Selena looked to her for confirmation. Remi met her guard’s cinnamon eyes. Greer had been polite…but so demanding in bed. Remi felt her face flush. Val burst out laughing.
It was a huge relief when they were called into the after-lunch meeting. Lion and Max were absent, but Selena was present. Kit leaned against the front of a large desk. The other guys stood or sat on various pieces of furniture around the room. Owen leaned against the bookshelf behind the desk, his arms folded and feet slightly spread.
Remi glanced at Greer who was next to her, his face carefully blank. Looked as if this would be a short meeting…and everyone but she knew its agenda.
*
Greer met Remi’s nervous glance. He wondered how he would be handling things, were their situations reversed. His reaction to being dropped into the middle of all of this wouldn’t be as calm as hers—especially if it impacted his career as it had the potential to hit hers.
“Kit,” Selena said, breaking the room’s silence. “Lion mentioned a tithe he said the young adults of the Friendship Community do on behalf of the community. I don’t remember hearing him say anything about that in the meeting this morning.”
“He didn’t.” Kit looked at Remi. “Do you know anything about it?”
“Tithing has never come up in my interviews.” She shook her head. “It is interesting that it’s something common enough Lion would casually mention it, and yet absolutely none of the women I spoke to ever brought it up.”
“Well, that’s one more thing to figure out on your visit with the Friends. Are you ready to get out there? We have the things you requested.” He nodded over at a few wooden crates full of goods the community would use that it couldn’t generate itself: needles, pins, scissors, spools of thread, bolts of undyed cotton, pencils.
“Remi and I need a word with you before we head out,” Greer said, looking at Owen and Kit.
“Get these crates loaded up in Dr. Chase’s car,” Kit ordered. When the room emptied, he looked at Greer expectantly.
“Remi has a week before she has to be back at the university.”
Kit nodded. “Let’s make it count.”
“If things aren’t stabilized by the time she has to go back, I want her to stay here and commute to work.”
Kit checked with Owen. “S’cool. I appreciate your help, professor. If you need Owen to have a chat with your people, we can make that happen.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Won’t they be worried if you just disappear for a while?”
Remi glanced at each of them, ending with Greer. “I let my department head know I would be visiting friends. I think it’s best if they don’t know I’m working with you.”
“Why?” Owen said.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve had someone come after me during a research project. Cults are closed and secretive for a reason. They like to keep it that way.”
“I’m talking about telling your employer where you are, what you’re doing, and that you’re safe.”
She hesitated. She didn’t want to accuse her boss or assistant with something she couldn’t prove. “I think I’m safer if they’re not involved.” She looked at Greer. “You are, too.”
“You saying someone on your staff can’t be trusted?” He asked.
Remi’s lips thinned. “I have no proof. For now, no one has to be told anything. Let’s leave it at that. Besides, the provost made it perfectly clear that I’m not to continue my research with the Friends. If you call them, they could well terminate my contract early.”
Kit exchanged a glance with Owen. “All right. Let’s try to get this wrapped up in a week.”
Remi stood at the open hatch door of her car, her hand on one of the bolts of fabric, her mind lost in contemplation. Greer opened the tiny envelope Kit had given him and spilled its contents onto his palm. Two simple gold wedding bands lay against each other, shimmering in the sun. He picked up Remi’s band. It was tiny.
Props, that was all, for a pseudo marriage. Probably the only way he’d ever have a wife.
“You got everything you need?” he asked. She nodded. “Then give me your hand.”
Her brows lowered. “Why?”
“’Cause I’m gonna put a ring on your finger.” He couldn’t hold back his grin. Shouldn’t make him so happy to have a fake wife. He slipped the narrow band down her finger, then made the mistake of looking into her eyes. He caught the flash of panic that sharpened her gaze before she could hide it.
He ground his teeth. “It’s just a ring, Remi. A prop for the next few days. It has no meaning beyond that.” He shoved the larger, wider band on his left ring finger. It felt foreign and constricting and warm. “There anything else you need from the house?”
She shook her head.
“Then let’s get this show on the road.”
She held her hand out. “Keys. I’ll drive my car.”
He set them in her hand without hesitation and went around to the passenger side.
*
Remi’s heart drummed in her painfully constricted chest. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. She looked at the wedding ring choking her finger. In fact, it was hard to stay focused on the road with that gold band glinting in the sun.
The road twisted around some hairpin curves. When it straightened out, she pulled off onto a scenic overlook. After putting the car in park, she got out and walked over to the half-wall, slipping the ring off her finger.
Greer followed her. Wind came up the cliff and over the wall, lifting her hair. She brushed it aside. “I can’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“Wear this ring. Pretend to be married. I’m never going to marry. Anyone who knows me knows that.”
“How well do the Friends know you?”
“That’s not the point.”
“I get it. You like your independence. I do, too. But we don’t have the luxury of indulging our fears right now. Something bigger than us is in play, and we need to figure out what it is.”