Page 36 of Conrad

“You’re here with Logan Thorne?”

“You know him?”

“Of him,” Stein said. “He’s from Chester, a small town near ours. Went missing after he joined the SEALs. I didn’t realize he’d been found.”

“Oh, that’s a story, but yeah. He works directly with President White, for a group called the Caleb Group.”

“Like Caleb from the Bible?”

Colt nodded. “Not bad.”

“I’m a Kingston. You and I have the same blood for fathers. Bible at the dinner table.”

Colt nodded toward a tall man, brown hair, dressed in a suit, now talking with Declan. “That’s Logan.”

Another man stood with him, lighter brown hair, but definitely a military bearing. “Who’s that?”

“Another guy on the team.”

Maybe he’d said his name, but Stein’s gaze had returned to the blonde he’d seen earlier. She stood near a window, staring out, but even he could see her gaze fall on Declan.

She was studying him.

Maybe it was just female appreciation—he supposed his boss looked a little like a movie star with his dark hair, pale gray eyes. And he had money.

But this felt different. As if she might be sizing him up, considering him?—

Her gaze shifted to Stein. Just like that, she caught his eyes, held them.

He couldn’t move, his heart slamming into his ribcage. Heknewher. Not a name, not even a face, but those eyes?—

No. That smile. Those lips, full, formed . . . with asmirk?

For a second—a long, beautiful, intoxicating second—he was back at his sister’s wedding, dancing with a stranger, the kind of dance that had him forgetting his name, moving in sync with a woman who seemed to fit him, who knew how to follow and yet possessed her own power, enough to make him want to keep up, to match her.

She’d left without a name, without a look back, the aura of mystery in her wake.

His throat dried.

She’d had blonde hair too, blue eyes, and—no, it couldn’t be her. Couldn’t be the same, captivating smile. Couldn’t be?—

And then another image hit him. Something . . . further back. Same smile. Different aura. Fierce. Angry. Desperate. So no . . . it couldn’t be Phoenix.

Especially since she was dead.

The woman looked away, sighed, took a sip of her drink.

He looked at Colt. “What?”

“I didn’t say anything.” Colt held a glass of water, sipped it, his eyebrows up, a side-eye at Stein. “But I think that blonde over there just shouted across the room.”

“You’re hilarious,” Stein said, but couldn’t help turning back for another glimpse.

She was gone.

He glanced around the room, frowned.

“Interesting,” Colt said, then lifted his glass and walked away to where his boss had left Declan.

---