Page 27 of Redemption's Inferno

“Does Darryl know?”

“Of course. No secrets between my boy and me—not big ones, anyway.”

“I think your boyfriend was a pretty big one,” Emilie pointed out.

Dolores shrugged. “I should say, my boy and I never kept secrets until five years ago. He was betrayed by someone in MI6 and he walked away from his job, his country and his mum without a backward glance. Darryl Carruthers went to America and turned into his spy alter ego, Chains…a darker, harder, much more pessimistic version of Darryl.”

“Oh.” Emilie wasn’t sure what else to say.

There were steps in the grass and they looked up to see Chains and Nate approaching sheepishly. Nate walked right up to Dolores and halted the swing with his hands, looking down into her face.

“Sorry,” he murmured softly. “You know how I feel about you. I was a bit flustered at the turn the conversation took. I thought by just putting it out there, no fuss or pussyfooting around, it would save us a bit of aggravation. I was wrong. Forgive me?”

She rolled her eyes and shoved at his chest. “Three bloody years I’ve been puttin’ up with you and you think I won’t be forgivin’ you? Bugger off.”

He laughed, bending to press his lips to hers. “I’m not perfect, but I do love you, darling.”

“You’d better.”

“Mum.” Chains looked genuinely contrite but before he could say anything else Dolores rose to her feet and put a finger in his chest.

“You’re my only child—my heart and my joy and my life—but you’ve had a different set of priorities since you left the government, and you can’t expect me to sit around pining away for a grown child who lives halfway across the planet. I have to live, too, Darryl. And Nate’s a good man. If he’s using me, well, I’m not sure what he’s after but you’re not a spy anymore and it’s not like your location was a secret.”

“I know.” Chains pulled her close and held her tightly. “You’re the greatest mum in the world—gave up everything to give me the best life had to offer. I was in a bad place when I left the agency and I needed to get away from England in a big way. I always worried that my work would somehow blow back on you so I thought the best way to protect you was to keep my distance…that never changed things between us. You know that, Mum.”

“I do. But you have to remember that life goes on, and now Nate is part of my life and you can’t come in here for a week every five years and make trouble for me. If Nate is a bad guy, that’s for me to handle. Don’t worry, though—you’ll be the first to know if he acts out.”

Everyone chuckled and they made their way back into the house for birthday cake.

* * *

Getting ready to go to sleep, Emilie sat on the edge of the double bed and brushed out her hair. It had been a good day, despite the blowup at dinner, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had such a nice birthday. Last year had been okay, celebrated with Viggo and her family in Sweden, but she’d been distracted by their abrupt marriage and introducing Simone to everyone. Tonight’s celebration had been low-key but warm and intimate, something she wasn’t used to. Growing up, since she had a twin, their birthdays had always been huge, filled with two sets of friends, neighbors, cousins and anyone else their parents thought to invite. Once Karl moved to the U.S. and Sebastian went off to university in England, she’d done her own thing for her birthdays, usually traveling with Therese and some wild group she’d hooked up with. She’d begun shutting out her family a long time ago, she realized, and tonight had reminded her what it was like to have one. Before the week was over, she had to call her mother; it seemed only fair to warn her of what might be coming if she was arrested.

“You all right?” Chains came into the room in nothing but a towel wrapped around his slim hips. His skin was still damp from his shower and droplets of water glistened on his chest and broad shoulders, drawing her eye to them.

“Yeah.” She forced herself to look away, unwilling to think about sex in such an intimate setting. Sharing a bed probably wasn’t a good idea either, but there didn’t seem to be an alternative unless one of them slept downstairs and that wouldn’t make sense to Dolores.

He moved to his suitcase and pulled out a pair of boxers, dropping the towel so he could tug them up his hips. She’d already seen him naked, but it was hard not to stare; he was exquisitely built. Broad shoulders, slim hips and a flat stomach weren’t particularly unique considering how much time she spent around professional athletes, but his bulging biceps and the dimples in his well-rounded backside made her mouth water a little. It was such a pleasure to look at him, she started when she realized he was watching her with a smirk.

“See anything you like?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” She resumed brushing her hair, trying to hide the flush creeping up her cheeks.

“Good thing your tongue is attached,” he chuckled. “Because it surely would’ve fallen out the way you were licking me with your eyes.”

She sighed. “Look, my birthday is over. Let’s not do this, okay? We could easily have sex—neither of us is shy about it—but to spend five days indulging in a sexual attraction isn’t a good idea and we both know it. I don’t want work to be awkward if I go back, and with my future so uncertain, why would we start something that will probably end even if we don’t want it to?”

“You’re not going to prison!” he snapped, knowing that was what she was talking about. “I’ve already done some digging and, so far, I haven’t found anything at all. If this was a big deal, an unsolved case the authorities are worried about, I would have seen something about it. I’m going to the library tomorrow so I can look up newspaper articles from that time period. If there was a death, even if it was considered accidental, there will be a record. If nothing else, maybe we’ll get his full name.”

She nodded slowly. “Yes, thank you. That would be helpful.”

He nodded curtly and pulled on a T-shirt. “I’m going to do a little work…got a handful of new member applications for the club and one of them is from a British national and Joe asked if I could do some poking around online with my sources here.” His eyes twinkled. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about sex.”

She shook her head, but couldn’t help but smile. “No. Go do your work. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night, love.” He left the room quickly, shutting the door behind him. There was no way in hell he could be on the bed with her if they were both awake and thinking about sex. The fact it was a bad idea didn’t mean they didn’t both want it, and though he hated that she was right, getting involved physically could add a layer of complication he didn’t need. He’d agreed to his mother’s crazy plan because he had a gut feeling she was right about Emilie. Despite her guilt and the demons that plagued her, there was a look in her eyes that told him she needed something. That something could very well be the unconditional love his mother thought it was, and he was damned if he didn’t want to do whatever it took to make that haunted look disappear. He didn’t believe in that kind of love, but he had nothing against a little romance and short-term intimacy that brought two people pleasure.

That would include sex, though, he reasoned, and if she wasn’t willing to go there with him, how would he be what she needed? Since there were no answers to be found tonight, he put it out of his mind as he did the background search on the man Joe had asked him to look into and then checked in with Joe. He kept information about Emilie vague, telling him he was working on it and would update him when he had specifics. In the meantime, Joe would be doing Chains’ job at Club Inferno and would remain there until Chains returned.

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