove down the darkened street toward the intersection that would lead him into town. He hadn’t wanted to hurt Maya, but he suspected that he had. He just hoped this new man of hers could give her everything she needed. Everything she deserved.

He reached the heart of town a few minutes later, found himself easing his foot off the gas pedal. The sleepy village of Turtle Cove didn’t offer many options in terms of nightlife, but it did boast a tiny dive bar that Morgan and his team of mercenaries often frequented. He headed toward it, and then parked in front of the narrow strip of dusty, crumbling storefronts.

It was just past eleven, but he wasn’t in the mood to go back to the compound yet. Nearly every member of his team was a night owl, and Morgan didn’t feel like seeing anyone right now. He’d been restless lately, itching to continue the search he’d embarked on so many years ago, but he couldn’t skip town on a whim anymore, not after his last spontaneous trip.

In his absence, his compound had been ambushed by a private hit squad, two of his employees had lost their lives, and one of his men, Holden McCall, had suffered a crushing loss. Morgan knew the attack couldn’t have been foreseen, but he still felt responsible for Beth McCall’s death. He wondered whether Holden blamed him for it too. Probably. Fuck, it’d be rightfully so.

Sighing, he hopped out of the SUV and strode into the deserted bar. Ernesto, the owner and sole bartender, stood behind the counter chatting on a cell phone, but he nodded in greeting when he spotted Morgan.

“Tequila?” the bald man said briskly.

Morgan nodded back and slid onto one of the rickety wooden stools. He chose a seat that provided him with a perfect view of the door and corridor leading to the restrooms, and his gun was tucked in his waistband, a reassuring bulge beneath his shirt that allowed him to relax.

A moment later, Ernesto deposited a shot glass of Jose Cuervo in front of him, then wandered back to the other end of the counter, his phone glued to his ear. From the sound of it, Ernesto was trying to convince his wife that he had indeed cleaned the rain gutters like she’d requested, but clearly the woman wasn’t buying it.

Tuning out the other man’s conversation, Morgan thought about all the shit he needed to take care of tomorrow. The CIA was on his ass about a potential extraction of an agent who’d gotten himself captured in Angola, but government jobs were always such a pain in the ass. Too much red tape and peanuts for pay. But he supposed he could send Castle and a few members of his B-Team to get the job done.

He’d also just accepted a security gig, which he’d probably assign to Luke and Trevor, since the client had requested trained snipers. That meant he and the rest of his A-Team would have to handle the Ecuador job also in the pipeline. The government officials down there wanted a particularly delicate rebel situation handled, and were trying to avoid military involvement.

Man, so many jobs on the go, which gave new meaning to the words soldier of fortune. But even though the team would make a killing this month, Morgan had never been in it for the money. It was the action he craved, the rush of adrenaline and the surge of triumph he received after a successfully executed mission.

“Another one?” Ernesto’s voice drew him out of his thoughts.

Morgan glanced down to see that he’d slugged back his shot without even realizing it, but he shook his head at the bartender’s inquiry. Instead, he dropped a few US bills on the counter and rose from his stool. “Have a good night, Ernesto.”

“You too, Mr. Morgan.”

He left the bar feeling as unsettled as he’d entered it. What the fuck was up with him tonight? Yeah, he and Maya were done, but he knew that wasn’t the reason for the persistent edginess he was feeling. Inexplicable unease continued to crawl up his spine like a colony of ants, and it stuck with him during the entire drive home.

The new compound was about twenty miles outside of town, bordered by dense jungle on one side and rolling hills on the other. And it was isolated and hidden, just the way he liked it.

It had belonged to a drug kingpin whose empire had recently been crushed by the DEA, and Morgan had bought the place for a song at a government auction. Surrounded by a twelve-foot electric fence, the hundred-acre propert