Chapter 10

Two days later, Caro walked into the JDPR boardroom in a state of exhilarated exhaustion. Julien was already set up at the long glass table, which was covered with newspapers. He scrolled through more news sites on the three laptops in front of him, eyes dancing greedily between the screens. Caro dropped her suitcase on the floor, her whole body aching. Belize was only a few hours’ flight but she’d been too wired to sleep.

Julien glanced up at Caro and blinked. “Mon ange, you look like shit.”

“Thanks. One of the local police had a conscience so it was hard to buy him off to guarantee the body’s privacy. He gave in when we told him that we weren’t letting the remains out of our sight and doubled the bribe.” She yawned. “A good thing, since there wasn’t actually a body.”

“Doesn’t sound like conscience to me. Sounds like he was holding out.” A laptop pinged and he checked it. “Another obit. Good, just standard.”

“Conscience is relative.” Caro rubbed her watery eyes. “No doubt for him it would be unconscionable not to make as much money as possible.”

Julien had already tuned her out. “All the Alex coverage looks bien, très bien, mostly because there is little coverage. A one-day wonder. Only small mentions and some longer obits in the business papers about a promising career cut short.”

“Any suspicion?”

“Viewed as a tragic accident but we’ll keep monitoring it for a while. The funeral will be quiet, with no information to media. Shouldn’t be an issue.”

He frowned, momentarily lost in thought as he absently pulled her notebook toward his side of the desk before tucking it under his own papers. “What about Kelton’s other masques?”

Caro fetched back her notebook, then went and poured herself a coffee from the carafe on the Danish-style credenza. The strong aroma raised her spirits and she poured in so much cream and sugar that it probably counted as a dessert. “No problems. The teams report that all four alternate masques have been taken care of. They’ll continue to watch, but it looks clean.”

They sat quietly, drinking coffee and paging through the papers like a couple on a Sunday morning. Caro’s eyelids began to droop in the warm room. It had been a busy two days. Stephan had agreed there needed to be someone on the spot to take care of problems. Caro hadn’t minded Belize, although she resented not having time to look around that incredible coastline. She’d been too busy resolving the various small issues that could easily derail the entire plan, while at the same time making sure she was safely indoors the moment night arrived. Thanks for adding to the stress, stupid phobia. At the end, watching the yacht sink, she’d felt nothing but a satisfying sense of completion of a job successfully done.

As a bonus, the unceasing work had kept her mind off Eric. Sort of.

Julien pushed away from the table and poured himself a cup of coffee. “You should take some time off,” he said. “You haven’t had a vacation since you began here.”

“I’ll take a day tomorrow.” Caro smothered another yawn. Her adrenaline must finally be coming down.

“You’ll take a week,” Julien corrected. “I can’t lose my star consultant. Remember, you may only have half the stamina of a real masquerada. You might even be as weak as a human.”

Weirdly, that hurt. She shoved away the reflexive desire to defend herself and took another sip of coffee.

Estelle knocked at the door, looking stunning in a tight blue suit that showed off her alluring curves and made her pale skin glow. Caro sighed, knowing she was grubby from the flight and the stress of the previous days. Then the vampire spoke and every thought was swept clear out of her mind. “Eric Kelton and Stephan Daker to see you.” She turned aside and openly ogled whoever stood behind her.

Before Julien could respond, the two men walked into the boardroom. Eric’s eyes went immediately to Caro and he seemed to relax at seeing her. She, on the other hand, had to physically restrain herself from reaching out to touch him. Had he been this smoking hot before?

“Is it true?” he demanded.

“Is what true?” Caro asked. Bafflement fought with an intense desire to stroke the angled line of his slightly stubbled jaw.

“Were you in Belize?” The man sounded enraged.

Surprised, Caro glanced over at Stephan, who gave a resigned shrug. Clearly, he’d been through a similar conversation with Eric, and more than once.

Eric crossed the room and towered over her. “Well?”

“Of course,” she said breezily. “Who else could go? I was the project lead.”

“It was dangerous.”

“Not at all. I was there for ground support and troubleshooting.” Her head ached. She needed a shower, water, and sleep. Maybe some food. What she did not need was additional drama from the guy she’d spent days working her ass off for, no matter how overpowering his presence.

“You could have been injured.”

Now she laughed out loud. “How? Do you think I was steering the yacht? I watched through binoculars.”

“It was unjustified,” he said. “You shouldn’t have been put at risk.” He kept his eyes on her and she thought for a quick, ridiculous and utterly thrilling moment that he was going to kiss her.

He’d been worried about her. That’s what this was about. Caro felt an intense rush of pleasure before she realized he was making her look like an incompetent child at work. Time to smarten him up. “That’s untrue and even if it was, it’s my choice, not yours.”

“You shouldn’t have been there,” he insisted.

Caro’s hand twitched with a desire to smack the domineering bastard. “Then it’s a good thing it wasn’t up to you.”

They glared at each other but before Eric could respond, Julien broke in smoothly. “All the coverage is as we expected,” he said. Together, he and Stephan began checking off media outlets and what they had reported.

Caro stood to join them and found Eric blocking her way. Since she barely reached his chin, it forced her to lean back to look him in the face.

He stared at her with a desire so hot it was searing. Simple, naked need. From Eric Kelton? For her? Flustered, she rested her hand gently on his arm, meaning only to move him out of her way. The muscles quivered under her touch and his gray eyes became hooded and dark.

Stephan coughed quietly and Caro snatched her hand away as Eric took a step back. The lieutenant grinned with frank enjoyment, but Caro’s attention was on Julien. For an instant, and so quick that she wondered if she even saw it, he looked at Eric with a face transformed by a look of cold hatred before reverting to his usual cynical expression. Then he broke into a line of facile PR chatter about metrics and follow-ups.

The two masquerada left soon after—Caro’s whole body feeling the pressure of Eric’s lingering handshake—and Julien returned to his media monitoring.

“Kelton was impressed with our work.” The stress Julien put on the our made it clear that he didn’t consider it hers.

Caro didn’t even blink. When Julien played a game, it was never a good idea to join. “Good. I’m glad he was happy.”

“Quite a man,” Julien said. “Power, money. I’m sure women find him attractive.”

Now she sat up. “What are you getting at, Julien? Say it straight.”

“Are you fucking him?” Julien didn’t even look up from his laptop but she could see his face was red and his jaw tensed.

Caro was so shocked that she couldn’t even answer. Julien kept talking. “Kelton is a client, Caro, and you’ll keep it like that.”

She finally found her voice. “You’ve got some goddamn nerve.”

“No, I’ve got an interest in keeping my company profitable and not getting a reputation for providing special services to clients. Not even kings.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“You fuck Kelton, you can start looking for a new job.” Now he looked up, though he refused to meet her eyes.

She kept her temper long enough to answer. “Eric Kelton will get the same level of respect and service as any client, and no more. I’ll take that vacation, thanks. See you next week. Don’t bother calling, my phone will be off.”

“Caro,” Julien said in a warning voice.

She didn’t even turn around. “Stuff it, Julien.”

The shoji screen made an unsatisfying bump as she tried to slam it shut behind her.