“Kristine. You’re not being fair.”
“Fine. I’m not fair. Life isn’t fair. I was going to talk to you before I left.”
“Oh? How considerate.”
“Geez. What do you want me to do? Apologize for doing what I said I was going to do all along?”
He wanted to throw the phone across the room. How did this get so out of control? If he went to New York now, he wouldn’t be there long. He was supposed to go back to work tonight at six. He hadn’t even had his coffee yet, so hoping for a brilliant idea was a bit of a stretch.
“Can you wait until I meet you at the train station? Which one are you using, by the way? Back Bay?”
“Yeah. It’s only a few blocks from here.”
“Don’t buy a ticket yet. The Boston Public Library is right down the street. Why don’t you meet me on the steps there?”
When she didn’t answer right away, he imagined her trying to think of any reason she could wiggle out of meeting him. He was careful not to give her one. He wouldn’t assume she would be there. He would make herpromiseto be there.
“All right,” she said.
“Promise you won’t leave before I get there.”
“How long will it take you to pack and use public transportation?”
“Who said I’m doing either of those things?” He ended the call with a click.Good, let her wonder what that meant.
Gabe lived a lot closer to the train station, and he could grab some clothes there. Flying always freed up his mind so he could think. Still, he knew better than to assume his brother would be home. He hit the voice command on his phone and said “Call Gabe” a little more forcefully than he needed to.
* * *
Kristine sat on the front steps of the Boston Public Library, staring at Trinity Church across Copley Square. Boston really was a beautiful city—smaller than New York, not that that was a terrible thing.
She sensed Jayce before she saw him jogging toward her. He was as handsome as ever, but his devil-may-care smile was missing. She rose from her spot on the steps and met him at the sidewalk.
He gave her a quick kiss and said, “My brother says you’re more trouble than a broken monkey cage at the Franklin Park Zoo.”
She chuckled. “I never asked any of you to get involved.”
“It’s too late for that. If anything happened to you…” He simply stared at the sidewalk and shook his head.
“So, now what? Did you come all the way down here to try to talk me out of this?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “No. I think we established that you wouldn’t listen to me no matter how much logic I threw at you.”
“My bags are back at the B and B. You see? I’m not too stubborn to give you a chance to speak your mind.” She held out her hand and prepared to walk back to Beacon Street with him.
He stared at her hand a moment and then wrapped his around it and pulled something out of his pocket.
“It’s not what you think. That comes later.” He slipped a pretty ruby-and-diamond ring on her middle finger. He must have been leaving her ring finger free for “later.” Thank goodness it wasn’t an engagement ring. She wasn’t ready for that.
“The ruby symbolizes love. The little diamonds on either side, well… Let’s just say they’ll grow, if nurtured.”
She admired the beauty and sparkle—and the sentiments. “Thank you,” she said softly.
He didn’t answer and still seemed way too serious. Without letting go of her hand, he turned, and they strolled side by side to the corner. Yes, he may have thought she was a lot of trouble, but she saw it very differently. She needed to end this public threat. That was her choice, not his. Donkey Pizzle and his cronies hadn’t just terrorized her family; they thought nothing of using other innocents to get what they wanted. Amy had told her about their using drug addicts to pull off crimes with promises of a fix. Gun running and drug smuggling—selling to anyone who could pay. Now they were going to try their hand at human trafficking.
“So did you come up with any brilliant ideas?” she asked.
He sighed. “I wish…”
