Smoke and Sin (The Perfect Gentlemen 4)

Suddenly, Gus threw herself in front of him, her arms spread wide as though trying to indicate she was harmless…or making herself their target. “Please don’t kill him. We can’t do what you need if you take him out.”

That red laser dropped immediately, vanishing as though it had never splashed across his chest.

What the hell had she done? She’d stepped in front of a maniac with a gun.

Rage boiled up inside Roman. He reached for her and shoved her behind him. The cemetery was completely silent. Not even a breeze broke the still. He stood for a long moment, waiting for something more to happen.

Nothing.

It occurred to him that they were vulnerable out in the open. He had to get moving, to get Gus out of here. Then maybe he could return and comb the place for evidence.

“How could you do that?” Gus asked, her voice a hushed, angry growl.

“What? Because if we’re going to argue, I could ask you why the hell you put yourself in danger. I was trying to find out what in the hell is actually going on. What’s your excuse?” He wasn’t the bad guy here.

Still gripping her hand tightly, he hauled them both back to the relative safety of the crypt’s shadows. At least their backs were protected here. Could he figure out how to open the door?

“Don’t turn this on me. I tried to save you from your hot-headed stupidity. We were on our way to figuring this mystery out when you pulled your macho-asshole BS,” she hissed back. “She wasn’t leaving. She would have stayed and answered our questions. Well, my questions since mostly you acted impatient and insulted her.”

“Gus, you have to see that she was manipulating us both. And she wasn’t alone.”

“You don’t know that. She could have gotten out of the tunnel and found a perch. That laser sight would allow her a good range. If she ran and then managed to hear you screaming that you intended to chase her, she might have wanted to make you think twice about it.”

“No, there was someone else.” He knew it. He’d felt eyes on him. “That’s why there have been three different contacts—because one person is pulling all the strings. I need to find out who that is. These Deep Throats are just pawns. I want my hands on the mastermind. I want to know what’s really going on.”

Tears streamed down her face. “All right. You go do that. I’m going back to our room.” She walked down the steps before turning back to face those woods. “He’s all yours! Take him quick, though. He’s a baby when it comes to pain, and I don’t want to hear his screaming.”

“Augustine! Get back here right fucking now.”

In the moonlight he couldn’t mistake the way she lifted her arm and extended her middle finger. And she kept right on walking.

She was going to get them both killed. He had no choice. He ran after her, wrapping a hand on her elbow.

“How dare you walk away like that. Do you know what that bastard could do to you?”

She pulled her arm out of his grip. “Whoever was out there didn’t want to kill anyone. That shot was a warning. You’re the one who turned a perfectly polite meeting into a potential bloodbath. You couldn’t hold it together for thirty minutes, could you? You couldn’t sit back and let me handle it.”

“You weren’t handling it. You were letting that woman manipulate you. She was pointedly trying to drive a wedge between us.”

“Yes, and we could have used that to find out information about her. We could have played into her hand and she likely would have told us something. Like what was different about this Deep Throat meeting. Like, if every time the mastermind sends out this informant character he tries to get the woman he’s contacting alone, why did he invite you this time?”

“Because she knew I wasn’t going to be stupid enough to let you slip away.”

“Oh, you’ve been stupid enough for everyone tonight, Roman. Are you going to call Connor and let him know about this clusterfuck of a meeting or should I? I assure you if I do it, you won’t like how you come off.”

“I’m not calling anyone. We’re getting in the car and driving back to London tonight.” He wasn’t letting her anywhere near the danger again. No way. No how. She’d been every bit as reckless as he’d feared. He’d known she had that tendency, but he had hoped that age had brought her wisdom and tempered her recklessness. But no. She’d thrown herself in between him and a potential bullet.

She turned on him. “What?”

He hated the way she was looking at him, like he was an idiot. No, like a stranger. He hated that all their easy intimacy from earlier tonight had vanished. There was nothing he could do about that, but he could damn well take her in hand. If he didn’t, things could spiral out of control. What the hell would he do if Augustine got it in her head that Zack was the bad guy? She had a strong sense of justice and she would do something about it. That would put him squarely between his best friend and the woman he loved.

He loved Augustine.

Falling for her wasn’t the smart play, but then again this wasn’t a game. This was their life. He’d fought these feelings for too long.

Be careful, Ms. Spencer. Calder will always choose Zack over you. Always. Even if it means your life. Haven’t you lost enough because of this man?

Had he picked Zack the first time? Back then, he’d been sure he was merely a prisoner to his past. Had he wrapped all his problems up in one neat package he could understand? One in which he could assign appropriate blame? His parents had a rotten marriage and subsequently miserable lives, so he would have one as different from theirs as possible. Or had he really put distance between them because she distracted him? Had he chosen Zack and his ambition over her and his heart the first time?

He approached her, wishing they were already back at the B&B, that they’d never left their cozy, romantic room tonight. If putting a rift in their relationship had been the plan, that woman had done her job well. “Gus, it’s too dangerous to stay here.”

“I’m not going anywhere. If it’s gotten too rough for you, feel free to leave. I’m not giving up. I’m finding those recordings.”

“No. Someone was in those woods.” He pointed to the tree line. “They nearly shot us.”

“You. They nearly shot you because you were a massive asshole. There are rules to this game Deep Throat is playing and you broke them. I’m going to figure this out, then we can stop wondering who’s playing these terrible games with us and stop worrying about our safety. Once we’ve unmasked this person, we can be done with all this and finally move on.”

What the hell was she talking about? Not an hour before he’d been sure they’d gotten past that whole fuck-you-out-of-my-system nonsense he was pretty sure she’d decided on. “This isn’t a game I’m playing and I’m not letting you get hurt. And I have no plans to move on.”

She turned and started walking again.

At least they were moving in the general direction of their room. He didn’t want to have this insane argument in the middle of a cemetery where someone was likely still watching them.

He hustled beside her as she turned down the path toward their little cottage. “I’m sorry if I didn’t handle that as well as I should have, but can’t you see how manipulative she was being?”

“You didn’t have to give in to it. Don’t you think some of the things she said bothered me, too? I ignored them to get to the information we needed.”

“What if finding the nurse’s daughter is a trap?”

“Did Deep Throat lead Everly or Lara into traps before?”

He could answer that one. “Absolutely. They both almost died.”

“But they got the information promised, right?”

Roman went silent. She wasn’t listening to him. “We’ll find the information we need without being pawns.”

She scoffed. “I was your pawn tonight, wasn’t I, Roman? You never meant to let me take the lead. You always planned on taking charge because you protecting Zack is way more important than me finding out why my father and two of my b

est friends are dead.” She refused to look his way, simply kept on walking. But he heard the tears in her voice. “Like I said, you go right back to London. I’ll handle it from here.”

“If you think I’ll let that happen, you don’t know me at all.”

“I should know you, shouldn’t I? After fucking everything you’ve done to me, I shouldn’t be surprised by this. But I am. I’m that idiot who still thought sex with you meant love, who thought you could actually care about me.”

“Baby, I never said I didn’t. What is going on with you? I’ll admit I went too far back there and I’m sorry for it. But I don’t understand why you’re bringing our personal relationship into this. Gus, please stop and talk to me. I don’t want to fight with you.” He was at a loss. Something was going on inside her head. For the life of him, he couldn’t imagine what. He’d lost good friends, too. He had grieved Joy’s death. Mad’s death. She wasn’t the only one with a stake here. But there was more, something he didn’t understand. This anger was something much stronger, a deeper ache he could feel but couldn’t comprehend.

She stopped at the cottage, stepping back to let him get to the door.