Murray joined him at the side of the boat, looking across the black water. “Any movement?”
“Not yet. We don’t go in until we see Mrs. Kent’s signal,” Adam said.
Per the plan, Tessa Kent would send up a firework to let Adam and his men know to row in and charge the dock. Their job was to prevent Sweeney and his gang from escaping via the water—by any means necessary.
“This could get messy,” Murray commented.
“We have enough firepower to take on the Royal Navy.” Adam lifted his brows. “If there’s to be a mess tonight, it will not be on our side.”
A pause. “Do you ever tire of this?”
“Of what?”
“The fighting. The bloodshed and mayhem.”
“It’s life.”All I’ve known.“Success doesn’t come without a price.”
“So you’ve always said.”
Silence stretched. Undercurrents of tension bobbed along with the boat. After years of working with Murray, Adam knew the other was brooding over something.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
“Many a fellow would envy your wealth.” Murray’s hands closed around the railing as he glanced at Adam. “You know that, don’t you? How lucky you are?”
Although Adam didn’t know where the non sequitur was leading, he was certain that it wasn’t in a direction he preferred. He did not speak of personal matters with his employees. Indeed, he could count on one hand the men who had the courage to speak to him so freely. He both respected Murray’s familiarity and found it irksome.
“Luck had naught to do with it,” he said coolly. “But, yes, I’m aware that my hard work has paid off.”
“How much is enough?”
“Beg pardon?”
“When will you decide to simply enjoy what you have?”
When I look De Villier in the eyes, and he knows that the man who destroyed him is the son he tried to murder. The son of the woman he abandoned to poverty and indignities. Then—and only then—will I be at peace.
Adam lifted his brows. “What makes you think I do not?”
Murray straightened from the railing. His shoulders went back, as if he was bracing for something unpleasant. “On the way to the pier tonight, you made a stop.”
It took an instant for the other’s meaning to sink in. When it did, Adam felt a blast of icy rage.
How bloody darehe. Who does he think he is questioning my private affairs?
“And when did it become your business to spy on your employer?” he clipped out.
“It’s not my business, I know that.” Murray raked a hand through his hair. “Goddamnit, Garrity, I’m the last man who should be telling another how to run his life—”
“On this, we are in perfect agreement.”
“But do you know what your wife said to me? Before I left this afternoon?”
The notion that the other knew something about Gabriella that Adam did not was incensing. Adam flashed back to the way Murray’s tawny head had dipped toward Gabby’s. The way the too-handsome rake had murmured intimate good-byes…toAdam’swife.
“I do not enjoy guessing games,” Adam said, his hands curling.
“Promise me you’ll look after Mr. Garrity. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to him.”
