Omens

A Matter of Trust

Gabriel opened the living room window, then closed it again and double-checked the lock. He could have sworn he’d felt a draft coming through earlier, but it seemed fine. He checked the other window. Same thing.

Still, he wasn’t satisfied. Olivia’s apartment was only three floors up. Easy to scale and break in. He’d done it himself many times, when he’d been younger and much smaller.

She should get a security system. She’d say she couldn’t afford it, but he could call in favors, get one for not much more than she’d paid for the gun. He just needed to persuade her that the added security was necessary.

Was it? There were few places safer than Cainsville, if you were the right kind of person. That’s what his aunt always said. As for what exactly constituted “the right kind,” she was vague on that. It seemed unlikely that Rose would qualify. Even less that he would. But they did. Now Olivia did, too, which should mean she was safe, but…

He checked the front door for the third time since she’d gone to bed. It was locked. He knew that. So what was he checking for? He had no idea, only that he felt unsettled. As if something was amiss, and the only way he knew how to deal with that was to keep prowling and listening and checking.

He’d said earlier that he’d feel guilty if something happened to her. He shouldn’t—participating in this investigation was entirely her choice. Yet he felt responsible for her and it left him … unsettled.

Of course, he had a very good reason for protecting her. A monetary incentive. At the thought, though, he found himself walking faster, pacing the living room, a tickle of something dangerously close to guilt prodding him on. It was like the damned cookies. He hadn’t done anything wrong. So why was it bothering him?

It didn’t help that the cat kept staring at him.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” he murmured as he lowered himself to the armchair.

The cat, surprisingly, did not respond. Gabriel let out a low growl and leaned back. The cat leapt onto the coffee table, sitting right in front of him, staring.

He stared back. He wasn’t going to feel guilty about this. James Morgan was the fool who’d made the offer. Look after Olivia. Keep her safe. Which is exactly what Gabriel would have done anyway—she was his client—so there was nothing wrong with accepting money for it.

Morgan had come to him, simmering with the kind of shallow, manufactured fury that can only be expressed by someone who’s never had any reason to be truly furious about anything. He’d read Lores’s article. Clearly Gabriel was taking advantage of his innocent, befuddled fiancée. Gabriel had told him the truth and opined that Morgan should really allow Olivia to pursue this investigation. That she needed answers, and if he truly cared about her, he’d step back and not interfere.

He’d fully expected Morgan to explode. In Olivia, James Morgan would see only a suitable wife. He didn’t truly understand her. He certainly didn’t love her. Yet Morgan had called a day later and agreed to stay away. He asked only two things of Gabriel, which he would pay for, of course. One, that he look after her. Two, that he lobby on Morgan’s behalf, which meant pushing Morgan’s suit and telling her that James was there, waiting, whenever she wished to speak to him.

Gabriel had ignored the second part. He wasn’t a matchmaking service. He hadn’t actually refused the task, but he wouldn’t accept payment for it. That was only fair.

So he was taking money for protecting her, yet he wasn’t only protecting her because he was taking money for it. Therefore, there was nothing to feel guilty about. Except for the small matter that he and Olivia had that very morning resolved a similar issue over Lores.

If she found out about this…

Damn it, why did she need to be so unreasonable? She’d helped him hide a body, for God’s sake. She understood necessity. She understood that ethics were in most cases a burden that could be reasonably ignored in pursuit of necessity. She should understand that there was nothing wrong with accepting money for doing something that needed to be done, like getting unbiased media coverage for her or protecting her from harm.

But it wasn’t the fact that he’d made the deal with Lores that upset her. It was that he hadn’t told her. A silly distinction. Why should she need to know?

Because it was a sign of respect.

He wanted to finish this investigation with Olivia. He might even want to continue their working relationship beyond that. It was still a nascent idea, born when she’d joked earlier that he’d be happy to be rid of her. He wouldn’t be.

If she found out about his deal with Morgan, though, their partnership would end. And he had a feeling persistence and concessions wouldn’t fix it this time.

He should tell her.

Gabriel looked across the living room at her bedroom door. It could wait. It should—

He rose and walked over. Though there wasn’t any light coming from under the door, that didn’t mean she was asleep yet. As he leaned in to listen, he accidentally brushed the door and it clicked open.

He put his fingertips against the door as he leaned closer for a better listen. It opened an inch. He reached for the handle to close it, but took a quick look first, to see if she was awake.

She was in bed, sound asleep, covers pulled away. She was facing the other direction, hair fanning over the pillow. She wore an oversized T-shirt and it had bunched up around her thighs, her feet bare, legs bare, and that’s when he realized that he wasn’t looking through the crack anymore. He was standing in her bedroom, a step past the door.

He backtracked fast. Once outside, he pulled the door shut and retreated to the sofa bed. As he sat on the edge, he felt the cat’s stare and looked up to see it on the couch arm.

“I didn’t do anything,” he murmured.

Nor would he. That was one crime no one could ever accuse him of. He’d never even chased a reluctant conquest. It would be like finding a handful of pennies scattered on the sidewalk and deciding you really must have the one wedged in the crack. Willing partners were plentiful. Besides, seduction might suggest he wanted more than an hour of a woman’s time, which he decidedly did not.

He looked back at Olivia’s bedroom door. Seduction hadn’t been his intention anyway. This was a business relationship. She was a client.

He’d only wanted to talk to her. But the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced such a discussion wasn’t necessary—or wise. What if confessing wasn’t enough, despite what she claimed?

He should never have agreed to Morgan’s offer. While there was—he still believed—nothing wrong with what he’d done, the hassle wasn’t worth the payment. Taking care of Olivia was easy enough. She didn’t need it, if he was being honest. But working with Morgan? A pain in the ass. The man had left five messages in the last few days, panicked over some newspaper photo of him with another woman. He blamed his mother. Gabriel hadn’t bothered getting the details. Obviously Morgan had screwed around, been caught, and now he’d say anything to clear his name.

James Morgan was an idiot. If Gabriel had any doubts on the matter, working with him had erased them. Morgan lost Olivia through his own cowardice and stupidity, and he didn’t deserve to get her back. Gabriel had done the right thing. Olivia was better off without him, and given her flirting with Ricky, she knew it.

But there was the possibility she wouldn’t see it that way.

He should tell her.

Gabriel stood. Then he sat down again.

Yes, he’d tell her—later. After he’d ended his arrangement with Morgan. That’s how he’d fix this. He’d call Morgan in the morning and say he’d changed his mind and wire back his money. Olivia would accept this better if he’d already quit and refunded the retainer. She might not truly understand what it took for him to return money he’d rightfully earned, but she would still appreciate the gesture. It would cement his sincerity, and she would forgive him.

Everything would be fine. He just needed to be patient and handle this properly.

Ignoring the cat, he stripped off his shirt and crawled onto the sofa bed.