One Sizzling Night(35)
Suddenly, his arms were around her, holding her close. She might have lost a few moments there, but now she relaxed in the comfort and safety of his arms, even if it was temporary.
It couldn’t last forever, though. “Thanks,” she said, taking a step back. “I’m fine, really.” She looked up, hoping he might kiss her.
“Good.” He let her go, opened the passenger door and walked to the driver’s side.
Kensey prayed he could see now that she’d told him as much as she could, that she’d never once tried to trick him. “You know I had nothing to do with Neil calling Sam, don’t you? I expressly asked him not to tell anyone.”
Logan’s response was to start the engine and get them onto the main road. “I’m glad you’re all right,” he said finally. “And I hope you got what you needed.”
“I hope so, too,” she said, so softly he probably didn’t even hear.
“I couldn’t have worked for him,” Logan said. “He’s a real snake and I’m sorry he touched you. I wish I could have stopped that...” His mouth tightened. “No sense rehashing things. We’re done now. I’ll return everything to Sam, then catch the first flight out to La Guardia.”
They were done now?
She looked at his strong profile. At the way his jaw was set, his gaze on the road and nothing else.
He didn’t mean they were just done with Holstrom. Logan meant the two of them were over.
19
“WE’VE HAD THIS argument before,” Logan said, wanting to strangle his sister. Normally they got along great, but sometimes... “You know what? Forget it. I’ll take this case. You can have tomorrow off. You deserve it after doing so much when I was gone.”
Lisa sat up straight. Only a moment ago, she’d flopped down on the chair across from his desk as if she’d been too exhausted to hold her head up. “I was kidding.”
His gaze went to the big calendar he kept on his office wall. How could nine days have gone by since he’d returned home? “It doesn’t matter. Take the day—”
“Logan, stop. Jesus. I was just trying to lighten the mood. Frankly, it’s getting scary. You’re not yourself.”
“That’s got to be an improvement.”
“Maybe if you’d just talk to someone...”
He looked at his inbox. It was so full he wanted to run away from home. “You’re right to hate these stupid divorce cases.” He huffed a laugh. “If I hadn’t screwed up in Boston—”
“Oh, for God’s sake. You really need to stop this right now. You didn’t screw up. You did the right thing.”
Lisa didn’t understand. He’d screwed up, all right. Not just the deal with Holstrom. He’d messed up everything with Kensey, too. All that anger and disappointment that had consumed him? Turned out it had little to do with her. She was a civilian, doing the best she could to help her father. Logan had blamed her for her perfectly logical weaknesses. She was an art curator, not a trained spy. And the way he’d treated her...inexcusable.
Despite the years he’d spent back on United States soil as a civilian, the therapy he’d gone through, the appearance of being all right with the world, he’d been holding on to some wicked judgments about his last mission. He should have taken the shot. That was his job, and he’d disobeyed an order. Why they’d wanted to refuse his resignation was still a mystery.
And he’d done it again in Boston. He’d had a single goal: to get what he needed to expand his company and hire more vets. He’d failed. It didn’t matter that his personal moral code made Holstrom problematic. He should have signed the contract that same day.
The deal might’ve fallen through anyway, since Holstrom was arrested five days ago, thanks to Patterson rallying some high-ranking judges who happened to be avid art collectors. But that wasn’t the point.
Logan had put Kensey first. She was one person. That he’d fallen in love with her shouldn’t have entered the picture. The veterans he could have helped had come in a distant second.
And given the choice to do it all over again, he’d have done the same thing. He’d have protected Kensey if it had meant losing everything he had.
He knew better. He’d been trained to see the greater good.
And in some crazy, weird way, the Boston fiasco had somehow given him the closure he hadn’t realized he needed. Because he could honestly say, despite not knowing the repercussion of his decision to stand down in Afghanistan, he’d have made that same choice again, too.
He’d stayed as long as he could, and he meant no disrespect, but the war had caught up to him. He’d seen too much. Too many innocent people had died, and he simply couldn’t take it anymore.
Logan wished it hadn’t taken ruining his chances with Kensey for him to see that his choices had been true to his code of ethics. Part of him believed that was all he could hope to do in this life. Stand true to himself, no matter the cost. The other part of him, the loyal soldier, didn’t believe it for a minute.
It seemed he and Kensey had both ended up collateral damage.
“Hello?”
Lisa was leaning over his desk. “First of all, you know you couldn’t have gotten in bed with Holstrom. Can you imagine what your vets would have thought of your judgment?”
He swallowed at his sister’s unfortunate turn of phrase.
“Second, have you called Kensey? She might not hate you, you know.”
He wasn’t going to argue about this again. Luckily, the office phone rang. They both reached for it at the same time, but he won. “McCabe Security.”
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Hold on a second, Sam. Lisa’s here. I’ll put you on speaker.” He pressed the button. “What’s up? Something wrong with the order I sent you?”
“Have you called Kensey?”
He dove for the button to take Sam off speaker, but his sister got there first. “No,” she said. “He hasn’t. Because he’s being an idiot.”
“Shut up.” Logan considered yanking out the phone cord. “Both of you. It’s not your business.”
“It is if you keep moping,” Lisa said.
“Please, Logan,” Sam pleaded. “If you’d just call her—”
“Look who’s talking, Sam,” he said. “Really? You want to go there?”
“Okay. If even I can tell you guys are meant for each other—”
“This isn’t why you called. Or if it is, I’m hanging up.”
“Fine. Have you been keeping up with what’s going on with Holstrom? He’s being excoriated by the press.”
“I know most of the paintings were confiscated as they were being prepared for transport,” Logan said. The arrogant prick had figured he had more time before a warrant would be served, assuming there was a judge with the balls to issue a warrant in the first place. “I was hoping he’d had the three missing pieces on the jet when they picked him up trying to board. I spoke with Neil yesterday, but he didn’t say. You know anything more?”
“No,” Sam said. “I didn’t know you guys were in contact.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve agreed to testify if need be, but we’re trying to keep Kensey’s name from coming up. Not officially. And it’s really thanks to you, Sam. You saved our collective asses. I can’t ever repay you.”
“You can.”
Logan winced, knowing what was coming. Sam gave him a phone number. One he’d already memorized but hadn’t found the courage to use.
* * *
KENSEY CLOSED NEIL’S office door behind her and turned without moving toward her usual chair. “He called,” she said.
“Which one? Your father or McCabe?”
What Neil just asked should have offended her, but she couldn’t rally her anger. “My father. He called. He’s in New Jersey. He’s been there the whole time.”
Her boss put down a file and relaxed back into his big leather chair. “And?”
“He’d read in the papers that Seymour and Detective Brown had been arrested. The warrant for him is gone.”
Neil smiled. “You must be happy about that. It’s what you wanted all along.”
She wasn’t about to keep leaning against the door like some waif in a Dickens novel. But she didn’t want to sit down, either. She moved to the window and stared down at Central Park. “I am,” she said. “But he wants to see me.”
“I’m not surprised. Are you?”
“Yes. He’s been to New York before without sending so much as a text. Why should this time be different?”
“Maybe he feels he might have more to lose?”
Kensey turned around. “Well, that wouldn’t be far off the mark. He’s a thief, after all. One I helped set free.”
“But he wasn’t guilty. Not of that crime.”
Kensey sighed. “I’m still not sure why I did it. Or why any of you helped me. I was a menace. The risk wasn’t worth the reward. I don’t suddenly feel like forgiving him. He’s been a bastard.”
Neil nodded. “He’s aware.”
She wasn’t sure she was prepared for this conversation. “Excuse me?”