“Mind telling me why you were hanging around, full well knowing you were running hot?”
“I had a meeting that ran late.”
His brother slashed a hand through the air. “No excuse.”
“It is when you’re courting three foreign whales with several whale friends back home.”
Gabe snorted, clearly unconvinced, even with Rafe’s argument about squiring several high rollers around the property. “It’s careless and unnecessary. Since when are you the only one who can court high-end guests and build relationships?”
“I needed to check them out. See for myself. We know Hunter activity increases near the solstice, and something about the one guy’s backstory didn’t check out.”
“So you went in alone?”
“I’m never alone in here and the high-roller room has more attention than most.”
“The private villas don’t.” Gabe dug his phone out. “It’s careless.”
“It’s necessary.”
When Gabe said nothing, Rafe knew he’d hit a nerve. Rafe trusted his brother, more than anyone in the world, but he couldn’t stand by and ignore an opportunity to get the upper hand on a band of Hunters, especially so close to the solstice. The possibility of a rogue with money would be a danger beyond measure.
Besides, his damn Rejuvenation wasn’t supposed to happen then. It was nearly a month until the winter solstice and he’d been rejuvenating like clockwork since puberty.
Vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, winter solstice. His body regenerated then, not nearly a freaking month early.
“Guy ultimately checked out?”
Rafe shook off the lingering discomfort of his early change and gave Gabe his full attention. “Yeah. Charlie texted me the moment he had confirmation the guy was legit. I glad-handed him a bit more, offered him an extra night in the villa and hauled ass out of there.”
“You didn’t haul fast enough.”
No, he hadn’t. He’d considered letting himself into the villa next door and waiting out the burn but they were full up, the Archangel’s reputation ensuring all the rooms were accounted for. He and Gabe had taken their father’s life’s work and upped the ante. The hotel rooms were spoken for nearly every night and they had a list of high rollers the rest of the Strip envied.
Who would have believed success was so damned inconvenient?
“We’ve gone this long without discovery. Your life—all our lives—are worth more than one more high roller wasting his fortune at our gaming tables.”
Rafe rarely apologized but his brother hit a nerve. A fair one at that. “Look. I get it and I’m sorry. I’ve been tired and the moment hit me hard. I thought I had more time.”
A small grin finally curved his brother’s lips. “Losing your control, big brother?”
A few choice expletives bubbled to the surface but Rafe opted against the grain. He’d managed to blow over his brother’s bad mood, he might as well use it to his advantage. “You talk to Pop lately?”
“He and mom are still lounging around the Côte d’Azur and last I heard he was raising hell with the management at Monte Carlo’s casinos.”
“They let him back in?”
“Some sort of royal decree. I suspect the prince is sorry he got suckered in by the charms of one Michael Stavros.”
“Once a gambling man…” Rafe left the words hanging there, an image of his father giving instruction on the latest security protocols falling on some severely irritated Monegasque ears.
“Old man’s not settling into retirement well.”
“Are you surprised?”
“Nah.” Gabe shuddered. “Claims he’d be better at it if he had grandchildren.”
A wholly unexpected image of Evangeline rose up in his mind’s eye. She was absolutely unsuitable—she was an employee with a highly suspicious lineage—but Rafe couldn’t fully ignore the hot rush of need that accompanied the vision. “He can keep wishing.”
“You put Evangeline off?”
“Not dropping this one?”
Gabe smiled, the grin bordering on feral. “Not a chance.”
“The woman knows her mind and isn’t willing to be put off. I’ve got her down in the spa now, giving her the royal treatment and attempting to convince her she’s been working too hard.”
“Having any luck?”
“We’ll see in about two hours after Madelina’s team works on her.” Rafe stood from his desk, tapping the file folder that had already worn around the edges. “Of all the damn people.”
“Why?”
He and Gabe were as close as brothers could be, but he’d kept this from him. Kept the quiet knowledge to himself about Evangeline’s background and parentage. On a hard breath, he snagged the folder and handed it to his brother.
Gabe took the offering, his ability to quickly assess a situation more than evident when he snapped the folder closed a few moments later. “She’s a Hunter?”
“The daughter of one.”
“We’ve had a freaking Hunter on property for damn near a year and this is the first you’ve told me?”
He rarely second-guessed himself, but one look at Gabe’s face had Rafe reconsidering. “I’ve been watching her.”
“We could all have been watching her. Or better yet—” Gabe threw the folder on the desk. “We could have let her go on her merry freaking way and avoided hiring her in the first place.”
“She’s good. Her installations alone have increased foot traffic by thirty percent.”
Gabe stiffened up at that, straightening to his full height. “First the whales and now this? This place is our sanctuary. Have you forgotten that?”
“I’ve forgotten nothing.”
“Then how can you ignore the fact the woman’s dangerous? To us. Our way of life. Our people.”
An image of that long, lithe form curled up inspecting the grass outside filled his head. Was she seeking proof? Attempting to set a trap? Or was it something else?
Rafe hadn’t sensed malice in her. More, she had an aching vulnerability about her that called to some strange, empty place deep inside of him.
Orphan.
Emancipated minor.
Workhorse.
