Bare Witness by Katherine Garbera Read Free Book Online

something else, this was really all she could ever be. This job, this thing she’d become to survive. And for the first time since she’d learned that Baron Industries was their client, she was glad of it.
     
    The rest of the flight was smooth, but Nigel was distracted and restless. Ha! He was horny and he couldn’t concentrate on anything except the way Justine had felt in his arms. He wanted her back there again.
    But not now. He had a factory to open, and another matter to take care of deep in the jungle, that no one, save Jenkins, knew about. Usually the excitement of doing the odd jobs he did for the government kept him on his toes. But this one had gotten out of hand and the office he worked for had suggested he hire Liberty Investigations. He had the odd feeling that his identity had been compromised.
    He’d almost left Piper at home. For the first time since her mother’s death, he’d thought about separating the two of them. But in the end, he still felt that his daughter would be safer with him in the Amazon Basin than tucked away in their home in the States.
    Jenkins’s injury had shaken him. He liked the work he did for the government because it was usually pretty straightforward, and it gave him a thrill to be doing something with a hint of danger involved.
    But the price of that thrill was more than he realized when he’d visited Jenkins in the hospital, and found the man barely conscious.
    His mobile phone rang and he glanced at the caller ID before answering it. It was Derrick Baron. Nigel was half tempted to let it go to voicemail, but he didn’t.
    “This is Nigel.”
    “It’s Derrick. We have a situation in the office.”
    “I have confidence you can handle it.”
    Derrick cleared his throat and Nigel waited to see what the other man was going to say.
    “I…um…I already did handle it.”
    “Good. Are there any problems that need my attention?”
    “No. Not yet. But I wanted to make you aware—
    “Derrick.”
    “Yes?”
    “I trust you. You are the one I put in charge. Whatever decisions you make, I know you have the best interests of Baron in mind.”
    Nigel heard Derrick exhale. “I do. Thanks, Nigel.”
    “No problem.”
    Nigel hung up the phone and focused on work. Justine moved about the cabin in that vigilant way of hers. She stopped once in a while to talk to Constance or Piper, but for the most part, she remained focused on her job. Considering that was what he was paying her for, he knew he had no reason to be annoyed.
    But he was.
    He knew that the annoyance was basic, a simple masculine instinct that made him want to demand her attention. To have her fixated on him the way he was on her. Even though he was pretending not to be.
    He actually felt the layers of civilization peeling away each time he watched her pace past his desk. With each trip she made up and down the aisle, he felt his skin tighten until he had balled his hands into fists to keep from reaching for her again.
    Justine stopped in front of him, and for just a moment, he thought about picking her up and carrying her to the bedroom at the back of the plane.
    “Can we speak privately?”
    “Yes,” he said.
    Piper and Constance were seated in the front of the plane, and he gestured to the captain’s chair next to his desk.
    “I mean in the bedroom.”
    He arched one eyebrow at her. “Sure.”
    Nigel followed Justine as she walked down the aisle and into the plush room. Piper’s favorite stuffed bunny was sitting on the pillow.
    “I’d like to go over a few things before we land.”
    “Yes?”
    “I’ve just learned that the manifest of passengers has been sent ahead of us with our flight plan.”
    “Is that a problem?” Nigel asked, knowing that with the heightened security measures that had been enacted since September 11, it was impossible to fly into any foreign country anonymously.
    “It is if your enemies have any access to the immigration office.”
    “What do you recommend?”
    “I have a