Suspects(54)

“Is that for me?” she asked him with a look of surprise, and he nodded.

“I promise not to sleep with them.” He smiled.

“You’d better not.” She was dreading another encounter with the kidnappers and hoped it never happened. The memory of the brains flying out of the kidnapper’s head when the bullet hit him was still a vivid one.

Their lovemaking was especially tender this time and just as intense. He was so grateful she was alive and that the attempt to kidnap her had been foiled.

He had checked in with Robert Richmond when he got to Paris, but Robert had no news for them either. They were still on the lookout for the kidnapper who had fled to England. And both the DGSE and the DGSI were searching for the one in France. They weren’t sure if he had successfully fled the country, or if he was concealed somewhere in France. No one had provided any further information, yet. Mike and Theo did their best not to think about it, and to enjoy the time they had, but it was ever present on their minds.

They spent Christmas Day quietly at home, and the city looked magical when it started to snow. It reminded her of how much she and Axel had loved it at the chateau when it was snowing and they had snowball fights in the orchards and on the front lawn. It made her wonder too if the new owner’s wife would love it when she saw it. It was the perfect way to see the chateau for the first time, under a blanket of snow. She remembered how romantic it had been when Matthieu took her there for the first time. The new owners were arriving the next day and everything was pristine after the kidnapping attempt. Everything had been cleaned, repaired, or replaced. There was no sign of the carnage that had happened there.

Mike had been watching Theo as she sat lost in thought. He had made a fire in the fireplace in her study.

“What were you thinking about just then?” he asked her gently. Her face looked so innocent and faraway.

“I was thinking about the chateau and wondered if the woman will love it when she sees it. It looks so pretty in the snow.”

“It’s quite a Christmas gift,” he said, thinking how far he had come from his own origins to his life with her. Her need for protection made him feel at home with her, and as though he could provide something useful in her life. “I’m sure she’ll love it.”

“She wouldn’t have if she could have seen the mess it was a week ago. It looked like a horror movie.” She smiled in spite of the impact of the memory. “I’ve never seen anyone get shot before,” she said matter-of-factly.

“It’s not a pretty sight. I’m sorry you had to see that, Theo.”

“Thank God he shot him, or I’d be history by now.”

“I won’t ever let that happen,” he said calmly, and she believed him.

They sat in front of the fire for a long time, talking about their Christmases when they were children. Hers had been everything traditional, with unexciting but rock-solid, loving parents, who had always given her their full support. They had been bothered about Matthieu because he was so much older, but they had eventually come around when they saw that it worked well and he was kind to her. And now all of her family was gone, her parents, her husband, and her son.

Mike’s memories of his childhood holidays were less idyllic. His mother had managed as best she could, but they were always struggling and lacking something, and they’d all had small jobs, even as kids, to try to help her. He talked about the two brothers he had lost, and how great they were. They’d died at eighteen and twenty in the Persian Gulf. “War is always so senseless,” he said, looking pensive as he stared into the fire. “I thought that when I was in Iraq, and in the military. It seems like I’ve always had a job where someone might be shooting at me.” He smiled at her. “I’m getting a little old for that. I’ll be fifty this year, and I’ve been lucky so far.”

“Do you worry about getting hurt with the work you do?” she asked him, and he shook his head without hesitating.

“No, it goes with the territory. I’m not crazy. I wear a bulletproof vest most of the time, if I think I’ll be in danger.” He had never told her that before, and she looked surprised. It was a reminder that the job he did was dangerous, even at his level. She understood that better now after the damage she’d seen so recently. But there had to be people like him, to protect people like her. Like the marksman who had shot the kidnappers. She knew Mike would do the same for her. He had been wearing his guns since he arrived.

“Shouldn’t you always wear it?” she asked, worried.

“I’m not on the front lines often anymore, and they’re hot and uncomfortable. I know when I need it and when I don’t,” he said confidently. And she hoped he was right.

The embers were dying in the fireplace when they went to bed. The snow was falling outside, and looked like lace on the streetlamps, and a white velvet carpet on the streets. There were no footprints in it yet. There were no cars moving outside. The city looked peaceful blanketed in white and sound asleep.

They were both tired and relaxed, but couldn’t resist making love again. She felt so small and safe in his arms and he looked down at her for a moment with love in his eyes.

“I’ll never let anything happen to you, Theo,” he whispered, and she knew he wouldn’t, as she gave herself up to him completely and felt like the luckiest woman in the world. And she firmly believed that no harm could come to her with Mike at her side.