That anxiety plaguing her, Mary walked quickly out of her daughter’s office and slam bang right into a wide chest.
“Sorry,” Mary muttered, glancing up, then froze as she recognized Lucian Argeneau. Staring at him wide-eyed, she swallowed guiltily. “I didn’t—”
“I know,” Lucian said simply, then stepped to the side and gestured for her to lead the way. When she started walking, he immediately fell into step beside her.
“Thank you,” he said as they walked toward the exit.
Mary paused and glanced at him with surprise, and then asked warily, “For what?”
Stepping in front of her, he bowed his head and said softly, “For not making me wipe your daughter’s memory, and crush Dante’s heart by having to kill you.”
Mary stiffened, then pushed past him and strode out onto the sidewalk, aware that he was on her heels. Her mind was suddenly buzzing, first with questions, and then with answers. The Eaton Center was in downtown Toronto. The Enforcer House was outside Toronto. It had been a hell of a drive to get here, and she’d been surprised they’d bothered when there were so many malls closer to the house. Now she thought she understood.
“You picked the mall,” she guessed grimly.
“Yes,” Lucian admitted.
“You somehow knew where my daughter works and picked this mall because it was nearby.”
“Yes.”
“You did it deliberately, to test me,” she said bitterly.
“Yes.”
Mary stopped abruptly and scowled at him. “That was a cheap trick.”
“Yes,” he said again, completely unapologetic.
She glowered at him briefly, and then bowed her head and muttered, “I’m sorry I failed your test.”
“You did not fail. You did not tell her,” he pointed out.
Mary let her breath out on a sigh, and then lifted her head. Eyeing him curiously, she asked, “Would you really have killed me had I told her?”
“Yes.”
Mary nodded slowly and then turned to start walking again, but after several steps she commented, “It must be hard.”
“What?” he asked with mild interest, keeping pace with her.
“Being the asshole that gets stuck with the shit jobs to protect his people,” she said solemnly and noted that he inclined his head as if to acknowledge that he was that asshole.
“Someone has to do it,” he said simply.
“And that someone is you.”
“Yes.”
Mary merely nodded. There was really nothing else to do or say.
They entered the Eaton Center through the same doors she’d exited from earlier, and moved at a quick clip toward the food court. They were still a good distance away, though, when Mary heard someone call her name. Slowing, she glanced around, and then paused as she saw Dante rushing toward them.
“Are you all right?” he asked, taking her by the upper arms as he reached them. His gaze slid over her as if looking for gaping wounds.
Managing a smile, Mary nodded her head. “Yes, of course. I’m fine,” she whispered, and then leaned up to kiss him gently on the cheek.
“Where were you?” Dante asked as she lowered back to stand flat on her feet again. “I checked the store where we left you, but you were not there and then I looked everywhere for you, but—”
“She got lost.” Lucian interrupted him blandly.
“Oh.” Dante stared at Lucian for a moment, and then shifted his gaze to Mary, and she knew he didn’t believe Lucian, but all he said was, “I was worried.”
“Yes, yes,” Lucian said impatiently. “She was lost, you were worried, now she is found and all is well. Now, go on and kiss her so we can get out of this blasted mall.”
Mary tipped her head up to Dante and grinned. “You heard the man. Kiss me.”
Dante chuckled softly and then lowered his head to do just that. But it was no, hi-I’m-happy-to-see-you buss, it was a full on, God-I-am-SO-happy-to-see-you-and-just-wish-you-were-naked-and-spread-eagled-on-the-floor smackeroo.
“Lord save me from new life mates,” Lucian muttered with disgust and then cursed as Weird Al Yankovich’s “Tacky” began to play somewhere nearby. For some reason that made Dante laugh, Mary noted, as he broke their kiss. She peered at him with bewilderment for a moment, and then realizing that Lucian was moving away, called, “Lucian?”
Pausing, he swung back, a phone in his hand.
“What?” he asked tersely as “Tacky” continued to play.
“The man you want in Venezuela is Dr. Dressler,” she announced, her response just as terse.
Dante went still beside her. “What?”
Mary turned back to him and grimaced apologetically. “I overheard someone mention the name Dresden while I was . . .” She hesitated, not really wanting to explain what she’d done right there in the shopping mall, then shook her head and said, “It doesn’t matter. The point is hearing the name Dresden made me remember the name Dressler.”