‘I am not looking for a mother figure. Don’t make me shoot you. Lena would not be pleased.’
‘Neither would I.’
‘I asked her to have dinner with me.’
‘Bet that went down a treat.’
‘I almost kissed her.’ He was rubbing his hand over his lips just thinking about it. ‘Wanted to.’
‘You want my thoughts on that?’ Trig offered warily.
‘Only if you’re not going to call me psychologically maladjusted, three kinds of stupid, and pathologically unable to take direction.’
‘Or you could just be in need of sex.’
‘You think I should have sex with her?’
‘No, I think you should have sex with someone else.’
‘Who?’
‘Has that ever been a problem for you before? What about Bridie?’
‘Too nice. I want her to be married by now, with a kid on the ground and one on the way.’ He caught Trig staring at him strangely and shrugged. ‘It’s what she wanted.’
‘Simone?’
‘Too soft. What if I break her?’
‘Simone’s brother?’
Jared felt his lips twitch. ‘The psych report says I’m heterosexual.’
‘Yeah, ‘cause we’re believing that now.’ Trig took a long swig of his beer. ‘You said you wanted someone who wouldn’t break. Just putting it out there …’
‘I want a woman who won’t break, and I’ve found one. Gorgeous, whip-smart and powerful. And—if I’m reading her right—interested.’
‘Yeah … nothing at all to do with you having information she wants.’
‘There is that. Still … Makes for interesting conversation.’
And then his phone beeped. He fished it out of his pocket and looked at the message.
‘Trouble?’
‘Hopefully. Director Farringdon’s coming here bright and early Monday morning. For what reason, she doesn’t say.’
‘Hnh …’ offered Trig after a very long pause.
‘Probably something to do with Antonov’s last mole that I haven’t uncovered yet. Probably nothing to do with sex at all. Still …’
Jared was nothing if not adaptable, and he’d take his opportunities as they came.
‘Don’t do it, my friend,’ Trig told him.
‘You keep saying that.’
‘Think of the complications.’
‘She gets what she wants. I get what I want. There are none.’
‘What about in the long run? How would it affect your career if you had a relationship with her? How would it affect hers?’
‘Not sure I have a career left, to be honest. Not sure I want one.’
‘And hers?’
‘Guess we’d find out.’
Trig’s troubled gaze rested on him. ‘Jare, do you ever think about what your short-term decisions might cost people in the long run?’
‘All the time. I know I’ve screwed up. Lena getting wounded under my command and now never being able to have kids of her own. That’s on me.’
‘No. I don’t think that. Lena doesn’t think that way either. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens. And we’re all still alive.’
‘Then you’re talking about the lengths I went to to get Antonov? And the fact that he and two others are now dead? That wasn’t my intention.’
Trig grew uncharacteristically silent. ‘What happened?’ he asked finally.
‘I had enough information to bring his entire operation down and I needed one more name for my own satisfaction. In reality I probably had enough dirt on him to bring him down six months ago, but I wanted that one last name so much. And then your wedding invitation landed and I decided that enough was enough. I was leaving—first chance I got. Two days later an old business associate of Antonov’s turned up with a new grudge and enough C-4 to blow up a battleship—and I let him do just that while I went and got the kid and the nurse and took off.’
‘And your problem with that is …?’
‘I wanted revenge and I got it. Not sure I wanted it that way. Antonov wasn’t all bad. He was different things to different people. He had a son he loved. A sister he’d sacrificed all contact with to protect. Those other dead men—they had families back in Belarus. They sent money back all the time.’
‘They’re not dead by your hand, Jare.’
‘Then why do my hands feel so bloody?’
‘I don’t know. God complex? You are not responsible for all the bad things that happen in this world.’
‘But I am responsible for my actions, and I should be able to foresee some of the consequences. Isn’t that what you’re trying to tell me when it comes to my interest in
Rowan Farringdon?’
‘All I’m saying is talk to the woman first—before embarking on the seduction campaign. Women are easy for you—God knows why.’
‘Money, looks, renegade status and genius.’
‘Like I said, God knows why. And you do not need the downfall of the first female section director in thirty years on your already overburdened conscience.’
‘She’s smarter than that.’
‘How do you know? Will you be reading her psych report next?’
‘Do you think she has one?’
Jared felt the edges of his lips lift. A small smile, but a smile nonetheless. It was good to finally talk to someone freely. Someone who knew him inside out and didn’t hold back.
‘Doesn’t matter. Even if she does, I’m going to ban Damon from getting it for you.’
‘You wouldn’t.’
‘Oh, but I would.’
‘Would what?’ asked Lena, stepping from the house onto the deck. ‘‘Cause it sounds vaguely
