The easy comfort between us has evaporated, replaced by a subtle tension neither of us acknowledges.
"We should find Duncan," she suggests after a moment.
"Yes," I agree."Back to business."
But as we resume our course through the crowded ballroom, one thought loops persistently through my mind.
Why do I suddenly care less about thwarting my brother's return than I do about protecting Karina from it?
13
KILTS AND CONFESSIONS
KARINA
Our encounter with Duncan MacTavish turns out to be strikingly anticlimactic.
We find him by the Chihuly sculpture as promised, surrounded by tech executives hanging on his every word.
The moment he spots us approaching—Callum's hand still at the small of my back—his expression shifts from jovial to calculating.
"Abernathy," he greets, his Scottish brogue more pronounced than Callum's smoother accent."And the lovely Ms.Peters.I've been hearing quite a lot about you both lately."
"All good things, I hope," I reply with a wan smile.”
"Interesting things," he corrects, a sly glint in his gaze."Creative things."
We spend twenty excruciating minutes engaged in corporate small talk, all weighted implications and veiled threats wrapped in polite conversation.Duncan reveals nothing beyond his evident amusement at Callum's viral predicament.
Just as we're about to make our excuses to leave, Duncan catches Callum's arm.
"Before you disappear," he says, pulling an embossed card from his jacket pocket, "I'm hosting a little gathering at my Tacoma estate next weekend.Intimate affair.Only fifty or so of Seattle's finest."
Callum's expression doesn’t budge."How generous."
"Ms.Peters is welcome as well, of course."Duncan's gaze shifts to me, evaluating."I find it's always illuminating to see how potential business partners handle themselves outside the boardroom.Don't you agree?"
"Absolutely," I respond smoothly.“I’d even argue the most revealing moments happen in unexpected settings rather than carefully orchestrated ones."
Duncan's eyebrows lift slightly."Well said."He presses the invitation into Callum's hand."Saturday.Eight o'clock.Black tie, naturally."His smile turns predatory."Do come, Abernathy.I'd hate for the board to think you're avoiding me."
“Of course not,” Callum replies, his tone pleasant but his eyes hard as stone.
As we walk away, Callum slips the invitation into his pocket with a barely suppressed grimace.
"That went well," I murmur.
"About as well as a root canal without anesthesia," he agrees under his breath.
"At least we got something out of it."
"An invitation to the lion's den?"
"A controlled environment to observe him," I push back."On his home turf, where he'll be comfortable enough to potentially make mistakes."
Callum's sideways glance holds a mixture of surprise and something that might be respect."Strategic thinking."
"That's literally my job…Marketing is just psychology with prettier graphics."
