Kisses and Scandal (A Survivors Series Anthology ) - Shana Galen Page 0,44
manage only boiled potatoes and bland soup. He’d been coming home from just such an excursion yesterday when he’d come face-to-face with Bridget.
He would have known her anywhere. She was still so beautiful that seeing her had all but taken his breath away. The passage of time had made her only more beautiful. He’d had a moment of jealousy when he realized she’d married. He’d pushed it aside, because he’d been no saint himself, but he did have hope when he’d noted her husband was not with her. Perhaps she’d done as so many other women—given herself the title of Mrs. without the actual husband to go with it.
He stopped at a sound, listening hard, but it was not the front door, only one of the men walking past his room on the way down the stairs.
Caleb knew he could not pick up where he’d left off with Bridget. For one, he was a danger to anyone who might get close to him. And there was the small matter of her hating him and telling him to move away so she would not have to be near him.
He would move. He couldn’t behave like some lovesick poet, watching out windows and hoping for a glimpse of her. But it wasn’t as easy as she seemed to think. He couldn’t just leave. He had to inform the Foreign Office and wait for approval and a new location.
He’d explain all of this when—if—he saw her.
That opportunity came sooner than he’d thought and in a way he didn’t expect. She knocked on his door.
Caleb had been in his room attempting to read. He hadn’t been very successful, as he’d heard her arrive the evening before and had spent most of the night and all of the day wondering if she was in her room and what she might be doing.
His heart had leaped into his throat when he’d heard the knock, but he’d pushed it back down again. It couldn’t be her. She wouldn’t knock on his door. She wouldn’t risk being seen on the men’s floor immediately after moving in. Caleb had considered pretending he wasn’t in, then rose and, knife in hand—one couldn’t be too careful—opened the door a sliver.
Her golden-brown eyes peered at him from the thin slice of hallway between the wooden casement. Immediately, he flung the door open all the way, grabbed her arm, pulled her inside, then looked out to make sure no one had seen them.
The corridor was blissfully empty.
Caleb closed the door and locked it.
“That was rather dramatic,” she said. He looked at her, then moved back a step, careful not to trip over the all but invisible wire of one of his traps. He need space as he didn’t trust himself not to try to take her into his arms.
“Didn’t Mrs. Jacobs explain the rules?” he asked.
“Yes, but I thought this worth the risk.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “I know you asked me to vacate the house. It’s not as easy as that, but I am—”
She waved a hand. “That’s not what this is about. I’m actually glad you are still here.”
There went his heart into his throat again. He swallowed. “Why is that?” His voice was slightly higher than he would have liked, but it didn’t falter.
“Because I need your help.”
Caleb took a breath and attempted to slow his racing heart. “Shouldn’t you ask your husband for help?”
“I am asking you. I went to a man today with the intent of hiring him to find...a missing person. He agreed, but the price he asked was too high. I’ve searched for him myself but have exhausted my limited skills in this area. I know you have talents others do not. I thought you might do this for me as a favor.” She looked down at the floor and then back up again. “Because it concerns you as well.”
“How is that?”
“The person I am searching for is your son.”
Three
Caleb reached for the table edge, his legs as unsteady as those of a man who’d just walked out of a gin house. “What did you say?”
“You’d better sit down. You’ve gone white as a sheet.”
“Watch the wire,” he said.
She looked down then up at the bucket of nails suspended above her. Stepping over the wire, she reached for one of the chairs at his table and pulled it out, then pushed him down onto it. She looked warily about his room. “Are there any other traps?”