Apparently, wearing her very expensive diamonds (the ones that made her sparkle from the other side of the room) to work really only tipped people off about the kind of morning she'd had, especially since she'd arrived an hour late ( Read more... )

A full week since Danielle had made her leave the guest house and Annie was still no closer to finding an apartment than she had been the day she'd left. After spending lunch hours searching the classifieds and her evenings packing, she was frayed - mentally, emotionally and physically. The overnight slumber party she'd had with Webb hadn't done ( Read more... )

Annie had told Danielle that she was exhausted, but that was so much of an understatement that it was ridiculous. After making sure that her older sister had put the good coffee on the menu, Annie hauled her suitcase off to the guesthouse with as much nonchalance as she could muster ( Read more... )

Annie had left her shoes in Webb's car and, as soon as she'd walked into the DPD, had been told that she was due to leave on a flight to Madrid. Knowing that Webb wasn't in his office yet, she left him a voice mail and prepared to leave.

It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him, but she was still feeling a little awkward about the previous ( Read more... )

Annie was standing at the foot of the bed, three different pictures spread out on the bed in front of her, and when Webb walked in, she turned.

"Oh, good! Which one do you like?"

It was the worst start to a morning that Annie had had in a long time. She's slept awful. Well, no. She hadn't slept at all. She'd gotten up early so that she could take out the trash to avoid any questions, taken a shower, gotten dressed and promptly spilled coffee on her suit. After she'd changed and put on new shoes to match, she'd broken a heel ( Read more... )

As usual, the briefing happened around ten and she had her specs on the op around noon. Once everything had been planned out, she grabbed her purse and keys, then headed for the elevator. It was only fair, she supposed, that she let him know that she was going out of town. She'd been doing it for months; this wouldn't be any different ( Read more... )

The drive to Manderly was, as always, relaxing and calm. It put her in the right mind frame for the upcoming holiday and as they passed other houses on their way out of town, she felt herself get more and more into the spirit of Christmas ( Read more... )

They had been married all of three weeks. Three weeks, two of which were spent on their honeymoon, another holiday spent over the 4th of July and then the orders had come down: a long term, undercover assignment spent in Eastern Europe. The details had been clear enough that she knew that contact would be, at best, minimum and at worst nil ( Read more... )

Annie had resisted the overwhelming urge to spend the next week at Clay's apartment just in case he came home. As six days, then seven passed, she honestly thought she was going to come out of her skin if he didn't call her. Every night, she lay awake in her own bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering if, during that last week, something had gone ( Read more... )