Page 64 of Pack Baby for the Silver Foxes

He smelled Mary too, impossible as that was.

“Hudson?”

I looked up. Harland was watching me. “The funding window,” he said. “You were saying?”

I couldn’t remember what I’d been saying.

Lincoln leaned back in his chair. “He was saying the funding window exists because the investors are assuming planning resistance will be lower than it actually is.”

I took the handover without missing the next breath. “Correct. The numbers are too clean for the location.”

Harland frowned. “The town needs development.”

“The town may need development,” I said. “That doesn’t mean it needs this.”

My phone rang.

Every head at the table turned. Mainly because I didn’t take calls in meetings. The screen showed Reception.

Lincoln’s gaze cut to mine.

I answered. “Yes?”

“Mr. Bale?” Andrea’s voice was low and concerned in a way that made every instinct in me stand up.

“What is it?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt. A young woman came into reception asking for you and Mr. Hart.”

My fingers tightened around the phone. “Did she leave a name?”

Lincoln sat forward.

“She said Mary.”

The city dropped away. Only the scent remained.

“Where is she?”

“That’s why I’m calling. I told her you were in a meeting and could leave a message for when you were out of the meeting, but she seemed frightened. She left the building a few minutes ago and I’m a little concerned about her.”

Chairs scraped and I was already standing. Harland began to speak. I lifted one hand, and he stopped because money had made him clever enough to recognize when not to continue.

“It’s fine,” I told Andrea, though nothing was fine. “Which way?”

“I think toward the river. She was wearing a navy coat. She has dark hair. And she is young. She looked...” Andrea hesitated.

“Looked what?”

“Like she was trying very hard not to cry.”

Lincoln pushed back his chair. I looked at him. No, I told him without saying it.

His teeth came together.

The investors were watching. The deal was live. The room mattered. But Mary mattered more.

“Run the meeting,” I said.