Bounty Hunter (The Rover 1)

His lips thinned, and he shook his head. I’d upset him.

I let him see he’d disappointed me too. We were fighters, or I thought we were.

I threw myself into the leather chair I’d claimed and stared at the bookshelf. Could I get out of this partnership? The money induced me to stay, but I couldn’t work on this case with someone who fell apart at the brief mention of loss. Even worse, he was the one who wanted to test my combat skills like I would be the person to let the team down.

I let out a groan and left the room. A coffee station had been set up in the dining room, so I helped myself and waited.

The Captain returned as I reached the bottom of the cup. I followed on his heels into Fin’s office. Fin had turned to face out the window behind his desk, but he swiveled around when we entered. He set his lips in a grim line and refused to meet my eyes.

The Captain cleared his throat, looking between us. “I’m sorry, sir. It was Olivia.”

I watched Fin at this news. He blinked a couple times and waved his hand at the captain. The man fairly fled the room.

“Where’s the body?” I called after him.

“The men are bringing it in now,” he answered from the doorway.

He left, and I turned back to Fin. The whites of his eyes were visible, and he rubbed his long elegant hands up and down his knees.

“Who’s Olivia?” I asked gently.

“My inside man,” he whispered. “She’d been working under the Black Mage for a year, delivering me information when it was safe for her to leave his compound. She was under a spell that wouldn’t allow her to reveal the location by any means so we’d meet, and she’d give me what she could. It was slow, but she’d been working her way into the inner circle.”

Damn it!

“Okay, so that changes things a bit.” I sat back in my chair and stared at him. Obviously, the news shocked him; he wore it in the creases around his eyes.

He cared for Olivia. Were they more than friends? Would the captain answer me if I asked him? Probably not. The captain seemed the loyal type. A man to keep his master’s secrets.

I stood and exited to the hallway, needing to pace... or hit something.

A guard flanked the door. I didn’t sit and wait well.

I grabbed his walkie talkie before he could even make a move. “Captain. I’d like to speak to you, please.”

No reply came back, but soon the heavy fall of boots echoed down the hall and the captain approached. “Can I help you, ma’am?”

Ouch. Ma’am. Maybe I deserved that. “Were Fin and Olivia more than just business acquaintances?”

The question sounded dumb even to me, and part of me couldn’t believe I’d asked it.

He stiffened. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m confused by his reaction to her loss. If she was just a contact... why is he taking it so hard?”

He licked his lips and dragged me by the elbow toward a small alcove in the hall. I would allow the manhandling if it meant he would actually share something. “Olivia was his friend. He asked her to be his contact after she had a brief run in with the Black Mage last year. He thinks her death is his fault.”

“So, no hanky panky then?”

The Captain shook his head, disgusted with me, and walked away.

Exactly how I liked my men.

Before he made it to the staircase, he turned back. “Give my guard his walkie back.”

I shoved it at the soldier’s chest and returned to Fin’s office.

With nothing to do, I sat and stared at the back of Fin’s head as he stared out the window. It was time to dissect why I cared so much about Fin’s reaction. He was nothing to me save a client. Why did his reaction to a woman’s loss make me so angry? I knew the answer, and I wouldn’t say it out loud. I’d been attracted to him since the moment we met, even if I threatened his life frequently. Threats of bodily harm were merely foreplay. It didn’t work for everyone, but it did for me.