Swim Deep - Page 50

I got off the treadmill for what was bound to be a more serious, involved, sisterly conversation. I sat down on a weight bench, losing myself talking to Jessica. She told me about the apartment she’d rented for her graduate school program, and complained about the process of interviewing potential roommates. I consoled her, knowing from experience what a crapshoot the roommate game was.

God, had I really been single and living through that very unpleasantness just months ago? It seemed impossible… like I taken on someone else’s identity. I felt deeply grateful to be living the life I was versus that of a typical young woman, struggling to make her way in the world.

When I finally hung up, I turned around to see Evan toweling off his neck after a grueling run, a small, very appealing smile shaping his mouth. It struck me, as it had before at our wedding, that he was fond of my relationship with my family. Observing our familiar, boring, yet unique domestic interactions pleased him in some way.

“Everyone doing well?” he asked.

“I wish Jessica could come and visit us sometime,” I told him impulsively.

He tossed aside his towel and came toward me.

“I’d like that. But not now,” he said gruffly, reaching for my chin and tilting up my face. His thumb pressed against my lower lip. “Right now, you’re still exclusively mine. And I’m not willing to give that up for a while yet.”

He leaned down. His kiss was warm. Possessive. It made me dizzy. A moment later, he straightened, giving me that blazing stare I recognized. He went over and locked the workout facility door, even though we were alone at Les Jumeaux. When he returned, I held out my arms. He grabbed my hands, drawing me up against him.

On Wednesday evening when we sat down to have dinner on the terrace, Evan told me that he’d received a report form the geologist he’d hired.

“Did she think the landslide was caused by hikers?” I asked.

“Most likely,” Evan said, looking down as he cut his steak. Since we hadn’t been able to get any groceries due to the landslide, I’d raided an icebox I’d noticed in the garage. I’d discovered it was packed with frozen meat, so we’d been especially carnivorous for the past few nights. “She recommended a crew to do some reinforcements in a few key areas. After that’s done, I’ll have someone come out to clear away the debris.”

“Evan,” I said quietly.

He glanced up, blinking at my serious tone.

“Are you even a little bit worried that Noah Madaster is somehow responsible for the landslide?”

He set down his steak knife with a clinking sound.

“The thought crossed my mind,” he said after a pause.

“Is he really that awful?”

“To my mind, he’s one of the foulest men whom ever lived. Still, I have my doubts about him orchestrating a landslide. Even I have to admit that isn’t really his style.”

“His style?”

Evan nodded distractedly, picking up his knife again. “Madaster is subtle. He’s a snake, not a bull.” His stare briefly met mine. I felt a shiver pass through me. “He’s a poisonous snake, Anna. He’s dangerous. I don’t want you to forget that. I don’t want you to ever get within speaking distance with him. There’s no telling what damage he could do with that forked tongue of his.”

“Why do you say that? What did he do that’s so horrible?”

“You’ve never heard about why he was drummed out of the governor’s office?” Evan asked as he resumed cutting his steak. I wasn’t fooled by his even tone or calm manner. I sensed his usual tension churning just beneath the surface when it came to the topic of Noah Madaster.

I shook my head. “No. Like I said, I couldn’t find very much online about Madaster—or Elizabeth,” I added, more hesitant to say her name than I ever had been. “The only articles I did find were mostly political: stuff about his campaign and his inaugural ball, or bills he’d signed into law… stuff like that.”

“All glowing references, no doubt,” Evan muttered, and this time he couldn’t hide his bitterness or anger. “It’s amazing, how a man can rewrite history by paying enough money to a company to fix his online reputation. To create his own reality, in other words. Noah has had negative news about himself buried so deep, I’d imagine you need to go to page fifty or sixty to find some of the more controversial articles about him and his crimes. Some of his crimes, anyway. The most serious ones he committed never reached the light of day.”

He looked down at his meal distastefully, as if his food had suddenly made him ill. He pushed back his plate. I felt bad for ruining his dinner by bringing up the topic.

Still, that didn’t stop me from pressing it further.

“What did he do?”

For a moment, Evan didn’t respond. I saw a muscle working in his jaw.

“Are you really going to make me do a Google search to page sixty?”

He gave me a quick, cool glance, but then he sighed. I knew he was going to give me what I wanted.

Tags: Beth Kery Romance
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