“And you’re happy?” Luis said, in a tone that indicated he didn’t think I possibly could be.
“I am,” I said. “And you?” Deflection was always a good strategy.
He shrugged dramatically. “At the moment, I’m suffering a terrible disappointment.”
I rolled my eyes, trying to project annoyance. I was still blushing. Ben was still glaring.
“So … what brings you to the conference?” I asked.
“I’m here with my sister, representing Brazil.”
That put me on firmer territory. “That’s great. I hope I get to meet her. Is she around?”
“I think she’s outside heckling the opposition. She’s as much an activist as ever.” He glanced at the front doors to the protests outside, then noticed my frown and lined brow. “You think this is going to turn serious?”
I shook away the concerned expression. “I don’t know. I hope not. If it does, it’s been coming for a long time.”
“I wouldn’t worry,” he said. “These days, you can’t have an international anything without someone protesting it. It’ll blow over.” His smile was probably meant to be blasé and comforting.
“Yeah,” I said, unconvinced.
“As happy as I am to have run into you, I’m on my way to a meeting with some of the other delegates.” He touched my arm and looked deep into my eyes, totally ignoring Ben.
“I’m sure I’ll see you around,” I said, waving a little.
“I very much look forward to that,” he said, running his gaze up and down my body before turning to saunter to the hallway and meeting rooms.
Oh, dear …
“Okay,” Ben said. He was still glaring, at me this time. “You want to explain that?”
Um, yeah … “You remember the Senate hearings in D.C.? You remember a couple of mornings when I showed up looking sleep-deprived and pleased with myself?” This had happened before Ben and I were married, before we’d hooked up. Before he’d been infected with lycanthropy, even. I had nothing to be guilty about.
“Yeah, I think I do,” he said.
I pointed the direction Luis had gone. “That was him.”
“Oh. I see. He smelled weird—what is he?”
“Jaguar.”
“Really? You’ve seen him? His jaguar, I mean.”
“Yup.”
“Sexy jaguar?”
“If you like that sort of thing,” I said.
“I think I want to kill him,” Ben said.
I furrowed my brow at him. “That’s your wolf talking.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“You can’t kill Luis. Your wolf can’t kill Luis.”
“Oh, I think we could. But we won’t. At least not right now.” His smile was a tad feral.