Smoke and Sin (The Perfect Gentlemen 4)

Liz slid a hand over hers. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned Joy. I know how hard it is for you to think about her.”

Gus let the sorrow wash over her. Embracing that and shoving aside her jealousy was the only way to deal with her complicated feelings. “I loved her. She was like my sister.”

“And yet you never told her about you and Roman.”

By then, it hadn’t mattered. She’d seen how madly in love her friend was. “I think she suspected. But the information would have done nothing to help her. It would only have made things between the two of us difficult. And you know I wouldn’t want to come between lovers.”

Liz shook her head, blonde hair tumbling. “Never lovers. I know for a fact they never even kissed.”

Like she suspected that Liz and Zack had never kissed. But the pretty blonde didn’t understand what Roman’s platonic adoration had meant. “He respected Joy. He thought she would be his perfect wife, which meant never giving into passion because the woman on his pedestal is some fifties housewife with perfect hair, a placid smile, lovely pearls, and a voice she never raised above conversational tones. I loved Joy, but if she’d ever married Roman it would have been a disaster. He would have walked all over her and she wouldn’t have liked keeping up with him in bed.”

“I’m sorry I brought it up. I guess I thought that since so much time has gone by, maybe you and Roman would get close again.”

Oh, they’d gotten close, and she’d needed the reminder about why he was suddenly willing to get close to her again. He was horny and she was convenient. That was all she’d ever been to him—an easy lay within easy reach. Joy had been the Madonna. Gus had no illusion; she was always going to be the whore.

Roman hadn’t wanted her child. Would he have welcomed Joy’s?

She shook off that thought. She didn’t think about the night she’d miscarried. Not ever. Except once a year when she got drunk off her ass and Mad held her hand while she cried.

Who would hold her hand this year?

“There’s nothing between me and Roman. There wasn’t anything back then, either. It was all hormones and forbidden thrills.”

Liz raised a brow at her. “Maybe for him, but not for you.” When Gus didn’t reply, the other woman accepted the subject change with grace. “So, what’s our plan? What can we do to investigate while we’re in the UK? Don’t we have to wait until we’re back in the States?”

Gus was relieved she had something other than Roman to focus on. “No, we definitely have details to dig up while we’re here. I visited the airport Mad used on his last flight.” She pulled out her phone, flipping through some of the files she kept there. “There was nothing in the security footage from the airport itself. Shockingly, the CCTV footage was taken by the FAA and now it’s mysteriously gone missing.”

“Shit.”

“But I’m smarter than that. That airfield is remote and there’s only one gas station near it. So I paid to get their security footage for the twenty-four-hour period preceding Mad’s crash. There were three cameras. I found this on the one that covers the cash register. Look familiar?”

She showed Liz the slightly grainy photo. It showed a young man wearing a baseball cap, pulled low on his head, but the camera angle was perfect to reveal his insanely chiseled jawline and those eyes no one could mistake.

Liz gasped. “That’s Matthew Kemp. He’s on Zack’s detail.”

She’d double-checked her assumption, using facial recognition to verify the match. “It is. So what was a Secret Service agent doing in close proximity to that airplane not four hours before Mad took off? Especially when the records show that Matthew Kemp was in DC that day working on pre-security for a fund raiser?”

“That’s a great question. Tell me what I can do to help you find the answer.”

“Well, I heard a rumor that Mr. Kemp and one of his peers have the night off and that they plan on hitting a nearby pub.” Gus had intended to go alone, but it would be so much easier if she had a wingwoman with her. “I thought I might arrange to bump into Kemp, get to know him a bit, figure out some way to look at his phone and see who he’s been calling.”

“That could be dangerous.” Liz looked nervous about that possibility.

“Absolutely, but I only need you to distract him while I download his device. I have spiffy items from my friend in the NSA. The kind of gadgets that probably won’t ever hit the marketplace, if you know what I mean. And if he catches me…” Gus knew she was no ninja, so she’d given this some thought. “Well, I’ll tell him that I was so interested, I couldn’t wait to leave my contact info on his phone in the hopes he’d call. I’ll bat my lashes and flash cleavage, if I need to. He’s a man with an ego; he’ll believe it.”

“Zack and the others have a dinner tonight. I was told to stay here.” Her lips curled up and a stubborn light hit her pale eyes. “But I think a change of clothes and a touch-up of the hair is in order. We should definitely have some fun tonight.”

And maybe catch a killer.

CHAPTER FOUR

Roman paced the library at the manor house, looking out the window over the empty front drive before glancing again at the clock. Three o’clock in the fucking morning. Three! Did the woman sleep? Gus had been up early this morning for a critical meeting, so she should be pretty fucking tired, and yet she wasn’t tucked in her bed like a good girl. Nope, Augustine Spencer was traipsing around London—no idea exactly where—partying the night away. Goddamn it.

“I’m going to put a tracking chip in her.” Zack paced the room. If he kept it up, he’d wear out the carpet. “I can do it, too. I’m the motherfucking president of the United States. If I want someone’s location pinpointed at any hour of any given day, I’ll make that happen. And if I tell someone to stay put, she’d goddamn better stay put.” He stared out the window, his face tight with worry. “I’m only trying to protect her.”

He’d never seen Zack quite so angry and off balance. If he hadn’t been horrifically pissed at Gus, Roman might have found the situation amusing. It wasn’t often his pal dropped his presidential demeanor, but when Liz was involved it seemed to happen more and more lately.

“I know. When all of this is over and she’s happy, healthy, and alive, she’ll thank you.”

“I suspect after the past few days that we might be done.” Zack’s laugh held no humor at all. “I’ve loved that woman for years, and now she hates me. I?

?ll never get to kiss her even once.”

“Well, I know what that’s like.”

Zack turned, his eyes narrowing. “No, you don’t.”

He should let it go. Zack was on the edge, and Roman knew now wasn’t the time to poke at a touchy topic likely to lead to a verbal brawl. But he wasn’t in the mood to swallow the argument down. “Of course I do. You know I loved Joy.”

“Are we finally going to do this?” Zack took a long drink and then set the crystal glass down with a smack. “Maybe we should. Fucking honesty is long overdue.”

Was Zack tipsy? He rarely had more than one drink. Perhaps two, if the day was almost over and he knew he could go straight to bed. Tonight he’d had several. Roman had watched him all night at the dinner with the American ambassador and several of the PM’s senior aides. He’d been seated next to a gorgeous woman and hadn’t paid a bit of attention to her. He’d spent the entire night sipping Scotch and checking his phone as though waiting for some vital communication.

Had he been trying to text Elizabeth all night? Was the president of the United States behaving like a lovesick schoolboy?

“I think we should get you to bed. I’ll call Connor. He and I will find Liz and Gus.”

Zack sighed. “You didn’t love Joy, you big moron. Oh, I know you would have married her if I hadn’t, but you didn’t love her and that was exactly why you would have married her.”

Roman gritted his teeth. “That’s not true.”

“Oh, face it, man. This is your last chance and you’re fucking it up.”

“Last chance?” But he knew deep down what Zack meant, and Roman didn’t want to talk about it. Hell, he didn’t even want to think about it.

“With Gus, damn it.” Zack kept coming at him verbally, glaring at him as if he’d turned part idiot. “I loved Joy as much as I could. But she was not the woman for me. Or for you. She was smart and kind and patient—everything most men could want from a wife. And I didn’t feel any passion for her at all. She didn’t feel any for me. I don’t know if Joy was even capable of that.” Zack clammed up, then glanced down at the table where his drink sat. “This woman is going to drive me crazy.”