Secret Obsession by Robin Perini Page B

I’m only trying to help.”
    What could she say? That something more important than herself was at risk?
    Someone more important.
    “You don’t know how to track him,” she said. “Despite all the equipment, Zane, Rafe and even Elijah, Archimedes is still invisible.”
    “For now.” The words dragged out of Noah with distaste, as if he’d chomped on a piece of spoiled fish.
    “Thank you for admitting the truth.” She stood stiff in his arms, his body strong and sure...and honest, if nothing else.
    He tugged her against him and lowered his head to her ear.
    “Tell me,” he whispered.
    His breath caressed the side of her cheek, his strong arms wrapped around her like a cocoon. For the first time in eighteen months she wished she could share the burden.
    “I can’t,” she said.
    A single tear ran down her cheek. She pressed her face into Noah’s chest. She couldn’t let him see the emotion pulsing just beneath the surface.
    The past twenty-four hours had given her a glimmer of hope, but she couldn’t give anything away.
    Not until Archimedes was dead.
    Once he was dead, she had a prayer.
    Of bringing her baby daughter home.

Chapter Six
    Despite her resistance, Noah didn’t want to let Lyssa leave his arms. He held her close, too close. She possessed a spine of steel, one he’d never imagined. Noah wanted to shake her, to force her to tell him what she hid. What could be so important that even in the midst of Archimedes’s threat, she refused to tell him what Reid knew?
    While the operative in Noah cursed her lie of omission, her strength made him want her even more.
    Her small convulsive squeeze against him, as if she were clinging to him against her will, gripped his heart. Unwanted emotions bubbled deep within him, feelings he’d quelled the moment he’d realized how much Jack cared for her.
    They’d first met Lyssa during a brief assignment at the United Nations. He’d mooned over her from afar. He’d wanted to ask her out, but she’d been too good to be true, so he’d hesitated. Jack had swept in. Game over. Noah had pushed aside the want and taken a few too many overseas assignments so he wouldn’t have to face what might have been. He’d been happy for Jack, but the knowledge Noah would never have anyone like Lyssa in his life had haunted him since.
    And here she was, in his arms, but he couldn’t let himself care now, either.
    Noah stepped away from her, but not before he caught the sad look in her eyes. Almost without thinking, he cupped her cheek. Neither of them moved. His heart thudded against his chest and he could barely breathe. Her emerald eyes held him captive, as did her tear-laced lashes. She leaned into his touch for just a moment. Awareness flickered between them. She blinked and cleared her throat. For a moment he wasn’t sure if he’d imagined the spark.
    She backed away, then fiddled with that duffel, and her gun. Her hands shook a bit.
    “Lyssa?”
    “Please go,” she said, her voice husky, her body’s posture screaming at him to leave.
    She was right. Getting involved would lead to nothing but distractions and disaster.
    He backed away. “Guess I’ll get back to the search. If you need anything—”
    “You have until tomorrow,” Lyssa interrupted softly. “I need something concrete from your team in twenty-four hours or we do things my way.” She cut him a quick glance over her shoulder before setting her shotgun on the bed. “I have no choice.”
    In other words, back to Chicago, back to placing a giant target on her back. She’d told him more than he wanted to know. She had no faith in him, and she was willing to die to catch Archimedes.
    Well, he wouldn’t let her.
    Noah shut the door on her and stalked into the living room. Zane looked up, speculation on his face.
    “She’s given us one day. Then she’s going back to Chicago to wait him out.”
    “Damn,” Rafe muttered.
    “I like her,” Zane said.
    Noah rounded on Zane then caught the gleam in