“Days,” Garrett said, typing on his laptop. “He just prowls around the estate.”
“Everyone is on edge,” Mace added.
Parker nodded. “You know, Hunter, I can give you some of this new horse tranquilizer I’m working on.”
“You need to get it together,” Greg told me. “Meg’s doing this to get in your head so you’ll lose the election.”
“No, she’s not!” I exploded. “She’s doing it because she likes Walter. She was flirting with him at the debate.” I ran a hand through my hair then smoothed it back down.
“Get a grip,” Greg spat.
“I cannot allow Meg to fall in love and spend the rest of her life with Walter,” I said, pacing.
“I don’t know,” Garrett drawled, “I bet they’d make great-looking children.”
Crunch. The phone screen in my hand cracked. “I need a drink.”
“It’s ten in the morning, Hunter,” Mace chided.
“And the day is wasting. Did you find anything out about Meg?” I asked Garrett.
He sighed.
“You better have,” Greg said.
“I can’t believe you’re on his side,” Garrett told Greg. “After the amount of grief he’s caused.”
“I will not allow Walter to win again. Even if Hunter deserves it.”
“I don’t deserve it if you don’t deserve it for what you did to Belle,” I snapped at my brother.
He bared his teeth at me. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
I met his gaze. “What happened between Meg and me was a gross misunderstanding. With Belle, however, you were just a fucking dick.”
Garrett gave me a blank look. “You’re lucky the Frost brothers owed me a favor. Because in other instances when Meg has been on dates with men in Harrogate, it has been easy enough to social engineer their plans. Walter Holbrook is another story all together. The Holbrooks keep their information under lock and key. However, I have been informed that Walter is planning on taking Meg out for a, dare I say, quite romantic date.”
I read the itinerary on Garrett’s tablet.
“Okay,” I said, skimming the text. “Who do we know who has a boat?”
* * *
“You do knowhow to plan an evening,” Karen remarked later that evening when the car I had hired to drive her into Manhattan stopped in front of the restaurant. She was wearing a slinky red dress with a low-scoop neck, and her hair had been blown out. “You sent a limousine for me and everything!”
“I had business in the city, or I would have ridden with you,” I lied.
I hadn’t had anything to do in the city. I just hadn’t wanted to spend an hour and a half in the car with Karen. We probably should have used the opportunity to talk about the campaign, but she used any excuse to touch me or run her hands through my hair or down my chest as she pretended like she was adjusting my tie.
The only woman I wanted to touch me was Meg. Unfortunately, I was going to have to up the pressure to make her notice me. The past few years, we had just been circling each other. I hadn’t pursued her as seriously as I should have. Now, though, with the threat of Walter taking the love of my life from me, I wouldn’t stand for it.
“They have our table ready for us,” I said as Karen reached up to pretend to straighten my bow tie. However, itwasstraight. I knew it was straight. I knew how to tie a bow tie, but she was still touching me.
“We have a private table for you and your girlfriend, Mr. Svensson,” the maître d’ said when Karen and I were in the lobby of the restaurant. “It’s somewhere more private from the table you originally requested.”
“No,” I told him firmly. “I need that specific table.”
He tried to keep the surprise off his face. “Let me see what can be done. We have several private rooms.”
