Catching up with Abbie, a girl he’d once courted, while playing husband to Rune?
No, thank you.
“I don’t think—”
“We’d be delighted,” said Rune.
Gideon frowned at his fake wife, who wasdefinitelyslurring her words.
“Is Poor Man’s Trap a card game?” asked Rune. “I’ve never played it.”
Abbie arched an eyebrow at Gideon, then patted his chest. “I’ll let you explain it to her.”
Someone called her name, and Abbie glanced across the saloon. “I should get back to work.” She backed away, her brown eyes on Gideon. “Six o’clock. Deck C. Don’t forget.” The corner of her mouth curved. “Hope you’ve been practicing.”
And then she was gone.
“She seems nice.”
Gideon glared at Rune as he slid into the booth. “What are you doing?”
“Being friendly,” she said. “I know it’s difficult for you.” She turned to watch Abbie wade back into the diners. “Who is she?”
“An old friend,” he said.
Rune threw him a skeptical look. “Old friends don’t give hugs like that.”
Gideon frowned. “What are you talking about?”
With her elbows on the table, Rune dropped her cheeks into her hands. “She barely kept her hands off you.”
He shook his head. “You’re drunk.”
Gideon glanced at Abbie’s retreating form.
Why is she working on theArcadia?
The money couldn’t bethatgood.
Gideon recalled the conversation he’d overheard above deck, and the pieces clicked into place.
Is she the spy?
He glanced from Abbie, who stood at the bar giving the bartender an order, to Rune, who was in the middle of pouring her fourth glass of wine.
“Whoa,” he said, stopping the bottle and grabbing the glass.
He’d watched her gulp down three glasses already. And Rune wastiny. They were walking a very fine line as it was. Gideon couldn’t let her drunkenly say or do something that would give them away.
“Hey!” She reached for the glass. “That’s mine.”
Gideon held it and the bottle out of reach. “I think you’ve had enough.”
She wrinkled her nose at him.
He’d only seen Rune tipsy once before—when she first tried, and failed, to seduce him in her bedroom. But this second time only proved what he’d thought then: Rune was horribly cute under the influence of alcohol.
“You don’t want to do something you’ll regret,” he told her.
