It had been funny then. But maybe joking about divorce on their honeymoon had said a lot more than she realized. He was already setting them up for the fall.
Ironically, as much as he’d given her a hard time about “steerage” and the lifestyle in which she’d been raised, he hadn’t wanted a penny of her money in the divorce.
Her godfather had been furious when she’d married Colt without a prenup. But she’d been right: she hadn’t needed one.
Of course, she’d been mistaken about the reason. Once she’d finally sold Colt on the idea of marriage and gotten him to the altar, she’d been sure it would be forever.
Forever hadn’t even lasted to their fifth anniversary.
He was studying her so intently, she wondered if he was remembering as well. But it wasn’t likely. If there was one thing she could say with certainty about her ex-husband: once Colt was done with something, he never looked back. He just cut it off. She was as good as dead to him.
Kate acknowledged the rare apology with a nod. “You’re welcome.” She paused, hesitating. It probably wasn’t worth it, but she would at least try. “Do you think youcould put aside how much you hate me until this is over? I don’t want to spend the rest of the day fighting with you or exchanging veiled taunts. Can we just try to be...?” She didn’t know. What could they be together after all they’d been through? “Professional, maybe? I know you’re good at this kind of thing, and we both want the same thing here, don’t we?”
He stared at her so long without saying anything after her little speech that her cheeks started to heat.
“What is it you want, Kate? We can’t bring them back.”
There was more emotion in his voice than she’d heard in a long time. She knew how much the deaths of the men in Retiarius must mean to him, and the fact that she was keeping the knowledge of six survivors from him turned that self-conscious flush to a guilty one. “An answer. Justice.”
“There is no justice in this world, Kate. I thought you might have learned that by now. But we’ll do it your way. I’ll play along. You’ve got four more days before I leave. Until then, we’ll see what we can find out and I’ll be on my best behavior.” He held up his hand. “Scout’s honor.”
She shook her head. “You were never a Boy Scout, and it’s three fingers, not two. In your line of work, mistakes like that could get you killed.”
She was surprised when he smiled and gave a small laugh. It had been so long since she’d seen him do that, it caught in her chest and stuck there, jamming everything.
How could she despise someone so much and still feel regret? When he smiled, she could almost remember the man she’d fallen in love with before everything had turned so dark and ugly.
“You’re right. That was sloppy. They threw me out of Cub Scouts after one meeting.”
“What did you do? Burn down a forest trying to earn your fire badge?”
“Not exactly.”
She waited patiently, as she’d done in the old days. He would tell her if he wanted to or not tell her if he didn’t. Nothing she did would make a difference.
He shrugged. “The scoutmaster thought that a nine-year-old foster kid was fair game. The pocketknife I put through his hand told him otherwise.”
He said it so matter-of-factly it took her a moment to realize what he meant. Colt had never sat down and told her about his past, but piece by piece over the years, with little tidbits like this, he’d painted a horrible picture.
She knew better than to feel sorry for him. He despised pity. But she couldn’t hide her revulsion. “He touched you?”
“Once.”
“And you didn’t tell anyone what happened?”
He did laugh this time, but it was devoid of humor. “I tried. But this was in the days before stuff like that was acknowledged. I was the one who was punished for making up such ‘horrible lies.’ But the truth eventually came out. I hear he put a bullet through his head.” A cold smile turned his lips. “Maybe there is a little justice in this world after all.”
Clearly disappointed to see him talking to Kate, the flight attendant told them to get ready for takeoff, and it wasn’t until they were up in the air that Kate spoke again. In truth, she didn’t know what to say. When they’d been married, she would have put her head on his shoulder and silently cried for him, wishing she could make it better.
But her heart wasn’t his anymore. It was firmly shut no matter how tragic and horrible his childhood. He didn’t want or need her comfort or understanding.
So she didn’t say anything.
Professional,she reminded herself. With that in mind,she spent a good part of the flight preparing Colt for the meeting with the rear admiral.
Colt would lead the questioning, taking the role of bad cop—no surprise—and she would intervene if necessary to be the voice of understanding.
The six-hour flight landed early, and they had some time to grab lunch at the airport before hopping in the taxi to meet the rear admiral at his home at the appointed one p.m.
