Dagger of Desire Read online

  Dagger of DESIRE

  WHITESTONE ALPHA AGENT SERIES BOOK 2

  ALEXANDRA MAXWELL

  Copyright © 2020 by Alexandra Maxwell

  www.romancesisters.com

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names of characters and incidences portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  The author has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracies of the URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee any content on such website.

  This book is written for the romance genre and contains some explicit scenes and /or language. It is intended for those 18 and over.

  For my Momma and Dad in Heaven

  Not a day goes by that I don’t think about you!

  Thank you for encouraging my adventurous spirit!

  Hope you don’t mind too much

  that things get steamy in my books!

  Miss you so much!

  Love you always and always!

  Preface

  The Dagger Series is a sexy, smart action adventure ALPHA MALE romance series where danger lurks, sparks fly and things get steamy hot.

  I am including a Prologue to give you dear readers a brief introduction in case you didn’t read Book 1. I don’t spill all the juicy bits or talk about every character in the Prologue. For that, you’ll have to read the books.

  To make things easy for you to get up to speed, take a look at my FREE GIFT TO YOU AT THE BACK OF THIS BOOK. It’s a downloadable and free copy of Dagger of LUST. Don’t miss one juicy tidbit before going on to Dagger of DANGER, Book 2. I am thrilled we are taking this ride together.

  Don’t we all want big, delicious love that lasts? I invite you to visit me at RomanceSisters.com and my Facebook page. I will share all kinds of goodies about love and romance. (You’ll find the links on the About the Author page.)

  Stay in touch. I am always cooking up mischief for you!

  Alexandra Maxwell

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  About the Author

  ALSO BY ALEXANDRA MAXWELL

  Meet Kara Maxwell

  By Kara Maxwell

  FREE GIFT from Alexandra Maxwell

  Prologue

  The sexy adventure is getting more dangerous and sexier by the minute. Desire grows stronger.

  QUICK RECAP: Tara Samuels is the gorgeous museum curator sent on a mission by her boss Dr. Barrett to pick up and deliver some very valuable artifacts, an ancient Egyptian dagger and the scabbard (cover) from an eccentric benefactor Mr. Mallard for an upcoming major exhibit. The Museum of Vintage Arts (MoVA) in New York City hired the Whitestone Agency to escort the pieces. The very hot Benjamin Reynolds is assigned to the case. This is supposed to be a routine assignment but there is nothing routine about it. Tara is attacked. Someone is on a quest to steal the artifacts.

  WARNING: BOOK 1 CONTAINS JUICY SCENES AND SO DOES BOOK 2. BUCKLE UP FOR THE RIDE!

  1

  The soft breeze blew across the sands of Giza as Tara Samuels stood near the entrance of a dwelling watching a young woman clothed in a kalasiris, a sheath dress, furtively move along a pathway heading toward the edge of the small Egyptian village. An infinite number of stars lit the expansive night sky with a bright moon piercing the starry scape. Tara couldn't help but follow the teenager as she continued to suspiciously look over her shoulder to see if someone was stalking her.

  It wasn't until the young woman reached the outskirts of the village that Tara saw the destination. A small cluster of dwellings stood a few hundred yards away from a wall that looked to be an entry point to the larger city of Giza. Tara saw the heavily guarded gateway as the soldiers armed with shields and spears spoke amongst themselves while others sat around a roaring fire while the rest milled around. She spotted the young woman sneaking past them and scurrying behind one of the buildings.

  Tara was amazed as she watched the young woman bend to pick up a handful of pebbles to throw at a specific corner of the home and wait patiently. Moments later, a young man came outside. The lovers embraced passionately. Their torrid desires exploded with wild abandon as they kissed until something made them stop. In a matter of seconds, the young couple was surrounded by soldiers dressed differently than the ones guarding the wall.

  A man appeared from the shadows wearing the colors of royalty, of the Vizier, the highest official of the region. He sneered at the boy before pulling the girl from his arms. They fought to stay together, but it was of no use. When the young man tried to chase after her, he was stopped and badly beaten. Once the soldiers disappeared, Tara tried to go to him to help him, but she couldn't move from her place. She was merely an observer in a time gone by.

  The young man didn’t rise from the dirt for quite a while as Tara held back tears for his heartbreak. He ambled back to his home and emerged with a shield far too large for his body and a spear he could barely hold steady. Tara saw a steely gaze in his eyes. It was the look of determination of a man on a mission to save the love of his life.

  Tara kept pace with the young warrior as he marched toward the village center. He approached an opulent structure with guards posted ready to defend the home of the Vizier. His beloved, sequestered in the home, stared at him from a window on the second story with tears in her eyes. She shook her head feverishly and waved frantically, desperately trying to dissuade him from the intent rippling through his body.

  Tara screamed for him to stop, but no sound escaped from her larynx. Her feet remained still as if glued to the ground. Her body could not budge. She had to watch as the young warrior charged toward the home of the man who single-handedly advised the Pharaoh. Something was off. The guards parted, allowing him to enter. Within the blink of an eye, Tara no longer stood outside of the home, but in the bedroom where the young woman watched her love attempting to her rescue.

  The Vizier held her by the arm in his savage hold while the young warrior stormed into the bedroom. Tara wanted to stop him from getting himself killed. She wanted to help the young woman escape the death grip of the Vizier but Tara was powerless. The yearning for the lovers to be together enveloped everyone in the household as they allowed the young man entry to the private chambers. This enraged the Vizier. In a flash, Tara saw a gleam of gold illuminated by the fire torches burning around the room. The brilliance drew her eyes to the elaborate dagger and scabbard hanging from the Vizier's waist.

  As the warrior let out his ferocious war cry, he leveled his spear, and attacked with the power of love pushing him forward. The young warrior underestimated the skill of his opponent. The Vizier kicked the shield out of his hand and grabbed the spear, yanking it behind him but forgetting where the young warrior's love stood. The tip of the spear violently penetrated her body, drawing them all to a shock of disbelief.

  The warrior let out a piercing scream and fell to his knees with tears streaming in his eyes as his love took her last breath. His despair transformed into a rage as he pulled to his feet and hurled himself at the Vizier. With cold headed clarity, the Vizier seized the dagger from the sheath. Tara's eyes burned with terror as she watched the Vizier mercilessly wield the b
lade. She covered her eyes not wanting to see…

  Tara heard a disorienting cacophony of sounds as she opened her eyes and felt searing pain. The throbbing pang against the side of her head forced pulsing shades of white and red, before the street around her came into focus. She gasped for breath and trembled with fear.

  “That’s it, deep breaths. You are going to be fine. Be still. Just breathe. That’s it….” the masculine voice invaded her thoughts. “I’m so sorry Tara, I should have never left you, I’m so sorry.”

  “Ben?”

  "I'm here." Benjamin Reynold’s reassuring voice lulled her into closing her eyes, but he tried his best to keep her focus with him. "Tara, I need you to stay awake for me. Can you do that for me?"

  “What happened?” She could barely get the words out while Ben kneeled beside her.

  “You were attacked, Tara.”

  “What?” She asked him with confusion clouding her every thought.

  Like a tidal wave crashing over her, the images flooding Tara’s memory forced her to sit up only for her head to swirl with dizzying nausea. She lifted her hand to steady herself only to have Ben grip her and clasp her weak body in his arms.

  “Take it easy,” Ben assured her, “be still. The paramedics are pulling up now.”

  Tara took a deep breath as an Emergency Medical Technician assessed her condition outside of a motel room that looked a lot similar to a dozen others they'd driven by before the high-speed chase that led them here. After a round of exhausting questions from the police, Tara watched Ben hover a few feet away yelling into his phone and pulling nervously at his gorgeous head of cropped hair. She felt more at peace with what happened and appreciative of Ben’s caring presence.

  “Ben,” she called to him quietly.

  His eyes shifted to her as he spoke to his boss on the phone about Tara’s boss, "I don't care what you have to do, Rork. Get him to pay for air travel, or hell, you pay for it, and I'll pay you back."

  Ben got off the phone to make his way toward her. Tara smiled, "Are you going to tell me what happened? The cops only asked me about the guy who attacked me. I didn't see him. Where were you? Are the artifacts safe? I had this bizarre dream about them. It was violent and bloody.”

  Ben took her hands into his, "I don't want you to worry, but remember that I told you any time something of value is being transported there is going to be someone who wants to take it. I need you to listen to me. Things are going to get a little bit crazy before they get back to normal. The room's been ransacked. I need you to go through the space to see if anything is missing."

  “Oh no,” Tara sighed. When he led Tara to the room, the breath left her lungs haltingly as the sight of the room torn to shambles brought her to her knees.

  2

  Ben caught Tara as her knees buckled the minute she let her gaze drag across the ravaged room. The bed she'd slept on had been turned over onto its side. The mattress was sliced open with springs and stuffing littered around the room. The television was ripped from wall, and every single drawer was turned out. All her possession were strewn haphazardly across the floor. Her toiletries were deliberately broken and flung against the walls leaving oozy residues.

  “This,” she hesitated, “This doesn’t make sense. Why do all of this?”

  “My guess…” Ben watched her painfully sort her clothes out of the mess, “They didn’t see what the artifacts were stored in and didn’t see me leave with them.”

  "Why did you leave?" Tara asked him with bated breath.

  "Tara," he closed his eyes, dreading the conversation, "I didn't want to leave you here alone, but you were so shaken up after the chase that I didn't want to move you until you were ready. I couldn't keep the artifacts here. I did some surveillance of the area and got a different space for us. I kept the artifacts with me."

  “They’re my responsibility,” she stated.

  “No,” he shook his head, “My company was hired to protect those artifacts. You-”

  "I was sent here to make sure they make it from Point A to Point B. It's a packaged deal, and you left me," her voice shook, "You left me here!"

  "I thought you'd stay in the room, or at the very least, call me when you got up and saw that I wasn't there."

  Tara finished grabbing her things out of the fray, “How am I supposed to do that without your cell number?”

  "You really didn't read through the file for this thing, did you?"

  “We already went through that! Stop trying to shift the blame to me!” she shouted at him, “Short notice remember?!”

  His phone buzzed before he could drill into her about preparing for this job. Whitestone security flashed across the screen as he answered the call, “Reynolds, here.”

  "Ben," Rork spoke firmly, "No one has 20 grand to throw down on a private jet. I've tried, and every affordable scenario means sharing a jet or travel space. Commercial flights are out of the question. You can’t board a flight carrying a dagger, even an ancient one. It would have to be checked and transported with the cargo. The Insurance Underwriters and the Museum Board would never agree to that. I thought we could have worked something out."

  "Doesn't he care that his employee was just attacked or that we were run off the road?" Ben asked.

  "The short answer is no," Rork admitted, "Honestly, Ben, we knew the dangers in transporting something as valuable as these artifacts. We were just hoping it never came to this. Dr. Barrett is adamant that they're only to be handled by you or Miss Samuels. You have to drive them back. In the meantime, we're still having a hard time tracking the guy from the rental agency who got the pickup truck. We only have a partial image, and that's too grainy to be useful. He's probably ditched the truck by now, anyway. What do you want to do?"

  “I don’t know,” Ben sighed, “I have to be honest, Rork, I’m feeling completely unprepared for what we’re up against. Any chatter about who wants these pieces?”

  “None as of right now. I’ll keep you posted. Do you want me to have Tate come out there?”

  Ben ran his fingers through his hair, shooting a look at Tara standing in front of the room. He shifted his gaze out to the parking lot. He wanted to get out of there. Doubt began to crawl inside of him, pushing his insecurities to the forefront about returning to the job too soon. He let out a huff, "Yeah, maybe you should. I don't know if-"

  Rork cut him off, "No! If I send Tate to you, it's to help you out, not takeover. This is your case. You're not injured, and Miss Samuels is going to be fine, right?"

  "Yeah, she's just got a bump on the head. I'll keep an eye on her for any signs of a concussion. Man, what if this is like before?" Ben asked.

  Rork sighed with sorrow pouring over the line, "Ben, you really have to let that go. That wasn't your fault. Our job is to protect the person or item on the contract. We cannot do our jobs perfectly every single time, and we can't protect people when they do things to put themselves in jeopardy. I'll see if Tate can come out there to help you with some temporary back up, but that's it. Once we figure out what's going on with these artifacts, he's heading back here. I know you want the help, and I know you're more than capable, Ben. Besides, this is still a business, Dr. Cheapo at the museum isn't paying for the extra manpower. I am. Museums are notoriously underfunded for security. I already asked before I asked about the jet."

  Ben rubbed the bridge of his nose trying to soothe his rising nervousness and trying desperately to keep from pulling at his hair. “Okay. We’re playing this by ear then. I’m going to deal with the motel’s incidentals and make sure Dr. Barrett is aware he has to pay the insurance deductibles to cover this and any damage they find on that rental car.”

  “Already done. I’ll give you a heads up when Tate’s on his way.”

  “Wait, isn’t he on a case?”

  “He was, but the client needs to go to some small country island that Tate’s been banned from.”

  Ben stifled a laugh, “Who gets banned from an entire country?”

 
; "My baby brother," Rork stated with palpable frustration, "Something about the Prime Minister's daughter, a camel, and some tanker trucks full of oil. I don't know. It doesn't matter. He can't go.”

  “So he’s sitting around the office bugging you. I can use the manpower.”

  "You two aren't going to buddy cop this, Ben. He's only coming there to do reconnaissance for you. You have two days with him, tops. You and Tate are out of MoVA’s budget. Don’t try to convince him to stay for free either! This is a business. I hate that I have to remind you guys of that all the time. Again, I’ll shoot you a message when he’s in the air.”

  “Fine.” Ben hung up the phone to see Tara still in a trance staring into the room. He sidled up next to her and spoke softly, “Tara, did you go through any of it?”

  She jolted with a start at the sound of his voice, “No. My bags?”

  He rubbed the back of her shoulder to ease her anxiety, “Your suitcase and purse are in the car. I laid you on the bed to get some rest. Your phone was on the nightstand I think.”

  “Oh my goodness.” Tears welled in her eyes as her hands began to shake, “I need my phone. My brother is going to want to know what happened. And, Danny, she’s going to be worried sick.”

  “Danny is the bartender, right?”

  “Yes.”

  Ben nodded, “Okay, tell me about her while we look for your phone.”

  3