Page 23 of Taming Achilles

“I’d like to be here when you go through the fan mail,” Hugo interjected. “See if I can cross reference anything.”

Hack. He meant hack. He’d take the scariest things, find the sender, hack their shit to see if they were the right guy. The French were delightful masters of understatement.

“It’s not likely a professional would be so careless as to mail evidence, but we can’t ignore the possibility.” Delgado seemed oblivious to all the interactions at the table. But I could see in the flick of her eyes, and the infinitesimal twitch in her jaw that not much slipped past her notice. A true professional. I wondered if she’d come over to Caledonia Security.

“Worst case,” she continued, “he leaves a clue because he wants to send a message. He wants your client’s attention.”

Pippa’s hands on the table clenched into fists. She was being pushed out of the conversation again, and it irritated her. I lifted a brow in question, silently asking her if she was annoying Pippa on purpose.

Delgado saw it, responding with a smirk. Indeed, she was. I chuckled, bringing a fist to my mouth, and taking a glance at a huffing Pippa.

“He’s certainly got it.” Pip’s whisper was more angry than scared.

Maybe we were pushing her too hard. She might be vapid and shallow, but she wasn’t stupid. She’d know she was being teased. I reached across the table, and put a hand on her wrist. Her eyes flitted to mine, as blue as the water of Lake Geneva, under a snow capped winter.

“I won’t let them get you, Pip.” Reassuring her was a professional need, and a personal one. But I wasn’t sure if she’d believe me.

“Yes, Dame Fox.” Tanner was begging for his nose to get rearranged. And what business did he have knowing that she was a Dame and not Lady Fox, as the tabloids had always referred to her? “We’ll leave no stone unturned to keep you safe.”

The man was so sweetly earnest, it made my teeth hurt.

She pulled her hand from mine and looked at him with a gentle smile. An honest one. One she had probably never given me.

“Thank you, Detective Tanner.” Her breathy little voice was reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn. “You’re so kind, Rhys.”

His name on her lips made me want to pound my chest with rage. She had no business saying his first name. Or saying his name at all. No other name belonged on those lips but my own.

Why were his assurances the ones that were acknowledged? Why not mine?

Jesus, I felt like I was a sixteen-year-old boy again, in love with the girl and being told by her father that we weren’t suited. That I wasn’t right for her. That she had a duty and there was a plan and I didn’t fit in it. Driven to only make love to her in secret, even from our closest friends.

“If there’s nothing else.” Pippa was still addressing Tanner. “I-I’d like to get some rest. Do some work.”

“Of course, Dame Fo—“

“Please, call me Pippa.”

Tanner looked so pleased, it was like he had won the lottery.

“Then please call me Rhys,” he said, his white toothpaste commercial smile was begging for a hole or two.

“Rhys.” If she didn’t stop smiling at him, I’d bend her over this table and fuck her right here so that everyone knew who she belonged to.

“I’ll call you if there’s anything else,” Tanner said, coming to his feet, his hand outstretched to Pippa. She took it, delicately placing her fingers in his palm as he helped her to her feet like he was in some kind of regency romance. “I’ll call you…”

“You’ll call me,” I interrupted. Getting out of my seat and stepping between them, handing Tanner my Caledonia Security card. “She’ll be in my care until this whole matter is settled.”

Pippa’s breath caught, and she shivered. Or maybe that was my imagination.

“Come on, Pip,” I put my hand on her lower back and she stiffened as I pushed her toward the door.

“Keep us apprised of any public appearances, Mr. Campbell.” Delgado was eyeing everyone in front of her, one brow raised.

I had the feeling that very little ever escaped her notice. The woman was probably a machine. Quiet and observant like Hugo.

“Hugo will work closely with you,” I said, “you can always reference everything through him. If he knows, I’ll know. We’re a tight team.”

“Are you?” Delgado asked, an eyebrow arching towards her hairline as she looked between me and Pippa. “Will Mr. MacLachlan also be part of her security team?”

---