Page 69 of Icebound

Her smile was brittle. “It wasn’t your decision,” she said, and Le Fauçon laughed.

“She really is delightful, Jean-Marc. She’ll keep you on your toes.”

“She is not delightful!” Maddelena fumed. “She’s stupid and skinny and has a big ass and no tits! She’s nothing!”

Since Chloe was a respectable 34C after having children, she paid no attention. And Bastien had always liked her ass.

“My dear, behave yourself,” Le Fauçon said reprovingly. “She is a guest.”

Chloe nearly laughed out loud. Some guest! But Bastien must have read her mind, for he immediately intervened. “I want to fly her out of here, Jefe,” he said. “As soon as I can.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, my boy,” he said affably. “She knows too much. We can’t have her telling everyone about this place, this organization. We’ve worked too hard to put everything at risk.”

“She won’t say anything,” Bastien insisted, but Le Fauçon simply shook his head.

“We can revisit this later. In the meantime, we have more than enough room, and she’s absolutely delightful.”

If he called her delightful one more time, she was going to scream, Chloe thought. She scowled at the man, and he chuckled before continuing. “Besides, I have a new job for you, one that’s top priority, and I can’t afford to have you moping about. You’ll know that she’s safe enough here.”

“No, she’s not!” Maddelena snapped.

“Maddelena.” The reprimand was no longer indulgent. He surveyed them all. “Let’s go into dinner and we can talk about this.”

And Chloe remembered she was famished. She hoped the cook didn’t serve that same disgusting stew to the household, but she needn’t have worried. The table in the adjoining dining room was set with silver and linen, and the food was solidly English, blandly so. At least it was recognizable, and she did her best to keep from falling on her plate with relief and starvation.

Instead, she sat and ate, steadily, watching and listening. She’d never really been afraid when she was being held by Bastien—she had believed, deep in her heart, that he wouldn’t hurt her. Le Fauçon was a different matter. Despite his jovial attitude and heavy-handed charm, she sensed he was a very dangerous man, and she wouldn’t be able to escape even if she wanted to leave Bastien.

It was hard to believe it had been less than two weeks ago that she’d left North Carolina. She missed her children, but she couldn’t allow herself to think about them. It was too painful. She simply had to trust they were in a good place. She knew, without a doubt, that she wasn’t.

“So, what is this new job you have for us, Jefe?” Luc asked, moving marginally away from Maddelena on his right side. She glowered magnificently.

“It won’t be an easy one, but then, we aren’t employed to do the easy ones. I have yet to congratulate you on your excellent job at Lake Como. You rescued the fat from the fire quite handily.”

“It had to be done, and I couldn’t find Jean-Marc.”

Le Fauçon had tucked a linen napkin across his impressive paunch. “That reminds me. Where were you, Jean-Marc, while Luc was finishing your job?”

In bed with me, Chloe thought. And then his words sank in. “Ba…Jean-Marc didn’t kill LaDonna?”

“I’m afraid he failed me. Luc had to take care of business, which he did most efficiently.” Le Fauçon’s voice was bland, and Luc preened under the praise. “He’s been quite good at taking care of any business that Jean-Marc might have overlooked. Like you, my dear.”

Overlooked business was an ominous phrase for her, and she glanced at Bastien. He didn’t look moved by the subtle reprimand, but Chloe could feel his tension.

As for herself, she was over the moon. He hadn’t been the one to kill LaDonna, he hadn’t wiped out all the goodness from the earth. There was still salvation in him.

There would always be salvation. But sooner or later, he would remember who he was, know what he had done, and he would have to live with that. She knew he already had souls that weighed on him in times of darkness. She desperately didn’t want him to add any more.

Clearly Le Fauçon had other ideas. “This next job will be an extremely tricky one, for Jean-Marc alone, and I can’t allow for any mistakes. It will take all of his ingenuity to carry it off.”

Chloe didn’t miss Luc’s look of disappointment, and she knew she was right not to trust him. He was perfectly ready, even eager to kill. “Who’s hired us this time?” he asked.

Le Fauçon frowned. “You know I don’t like to give you that information, if you don’t need to know it to complete the mission. But in this case, I don’t mind—I have decided this man must go.”

“Who is he?”

“We can talk about it another time,” Bastien interrupted them. “The less Chloe knows about our business, the better.”

Chloe suspected it was already too late, but she said nothing, watching everyone carefully.