Quinton Mann is CIA through and through. Mark Vincent is WBIS for life. There is no way they could end up as anything other than adversaries -- and yet, Quinn takes Mark out to dinner on his birthday -- the one no one is supposed to know about -- and gives him one hell of a present in the restaurant's restroom. Mark, not to be outdone, has decided to escalate this game, because it has to be a game, right? There's no way it can be anything else.<br><br>But as the game continues, as Quinn shows up to a WBIS funeral, as a friend of Mark’s penetrates the CIA computer network to get information on Quinn, as Mark breaks into Quinn's house and gives Quinn a very interesting encounter, both Quinn and Mark realize that this is becoming the most real thing in their lives.<br><br>Can they find a way to do their jobs and keep this surprising, intriguing connection?

Houseboat on the Nile

“I’m sorry, Gregor. The last thing I want is to upset Mother.” That made it sound as if either I was a mama’s boy or she was overprotective, but that was far from the truth in both instances. Portia Sebring Mann had been part of the intelligence community herself, deciphering Russian codes for the NSA during the Cold War. She’d lost my father, a CIA officer, when that Air India jet had crashed in 1978, and she hadn’t been happy when her brothers had recruited me into the same organization. However, she’d let me follow my own path.


A relaxed smile lit Gregor’s brown eyes, and he patted my shoulder. “You’ve been given leave, of course.”


I groaned. “Please don’t tell me Mother spoke to Rayner.”


“No.” The corner of his mouth quirked up in a grin, and I knew better than to ask whether that meant no, Mother hadn’t spoken to Rayner, who was Director of Counterintelligence, or not. He wouldn’t tell me. “I’ll give you a hand to the car. Would you like me to drive you home?”


Chapter 17