“No. They really are idiots.” He sighed. Taggart deserved to know the whole truth about what he was getting into. “They’re trying to get me to retire.”

“Excellent.” Taggart clapped his hands together. “I’m thinking about opening a New York office. When can you start?”

Everyone wanted him behind a bloody desk. “I’m not retiring and I’m not managing an office for you.”

“Come on, Knight. I promise to send someone to assassinate you at least once a month. It’ll keep your adrenaline up. It’s not so bad, man. Hell, I’m lying. It’s horrible. You get to sit around and listen to everyone whine constantly. ‘I need time off. My wife is giving birth. I can’t sleep with that target in order to get information because I’m a faithful husband.’ God, they constantly whine at me.”

“You were wrong to ask Li to sleep with that woman.” Charlotte shook her head.

“Well, I really needed her computer and she liked Irish guys. Is it my fault everyone’s getting married? I’m relying on Simon and Jesse as my man meat. And when I need a pretty girl, I have to hire Karina. Do you know what she charged me last time? Two hundred dollars an hour. She charged me two hundred fucking dollars an hour to sit in the bar and flirt while Adam retrieved the stolen corporate data. I could have hired a prostitute for less and she would have blown the dude. The point is, I need Knight because he won’t ever get married, and therefore I can throw him out there when I need someone to charm the ladies.”

Charlotte stared at her husband for a moment and then a brilliant smile crossed her face. “You should be so glad I love you.”

“I am, baby. You’re the only one who gets my charm.” He winked his wife’s way and then gestured to Damon. “But Knight here is a different story. If we can convince him to work for us, we won’t have to worry about beefcake any more. Simon gets touchy about being seen as a sexual object. Jesse is fine if the lady in question wants a fairly attractive insane idiot, but you’re a gold mine, man.”

“I think you’re overestimating my charms, mate. That brings me to my second problem. And just to make things clear, I would never work for you. I would murder you first. You’re an obnoxious nutter, so you can take your whole job offer and piss off.”

Taggart shrugged as though he’d expected nothing less. “All right, then. What’s problem number two?”

He hated to admit to it but Taggart might be his solution. He’d managed to get Chelsea clearance to work the technical side of the op despite her sister’s problems with several major intelligence agencies. Damon had actually tried to hire Charlotte the year before, but she’d chosen to stay with her husband. “I need a sub.”

“You have a club. Pick one.”

“It’s not that easy. The submissives at the club won’t pass with SIS. I need a trained female, or one who at least brings something to the operation other than looking good when I spank her.” Penelope likely would have looked lovely. Her bum was a thing of beauty no matter how hard she tried to hide it. That was a big, gorgeous arse on the woman.

“And there’s no one at MI6?” Taggart used the American version of the Secret Intelligence Service. It had once been called Military Intelligence. The sixth section was the foreign section. Hence MI6. James Bond and a rash of like films and movies kept the old moniker alive.

“Yes. I found one, but she doesn’t want the job.” He’d been turned down by an uptight translator. Some Lothario he was.

“How can she turn it down if she’s an operative?” Charlotte asked.

“She isn’t. She’s a translator. She’s never been in the field before, but she’s got all the proper requirements and I believe she’s actually quite submissive. She’s single, so I don’t have to worry about a husband. Her name is Penelope, and she speaks most of the languages we need.”

“And you don’t mind fucking her?”

“Ian.” It seemed like Taggart’s wife said his name a lot.

“Well, that’s what we’re talking about,” Taggart shot back. “We can’t go on a massive floating dungeon and not get physical.”

“No. I wouldn’t mind fucking her,” Damon replied. He’d actually sort of looked forward to it. “But it’s obvious she doesn’t want the job, so I need to ask you about Chelsea.”

Both Taggarts stopped, staring at him for a minute.

“My sister?” Charlotte asked.

“The bitch from hell?” Ian offered and immediately moved out of his wife’s reach. “She doesn’t like me, baby. She calls me Satan. It hurts my feelings.”

She growled a little. “You don’t have feelings. And no. She is not going to play your sub, especially when there might be sex involved. No way.”

“It should be up to her,” Ian said quietly, turning serious. “You can’t protect her forever. The only reason she’s working this operation is Serena convinced her to take Adam’s place so he could stay home and help take care of Tristan. Jake should be shot for letting them pick that name. That boy is going to get his ass kicked starting in preschool. If Serena hadn’t convinced her, she would still be sitting at home brooding about whatever the fuck it is she broods about. She needs a job, and she won’t take one with me.”

“It’s not like she’s going to go to the supermarket and get a job sacking groceries, Ian. But she’s not an operative,” Charlotte complained.

“She’s not trained,” Taggart replied. “But I wouldn’t hesitate to send her into the field. From a strictly business standpoint, she’s made of the right stuff to be a successful field operative.”

Which meant she was cold, calculating. Like they were. Unlike Penelope Cash, who he would have to watch over. He would very likely not need to protect Chelsea Dennis. She could handle herself. It would be better that way. It really would. “So we can talk to her about it?”

Ian leaned forward, his business face on. “You’ll get pushback from Simon. There’s something odd going on with them. She’ll need to go to the shooting range and prove she can handle a gun. And I would watch her closely. Not because I’m worried about her. I don’t know where her loyalties really lie.”

“How can you talk about her like that?” Charlotte asked.

“Because I’m being the boss right now, Charlie. This is an op, and it’s an operation you’re involved in. I have to make sure it runs properly. I would never put you in this position because you’re far too emotional. You work with me and me alone because I don’t trust your safety to anyone else. Chelsea is different. Chelsea can handle herself. God knows she’ll put her own safety first. She’ll be fine.”

Charlotte got a little teary. “She’s not like that. You just don’t know her. Please, Ian.”

Damon waited as they seemed to wage a small but important war.

Taggart’s mouth became a flat line, and he looked back at Damon. “No. Chelsea can’t go in the field. She’s strictly tech.”

Charlotte turned and hugged him, whispering a “thank you.”

Ian Taggart was well and truly caught, and it fucked up Damon’s day.

“Sorry, man. You need to talk to that girl again,” Ian said, leaning into his wife, giving her the comfort she seemed to require. “If she’s perfect, then you’ll just have to convince her. Bring her to the club. If she’s submissive, she’ll be curious. You need to use that curiosity. Let Charlie talk to her. She’s awfully persuasive.”

Damon stared out as the limo slowed, caught in the never-ending London traffic. To his right, Hyde Park looked peaceful, tourists and locals milling about on a nice Saturday. Not a care in the world.

What was Penelope Cash doing?

And how was he going to convince her?

* * *

Penny closed her laptop, her face heated, her heart pounding.

Submission. Dominance. Discipline.

If she took this assignment, she would find out just what those words meant. Kinky sex stuff. It was kinky, weird sex stuff. Distasteful. She should march right back into Nigel’s office and shove his file in his face and tell him she was a lady and she wouldn’t be used as a prostitute.

Except it wasn’t really distasteful and she was rapidly discovering she wasn’t the prude everyone thought she was.

She’d known that. She’d never cared what people did in their own bedrooms. Or dungeons. Or playrooms. Or wherever people wanted to do the consensual things they did. She just didn’t think she wanted that for herself. She’d always imagined herself with a nice man, a quiet intellectual who she could talk to and raise a family with.

Of course, she’d had that man. Peter had been kind and quiet and should have been perfect. So why had she avoided sex with him after a couple of months of being engaged? She told herself that it was because her mother had gotten sick, but there had been chances to see him, chances to keep their relationship together, and she’d let them all drift by. By the time he’d left her, she’d actually felt grateful.

Her mobile trilled, the sound surprising her a bit. She looked down. Her sister. Diana was trying. Trying hard, and it wasn’t like she hadn’t lost anything. “Hello, Diana.”

“Pen. I wanted to ring to see if you need any help packing. I’ll see you at the wedding, but I can come down today if you need me. I know how much work there is to do. I really think you’re going to be happier, but you know you can stay as long as you want. George and I don’t mind. The house is yours.”

She felt a small smile crease her lips up. “I want to go with something smaller, and I’m going to split the money with you.”

They’d been having this argument for months, but it made her feel oddly secure. There was a lot of money in the house, but her siblings weren’t fighting her. She was having to fight to get them to take their portions. George was handling the legalities, and Diana had pitched in.