“That’ll be a nice break for you. I’m glad you’re getting away for a while.” After he finished speaking, he met Raoul’s gaze.
Smoothly, Raoul turned to Jordan and said, “Please bring a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and a bottle of bloodwine to the study.”
Jordan inclined his head. “Right away.”
The pleasantries over, Xavier walked into his study, where a bright fire was already filling the room with warmth and light. The windows had been propped open, allowing a fresh breeze to flow into the room.
He enjoyed the combination of the fresh, cool night air and the warmth from the fire. Everything had been arranged just as he liked it.
As he strolled to his chair, he shrugged out of his jacket, tugged off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt at the neck and wrists, and rolled up his sleeves. The book he had been reading before he had left lay where he had left it, on the table beside his chair. A sense of comfort stole over him.
Raoul followed, closing the door behind him. “How was New York?”
“Interesting, and a much needed change of pace after all the council meetings last month. Dragos spared no expense on the Games. He’s quite the showman when he decides to be.” He rubbed his dry eyes and relaxed with a sigh. “I got Melisande to agree to the last of the trade proposals.”
Raoul raised his eyebrows. “That will have pissed Justine off.”
“The thought has given me a great deal of satisfaction, after everything she did to sabotage this year’s council sessions.”
“You’ve made a bad enemy of her.”
“She’s made a bad enemy of me,” he said softly.
“I mean it, Xavier.” Raoul’s expression was serious. “By blocking what she tried to do with Melisande and the council, you’ve gone from being an annoying inconvenience to a serious impediment to Justine’s goals. She won’t forgive or forget that. You need to watch your back.”
As he talked, Jordan tapped at the door and brought in their drinks. Raoul poured bloodwine for him, and the Cabernet Sauvignon for himself.
Xavier gestured with one hand. “Enough. I’m sick to death of all of it. Tell me how things are going here.”
While Raoul talked about the mundane day-to-day events, Xavier leaned his head against the back of his chair and closed his eyes, sipped his bloodwine and listened. It was a thoroughly pleasant way to unwind, until Raoul brought up Tess.
Interest sparked through his growing laziness. He asked, “How is she doing?”
Raoul remained silent for so long, he lifted his head to look at the other man. Not that he gained much information by doing so. Raoul could be entirely inscrutable when he wanted to be, which was one of the many reasons why Xavier valued him.
Finally, Raoul said, “She’s tenacious.”
Amused, he smiled. “Is that the best you can say?”
Raoul didn’t return his smile. “I think she’s a loose cannon.”
Remembering how Tess had hacked his email and, later on, how she had broken his rules and eavesdropped on his conversation with Melisande, he gave an infinitesimal shrug. “I like loose cannons. They think creatively, and shake up the status quo.”
“I’ll tell you what I told her this morning,” Raoul said. “I see her as a dangerous liability. She is by far the weakest link in this household. She’s weaker and slower than any of us, and her loyalties are undefined and uncommitted at best.”
His smile faded, and he stared into the bright golden flames of the fire. While Raoul’s assessment was fair, there was something about Tess that might be worth the time and effort they poured into her. Some indefinable thing, maybe the very tenacity of which Raoul spoke, along with that delicious spark of defiance.
“I remember you emailed me when her background check came back,” he said. “It was clean.”
“Yes, it was. Aside from the fact that she worked at one of the major casinos in Las Vegas, there was nothing of note in it. But then standard background checks reveal very little.” Raoul shrugged, and his wry gaze met his. “After all, neither you nor I have been convicted of any crime either.”
“True enough, my friend.” His smile returned to tug at the corners of his lips.
“I also took the liberty of searching through all the Las Vegas newspapers for anything that might seem odd, or for any mention of a reported theft from the casino where she worked, but I didn’t find anything.”
“Good enough. Anything else?”
Raoul shook his head. “Even though I’ve made things hard on her, she’s done everything I’ve asked of her. That’s it.”