He shrugged. “Hard to believe, but, yeah, as we filed down the halls and then single file down some metal back stairs, I really did expect a bomb to go off and kill us all. I kept looking around at all the faces of the people who had innocently gone there that day for no other reason than to see a little bit of our history, and I thought, what kind of dick would blow up the Smith? I mean, I knew such things happened, but it was the first time it was personal.
“And as we stood out in the Mall, waiting for the bomb squad to search the building, I got really angry as I looked around at all the different buildings that make up the Smith and thought about the irreplaceable items each one held. All the pieces of history that could have been lost to future generations…The Spirit of St. Louis, the Hope diamond, the original ‘Star-Spangled Banner,’ hell, even my mother’s costume and the Lone Ranger’s mask. But worse than that were all the children who were around me who would have been history themselves. It wasn’t right, and for the first time, I really understood what motivated Joe to right the wrongs of the world. So I decided I wanted to do something with my life too. After graduation, we packed our things, moved to DC, and started applying for jobs.
Within six months, he ended up in the CIA while I joined the SS.”
She was impressed at the timetable and their impetus, especially for Ace. “That must have been scary for you guys to head out across the country on your own.”
He shrugged. “Not really. When you have the kind of money and connections my family does, there’s not a lot of risk in much of anything. My dad bought me aGeorgetown brownstone for graduation, so it was just a matter of finding our places in the world.”
“Wow,” she said sarcastically, remembering how many times in her childhood they had barely made ends meet. “It must be nice to chomp the silver spoon and know that no matter what you do, you have a safety net.”
He seemed to ignore her sarcasm.“Sometimes, but if you’re not careful, that safety net can quickly turn into a noose to hang you.”
His perception stunned her. Ace had real depth…that really was the last thing she’d expected from him, and it made him all the more alluring to her. “How do you mean?”
“I’ve seen a lot of my friends and family end up on drugs and totally screwed up emotionally because they have no concept of how hard life is for those who lack. To them a crisis is that the detail place didn’t deliver the Ferrari in time for the party and now they have to take the Bentley instead. God forbid.”
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She watched the way the candlelight played in his dark blond hair while he ate some of his steak. The light danced on the sharp angles of his cheeks andjaw, making her wonder what it would feel like to trace that strong jawline with her finger. She shivered with the thought of it. It had really been far too long since she’d been with a man. Even longer since she’d last felt this insane need to reach out and touch one.
Why she would feel that with Ace, she couldn’t imagine. Though to be honest, he was starting to grow on her now that he was talking to her and not sniping at her.
“How is it you escaped that fate?” she asked, more interested in the answer than she should have been.
“Again, I have to say Joe. He was the first poor person I’d ever really gotten to know. Here I was stressing out over whether I should go to Cancún orRio for spring break while he was sneaking fruit into his backpack so that he’d have something to eat over the weekend rather than starve. I shudder to think what I might have become had I not lucked out when they were handing out roommate assignments.”
Rhea thought about that in silence while Ace continued to eat. He really was beginning to intrigue her with his stories.
And that terrified her.
Even so, she wanted to know more about him. “So how did you end up with the name Thaddeus?” she asked, changing the subject. “That just doesn’t seem to fit you at all.”
He groaned as if the name pained him greatly. “Before my dad was a director, he was a stunt double.
My mother thought it would be funny to name all of us after whatever character he was playing when we were conceived.”
“Really?How fun.”But for her life, she couldn’t think of a single movie from the time of their birth with a character by that name. “So who was Thaddeus?”
He took another drink of beer. “It’s an old TV western from 1971.Alias Smith andJones . Ben Murphy Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
played Jed “Kid” Curry, aka Thaddeus Jones, and hence my name. I suppose it could be worse. Had Dad been dark-haired, I’d have been namedHannibal after the Pete Deul character.”
She cringed for him.“Lucky you, indeed. So where did you get the nickname Ace?”
“John Wayne.”
She rolled her eyes. “I was being serious.”
“I am serious. He was a longtime friend of my grandfather’s. One night, about a year before he died, he was at my grandfather’s house playing cowboy with me. I wanted a cool outlaw name, so the Duke dubbed me Ace Hijinx, Kid Outlaw.”