The flight felt short, but it could have been because he and Mindy had spent most of it locked in the back bedroom making love until they had both fallen fast asleep.
The pilot had made a stop to refuel at a private airstrip near NYC, but he and the staff aboard the plane had done little to interfere with their private time.
Jarrod couldn’t have thanked them enough, and when the pilot announced their descent into Stockholm, a profound sadness filled him.
He glanced over at Mindy. Her green eyes were heavy with sleep. She gave him a drowsy and satisfied smile. “Good morning,” she said, “are you ready for this?”
All he was ready for was to live his entire life with her in his arms. Screw the world and all the madness within it.
He knew that was impossible. They had to go back to their lives. And that meant he had to make sure Arthur was no longer a danger to Mindy—and that meant that he had to clear her name of any possible wrongdoing.
His family’s plan was to come together at the Widow Maker Ranch and live out their days in seclusion and peace. At least until the Gray Wolves were under control and they were no longer in fear for their lives. As such, once everything was handled with Arthur and Mindy was once again safe, she could come back to the ranch. If she was willing. He knew she had an entire business to run on her own, thanks to Daniel’s death.
Their time together might be coming to a close. Sure, they could try the long-distance thing, but such relationships were often destined to fail. Life always got in the way. First, they would go out of their way to meet up together—missing meetings and throwing caution to the wind. But over time, when the bloom left the rose, business would once again come first and life would take over. They would slowly move apart until neither could really recall exactly why they had ever gotten together in the first place.
It was better to realize now that whatever they had would be best left behind. It would be easier on both of them, instead of deluding themselves into thinking that they could make it work—no matter how much he loved her.
She blinked, her impossibly long eyelashes brushing against her cheeks. He wished he could tell her how he felt, that he loved her, that he wanted to be hers forever, and that he would do anything for her.
However, if he gave in now and told her how he was really feeling, it wouldn’t just be him that he was hurting…and he had promised that he would do anything to stop her from being hurt further. He had to keep his word.
The plane jerked as the wheels touched down on the tarmac.
Mindy set about getting her clothes together and putting them on as he watched. If things went well, they might very well be bringing Arthur back with them on their next plane ride. This could be their last time alone.
Reaching over, he helped her button her pants. And before she could turn away, he took her one more time into his arms and gave her a kiss that felt entirely too much like goodbye. She looked up at him as he let her go. There were questions in her eyes, and behind those questions was a darkness as she, too, must have realized what he had been thinking.
She knew as well as he did that what they had together was over.
The ride to their hotel was quiet and filled with melancholy. They passed by beautiful waterside and antiquated architecture, which would have normally given him joy. This time all he could think about was the sadness that filled him.
Maybe he could move to New York and stay with her and Anya. But then, she hadn’t spoken of a future together. And just like him, she was probably guarding herself from becoming too emotionally attached. That, or she held no feelings for him at all.
It pained him to realize the truth of their arrangement.
He normally wasn’t the kind of man who fell for a woman, so maybe this was his karma. In a way, he couldn’t deny that he deserved what he was getting from her.
Though she had seemed to forgive him for his transgressions, she had never really told him so in as many words.
Maybe she had spent the night with him to ensure that he would be hurt as badly as she was. Or perhaps she had taken him in an attempt to make herself feel better and to forget about the pain in her real life. Maybe she had known it was over before it began.
As their car came to a stop in front of the hotel, he looked across the water to the royal palace. It was no coincidence that Arthur was here. He had to have been somehow involved with the Riksdag, or possibly Hans Anders’s murder.
Come hell or high water, Jarrod would get to the bottom of this.
Not for the first time, he wished he could call his people at the CIA. He wished there was somebody he could trust to be on his side and tell him more about Arthur.
If Arthur really was a double agent, then it seemed likely he may have also been behind the suspicion of Daniel and Mindy. Perhaps Arthur had even been spreading rumors that she was somehow involved with Hans’s murder, and in an effort to expunge himself from any possible guilt, he was here trying to sell his innocence to this Swedish Parliament.
Bottom line, Arthur was a bastard.
In broken Swedish, he thanked his driver and helped Mindy out of the car. The driver motioned that he would be taking the bags into the hotel for them. Jarrod handed him a healthy tip in kronor.
The man took the money with a wide smile and stuffed it into his pocket before escorting them to the lobby door where a bellman waited. The driver said something to the man and, though the well-dressed bellman was already at attention, he stood a bit straighter.
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Jarrod said, “could you please make sure our bags arrive safely in our rooms?” He handed the bellman the same tip he had given the driver.
The bellman nodded, and the money disappeared as though in the hands of a well-practiced magician.
They weren’t at a HoJo in the States, that was for sure.
As they made their way into the foyer, they were met with brilliant marble floors, fresh-cut flowers and crystal chandeliers that cascaded down from the ceilings. The place was quiet, though a few guests were making their way to and from the elevators and up and down the grand staircase. The hotel smelled of something clean but dripping of class, something reminiscent of white tea and sage. The palatial foyer opened up into a group of rooms and the luxury hotel’s front desk, where a woman in a suit waited with a smile.
He would have to ensure that he had the right attire for such a place. The thought made him miss the ranch, and it reminded him of just another thing that was so different from NYC and Mindy’s life. With her lace panties and high-end clothes—well, all except his Nirvana shirt—she was totally out of place at a Montana ranch.
He slipped his hand into hers, pretending just for a moment that they were something more than what they could be.
She gave his hand a squeeze as she smiled over at him, and, though they were both terribly underdressed, he found himself right at home. He had her.
When they checked into their rooms, they were booked as Mr. and Mrs. Martino. He couldn’t help but notice the faint rosiness rise in her cheeks at the moniker that his sister had assigned them.
Maybe it wasn’t so crazy to hope that she had feelings for him that went beyond a one-night stand.
Taking their respective keys, they made their way up to the suite Zoey had reserved for them. The main room was enormous, and it looked out upon the waterway and the palace. He hated to think how much this would be costing the company. If he had been alone, he would have not put himself up in such a magnificent room. But he was glad his sister had chosen this for them. If nothing else, he and Mindy could spend their last night together in the lap of luxury. Perhaps she would think that he wasn’t that different from her after all.
The door clicked shut behind them and as it did, he could hear the air rush from Mindy. “Wow,” she whispered.
“Zoey did well.” He chuckled. “I think she’ll manage to take care of everything while I’m gone.”
“Is that her role in your family, to make sure everything runs smoothly?” Mindy asked, walking across the large room and stopping in front of the window. “I would have assumed you were the head of the family.”
Did she just implicitly know where his sore spots were, or had he let something slip during their time together?
“I’m oldest, but as you can see I’m hardly the one in control.”
“Actually, I know a little bit about that, as well.” She moved the leather chair that sat beside the window and motioned for him to come sit beside her.
“Oh, really? But you work under your brother. I thought—”
“He was my boss? Yes, he definitely was. He ran the company. But in our personal lives, he was always a bit of a mess. I mean, look at Anya, for example.” She turned to him as he sat down beside her. “I’ve always had to step up when it comes to him. It was the main reason that I never really wanted to be a part of my father’s company.”
Every time he thought he knew this woman, she surprised him, and that enigmatic quality was just one of the many reasons that losing her would tear his guts out.
If there was even a chance that he could make a future with her, he would seize it with both hands. And no matter what happened, he would fight.