Stolen Vengeance: Slye Temp book 6 (26 page)

Henri said, “We have business to discuss, Valene. Private business. In my office.”

“Okay, I’ll just–”

Dingo put his foot down. “No.”

“What do you mean no?” Henri frowned first at Dingo then at Valene. “Does this man speak for you?”

“This is important, Dingo,” Valene said, sounding like a mediator.

Dingo didn’t care whose feathers he ruffled. “I want to be able to see you.”

She rolled her eyes at him, but smiled at ex-Henri. “Wait for me in that far alcove, please.”

Henri sniffed at Dingo then softened his voice when he told Valene, “But of course.”

When Henri walked off to a cozy area all decorated as if the queen was coming for tea, Valene rounded on Dingo.

“What’s wrong with you?” she hissed with her back to where Henri sat far enough away not to hear her words.

“Me? What’d I do?”

“I need Henri to help me and you’re acting like a caveman, which you have no grounds for doing.”

Maybe so, but Dingo didn’t like the proprietary way Henri watched Valene. “I’m acting like someone trying to keep you alive.”

“This isn’t the hood and Henri knows I’m under a confidentiality agreement. If I talk about this in front of you I might as well say all bets are off. Tell anyone you want, even the news. I have to talk to him alone.”

“Because you can’t trust me?”

“No, because you don’t trust
me
,” she ground out. “Henri does. The back of this building has a steel door with a heavy bar across it in addition to the locks and alarms. The Hulk couldn’t get in that way. You’re standing between me and the front door. I’m as safe as I can be, but I’m also under a time crunch. Can you stand down long enough for me to do my business?”

No. Maybe. Hell, he didn’t know. Eyeing Henri with the perfect hair and eyes and clothes, Dingo considered the pretty boy and what happened when women married men who were used to a lot of attention.

He asked, “Who called an end to the marriage?”

Her face flushed with color. “That’s not relevant right now.”  She swung around and walked away.

Why had she looked guilty? Like she’d done something to cause the divorce.

Dingo tracked the sweet swing of her hips as she walked over and sat down in the alcove. Even with Dingo’s limited knowledge of antiques, he could tell this guy had a wad of money tied up in inventory.

He didn’t even pretend not to watch every move Henri made.

Divorcees sometimes got back together.

What better way to do that than to be Mr. Helpful with Valene’s special project? And what did Rikker have her hunting for? Short of forcing her to tell him how to find Rikker, Dingo had to wait for her to meet with Rikker again.

The same thing Gage’s people were waiting on.

The difference was that Dingo would not allow Valene to be anyone’s bait.

She smiled at Henri and Dingo felt a cramp in his chest.

If Henri made a move on her, Dingo was going to rearrange Henri’s pretty face.

That wasn’t caveman, just proactive.

~*~*~*~

“This is not funny, Valene. He’s a brute,” Henri said, waving his hands as he talked. “He looks like a barbarian with that hair and he’s unshaven.”

She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up. Dingo and Henri couldn’t be more opposite and, yes, Dingo might have a barbaric side to him, but in a very hot way. Maybe she could talk Dingo into wearing a Conan outfit and...

Down girl. Take a left off Fantasy Lane.

“That was awful about Aram,” Henri said, mournfully. “He was unpleasant to do business with, but I wish no one to be mugged.”

“Oh, yes. Damn. That’s what I wanted to tell you when I got here. Aram wasn’t mugged. He was murdered.”  She’d debated how much to tell Henri, but this was not information that Dingo gave her so she was not breaking a confidence.

Henri’s eyes were wide and round. “Murdered?”

“Yes, and the people who killed him used his phone to find me. Have you called his phone since yesterday morning?”

“No. I would not undermine my agreement with you. Was he involved with the scroll?”

“Not exactly, but he’d heard about it, so when they came after him he told them he’d help them get this valuable scroll, so they came after me.”

“Were you harmed?”

“No, but that’s why I’ve got a bodyguard.” 

Henri cut another look at Dingo. “Now I understand bringing a Neanderthal with you.”  Then Henri got very intent. “I saw the news about Fontana. Does this mean you went in vain?”

She let the Neanderthal comment pass and grimaced at his question. “I’m sorry. I had a pitch down. I was ready.”

He blew out a breath and rubbed his forehead. “This is disastrous.”

“What has Geoffrey found out?”

“He is making progress, but he is gone on several errands. He said he would be back later today. He made calls to his best people who deal in rare writings and they made inquiries and so on. He has been very busy and seemed happy with his progress.”

“I would say tell him thank you, but I doubt he’d accept it from me.”

More innocuous hand motions from Henri. “It is what it is.”  His gaze went past her in the direction of Dingo. “I see how you look at him. Tell me you will not attempt marriage again with one such as that.”

“It’s not like that between us.”

“Only lust. Good. I would not like to see you go through a second divorce.” 

Valene snarled low and quiet, “At least I was willing to stick it out.”

Henri huffed impatiently. “I will say this one time and be done. You still blame me for quitting. You want to know why I ended that farce we called a marriage? Not because I wanted a man more than I wanted you. I wanted someone who was completely in the marriage
with
me. You may not have been the one to leave, but you never really committed to us.”

“How can you say that?”

“
Shh!
The barbarian is staring as if he intends to pummel me. I will not tolerate that in my own shop!”

Valene calmed down and turned around, giving Dingo her I’m-okay smile then waved him off as if he’d been standing too close. He nodded and walked toward the front of the shop.

She swung back to glare at Henri. “I was there day and night.”

He scoffed. “You might have been physically present, but not in spirit. You couldn’t really love me, not the way I wanted, because you loved someone else. You
still
love someone else. Do not get me wrong. I wish you would tell me who the man is that left you. I would go find him for you and you would be happy again, as you were before we ruined a perfect friendship by getting married.” 

Was he right? Had she failed to do her part from the start?

“We were good friends, Valene,” he said gently. “We just weren’t good spouses.”

“I do love you Henri.” She blinked away tears. “I really tried…”

He leaned forward and took her hand in his. “I love you too, but not the way I love Geoffrey and not the way you loved some crazy guy who let you get away.” His Adam’s apple moved with a hard swallow. “Your father had just been diagnosed with cancer. My cousin had overdosed. I’d lost my closest family, the only one who not only accepted me but loved me, and you were terrified of losing the one person who you lived and breathed for.”

That was a horrible time. A dark smear of misery they’d both suffered through. “I wouldn’t have gotten through that without you.”

“Nor I without you, but somehow we confused comfort with love and both of us were terrified of being alone so we insured we would not be. You must admit that what little sex we had was not memorable, and I say that even though I had much experience with women and am a skilled lover.”

“And humble. Never forget how humble you are.”

His eyes twinkled at the jab, then softened with remorse. “The worst part of all that was after our divorce, I missed my good friend. Geoffrey is my best friend and all that I could ever want for a partner, but you and I? We go back to high school when you were my first real friend. I hated losing that most of all.”

She swiped at a tear, nodding. “I’m an awful person. I’ve been blaming you all this time because… well …”

“Because you didn’t want to admit the truth about loving someone who left you. And you thought I’d left you too.”

She did love Dingo in a way she’d never felt about Henri.

At least, this was what she’d expect love to be, but Dingo was not someone who would allow any woman to love him. Without that acceptance, all the love in the world was nothing but heartache on her end.

“I’m sorry, Henri. So sorry for all the time I’ve let bitterness damage our friendship.”

“You’re forgiven only if you promise to be my friend again.”

Dingo cleared his throat.

She twisted around to find him eyeing Henri’s hand on hers with a black look in his gaze as if Henri’s touch might contaminate her with a deadly disease.

Henri removed his hand and leaned back. His phone buzzed. “About time. I have been calling Geoffrey for an hour. He is normally much more considerate about calling back.”

Valene shot Dingo a back off look that he ignored.

She sighed and turned around to find Henri making a call, which must not have gone through because he was texting next. He grumbled at the phone, “Why aren’t you calling me?”

“What’s wrong, Henri?”

“Geoffrey. He hasn’t returned a voice mail I left a few minutes ago, but he sent me a text that he left me a surprise on my desk.” His smile was intimate when he spoke of Geoffrey.

“Go see what he left you or you’ll obsess.”

“I do not obsess.”

“Yes, you do. Go,” she chided him just as she once had when they’d studied together and he’d obsessed over whether he should ask someone out who had grabbed his attention.

“I shall return promptly.”

While Henri was gone to his office in the back, Valene walked over to where Dingo glowered. She angled her head in question. “What?”

“Are you two still together?”

Dingo
was
bothered by Henri.

The imp in her said, “It’s been an amicable divorce.”  

“What the hell does that mean?”

“We’re still friends.”  Just saying that felt good all the way to her toes. She’d missed Henri so much, but she craved being with Dingo. Henri had been spot on.

She’d never been
in love
with him.

She’d just needed someone to hold on to in the shit storm her life turned into the week Dingo vanished.

Dingo’s jaw muscled flickered. He kept looking at the door to the back then at her as if he’d just figured something out.

Valene hooked her thumbs in her jeans. “Spill.”

“Did you divorce him because you figured out he was gay?”

“No, I knew that.”

“Huh?”

“Henri left me.”

“For a guy?”

“Not really. Henri is bisexual and we became friends back in high school. He’s always been comfortable with either sex and became involved with a man named Geoffrey sixteen months ago, but that had nothing to do with why he left me. We married for the wrong reasons.”

“What reasons?”

She didn’t think she could handle explaining that to Dingo, because she might slip and say something she’d regret.

“
Valene! Valene!”
  Henri rushed toward them from the back. He was ghost white.

“What’s wrong?”

“Geoffrey’s note. It says he is speaking to someone who asked Geoffrey to validate a Galileo scroll for which he wishes to find a buyer.”

Valene should have known better than to trust Geoffrey just because Henri did. “He was supposed to tell
me
so I would meet with the seller.” She wanted to strangle Geoffrey
and
Henri now, because Henri had opened his big mouth in front of Dingo.

But first she had to keep Henri from going into full drama mode.

Henri was babbling. “Geoffrey’s not answering my call. I sent our emergency code of 999 that means to call
immediately
. I can’t reach him.”

Valene grabbed Henri’s shoulders. “Calm down. He’s fine. The cell connection might not be going through. Your call to me was all jumbled up.” 

“You don’t understand.” Henri’s eyes were wild. “Geoffrey is going to meet this man. Geoffrey said he wants to prove to me that he is just as tough as you. He found out the scroll is rumored to be an Orion Hunter artifact so he told this man he was with the Orion Hunters. Geoffrey said the man who called him got the referral from Aram!” Tears poured down Henri’s face.

Oh, shit.

Dingo stepped in. “Give me Geoffrey’s cell number.”

“Why?” Henri stared at Dingo as if he’d forgotten anyone else was present.