Page 34 of Danger Close
“In my defense—” I put up my hands in surrender when Charlotte tapped her foot in agitation, waiting for an answer. “I did not keep her wallet or phone on purpose. That was an oversight.”
Charlotte’s eyes narrowed. She lifted one singular brow, and I had to remind myself that I was deadlier than she was. I was a more lethal agent than she had been. I had been undercover for far, far longer. I had no need to be afraid of Charlotte McClanahan. None at all. Nope.
“An oversight?” Her disbelief was as palpable as a physical punch to the face.
“We had to make sure everything was secure. This is a high-profile wedding, after all. We had to do our due diligence.” Which was absolute bullshit and I knew it. “We had to look into her to make sure there were no skeletons in that particular closet.”
That was the official reason, but I knew my brother. Jericho would go far deeper than needed, and snoop into every single crevice. He couldn’t help himself. Nosy bastard.
“Due diligence, huh?” As a trained field agent, Charlotte wouldn’t be fooled by my crap. I knew it. She knew it.
But I needed plausible deniability.
“That doesn’t make it sound any better.” I could feel her skeptical eyes on me.
Charlotte’s husband, Trinity, Griff, and that random guy, Goose, were all staring at me like I had a dick growing out of my forehead, waiting for an explanation.
“You kidnapped Mama?” Trinity’s voice was full of surprise, and, if I wasn’t mistaken, awe.
“You wanted her at your wedding, kiddo.” There I was, hands up in surrender again. “I went to talk to her and she fainted. So I skipped the talking bit and brought her here instead.”
Not the best defense. Certainly not the most logical course of action. But it wasn’t the main thing on my mind.
Watching her that first night in her restless slumber had gutted me. It was like sheresistedgoing into deep sleep. Even in rest, she felt like she had to be vigilant.
“Howdid she faint?” Charlotte snarked, her eyes letting me know that at that moment, she thought I was the greatest scum of the earth.
“Hey!” What the hell was she accusing me of? “I did not do anything underhanded. I approached her to talk, she beat the shit out of me, then she fainted. That was it.” Then, just to beabsolutely clear, “I did not drug her, I did not strike her in any way.”
I was insulted that Charlotte would even think that.
“That skinny little woman beat the shit out of you?” Charlotte scoffed. “You must have lost your touch.”
“She's stronger than she looks.” Why the hell was I defending myself? “And I’m not going to hit my wife, for God’s sake. I would never lay a finger on her in anger.”
Not in anger, but in so many other ways, I would lay my finger, my hand, my tongue all over her.
“Yourex-wife,” Charlotte corrected.
Shit. How many times had I slipped up on that tonight? Way more than I could count.
Trinity gawped at me. But I wasn’t going to change my stance.
“I’m telling the truth.” Somewhere in my fucking soul, I had started thinking of her as my wife. Or maybe I had never stopped seeing her that way. I hadn’t had a serious relationship in thirty years because I couldn’t get that Parisian smoke show out of my head.
“It’s hard to tell with spies,” Charlotte pursed her lips, but her tone let me know that she was leaning towards believing me.
“You’rea spy too.” I pointed out. “Kettle, meet pot.”
“Was,” she corrected. “There are spies and there arespies.You, Joaquin ‘Cobra-Ghost’ Guerro, are thelatter.”
Yeah, that’s fair.
“I put her in the car and brought her here. The end.”
“So, youdidkidnap Mama?” Trinity asked again.
There was an unexpected, and slightly confusing, warmth blooming in my chest. My daughter was sticking up for her mother. That made me happy.
