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No wonder it had unnerved his father when he found out Ryder was protecting Nathalie.
Ryder’s jaw tightened. At the time, he’d suspected the earl might be involved somehow in Nathalie’s abrupt change of heart. He should have confronted his father then. Maybe if he’d known the truth, things would have turned out differently.
And then what?
Would he have stood up to his father? Would he have moved to America with Nathalie?
Would she, with her ambition and drive, have become bored with him and found someone more her equal?
He scrubbed a hand through his hair. Nathalie’s scent was all over him, embedded in his pores.
It had been a mistake to come to the States, to see her again. All it had done was confirm what he’d already suspected. She still owned a piece of his heart and always would. No other woman had taken her place. Despite what he’d told Sadie, she was right. Back then, hehadthought he and Nathalie were soulmates.
Now he’d committed the cardinal sin of getting intimate with a client.
He had a career he enjoyed. One that wasn’t handed to him due to privilege. One he’d earned through hard work and loyalty to the man who’d saved his life in Afghanistan.
Despite the pain Nathalie had caused him, he couldn’t regret the last eight years of his life. His time in the SAS had honed him into a sharp blade, made him into a man worthy of respect—not because of his wealth and privilege, but because he was intelligent, hardworking, loyal.
And deadly.
The world he’d been born into was governed by strict rules of social etiquette and behavior. A world that looked at someone like Nathalie—with no social status, an American, biracial—and couldn’t conceive of a place for her in its ranks. At twenty-one, had he really given enough thought to how she felt in his world?
No.He’d had the brash egotism of youth and inherited wealth that his father could have taken from him at his pleasure.
It wasn’t until Nathalie left his heart in tatters that he’d found the resolve to break with those expectations and forge his own path in the army and with Dìleas.
Yet, even now, he hadn’t completely cut the cord, had he? He still had sizable funds at his disposal thanks to his shares of Arborleigh Holdings and his family fortune—a carrot his father continued to dangle in front of him to secure his return to the fold.
Rage, cold and visceral, slithered through his gut. He’d known Philip Montague hadn’t approved of Nathalie, but he’d never expected his father to exploit a twenty-one-year-old girl and her family circumstances to have his way. As much as he’d like to pick up the phone and blast the man, he had this job to finish. Once Nathalie was safe, he’d return to England and deal with the Earl of Cannington.
Revenge, after all, was a dish best served cold.
As for Nathalie, he needed to keep his emotional distance. She was his client. Not his lover. If he made the mistake of opening his heart to her, she’d probably break it all over again.
Once was enough.
Chapter Thirteen
Nathaliepouredasecondcup of coffee and made her way from the breakroom down the hall to her office. Despite the theft of a copy of her software design, she’d be ready to give her demonstration to the DoD.
On schedule. Just as she’d promised her father.
The police and FBI would investigate the break-in at Williams. She and Don briefed their employees this morning on last night’s events and warned them to pay close attention to their own security and report anything suspicious.
Ravi was scheduled to be released from the hospital this morning with a concussion, but he’d recover.
Whoever the thief was, he probably was on his way to deliver his prize to his employer, unaware that the copy of the program he’d stolen was incomplete.
Then there was Ryder.
When she emerged from the hotel bedroom this morning, he’d retreated into a cool, professional demeanor that hadn’t warmed with the coffee and breakfast he’d asked Danny to deliver. They’d returned to her home long enough for a quick shower and a change of clothes before heading into the office.
A week until her DoD briefing.
How many days did she have left with Ryder?
She loved him. Had never stopped loving him. It was useless to pretend otherwise.