He felt a hand on his arm and looked at Hadley. She squeezed his bicep.
It eased some of the turbulence and he nodded at her.
When he looked back, his mother was beaming at them.
They chatted some more, and he slid an arm along the back of Hadley’s chair. He liked seeing her here, charming his parents.
And he realized he did feel better. She’d been right to make him come here.
Hadley’s cell phone rang. “Excuse me, I need to take this.” She rose, walking toward the hall. “Hex?”
“We approve.” His mother’s smile was wide.
“Mum—”
“Don’t pretend with me, Bennett Knightley. I see the way you look at her.”
Was he that obvious?
His mum grabbed his hand. “I know things haven’t been easy for you since you left the military. I know you’ve been hurting.”
“Mum—”
“I’m your mother. If my child is hurting, I hurt.”
He met her warm gaze. “I love you.”
She smiled. “I know you do. And we love you too. You deserve love, Bennett, no matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done. You deserve her.”
His heart gave a good kick against his ribs.
Hadley returned, her face serious. “I’m sorry, but we need to get back to London.”
He nodded and rose. He kept his voice low. “What happened?”
“Kitty just made plans for a meeting at a play at the Countess Theatre tonight. She used some kind of code words, and Hex suspects that L’Orage, or whoever is pretending to be him, might be there.”
Bennett’s heart thumped. This was it. They could catch the fucker. “Let’s go.”
She nodded and looked around him. “Thanks again, Mr. and Mrs. Knightley.”
“Michael and Patty.” His mother hugged Hadley. “Take care of him for us.”
Hadley blinked, then nodded. “I’ll give you some privacy.” She headed out the front door.
“We really like her, my darling.”
“I could tell, Mum.”
His dad clapped a hand to his shoulder. “Don’t fuck it up, son.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
They reached the front door just in time to see Hadley whirl and flip a man dressed all in black over her shoulder. The man landed flat on his back on the gravel driveway beside the Bentley. Hadley pressed her boot to the man’s throat.
“He was skulking around. I saw him close the hood—er, bonnet. He did something to the vehicle.”
Bennett hurried forward.