language and leaning forward a bit himself. “That I am. My mother’s British with a lineage that dates back to Queen Elizabeth—the first Queen Elizabeth, that is.” He shrugged. “My parents met on a cruise to Africa, went on safari together and well, as you said earlier, the rest was written in the stars. A true love match.”
She lifted away, clearly uncomfortable with any talk of love matches. “Did your father move to England, then?”
“Yes and no. They lived there part of the time and here part of the time by mutual consent, and sometimes they even lived apart by mutual consent, but I attended school in England and spent most of my youth there, per my mother’s request.”
“And how did your father feel about that?”
“He brought me here during school breaks and the summers so we could hunt and fish and do manly things. Just so I’d have a well-rounded life, you understand.”
“I do understand. Texas is so vast, we can all acquire a well-rounded life here. Even an Englishman.”
His grin turned impish. “I think my mother would agree with you on that. She did spend a great deal of time in Texas when they were dating. Especially when he was trying to convince her to marry him. She said she almost backed out after meeting his loud, crude, slightly crazy family. But she grew to love them, one and all.” He touched a rose petal and watched it fall to the table. “And she loved my father. Their time together wasn’t always happy, though. I think they needed their spots of separation.”
She frowned. “I thought you said it was a love match.”
“I did and it was. But all good things take time and compromise, or as my mother calls it—mutual consent and mutual respect.” He looked at her, her eyes, her lips, her long, elegant throat, that enticing strand of perfect pearls. “But some things can be worth the wait.”
Kit, following the line of his gaze, toyed with her pearls. “So she didn’t give in at first, even though she was in love with him?”
Shane saw the interest in her pretty green eyes. And a bit of sadness. She was a romantic then. “No, he used to say he chased her until she let him catch her. And she used to say that she had him wrapped around her finger, but she just wanted to make sure he sweated a little before she said yes.”
“What a charming story.”
Shane nodded, took a sip of his drink. “My father, William, died a few years ago. So now, it’s hard for Lady Samantha to come to Texas. It reminds her too much of him.”
Kit put her elbow on the table then dropped her chin onto her upturned hand, making her look more like a fresh-faced debutante than an attractive, mature woman. “I can certainly understand that feeling. Sometimes, I’d like to get out of this state myself.”
Shane noted that. “I’m sorry for your loss. From what I’ve heard, your husband was a good man.”
She blinked, realized she wasn’t sitting up properly and just like that, her spine went ramrod straight, no longer touching the back of her chair, while the curtain on her emotions came down with a feminine sigh and an elegant lifting of her chin. “Thank you. Now let’s talk about why you’re here and what I need to do to make this as unobtrusive as possible.”
Shane put his hand on his heart. “Unobtrusive? You want me to be unobtrusive?” She didn’t need to know that he was an expert at sneaking in and out of most places completely undetected.
She actually laughed and the sound of it flowed over Shane’s highly aware nerve endings like delicate bells moving through a warm wind. “What? You’ve never tried being that way before?”
“Not in my arsenal, I’m afraid. I prefer to operate on the principle of hiding in plain sight. I like to be out there, very visible, but very aware. My plan is to be seen with you a lot, so that the society ladies who love to gossip over lunch at the club or while hitting tennis balls back and forth on the court, will take notice and spread the word. I want us to be seen as an item.”
“Your premise being?”
“My premise being that an attached woman is much safer than a single, alone woman.” He shrugged. “And besides, it will make my job that much easier.”
Her eyes went dark again. “I am single and alone and I’ve learned to live with that, regardless of making your life easier.”
Shane hated himself for making her think along those lines but it was necessary for her safety. “All the more reason to seem involved. My presence could throw off a potential enemy.”
“Or invite that enemy to fight to the finish.”
“I see you know more about your father’s work than you let on.”
“Yes, more than I want to know.” She pushed at her immaculate upswept white-blond hair. “I don’t like living this way. I don’t want to walk around in fear.”
“You won’t have to if I’m with you.”
“But how long will this ploy work? Are you prepared to stay by my side all the time, even when I leave the country?”
His pulse quickened at that. “Especially if you leave the country—make that—if you’re allowed to leave the country. I have my orders.”
“Of course you do. And I like my privacy and my dignity, and I won’t be told what I can and can’t do. So I don’t intend to be part of some facade or deception. It’s not right.”
“It is right if it means saving your life, Katherine.”
She stood up, dismissing him in a shimmer of silk and a whiff of lily-scented perfume. “That’s the CHAIM way, isn’t it? Always. Might makes right. All for the good fight, the good cause. Do you ever get tired of all the secrecy and the conspiracy?”
Shane almost answered yes to that question. Yes, he did get tired, of war, of the horrors of injustice, of all that he’d seen in his covert travels around the planet, but he’d joined this organization after his father had introduced him to Gerald Barton. They’d both seen something in Shane that he hadn’t even seen in himself. A restless need to avenge good people, to help save lives when innocence clashed with evil, when good men had to fight ruthless criminals that no amount of man’s law could stop. He’d been trained from birth to hunt, shoot, and fight like a gentleman—at his mother’s insistence, but with his father’s help, he’d learn how to think like a combination street gang fighter and gunslinger, with purposeful intent and take-no-prisoners determination. And even though he might sometimes have to get down and dirty to do his job, he worked to fight the good fight and he believed in saving lives, not taking them. So he looked up at Katherine Atkins and said nothing.
“Your silence speaks volumes,” she said, whirling to leave.
Shane was up and by her side in a flash. “There are some things a lady doesn’t need to hear.”
She glared up at him, her eyes a sea of unfathomable green. “And there are some things a gentleman should tell a lady. Such as what kind of danger she is in and why? But your loyalty lies with my father and CHAIM, right? So I can’t count on you to tell me the truth.”
He moved in front of her, blocking her way while those curious gazes all around the room
