She stepped back from him and looked toward his face. “I’m scared. I don’t generally inspire lots of faith from people.”
“I trust you. Just stop driving me crazy. Dinner’s in an hour.” After another kiss on her lips, he turned and left her alone in the room.
The taste of the kiss lingered on her lips. Three weeks? She could make it to the end, but would her heart?
Chapter Thirteen
Henry could kiss Gabe forever. Yet he didn’t have her forever. A chill spread over him. He wanted more time. Three weeks could never satisfy his growing attachment to her. She filled him with a sense of warmth he’d never felt before. Yet she was still an enigma. Snooping in Simon’s room? What was she doing? Did she think Simon was the enemy? He trusted Simon with his life.
When Henry had learned of the existence of his older half brother, he searched him out. What he’d found had disgusted him. His father had provided every material advantage to his future heir. The other son had received nothing. Simon’s mother had worked as a housekeeper for some of the well-to-do in town. He’d excelled despite his hardships and earned himself a spot on a club football team and a university education.
He and Simon had spent long days together as teenagers. From what Simon had told him, the earl enjoyed beating his mistress as much as he’d enjoyed beating his countess. They’d banded together to protect their respective mothers. A bond was forged even stronger than the half blood they shared.
He found Simon in the kitchen slicing up chicken. After pouring himself some cabernet sauvignon, he sat at the table.
“Sorry about our houseguest.” She was a walking contradiction and the most frustrating female on earth.
Simon never lifted his eyes from his cutting board. “She’s smart. Really smart. She located the gun in the first pass around the room. Given ten more minutes, who knows what she would have found. She doesn’t trust me, and she shouldn’t. Yet she managed to use that body of hers to try to find out more about me. You overreacted a bit, but puppy love can make a boy do silly things.”
“I don’t—”
“You certainly do. You’re an open book. Gabe, however, is a pretty good actress. She’s also overflowing with street-smarts on top of her crazy art knowledge. She’d be an asset to MI6, if she weren’t American. If she’s American.”
Henry wouldn’t give her up to Simon’s work. Granted, he had no controlling interest in her, but he did have his three-week engagement, at least, to keep her around. “I need her more than you do right now.”
“I understand.” Simon slid the chicken into the skillet. The sizzle released an amazing aroma of olive oil and rosemary. “I scrounged up an invite to an underground exhibition in Edinburgh.”
Twelve stone lifted off Henry’s shoulders with the news. Maybe he did have a shot at rescuing the painting. For all of his father’s faults, and there were many, Simon was his greatest gift to Henry. “Can you get us in?”
Simon grimaced. “I can take Gabe, but you’re a bit too posh for this type of event.”
“Why?” he asked. Gabe couldn’t attend the event without him. He wouldn’t allow it.
Simon looked up from the skillet. “She’ll easily pass for my latest piece of ass. You, however, are a total nerd.”
“I’m going.” He sounded like a spoiled brat, but damn it, it was his painting.
“Then we’ll have to give you a makeover, because someone will slit your throat if they think you’re searching for art someone stole from you.”
“I made over Gabe, and she looks fantastic.”
Simon laughed. “You had a lot to work with when transforming Gabe. Making you over won’t be as easy.”
“I can do it.” Gabe, sexy despite being dressed in her jeans and a black T-shirt, crossed the kitchen and opened the refrigerator for a glass of orange juice. “I can make him into an art dealer with anonymous wealthy clients. I’ll even be his arm candy.”
“No. You have to be my companion.” Simon shook his head, but didn’t smile. He’d stopped playing games with Gabe, thankfully. “If Henry is there on business for his clients, he needs to be alone. I’m always accompanied by some female, usually Nicola. It would seem odd if I went solo. You can stay by my side for a little while until I leave you with Henry so he doesn’t put his foot in his mouth.”
She sat on one of the stools and picked at the black olives. Black olives and orange juice? And they doubted his ability to blend in?
“Fine.” She continued to steal from Simon’s dinner prep.
“Fine?” They were crazy. Henry needed her with him. He’d look like a fraud if he was left alone, despite his earlier claims to the contrary.
Simon smacked Gabe’s hand with his spatula before she could finish off the olives. “We’ll keep Gabe as close to you as possible without her appearing like your date. If she stays next to you all night and whispers in your ear every time you’re asked a question, people will suspect you’re a copper.”
“I’m sure Henry can pass himself off as someone important if he tries really hard.” Gabe’s smile told him she was enjoying this turn of events.
“We have one problem. Gabe has no identification.” Simon turned to her, and Gabe’s hand froze before a slice of tomato entered her mouth. “Do you?”
“Identification? Not with me.”
Simon’s fist clenched and then released as though he wanted to throttle her. “Can you get some?”
“I’d rather not use my own ID right now. Do you have a good source who could make me one?”
Henry waited for his answer, but Simon placed his hands on the countertop, inhaled, and turned back to the food preparation without answering. He did have the ability to obtain her a fake identification. His employer could make her into anyone.
The chicken looked done, and Simon placed it on a serving platter. “We don’t have time. You can’t fly without identification, so we’ll have to drive and that means we leave in two days.”