Read Online Undercover Nightingale by Wendy Rosnau - Free Book Online Page A

so hard to disguise himself.”
    “I thought that, too.”
    The waitress came by. Allegra ordered another martini and Ash ordered a Coke.
    “You don’t drink? That was why the bar in your suite was empty.”
    “No, I don’t drink.”
    She tasted her drink. Savored her. “Moderation is the key to life’s little evils. A man who indulges in excess is a weak man.”
    “I admit to few weaknesses, but liquor and beautiful women can be a deadly combination, so I’ve given up liquor.”
    That brought a smile to her face, and he smiled back, then glanced toward the door. The trench coat hadn’t moved.
    Time lagged.
    Ash touched her bare shoulder. “Is this your normal style?”
    “I can be whatever I need to be.”
    “Right now you need to be my woman. Move a little closer.”
    “We should be getting back to Filip. He could wake up and try to get out of bed.”
    “He won’t be getting out of bed tonight.”
    “You don’t know him.”
    “How well do you?”
    “Well enough to know that he won’t stay down long. Look. He’s leaving.”
    They watched the trench coat stand and step away from the table, but he never left. Instead he began to stroll through the bar searching the faces in the crowd.
    “He’s coming this way.” Ash tucked her deeper into the booth to hide her.
    “Now what?”
    Ash turned to study the body beneath the trench coat. If it was a man, he was shorter than most, with more of a sauntering gait than a swagger.
    The picture Stillman had given him of Jazmin Grant popped in his head. The blonde was five-seven and curvy in all the right places. Just maybe their friend was a woman. If Grant was here, that would shorten his mission.
    “He’s getting closer,” Allegra said. “We need to get out of here.”
    “If we get up, he’ll tag you for sure.” Ash slid his arm around her and pulled her against him.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Saving you…again.” He lowered his head and brushed her lips with his, paused, then kissed her again.
    “It’s time to say thank you. And be convincing. Perhaps even a little excessive. You’re a one-man woman, remember, and right now, I’m that man.”

Chapter 5

    A sh shoved Allegra into his suite and followed after her, but not before he looked back to make sure that they weren’t being followed. They had slipped out of the hotel lounge after the trench coat had given up and left the bar.
    He had been torn whether to take chase, or get Allegra back upstairs. If it was Grant, and she was working alone, he should have confronted her then and there, but he couldn’t be sure it was her, or that she was acting alone. Then there was his cover to consider.
    He’d made the only decision he could make at the time, to protect Allegra first and hope that he’d be able to locate Grant afterward.
    He closed the door just as Naldo rolled off the couch. “Everything okay, prim —boss?”
    “Who’s he?”
    “How’s Petrov?”
    “Still sleeping.”
    She spun around. “I said, who is he?”
    “Allegra, meet Naldo.”
    She glanced back at his cousin, gave him a long hard look. “You’re the…chauffeur. The guy who drives like he’s on speed.”
    “ Sì . Chauffeur. Errand boy. Watch dog. Vigorous bull… It’s a pleasure, señorita .”
    Naldo was grinning like a puppet on a string. The truth was, he loved women—all women. In the old days he hadn’t gone a day without a different face in his bed. Well, Toriago hadn’t either, not until he’d met Lolita.
    The old memories surfaced, and they were as unexpected as the hard-on that had been dropped in his lap downstairs when Allegra had kissed him in the bar.
    He had felt dead for close to a year, but with one kiss, Filip’s woman had plugged him in and turned him on. It was like lightning had struck and his body had suddenly gone off strike, or at least had awakened from a long sleep.
    As much as he would have liked to celebrate the fact that he was back in business, he was the first to admit that