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

She nodded thoughtfully. “Do you really want it?”


A place this big, and this close to Quinn? “Yeah.” But there was still something that was bothering me. “Look, can you distract her for about ten minutes? I want to see what’s up on the roof.”


“I thought you might. I’ll suggest I want to examine the dining room again.”


We walked back into the empty bedroom, and I came to an abrupt standstill.


“Mrs. Mann, the other bedroom had carpeting, and the bed was made, almost like a…a showplace. Dressed to sell, if you follow me?”


“Yes, I see what you mean. There’s no carpeting in this room, but there is in the hall leading to the bathroom; there’s nothing on the bed beyond a rather nondescript duvet—no sheets, no pillows or shams.”


Chapter 23