No one was there when I searched the rooms on the ground floor the next morning, so I hit the kitchen and rummaged through the drawers on my own.
Elle and I never left our bedroom after going upstairs the day before. Mrs. Bates had brought up our dinner, and we’d watched old movies until falling asleep.
“What are you looking for, dear?” Mrs. Bates was behind me.
“Another charger for my mobile. The one upstairs isn’t working. Where is your staff?”
“I gave a few days’ gap. I can get on with things myself for a bit. The countess needs a break from all the activity.”
“You asked Jessica to go back to Eastridge.” I should have realized. “Thank you.”
“This is why I’m here, lad, no? To take care of the two of you.” She opened the oven door and removed my breakfast plate. “Our lass has quite a lot of room back home to retreat when she needs to, but that’s not so here at Kensington. It’s up to us to send them away. Eat now and get on with it, so you’re not late this evening.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I teased, picking up a fork and a knife.
“That handsome smile has always been trouble,” she mumbled as she turned back to the range with her wooden spoon to stir the pot of berry jam that she was cooking.
Joe Turner came through the doorway and filled a travel mug with coffee. “Good morning, sir.”
“You really need to stop that shit, Turner. You don’t owe me that.”
“I’m a soldier. It’s what I do. If you want me to stop, tell my commander.” He winked and took a drink. “There was quite a queue for petrol at the filling station this morning.”
It was his way of telling me that his commander, my wife, was up to something without directly telling me that she was up to something.
I gave him a slight nod. “Good to know.”
“Keep a good eye on her, the both of you.” Mrs. Bates removed the bubbling jam from an open flame and turned to eyeball me, as if to accuse me. “She hasn’t been feeling well, you know.”
Mrs. Bates was right. Elle had experienced some headaches and bouts of nausea after we returned from Eastridge. I checked her birth control pills, and she was taking them as she should. Because of the type of pill prescribed to ease her cycles, it was common for her to go months at a time without a period. We knew enough to not assume the contraception was one hundred percent effective, so she took a home pregnancy test to confirm. The results had been negative.
“Elle was doing quite well last night. She might have had a bug, picked up from Lissie or Chelsea. She tells me the girls often carry viruses home from their schools.”
Later at the office, with two meetings and a conference call with a French investor out of the way, Thomas stepped into my office and shut the door. He headed straight to the bar and poured himself a shot of whisky. “I’ll be out for a few hours this afternoon. You need to stay here and focus on the contract that you should have wrapped up yesterday.”
“Quit with the nebulous bullshit and tell me what you’re trying to say, Thomas.”
“Stay here,” he repeated. “There’s nothing vague about that. Keep your arse in the office and close some business. My start-up team in New York needs some wins, starting with the Elliot account.”
I stood. My palms were itching. “Where is she going? What is my wife doing today that has you on edge?”
“You’ve got it wrong. There is no edge. Things are rolling according to plan, and there is nothing you need to know today. Do you trust me, brother?”
No answer came to me. I trusted him, but I couldn’t bring myself to reassure him or myself of that. I turned toward the glass and raked a hand through my hair, staring out at the Thames. It was all I could do to keep myself from pacing.
Goddamn it. I’d never had paranoia, but then again, I’d also never had Elle.
“You need to say it, Will. I need to hear you say it.”
I kept my back to him. “You know there is no one I trust more than you. But Elle is at the center of this, and I’m not sure I have the strength to hold back. I should call her out on it and put an end to it.”
Selfish, weak prick.
“Think about what you just said. Has something changed?” Thomas asked.
“What she needs has not changed.”
I heard his glass hit the bar. “Well then, wrap up your review of the Elliot contract today and get it to legal.”
“She won’t stop,” I said, watching Tower Bridge lift for a marine tug heading upriver.
“Ellie will find Lissie’s mother, and she will stop.”
“She wants her own children, which is why it matters so much to her.”
“And you’ll give her that.”
I spun to meet my brother’s eyes. “Wouldn’t you?”
“Yes.” His response held no hesitation. I noted the way he dropped his eyes to examine his watch.
“I’m no longer at the top of my physical game, Thomas. The injuries have taken a toll on me.”
“You took a bullet for her. Nothing could be fiercer than that. No one is coming for her. Still, know that I’m at the top of my game. I will never let anyone touch her.”
The thought of a potential reformation of the Order had fucked with my head, and I needed to make it leave me now that it wasn’t something to worry over. Elle’s investigation into Lissie’s mother was the pressing matter, and something was going down later that afternoon that didn’t feel right.
A dull pain drove through the center of my chest and lingered.
“I’ll sign your deal within the hour. On your way out, tell Sean to get Jim Elliot on the phone.”