Page 36 of The Secrets She Keeps

Two hours later, he still hadn’t figured out what or why.

His phone beeped. Powell’s ringtone. He would never ignore that ringtone. He read her message quickly, just as Heather’s phone beeped next.

—Heather’s baby is hungry and fussing. Cara is out of bottles. You have time for a break in there? You okay?

Heather abruptly stood. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have a mini-crisis in the lobby I need to deal with.”

“What could be more important than this?” Harnodd asked. He’d turned snide where Heather, Claudia, Miranda, and Sage were concerned.

“An underweight five-month-old baby girl who needs to nurse, actually, Harnie. And I’m the dairy factory she’s waiting for,” Heather said in a far too sweet tone. He suspected she’d perfected that particular tone decades ago too. It was just designed to get beneath a man’s skin. “I’d better get up there, or she’s going to bring the roof down on this place. Something I’m sure the Talleys won’t appreciate.”

“Is that your baby in the lobby? I saw her earlier. So tiny. She’s utterly adorable,” Claudia said.

“Thanks. I think so too. But I’m sure the rest of the guests upstairs probably aren’t agreeing with that. She’s my quiet one, except when she’s hungry. Then all bets are off.” Heather looked at the governor. She had been avoiding Daniel as much as she could as the meeting had progressed. “Half an hour? Forty-five minutes?”

“We’ll all take a break,” Marcus said, checking his watch and rising. “I need to check on Ariella. She’s around here somewhere. I wanted her to rest, but she was determined to come with me.”

“How far along is she now?” Heather asked quietly.

“Thirty-five weeks. I’m getting terrified.”

Marc’s first wife had died from an aneurysm during the delivery of their son. No wonder Marc was scared.

Gunnar had a knot of fear in his own gut. He’d already lost one woman he’d loved, who’d been carrying his baby. The knowledge that something could happen to Powell—no. Hewas probably going to be a wreck too. “I need to check on Powell. She’s with her brothers upstairs. With the guards from Houghton watching over her.”

“You are still watching over Powell?” Daniel asked, obvious surprise in his tone. “That assignment ended.”

“You think I’d ever stop watching over her? She’s not just anassignmentto me.” Gunnar did his best to keep a challenge out of his tone. But it was there. “Until we have that last man, I’m going to keep an eye on her, Daniel. I justam.”

“I saw Buck out in the hall,” Marc said. He looked at Heather. “Guarding you, I suspect?”

“Not by my choice. If you’ll excuse me.” Just like that, Heather darted out of the room.

“Damn it. She moves fast,” Daniel said. “I wanted to have a few words with her.”

“Leave her alone, Dan. Or you’ll eat my fist,” Gunnar told him, only half joking, as they all filed out of the conference room. He saw several of the crowd look at him in surprise. Speculation. “She doesn’t need you upsetting her right now.”

“Damn it, I have no intention of upsetting that woman.”

“Well, it’s not like you’re doing much to protect her right now.” Gunnar called it like it was. But he knew people were listening. Heather deserved her privacy.

“I’ll explain to you both when I get a chance.”

Gunnar just grunted. Daniel liked to play his cards close to his chest and always had. “Just…don’t hurt her, Dan. I think you’ll regret it if you do. She’s not as tough as she looks.”

“I know. I’ve figured that out.”

Gunnar led the way to the elevator as the three other women chatted about shared acquaintances behind him. He’d gotten the impression they knew each other rather well. The hulking Weatherby brothers were behind them—they were equally as tall as Gunnar but made him look almost skinny by comparison.

Heather had darted into the stairwell several paces ahead of them. That woman definitely did move fast. Buck was having a hard time keeping up with her. Gunnar suspected she was doing it on purpose.

They caught up with her in the lobby. She’d made it to her niece—two nieces, the governor’s wife was there as well—and Powell. Powell’s three brothers were visible. Mac was standing between Powell and Heather—holding Heather’s baby out to her now, a panicked look on his face.

25

Heather was tense.It was hard to miss. And there was strain around Gunnar’s eyes. It took every bit of restraint Powell had to keep from going to him and seeing what she had to do to fix it. She was used to him having the humor in his eyes. That had been one of the main things that had convinced her he wasn’t entirely a baboon after they’d first met.

The man was good at making people laugh, at putting them at ease. At making people believe things would be okay. He was the most beautiful man she had ever met—but he was also probably the kindest. She would always believe that.

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