Page 85 of Icebound

She couldn’t stay there a moment longer. “Fuck…you,” she said succinctly, and turned and left the office, slamming the door behind her.

Peter gave Bastien a pitying look. “She’s pissed.”

“You think? I better go after her.”

“Give her a few minutes to calm down. She’ll come back, if only to rip you a new one.”

Bastien glanced at the door. He was surprised the smoked glass hadn’t shattered with the force of her slam. “I should have known she wouldn’t do as I told her.”

“Does she ever?”

“When it’s a matter of life or death. Just because she’s out of Spain doesn’t mean she’s out of danger,” he said ruefully.

“At least you finally brought me Le Fauçon. Fifteen years late, but worth it in the end. Do you want to go with them when they capture him?”

“Chloe’s mad enough already. I told her I’d never work for the Committee again,” Bastien said.

Peter nodded. “I have the same arguments with Genevieve. She’d like nothing better than for me to retire.”

“You’ll never retire.” He glanced at the door. “She should be back by now. She never stays mad for long.”

“From what you’ve told me, she’s had a hell of a time. It might take her a little longer to get over it. Do you even remember any of it?”

“I remember all of it. She really is going to kill me.” He rose, moving toward the window, but there was no sign of her.

“That bad, eh?”

Bastien said nothing. He turned. “I’m going after her. If I meet her coming back, then so much the better.”

“Do you want me to come?”

“I don’t want you to see me grovel.” He picked up his Glock. Peter didn’t make the mistake of asking him whether he needed it or not.

“She won’t have gone far.”

“Maybe,” Bastien said, an uneasy feeling teasing at him.

“Go get her, then,” Peter said. “There’s a room waiting for you in Hampshire. In case you’ve forgotten, your kids are there.”

“Missing us wildly,” he said in a cynical voice.

“Well, you two are pretty tame compared to an ancient Viking burial mound,” he said. “My luck that it had to be right next to our lands.”

But Bastien wasn’t listening. He was already out the door, in search of his furious wife.

Chloe was so angry she was crying, the tears blinding her to the pedestrians around her. She stormed down the street, having no idea where she was going, only knowing that she wanted to get away from that traitorous, lying son-of-a-bitch. He could have known the entire time; he could have been lying to her…

No, that was wrong. He definitely hadn’t known her for most of the time she was their hostage. She would have been able to tell. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t lied to her, when they’d sworn they’d never lie.

Her feet slowed from her headlong dash, and she wiped the tears from her face. She was being irrational, and she knew it, but she was just so overwhelmed by the last few weeks that she was ready to lash out at anyone. Bottom line, Bastien was back. He knew her. Whether it had been one week or longer didn’t matter anymore. He was back.

She slowed, forcing the other pedestrians to go around her in their mad dash to the tube or wherever they were going. It was just past five—they were probably heading home. And that’s where she needed to go, home to Bastien. She turned, ready to head back, ready to give him holy hell, ready to fall into his arms.

Instead, she ran full force into a strong male body, and for half a moment she thought it was Bastien, looking for her.

“Chloe,” Luc said, his voice soothing. “I’ve been following you for blocks. What’s gotten you so upset?”

He was holding her arms so she couldn’t go anywhere, and he was looking like the almost-friend he’d been for most of their sojourn. She wasn’t fooled.