Page 55 of When You Are Mine

“Nothing.” She said it too quickly to convince him, offering her own tight smile. “I thought I might be able to get away, but there was too much going on. I couldn’t leave Mer.”

Something wasn’t right.

“Cam and I have never gone that long without seeing each other.” Walsh still searched her closed expression for what he was missing. “I was glad he could come. He’d never seen our Kenyan operation. You’d have loved it, too.”

“I’m sure I would have,” she said, her smile now honest and wistful. “Maybe next time.”

“Well, did you at least like the gift I sent?” He was eager to hear what she’d thought of it. He’d seen it and known she would love it.

“Gift?”

“The gift I sent back with Cam?”

The feeling that something wasn’t right persisted, squeezing around the muscles of his chest like a giant rubber band.

“Oh, the…the gift.” Kerris crossed to the refrigerator, staring at the food packing each shelf. “I loved it, of course.”

Silence filled every corner of the small kitchen. Even the refrigerator seemed to hum more quietly as the truth sank in for both of them. Cam had not told her she was invited to Kenya. Cam had not given her the gift Walsh sent. Walsh knew they were reaching the same conclusion.

Cam knew something.

Or suspected.

They had been above board in all of their interactions. Cam would have nothing to point to. Maybe just a sixth sense. It was too much to consider, the possibility that the person they had done so much to protect might end up hurt and disillusioned anyway.

“It was a dashiki.”

Walsh’s voice was hushed, not with secrets, but with regret. The African dress had been breathtaking and unique, and had immediately reminded him of her. It was probably too extravagant a gift, but Cam seemed fine with it at the time.

“I’m sure it was beautiful.” Kerris still faced the refrigerator, one hand braced against the door, head hung toward the floor.

“I thought so.” He needed to change the subject. The kitchen was too crowded with unspoken impossibilities. “So how’s the vintage business treating you and Meredith?”

They spent a few minutes discussing the ups and downs of starting such a unique venture. She regaled him with a few of her funnier stories about their first year in business, easing the tension, but the truth stayed in the room with them like a chaperone. Cam might not be oblivious to the bond they shared; he might have even lied to keep them apart.

“Here ya go.” Kerris passed him an onion. “Make yourself useful if you’re gonna invade my kitchen. Speaking of good use, what’s this ridiculous nickname you’ve earned yourself?”

He sliced into an onion, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

“I had nothing to do with that, and if I could get rid of it, believe me I would.”

“Do-Good, huh? I don’t know what to believe. The nickname, or the rumors I’m hearing that you are definitely being very bad.”

He sobered and stopped chopping, seeing the ounce of censure in her eyes, underscored by at least a liter of concern.

“What have you heard?”

“Oh, what everyone else has heard.” She wiped a nonexistent spot from her spotless countertop. “That you and Sofie have been living the wild life. Is it true?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t hesitate, wanting to confess his debauchery to her like a penitent altar boy. Wanting to tell her about all the alcohol and the sex. Even about the threesome he’d escaped by the skin of his teeth. Knowing she’d understand, that one forbearing look from her would scrub his soul clean.

“Why?” She studied him with cautious eyes.

“Don’t ask me that.” He looked away, soaping the smell of onions from his hands, unable to free his voice of grimness. “Let’s just say I needed to work a few things out of my system and leave it at that.”

“I was worried.” Her words were a sigh and a confession.

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