He was looking out the window, jaw set, but there was something else there, too. Something unresolved. Something not entirely closed off.
She saw hope. Dangerous, fragile hope. But she couldn’t indulge in hope. She didn’t get to keep him.
Madelaine turned her gaze back to the road, pulse unsteady.
Thirteen hours and forty-five minutes to go.
This was going to be harder than she thought.
Jack hadn’t planned on saying yes to helping the woman who had broken his heart. It was just such a shock. Madelaine back in Alienn. Needing him to do her a favor. Stunner. That was the absolute truth.
When Madelaine Archer walked back into his life—looking exactly the same and completely different—his instinct had been to walk away, no, torunfar, far away.
He needed to protect what was left of his pride. His heart.
Instead, here he was, facing just shy of fourteen more hours in a luxury sedan, heading to Suspicion, Minnesota, and possibly an impromptu meeting with the Secret Keeper because she’d asked him to.
He glanced at her.
Madelaine sat straight-backed behind the wheel, eyes fixed ahead like she was afraid if she looked anywhere else, everything might fall apart.
Also, she looked tired. Not physically. Deeper than that.
“You always this quiet?” he asked. “That didn’t used to be true.”
“Perhaps.” She huffed a small breath. “You always this talkative?”
“Only when I’m trying not to think too much.”
That earned him a sideways glance. “About what?”
He shrugged. “Bad decisions.”
She almost smiled. Almost.
That did something to his chest.
“So,” he said, shifting in his seat. “The Secret Keeper. Can you share what you plan to chat with him about? And, do I get to accompany you or am I expected to cool my jets and wait in the car while you attempt a visit?”
She tensed instantly.
Yep. Touchy subject. She likely was choosing option number two—leaving him to go crazy with wonder while he sat in the car. That’s what Quell-don and the Paladin Cabal would expect, but she would need him to get in to see the Secret Keeper.
“Well, I guess you’ll have to come with me, to get me in the door. But I will need to speak to him privately if he agrees to meet me,” she said carefully.
“You’ve got to give me something, Madelaine.”
Her grip tightened on the wheel. Her expression shifted from thoughtful to rigid.
“I told you. I can’t.”
“Right. Top secret, dire, end-of-the-world, men-in-black kind of thing, right?”
She didn’t respond. Which was…not at all reassuring.
Jack studied her profile, the stubborn set of her jaw.
