The cool marble floor was tempered by the warm honey-brown paneling on the walls. A familiar portrait of the famous duchess ancestor adorned one wall over a fancy chest of drawers, and a grandfather clock that looked ancient stood tall against another wall. Its rhythmic tickticktick filled the quiet space around me until I realized there was a faint sound of muffled conversations coming from deeper in the house.
Finally, the butler returned and murmured instructions for me to follow him. When he led me into a large living room, I was surprised to see some kind of cocktail party in full swing.
Several people looked up in surprise when the butler announced me. I recognized the younger man curled in the corner of a sofa playing on a Horn as Carter’s cousin Kevin. He was the only one in a T-shirt and jeans, and he even wore noise-canceling headphones to make it super obvious he wasn’t interested in engaging in social small talk with anyone at the party.
Carter’s grandfather was sitting in a high-backed armchair by the fireplace, holding a cut-crystal glass with amber liquor in it, and the couple who’d been dancing at the gala was standing with Carter nearby. I wondered which one was Tucker and which was Dunn.
Jealousy and confusion tumbled in my gut. Carter was having a party. I’d assumed the unanswered calls and texts earlier today had been due to him passing out and sleeping off his misadventures, but no. He was happily hobnobbing with friends and family as if nothing had happened. As if I hadn’t been worried about how he was doing.
“Carter?” I asked, sounding way less sure than I remembered feeling in years. I cleared my throat and set the wine bottle down on a nearby table. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
His face held absolutely no trace of warmth at my arrival. There was something in his eyes for a brief second, and then it was gone. “Mr. Riggs. What can I help you with?”
He made no move to approach me. I might as well have been a catering server coming in with an update from the kitchen.
I took a step backward, heat filling my face. Why had I come here? What had I been hoping to accomplish? It was clear from every ounce of his bearing that we were nothing to each other. Whatever bonding I’d thought had happened between us in Venezuela had either been temporary or a horribly wonderful figment of my imagination.
Instead of turning and walking out, I remembered there’d been another reason for my visit in addition to my desire to see him, hold him, beg him to spend the night with me.
I steeled myself and pushed forward. “I need to talk to you about an issue regarding the case.”
I didn’t imagine the flare of disappointment in his face, but I wasn’t quite sure if it was disappointment that my visit was for business reasons only or because I was daring to bother him while he was socializing.
Focus on the job, Marine.
I turned and stepped out into the hallway, hoping like hell he’d follow. After a few beats, I heard his soft footsteps behind me. As soon as I saw him up close, I felt a sharp pain in my chest.
To my horror, I opened my mouth and begged. “Come home with me tonight.”
“What?” His eyes widened before shuttering. “No. That’s not a good idea.”
“It is. It’s a great idea. You know it, and I know it. I’m leaving next week for a three-week training program and—”
He held up a hand to stop me. “Yet another reason why it’s not a good idea.”
“Remind me, then. What’s the first reason?”
Carter’s nostrils flared in annoyance. “The fact that you’re a liar and a hypocrite.”
His words were a kick in the gut. He wasn’t wrong—I’d known that he’d be upset when he found out I’d been keeping secrets—but he wasn’t entirely right either. I bit my tongue against snapping back at him defensively and explaining how any lie I told him was for his own safety and because I was doing my job.
Carter folded his arms in front of his chest. The navy cashmere sweater looked soft enough to caress. My fingers twitched with the need to touch him, but I balled them into fists at my side. “Honestly is critical on a mission, Riggs. Or was that a lie, too?”
“It wasn’t a lie. But it was my job to keep you safe.”
He tilted his head. “Ah, right. I was your job. So then I guess I wasn’t a team member then. Which is weird since I literally helped hijack a plane to escape. But then again, I’m just your difficult principal, right? I guess I got my advanced medical degree out of a gumball machine. I guess when they handed out awards for the Distinguished Fellow in Cardiology at Vanderbilt, they were just throwing darts at the damned employee directory. Because what the hell could I possibly know about anything, right?”