It was going to take time for her to think her way through that.
Time she just didn’t have now.
21
Something had definitely happened between the warring Jones and Jones. Miranda had been waiting for that since about the moment Jac and Max had met. Miranda had been there that day—she’d practically been singed by the sparks.
She wasn’t certain she believed in the idea of soul mates. Miranda liked to think she was more a woman of study and science, but there were some people who just seemed to fit together.
Max and Jac were two of those people. Something about the way they looked at each other, and the way they almost seemed to breathe for each other. The way they had unconsciously just made each other more whole.
The way they just seemed to fit together. They had acted like an old married couple almost from the first week they’d met. It wasn’t the common last name that made strangers assume Jac and Max were together—though the two both misunderstood that. It was far more than that. It was the way they were attuned to each other. She doubted anyone had missed it.
Except Max and Jac, that was.
It was obvious when someone saw them together.
Miranda had been trying to think of a way to get the two of them to stop being so stubborn and admit it to themselves.
Before they kept hurting each other.
The two of them belonged together. She just had no idea how to make them see that.
The briefing started. The director did a rundown of everything that had happened over the last week, including introducing Max as the head of team two.
As everyone clapped, some just politely, she looked up.
Her eyes met washed out blue ones from almost clear across the conference room.
Todd Barnes sat at a table all by himself, a scowl on his face. He wasn’t even making an attempt to hide how he felt. Several people were shooting glances his way.
None of them happy. She certainly wasn’t; she knew a few things about him from friends who’d unfortunately run up against him before. Todd Barnes was trouble. For everyone who got anywhere near him. He had no business anywhere near PAVAD. None at all.
This wasn’t going to be good. She just knew it.
22
Paul had screwed up. Again.
Ruined everything.
Paul had screwed up. He never should have confronted Rachel after the carnival that night. Never should have let it slip what he was doing. She had never looked at him with quite that look of disappointment in her eyes. He still remembered that look even now, weeks later.
To his surprise, it still mattered what Rachel thought of him. He hadn’t realized that was still true.
Perhaps he had gotten too caught up in trying to build his empire that he had overlooked how his choices would appear to her.
It had stung, seeing her disappointment.
Knowing he had failed her. She had looked up to him for what he had accomplished for her and the girls.
Paul shouldn’t have failed. He was too good for that.
She was to see him as the perfect man, the provider, the protector. Everything that a good husband was supposed to be.
Instead, she’d looked at him like that.
He had reassured her that what he was doing wasn’t illegal. Paul knew she hadn’t believed him, though.
That had been reaffirmed when he’d asked if she’d told anyone, any of her friends from Brynlock, what he had been doing. He hadn’t mentioned anyone from the bureau specifically, but Rachel had known who Paul had meant.
Suspicion had been written all over her. Suspicion and mistrust.
There had to be a way to fix that, because there was no way in hell she was going to ruin this for him. For them.
The girls’ futures depended on what he could do for them now.
He hoped he’d gotten through to her; she knew finances were sometimes tight. Especially with tuition and her needing a new car.
He’d been paid for his special services again just yesterday. He and Rachel were going to look at SUVs tomorrow; he’d driven through the Brynlock carpool lane yesterday to see what makes and models Brynlock parents seemed to prefer.
Paul was doing his best.
He was trying his best. Rachel needed to understand that.
He was doing what he had to in order to succeed.
She had no right to question him on those types of decisions. Providing was his job. However he chose to make that happen.
23
Ed Dennis stared at the files spread out in front of him. Andy Anderson’s face stared back. He had nothing. They’d found nothing, in weeks. Thanksgiving had come and gone. Christmas was right around the corner.
Ed was starting to lose hope.
Even the best he had hadn’t come up with anything. Nothing more than a code no one had broken yet.
The hit on Andy was just too well organized. Professional. And with the destruction of evidence, almost impossible to trace. Ed was terrified Andy had been just the beginning.
Even the memory cards they had had revealed nothing more than gibberish.
Someone out there could damned well be hunting Ed’s people.
“You’re worrying,” a soft, feminine voice said from behind him. Ed turned. There she was. The most beautiful woman in his world. “What is it?”
“Rumors. Gossip. A few things I’ve heard from friends in Washington.”
Marianna put her skinny arms around him. She was a tall woman, but thin. He ran a hand down her back absently as he pulled her into his lap for a moment. Sometimes, a touch from his wife was all it took to remind him of what he was doing.
Why he hadn’t retired yet.
Retirement sounded damned good now. He could do what his friend Dan intended after his own upcoming retirement—be a stay-at-home dad. Enjoy the time with the
