For a spy, love is the deadliest enemy.
That was what Lili Smith had always been told. When she joined the Germans as an undercover agent, she vowed she would never get involved in the type of silly romantic relationships that could jeopardise her work. And yet here she was lying in bed with Major William Larrabee; the subject of her current assignment. But not because she was supposed to seduce him and thereby extract important military information out of him. No, it was because of something else entirely. It was because of something she felt for the Major.
In the beginning everything that went on between her and Bill had been purely professional. But as it progressed it had also changed. When she was around Bill she felt something she'd never felt before; something beautiful and unexplainable; something that surpassed even the rush Lili felt when she was performing. Now it was more important to her to have an enjoyable time with Bill, rather than discovering the information she was supposed to.
The men of the French Army Intelligence had already approached her, asking her to be an informer should she see anything that would lead her to believe Major Larrabee was passing on military secrets to the enemy. Of course, they had no idea that Lili herself was the person they were looking for. But she knew it wouldn't be long before they realised she was the one they were after. She would just have to be careful.
In addition, Kurt had told her there was a chance that Bill might be onto her. That was the last thing she needed. But the last thing she wanted was for the other thing Kurt said to be true, and for there to be another woman in Bill's life. All in all that was incredibly selfish of her – she knew that but she really couldn't help it.
Bill and everybody else might think she was an actress; and in a certain way they were right. But she wasn't the type of actress they thought she was because, behind that guise she was still what she had been all along. A spy. A German spy at that. An enemy agent. And Kurt, Emma and Bedford were the only people close to her who knew the truth. But now, how she felt about Bill made everything more complicated.
She had never planned on this love.
Major Larrabee was considered to be quite the ladies' man.
It had been that way all his life. He'd earned himself a reputation for being the boy who had a higher number of women he'd gone to bed with over the years than the number of planes he'd taken out. Which was rather impressive given that he had shot down a substantial number of planes.
He knew that if his commanding officers anything ever found out about his dalliances he would be placed under military arrest. So he'd invented code names for all the women he'd slept with; allowing him and his fellow soldiers to talk about it without fear of detection.
Currently he was having an affair with a well-known entertainer; Suzette Maldue. His code name for this affair was Operation Crepe Suzette, since Suzette's stage name was Crepe Suzette. At the present moment though, he wasn't with Suzette. He was in the bed of another woman; another concert hall performer in fact; Lili Smith.
The strange thing was though, that he didn't feel guilty at all. Being a ladies man he had never felt much attachment to the women he courted, but the experience he was having right now was entirely different. He used to feel the decency to finish with one woman before moving onto another. He may be a ladies man, but he was still a gentleman.
But being with Lili felt so different. He told himself that it shouldn't, but it did. She made him feel something amazing and gorgeous; but it was more than that. She made him feel a way that nobody else did – or had, for that matter.
Earlier this evening, he'd told Lili he'd thought she was the most provocative, exciting and most desirable woman he'd ever met. And he'd meant it. From the moment he first saw her singing to the wounded troops at a hospital, he'd be smitten.
He had never planned on this love.
This was the love they never planned.