the system?”
“Yes, that sounds fine.” Her voice had returned to that of the demure woman who had entered. She stood as LaCrosse stepped around his desk.
When he reached her, she said, “I’d like to introduce my security companion-”
“That won’t be necessary,” LaCrosse cut her off. “We have exceptional security and you know our six-month review protocol for allowing anyone on this property. I’ll have the driver drop your man in Carcassonne and pick him up in four days when he takes you to the airport.”
FIFTEEN
GABRIELLE WAS NOT staying here alone.
Carlos had agreed to let her handle LaCrosse when she assured him she understood the man’s personality, but it was time for him to step in. He opened his mouth to tell LaCrosse they would both stay in Carcassonne when Gabrielle pinned LaCrosse with a deadly glare.
“What?” She served that cutting reply with a dose of outrage. “I thought you were in a dire situation. That’s why I dropped everything and came immediately. I do this for you and you insult me?”
LaCrosse’s hard gaze didn’t budge. “Mademoiselle Saxe-,” he started in a clenched-jaw, you-must-understand tone.
“It’s Mademoiselle Tynte Saxe.” The razor edge she delivered that on was meant to cut a man off at the knees. “The Tynte family who have donated to this institution for almost two decades, building an entire wing for the IT department, re-creating the historic design of this structure right down to hand-cut stones. I’ve had two attempts on my life in the past ten years. I do not travel without personal security and took a risk just to make this trip. I assure you your background checks are nothing compared to my family’s vetting process for my protection. Your security is much appreciated, but nothing will give me the comfort of being away from the safety of my home except my bodyguard, Mr. Delgado, to whom I expect to have the same welcome extended if you want my help. If not, I can arrange for accommodations in Carcassonne for both of us and catch a flight home tomorrow.”
Sweat beaded along the smooth skin on LaCrosse’s forehead.
Damn. Carlos stared at Gabrielle through new eyes. She was terrified and he knew it, but she’d given that speech with all the passion of a queen tossing a gauntlet at the feet of her worst enemy.
“Mademoiselle Sax-Tynte Saxe, I beg your pardon. I meant no insult.” LaCrosse swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple convulsing. His pale skin turned a greenish cast.
A verbal kick in the nuts did that to a man.
“Oh, well.” Gabrielle turned to Carlos, her voice firm. “To use your favorite line, let’s go.” She stepped toward the door and Carlos moved ahead of her to reach for the knob.
“Wait, please.” LaCrosse cleared his throat. “Allow me to make a phone call.” He reached over and dialed the phone with decisive punches to each key, but his hand trembled. When someone on the other end answered, he covered his mouth and whispered tersely, shaking his head as if the other person could see him, then sighing right before he hung up.
“We can accommodate Mr. Delgado as well.” He’d agreed with polite grace, but he wasn’t particularly happy. Someone had him by the short hairs and was braiding them.
Carlos waited for Gabrielle to make the next move. This was her show and she’d been running it like a pro. He couldn’t find the words to describe the respect he had for her at the moment.
That was one gutsy female.
She sighed dramatically and turned to face LaCrosse. “If you’re sure. I wouldn’t want to insult you either.”
“You’re positive you can get us back running in four days?”
“Perhaps sooner if things go well, but four days are the most I’ll need,” she assured him.
Carlos moved to the side again, guard position stance.
LaCrosse strode to the door and opened it to his assistant. “Pierre, please show Mademoiselle Saxe and her security companion to their accommodations.”
A moment of surprise flickered on Pierre’s face before he stood, a polite mask slapped over his pale features. “Of course. Please follow me.”
Gabrielle forced her breathing not to escalate, but her blood pressure was another matter as she walked behind Pierre. Her rapidly thumping heartbeat should be loud enough to echo against the stone-and-mortar walls of the hallway and betray her false confidence. She clutched the coat in her arms to keep her hands from shaking. That whole threat to leave had been a bluff, but Carlos would not stay without her and she couldn’t ruin this chance to win her freedom.
She had four days to complete her work on the computer system, then find a way to elude Carlos. The thought of leaving him knocked a massive hole in her confidence.
Could she survive without him right now?
What would he do if she did try and he caught her?
Pierre paused at a door, punching a code into a panel to unlock it, then turned to her. “This will be your quarters.”
Gabrielle entered, her eyes trying to take it all in at once. This was the first time she’d ever set foot in the inner sanctum where senior staff and dignitaries stayed. The sort of suite her family would normally stay in when they traveled, but she hadn’t in a long time. The ceiling soared to twelve feet. A gilt, eight-foot-wide wall-console table along the left end of the room had a Sarrancolin marble top and matching carved mirror that would overpower an average sitting room.
Gabrielle had crossed to the beveled-glass window and turned in time to see Pierre start to step forward, then pause.
Carlos lowered a dark-shade-covered gaze at Pierre.
Powerful in every respect and with a confidence Gabrielle found enviable, Carlos just stood there, pulsing with intimidation.
Pierre gulped and lifted his hand in a motion for Carlos to enter next, then followed. He cleared his throat, but his voice was a notch high. “We didn’t know which bag was yours, Mademoiselle, so both were delivered here.”
Gabrielle stepped back through the sitting area, decorated with seventeenth-century furnishings, ignoring for the moment the double doors that opened into what had to be the bedroom.
She hid her giddy feeling and turned a solemn demeanor to Pierre. “This will be acceptable. Merci.”
“Your room is across the hall,” Pierre said to Carlos, and moved toward the suitcases. “Which one is yours?”
Carlos strode over as if to point it out for him, but didn’t. “I stay where she stays. We’ll make this work.”
Pierre’s appalled expression was nothing compared to what Gabrielle was feeling. Didn’t Carlos realize how that would look or what the administration would think?
“But, monsieur, this is not, uh, this is not-” Pierre’s worried gaze ran to her for help.
“Acceptable?” Carlos finished for him. “I’m not concerned with decorum, only her safety. Her reputation will remain intact…or I’ll know who soiled it.”
Clearly not used to dealing with an alpha male, Pierre backed up two steps.
Gabrielle had to help the poor guy or he’d have a seizure. “This is quite all right, Pierre.” She walked over to Carlos and hooked her hand around his thick biceps and said, “I prefer that he stays,” with just enough inflection for anyone to read between the lines that they were intimate.
Her body jumped at the mere idea of being intimate with a man like Carlos.
“If you say so,” Pierre mumbled, confused. He finally regained his composure and gave them the four-digit code to open their door and dismissed himself, backing out.
Carlos chortled, then turned those dark glasses on her.
Gabrielle released his arm and let out the breath that had been strangled by the lump of fear in her throat. “Mon Dieu…”
Carlos covered her mouth and she panicked. What was wrong?
