Page 21 of Winter’s Fire

Lucy scooped up the last spoonful of breakfast cereal. Considering she’d had so little sleep, she felt surprisingly alert. “Is there a website for that, too?”

She hoped not. Having spent so much time on the computer for her BDSM research, she was ready for a change of scenery. One more session online, and she was sure her brain would dribble out of her nose and go permanently AWOL.

Logan gave her what she’d come to think of as his Dom look—not for the first time that morning—and skewered another forkful of bacon and scrambled eggs. For whatever reason, he’d been in a dark mood since she’d first laid eyes on him about an hour ago. He hadn’t actually behaved in an obnoxious manner towards her—if anything, he’d been stiffly polite. So much for the breakthrough she’d hoped their night-time run might have brought about.

She just about managed not to roll her eyes. “Is there a website for that, too, Sir?”

“There’s probably several, but I’m not risking you finding some idiot wannabe amateur’s best guess and assuming it’s true. Don’t get your knickers in a twist—we’re going to make it as easy for you as we can. We’re working up a new identity for you right now.”

This was the first Lucy had heard on the subject. “Why? I mean, what about my passport? How’s that going to work?”

“You’ll have a new one for the duration of our trip. The name’s close to your real name, and her past will for the most part mirror yours.”

“What about you?”

Breakfast finished, Logan pushed his plate to one side and took a healthy swig of coffee strong enough to dissolve a teaspoon. “I already have a legend.”

A legend was a false identity. All the unit’s field officers had at least one as part of their standard toolkit. “Is it really necessary? What if I get your name wrong and someone overhears?”

“Legends are usually close to your real name for that reason. As for being necessary, we won’t know for certain until we get there, and if we haven’t taken that precaution, it’s too late by then.”

He had a point. “So what should I call you? And from what you said, you already have a name for me. Who am I going to be?”

“For this assignment, I’m Lucan Simpson, but at the resort, it might be easier just to use ‘Sir’. No one’ll think anything odd about it there.”

Which she was already calling him—when she remembered, at any rate. Lucy managed a small, wry smile. “I guess I’d better start getting used to calling you that more often then, Sir.”

Maybe it was wishful thinking on her part, but his expression seemed to relax a little.

“It’ll be okay, Lucy. It’s just a precaution. And if you do accidentally call me Logan, it’s close enough to Lucan for most people to assume they misheard.”

“I’ll do my best.” She gave a little chuckle. “It seems to me that you might have a harder job remembering whatever they’ve christened me. Not much sounds like Lucy.”

And now he was smiling. Thinking of all the times she’d seen him sporting an angry scowl at worst and a neutral brick wall of an expression at best, Lucy decided he should smile more often. Apart from anything else, it made him look more human and less like some sort of emotionally detached robot.

“It’s Lisa. Lisa White.”

Lisa. Lucy. Lucy wrinkled her nose. She didn’t exactly feel like a Lisa. “Sounds weird. We really have to use false names, Sir?”

“We don’t know what we’re walking into—we have to be prepared for a worst-case scenario.”

“Which is?”

“If there’s some sort of illegal activity going on. If it’s illegal enough, it could get us killed, although I think that’s unlikely.”

“Remind me never to come to you when I need cheering up!”

Okay, so her off-the-cuff remark was flippant rather than humorous, but the last thing Lucy expected was for the storm clouds to descend over Logan’s face once more, and in the process send a frozen dagger through her chest.

“That’s just it… Lisa. As my submissive, you come to me with any problems you might have. It’s my job to take care of you.”

Her hackles went up. “Is that Logan or Lucan talking?”

“Both.”

There was no way in hell Lucy could maintain eye contact, not with him looking so grim and determined. All of a sudden, she was way out of her depth, floundering in a sea of uncertainty as if the boundaries between real life and the roles they were assuming had blinked out of existence.

“Are you all right?”