Primal Pa.s.sion.

The Trinity Masters.

By Mari Carr and Lila Dubois.

There is pa.s.sion and power in three...

Deni Parker thinks she's got it all figured out. Working on the cutting edge of science, she has little time for anything but work. Luckily she doesn't have to bother with dating because she's a member of the Trinity Masters-a secret society that has not only helped her career, but which will identify the two people with whom she'll spend the rest of her life in an arranged menage marriage. When her invitation to the introduction ceremony is delivered-years ahead of when she expected-by the very intimidating, and far too handsome, Price Bennett, Deni's more than a little unprepared.

Price didn't join the Trinity Masters to play messenger. As CEO of a major security firm and heir to one of the largest fortunes in the world, he's annoyed when the Grand Master orders him to transport the disorganized, virgin scientist to the ceremony to meet her partners. It's only when they arrive that Price realizes he isn't a mere messenger-he's been matched with Deni.

FBI Agent Gunner Wells has been in love with Deni for years, but he's resisted pursuing her. When he arrives at his introduction ceremony, he's delighted to discover Deni is not only a member of the secret society, but one of his partners...along with billionaire playboy, Price Bennett.

Their strong personalities clash-in the bedroom and out of it-but Price and Gunner have to put aside their overprotectiveness, and Deni must put aside her pride, when someone tries to stop her research-with deadly methods.

Prologue.

"You asked to see me, Grand Master?"

"Yes. I need you to perform a task, Price."

Price lowered his head in deference. The Grand Master knew it wasn't easy for some members of the Trinity Masters to bend their will to a higher authority. They were a powerful, wealthy, intelligent group of trailblazers, one and all. The man standing before the Grand Master no doubt suffered the most when it came to taking orders. Regardless of that fact, Price had risen to a position of power within the organization because he was confident, driven and trustworthy. In the years since Price had joined the secret society, he'd become one of the Grand Master's most trusted advisors.

Today's venture would test, possibly shatter, that relations.h.i.+p.

"I need you to deliver this summons. The recipient's name and address are on the envelope."

Price's eyes narrowed with annoyance. His knee-jerk reaction was exactly as the Grand Master expected. "Forgive me, sir, but my role in the Trinity Masters does not require me to play messenger."

The Grand Master rose slowly. He'd learned long ago friends.h.i.+p was a luxury he couldn't afford. Regardless, there were times when he missed it. "Your duty is to the Trinity Masters and to me. Are you questioning my authority? And please, be very careful with your response, Mr. Bennett."

Price took a slight step back-no doubt surprised by the genuine threat in his tone. They stared for several moments, each of them sizing up the other, before Price bowed his head once more. "I apologize. I was in a very important meeting when I received your missive to report here at once. I thought there was an emergency. My duty to the Trinity Masters is as it has always been. I will serve. Them...and you."

He noticed how Price hesitated to add the last part. The Grand Master held Price's gaze for a long, silent moment, letting his displeasure over being challenged sink in. Price looked away first.

The Grand Master sat once more. "I need the letter delivered immediately, and I want you to escort Dr. Parker here."

Price nodded. "Of course." He glanced at the envelope. "Dr. Denise Parker. Harvard Stem Cell Inst.i.tute. Is she in some sort of trouble?"

While he didn't need to explain himself, the Grand Master decided it might drive home the importance of Price's task if he did. "She is meeting her life partners in the introduction ceremony this afternoon, and I'm not sure she'll show up without a.s.sistance."

Price frowned. "We don't usually escort members to that ritual. Is she resistant?"

The Grand Master shook his head. "No. She is special."

Price didn't appear satisfied with that response, but he would soon learn for himself why Denise Parker required the escort. "Very well."

Price turned to leave, but the Grand Master issued one last order.

"Don't leave the facility without Denise, Price. Escort her here. And...for your troubles, you'll find a small reward in box twenty-seven. Make sure you retrieve it as soon as you return."

Chapter One.

Denise Parker lifted her head from the microscope and rubbed her eyes wearily. She'd risen well before dawn after a restless night spent sleeping on the thin cot in her office. Her mother would read her the riot act if she knew how often she stayed at the lab.

Most nights she worked so late she couldn't be bothered driving across town to her tiny apartment. She wasn't married, didn't own pets, h.e.l.l, she didn't even have plants, so there was very little reason for her to return home. Ever.

She turned to her computer to input the figures and to hash out some ANOVA calculations. Her life seemed to be one long stream of trials and data a.n.a.lysis. Mom despaired over her long hours and disinterest in a social life, but Deni couldn't tell her mother there was no reason to worry. She would definitely get married...someday. She had found a way to guarantee a marriage without the awkwardness of dating.

She'd been introduced to the Trinity Masters just as she was finis.h.i.+ng up her doctoral degree. Her professor had asked her to remain after cla.s.s one day and had opened her eyes to a world she'd never imagined existed-one of secret societies, symbols, ceremonies and power.

As a child prodigy, she'd never fit in anywhere, always years younger than her peers. The Trinity Masters had accepted her despite-no, because of-her intelligence and eccentricities. They supported her endeavors in science, helping her land a job at one of the most respected research labs in the country right after her post-doctorate work. The powerful members had helped pave the way for her controversial research by cutting through red tape and ensuring the continual flow of grant money necessary to allow her to continue her experiments.

She'd overheard some of the single members of the Trinity Masters jokingly refer to their successes as "selling their souls to the devil," but Deni didn't see it that way. Her work would revolutionize modern medicine, enabling doctors to treat and maybe find a cure for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS and any other neurological disease that crept up. There was too much pain in the world-she had witnessed that firsthand-and she wouldn't rest until she'd done everything in her power to find a way to stop it.

The Trinity Masters's philosophy was based on the belief that there was power in a triad. By binding three intelligent people together, they hoped to strengthen society through relations.h.i.+ps formed for a variety of political, scientific and cultural reasons. In exchange for their support on the professional level, the Trinity Masters would place her with two partners who would bind their lives to hers in the ultimate sharing of power and ideas. It was a heady prospect to be part of such an old and elite group.

Deni simply needed to bide her time until the Grand Master called her to the altar. Their concept of an arranged marriage appealed to her because she wasn't willing to sacrifice her research for romance. There was no room in her life for that kind of emotion.

Unfortunately for her relations.h.i.+p with her mother, the Trinity Masters was a secret. Deni wished there was some way she could tell her mother she needn't worry about her only child spending the rest of her life as a spinster. Revealing her life plan would save her countless hours of nagging phone calls and attempts on her mother's part to set her up with some friend's son or the hairdresser's recently divorced nephew.

Oh, well. Until the Grand Master found her suitable partners, she would have to fend off her mother's matchmaking for a few more years. She'd paid close attention to the ages of the recently paired triads. Members were called to the altar between the ages of thirty-two and thirty-seven with an average age for females of thirty-two. Mercifully that meant there was an eighty-four percent likelihood that Deni had at least four more unenc.u.mbered years to focus on her research.

She put on a pair of safety goggles and began running the next set of tests. She wasn't sure how long she'd worked-her research a.s.sistant, Curtis, always teased her about disappearing into the Twilight Zone during experiments-when the sound of the lab door opening captured her attention.

Glancing up, she found herself face to face with a very large, stern-looking man. The majority of her colleagues had slight builds and pale complexions from too many hours spent inside under the fluorescent lighting. This man with his dark skin, coal-black hair and Mr. Universe-sized muscles was the polar opposite of nearly every man she'd ever met.

With the exception of Gunner. The thought of her only friend made her smile, which produced an even deeper scowl on the stranger's face.

d.a.m.n. She had a bad habit of living inside her head and forgetting to communicate.

"What are you doing in here?"

His frown deepened.

c.r.a.p. Time to employ social convention. "h.e.l.lo. Can I help you?"

"Are you Denise Parker?"

She nodded. "Deni."

"Excuse me?"

She wasn't sure why she bothered to correct the man, but she persevered anyway. "Everyone calls me Deni. Never Denise."

The man's expression didn't change. Instead, he extended his hand and offered her a letter. "This is for you, Denise."

She couldn't miss the way he stressed her formal name. Something about the man rubbed her the wrong way. He seemed angry with her, but she couldn't understand why. She'd never met him before.

Deni glanced at the envelope, immediately recognizing the seal of the Trinity Masters. Her heart began to race. There must be a mistake. It was too soon. She was still too young, too busy for this.

She looked at the man again and her hands actually went numb. Surely he wasn't...

No. He couldn't be. She glanced behind him. He was alone. Even so, she felt compelled to make sure. "Shouldn't there be two of you?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "I'm here as the messenger only. Open the letter."

She released a long sigh of relief. "Thank G.o.d."

The man glared and she realized she'd spoken aloud. "Um. Sorry."

She tore open the envelope, trying hard to keep him from noticing her suddenly shaking hands. The letter confirmed her fears. She was being summoned.

"Today?" She shook her head. "I can't go today. I have too much to do."

The stranger didn't appear to care if she'd scheduled tea with the Queen of England. With his arms crossed and his legs spread, he reminded her of a bouncer at a nightclub. His stance made it clear she was going, whether she wanted to or not.

"I'm to escort you." He took the letter from her hand and skimmed it quickly. He glanced at his watch. "You're to be there in fifty-five minutes. With traffic, it will take us twenty-five to get to the library. How long will it take you to shut things down here?"

Deni felt a wave of lightheadedness. What the h.e.l.l was happening? "I need at least fifteen minutes."

He nodded. "Then I suggest you begin."

He walked toward an alcove near the entrance where her research a.s.sistant kept his desk. He claimed a chair there and pulled out his phone. He began tapping on it, ignoring her.

Deni glanced down at her wardrobe. She was dressed in faded jeans and a plain black T-s.h.i.+rt, covered by her lab coat. Her hair was haphazardly held in place on top of her head with two pencils she'd relegated to Chinese-hair-stick duty. Even so, she suspected more of it was out of the chignon than in. She didn't dare admit to the man that she'd slept in this outfit last night, too tired to bother undressing before collapsing on the cot. She couldn't show up to meet her prospective partners like this.

"Excuse me, but shouldn't I have received some sort of notice before this?"

The man shrugged. "Did you?"

She shook her head. Then she realized she hadn't been home in three days. "But I've been working around the clock. I haven't been home to get the mail."

"Email?"

Deni crinkled her nose, realizing she'd dug her own grave on this. "I'm not very good about checking that." The last time she had bothered to log in, she'd discovered 417 unread messages. She had logged right off.

"Voice mail?"

She swallowed heavily. "I lost my phone charger a couple of weeks ago. My cell's been dead since then."

"I see now." The man nodded slowly. "You're still going to the ceremony."

Deni wasn't sure what he saw, but it became apparent no force of nature was going to keep this man from delivering her to the library.

She began shutting down the equipment, her mind racing as she tried to think of some way to stall. At least until she could take a shower and put on some clean underwear.

The door to her lab opened again.

"Hey, gorgeous."

Deni smiled, her stress immediately disappearing as Gunner Wells walked in. "Oh my G.o.d. Gunner. What are you doing in town?"

Gunner glanced at Mr. Universe in the corner and gave her a funny look. She had no idea how to explain the other man's presence so she decided to dodge the conversation completely.

She stepped around the counter and threw herself into her friend's arms. She'd never needed to see his smiling face more than right now.

Gunner picked her up and spun her around as she laughed. "I've got a meeting and I'm running late. But there was no way I could come to Boston and not see my best girl."

He set her on her feet and gave her a quick up-and-down glance. "You're sleeping in your office again."

She rolled her eyes. Next to her mother, Gunner came a close second on the nagging routine, determined she needed to leave the lab occasionally and get a life. "I'm working."

"Right. Working." He took a deep breath and Deni knew what was coming next. Gunner didn't disappoint her. "When are you going to get the h.e.l.l out of here and start living a little, Deni? When's the last time you went on a date? Got laid?"

She blushed, not because of Gunner's questions-they talked openly about everything-but because she was far too aware of the stranger sitting in the corner, listening to their every word. "I don't know. It hasn't been that long."

"Liar." Gunner reached up and ruffled her already messy hair.

She'd met Gunner three years earlier. He was an FBI agent in D.C. and he'd needed to consult a scientific expert for help on a case involving possible biological weapons and national security. A mutual friend had given him her name. After several phone calls and two face-to-face meetings, his case was solved, the country safe. Even so, he continued to call her, and Deni had made her first real friend.

He typically traveled to Boston a few times a year and he never failed to visit her, the two of them meeting for dinner. Her mother had suggested several thousand times Deni should try to change their status from friends to more, but Deni couldn't do that. She couldn't lose the friends.h.i.+p over a more serious relations.h.i.+p that would end the day the Grand Master looked her way.

Her heart lurched at the thought. That day was today.

"So you're here for a meeting?"

Gunner nodded. "Yep. And I'm sorry to say I'm not sure I'll have time for our usual dinner date and catch up. That's why I stopped by now."

There was a sadness in Gunner's eyes Deni wasn't used to seeing. He was always so cheerful and happy. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, h.e.l.l yeah. I'm just busy and b.u.mmed we're this close and I can't spend time with you."