Mark Vincent has risen from senior special agent to Director of Interior Affairs in the WBIS. Lately, life has been sweet for him -- in addition to his promotion, he's found a partner in Quinton Mann, who can almost match his ability in the intelligence field, in spite of the fact Quinn's CIA. Mark has also found a condo in Alexandria with the help of Portia Mann, Quinn's mother, and it's closer to Quinn's town house than Mark's present apartment. Sweetest of all, Mark plans to take Quinn to his island in the Caribbean for the holidays.<br><br>Quinn's glad he has the holiday with Mark to look forward to -- something is going on at Langley, and he feels he's being kept out of the loop. To make matters even worse, useless missions and sleepless nights filled with nightmares are leaving him exhausted. But then his mother's life if threatened, and Quinn discovers the accident that resulted in her hospitalization was no accident. The obsessively self-absorbed Senator Wexler is involved, and while Quinn considers himself a civilized man, now he's out for blood.<br><br>Up until this point, Mark has stayed out of Quinn's CIA business. But hurting Quinn and those he loves isn't a smart move, and Mark has every intention of seeing Wexler pays. Quinn demands to come along, and while Mark isn't happy, he finally agrees, and they set out together to deal with the senator. There's just one catch: this will be the first time Quinn sees Mark at his deadly best, and Mark isn't sure how his lover will react.

Forever

Next I spoke to the host at Raphael’s and rescheduled for the following week, and finally I called my secretary. It felt a little odd calling from the parking lot, but it would be even odder to go back to my office, only to turn around and leave.


“Ms. Parker, I’ll be out for the rest of the afternoon.”


“Yes, sir. I’ll reschedule anything that comes up, for next week.”


“I will. And I hope you do too, sir.”


Actually, I was going to have a fantastic weekend.


The wrought iron gates that were supposed to keep outsiders out of Aspen Reach were set in stone walls that were eight feet high. I still would have felt happier if there had been a guard at those gates.


After the Realtor got us past them, we followed her to the clubhouse and parked beside her convertible. She waited for us to approach her car, and then slid out of the front seat.


Chapter 18