Page 66 of Taming Achilles

“My new position is quite tenuous.” Her proper voice was good at that British habit of understatement. “I may be considered irrelevant.”

I almost missed it. The sudden tension in Cal’s arms. A repressed flinch.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, one eye seeming to tick in irritation. “Because if you had, I would have married you that same day.”

It was my turn to repress a flinch. To repress a need to punch Cal in the jaw.

“I know,” she said, her eyes flicked to me, then back to Cal. “I know that.”

“Yet you didn’t tell me, even though I would have kept your secret, and done what was necessary to keep you safe.” He started to nod as though he was snapping the last pieces of a puzzle together. “What would you have done when I stood at the altar, with Geordie by my side?”

She pulled her hands off the table, and placed them hidden on her lap. I bet she was playing with the ring, just as I had when I had been keeping it in my pocket. It was solid. Real. Like everything that had happened between us. It was grounding.

She looked at Cal, and her eyes communicated something I had missed because he let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair.

“Give us a minute, lads,” he said, clasping his hands in front of him, his elbows on the armrest.

“Cal …” I growled. Not sure if I was threatening her, or him, or everyone else in the room.

Cal swivelled in the chair toward me.

“Now, now,” he said with a small smile. “I’m not the one that’s been keeping secrets. Go on, now. Pippa and I have to clear the air, too.”

I touched my nose, then lifted a questioning brow. Would he punch her in the face too?

He rolled his eyes and kicked me under the table. “Go!”

There was a joke in his voice, but there was bitterness underneath. It was barely detectable, but for a moment, I worried. Would he hurt her? He wasn’t likely to do anything physical, but … her heart? Would he do something that could harm her and send her careening as I had when I found her with her head underneath cold water?

The image of her under there, unmoving, like she had drowned, was one I couldn’t get out of my head.

The thought that I might not be there to stand bodily between her and the darkness in her head.

“We’ll be okay,” her sweet voice cut into my thoughts. She was looking down at her hands, her eyes sad. “Please give us the room.”

Ajax and Brett stood up, looking down at her with a nod. Hugo, Alastair and I followed their lead. I spared her one last glance, begging her to look at me.

She did, her green eyes striking me through the gut as effective as if she had stabbed me.

I needed to know she’d be okay. She gave me a smile. A fake one, no doubt, but the slight lift of her lips and the nod of her head told me she’d be fine.

“I’ll be right outside,” I said. Not sure if it was meant for Cal or her, or both. Or maybe it was a warning for the two of them to behave and remember that he was a married man, and she was my woman.

As everyone shuffled out of the room, the two of them looked at me, their eyes suddenly blank. A mask of professionalism. I was shut out.

I nodded, acknowledging my place. Second, once again, to a best friend that I loved and admired. But still, it was only a second. A best man to a groom.

I took a moment to listen to the door click shut, before I looked up and saw angry eyes bearing down on me. Ajax and Brett.

“Alright, asshole,” Brett said, his eyes narrowed. “Let’s talk about you and Pippa.”

Chapter 32

Pippa

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