Delphine stopped, turned her powerful gaze on him. “You never told me why. You just went away. It wasn’t fair. A girl deserves to know. Oh God, listen to me.A girl.Awomandeserves to know. A human being with a beating heart.”
“Delphine,” he said firmly. They were adults. It was a long time ago. Then:My God, she still doesn’t know the truth.Well, he wasn’t going to tell her now.
“It’s all right,” she said. “I mean, thank goodness you walked away. I’d never have been with Rafa.”
The knife twisted in his gut just as she’d wanted.
She started walking again. “Thank you for coming. I know you and Rafa aren’t speaking.”
“He’s like a brother. Of course I came.”
Delphine laughed. “You have a strange way of showing your affection. Both of you.”
She threaded her arm through his. They continued on a short way without speaking. He felt the warmth of her body pressing against his. What had it been about her that had so captivated him? Her intelligence, her strength, her particular beauty? Or maybe her vulnerability despite the rest of it? She’d opened herself to him unconditionally, the first woman he’d truly known. And him…had he done the same? It had taken this long to answer truthfully. No, he had not.
“Did Adamson talk to you about Paul Malloy?” he asked.
“Just that Rafa was blackmailing him, threatening to reveal something about the company unless he paid him the bonus he was due. I take it Malloy didn’t pay.”
Simon stopped, turning to face her, thinking maybe Adamson wasn’t so thorough after all. He told her about Malloy and the climbing accident and his opinion about it.
Delphine clutched her arms to her chest. “This changes things.”
Simon nodded. The look that passed between them indicated she was of a mind with him.
“Damn him,” said Delphine, meaning, of course, Rafa. “What doyouknow about PetroSaud?”
“Not enough. Look, Rafa wants to cooperate. In return for his freedom, he needs to give Colonel Tan the information he stole and was using to blackmail Paul Malloy into paying him his bonus. I think I know where he hid it. Do you know a place called Little Havana?”
“It’s a cigar club. I hate it. Cohiba this, Montecristo that. He goes with some of his pals when he’s in town. Comes back smelling as if he’d bathed in tobacco.”
“Something about a locker?”
“Members keep bottles of their favorite liquor in them. Rum, cognac, whatever.”
“Do you have the key?”
Delphine looked at him askance. “Do you honestly think he could hold on to it?”
“Rafa hasn’t changed.”
“No,” said Delphine, without humor. “He hasn’t.”
“He did it for you.”
“That’s what he always says.”
“Malloy owed him five million Swiss francs. Real money.”
“Daddy has ten times that much. A hundred times.”
“And so…” Simon opened his hands. “You married a Spaniard.”
“The last proud man.”
“He’d like to think so.”
“What happens now?”
