“I’ve figured out the kink in that code I’m working on for the Department of Defence. I just need to get it to them, and they can run a diagnostic.” The work he did for the UK government was top secret, but he loved the challenge it provided.
After he’d sold his security program to the government for a mint, he’d tried to go into semi-retirement and focus on setting up a literacy charity with his dyslexic wife, but coding kept calling to him. There was nothing like the challenge of writing code. Of pitting your brain against the world’s best hackers and seeing who came out on top. Apart from sex with Magenta, it was the best high he could think of.
“I’ve lost you again, haven’t I?” Magenta tugged at his hand and smiled up at him.
“Were you talking?” He often zoned out when his brain was niggling away at a problem. His wife had become used to it.
“I was saying that we’ve almost set up the school now. We hired the last staff member this morning.”
“That’s great.” He wanted to sweep her up and hug her tight to show his admiration. But the middle of a bustling market wasn’t the best place. A thought struck him, and his stomach fell. “I was supposed to be at that interview, wasn’t I?”
They turned up a dusty street with shanty style houses on one side of the road and high-rise buildings on the other—one of them, the hotel Harry had been aiming for. It always disturbed him that a luxury hotel overlooked the tin roofs of the shanty. It made him feel enormously guilty that he had so much when so many had so little.
“We’re doing what we can to help,” Magenta said, as though reading his mind.
“I know.” It was the reason they’d set up a charity to run schools in some of the poorest parts of the world to help educate kids who couldn’t afford it. And all of it was paid for with the money he’d made from selling his security software to the government. Which reminded him, he really must tweak some of his notes before he sent them off to his colleagues…
“And he’s off again.” Magenta grinned at him.
“I’m sorry.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side as her arm snaked around his waist. “I’ll get this done, then we can have dinner, and I promise to concentrate on every word you say.”
“I know you will.” She gave him a squeeze. “Go do what you need to do and meet me in the lobby bar. And, if you get lost in your work and don’t appear within the next couple of hours, I’ll come find you.”
His shoulders sagged with relief. Him getting lost in his work was a distinct possibility. “See you soon.” He pressed a quick kiss to her lips and headed for the business center.
Magenta didn’t have to track her husband down. He managed to find his way to the Hilton lobby bar less than an hour after he’d gone in search of an internet connection.
There were dark circles under his eyes from too many nights spent working on his code, because his days had been filled helping her run their charity. He absentmindedly pushed his hair from his forehead as he smiled at her, and, as usual, her heart flipped at the sight. Harry’s genius IQ meant that when he focused on something, it got all of his attention. He honestly didn’t see anything but the object of his focus. And when that object was her, the feeling was indescribable. There was nothing in the world like having all of Harry’s attention.
He flopped his long, lean body into the chair beside her and eyed the tablet in her hand. “School stuff?”
“Tightening loose ends for the new board of trustees.” She put the tablet aside. “How did it go? Get the code sent okay?”
“Yeah, but the internet here’s even slower than our hotel’s connection.” He signaled for the waiter, who headed their way. “Have you ordered already?”
“No, I was waiting for you.”
They gave their choices to the waiter and relaxed back into their leather seats. The crisp, clean marble-and-metal décor of the bar was in stark contrast to the dusty chaos outside the door of the hotel. Gentle background music played as cool air pumped through the room. They could have been in a hotel anywhere in the world. There was nothing around them to indicate that they were in the middle of Ethiopia.
Magenta leaned across the table and took her husband’s hand in hers. “You’re fed up with all the traveling, aren’t you?”
He jerked at her comment, his hand tightening on hers. “I don’t mind it. I only want you to be happy.”
And there it was, the reason her love for Harry often overwhelmed her. “I am happy. You make me that way.”
“Then we’re good.” And he meant it. As far as he was concerned, the topic was closed.
Harry would bend over backward to give her everything she wanted, even if it meant sacrificing some of the things he needed. It was her job to make sure his needs were fulfilled too. One she’d slacked on these past couple of years, mainly because she’d been so busy setting up their schools. But it was time that changed.
“I want to make you happy too,” she said.
“You do.” He leaned across the table, eager to reassure her.
Magenta shook her head to stop whatever he was about to say. “You’re getting antsy. I see it. You want to be working again.”
“I do work. I work on the charity with you, and I do the odd job with Benson Security. Then there’s the government work.”
“Which you can’t do properly, because we’re always moving, and the internet connections are spotty at best. Plus, you’re limited in what you can do because you need a secure connection. You’re doing half the job you want to do, and it’s obvious you’re getting frustrated.”