Page 77

Nathalie hovered just behind her.
“Mo chridhe, that’s your job.” Lachlan gave his wife a pained look. “Why must I make meaningless small talk when they’d rather speak with you?”
“Because you’re the big bad former SAS guy and the president of Dìleas, that’s why.” Sophia curled her hand into the crook of Lachlan’s arm. “Now be nice.” She waggled her fingers at Ryder and Nathalie and guided her reluctant husband away.
“I like your friends.” Nathalie wrapped her hand around Ryder’s biceps and pressed into his side. Her eyes had a glassy sheen, her smile a touch too bright.
He liked the feel of her against him. He glanced at her empty wineglass. “How many glasses have you had, darling?”
“Just one, but I was nervous and gulped it down, and I haven’t eaten much today.” Her tongue swept across her lips, and it was all he could do to not capture it with his own lips and take her mouth.
She flashed enormous eyes covered with a smoky shimmer and rimmed by sinfully long black lashes, and pursed her lips in an attractive pout. “I think it may be catching up to me.”
“We don’t have to stay.” Ryder lifted his head to scan the room for Caleb when a chill ghosted across his neck. He turned, still holding Nathalie to his side, and met the cold blue stare of Lucas Caldwell.
“I’m surprised to see you out and about.” Caldwell stared over Nathalie’s head at Ryder, his gaze sharp enough to bore a hole between Ryder’s eyes.
Ryder returned the stare. “She’s with me. I won’t let anything happen to her.” He left it at that. His and Nathalie’s relationship status wasn’t Lucas’s business, godfather or not.
“Ryder and I are old friends,” Nathalie offered, as if sensing the unspoken tension. She looked back and forth between the two men. “We, ah, dated at Oxford.”
Dated?His teeth ground together at the banal description. He’d been consumed by her. “Oh, I think we were a bit more serious than dating, don’t you?” The words held a challenge he hadn’t intended to issue.
Nathalie’s eyes widened.
Lucas’s eyes narrowed. “Then why are you the one guarding her?” He frowned at Nathalie. “Is he the reason you were miserable for months after you came home from Oxford?”
Color drained from Nathalie’s cheeks. “Ryder didn’t do anything wrong.”
“We were just leaving.” Ryder reached for Nathalie’s hand. They’d already rehashed the past enough. Caldwell’s curiosity would have to wait. He scanned the room and located Caleb. Catching the other man’s eye, he signaled for him to get the car.
Caleb gave a brief nod and headed for the exit.
Lucas stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Before you go, my contact at MI5 called me this morning. It’s not public yet, but British intelligence picked up Liu Jianjun, the Chinese billionaire. They’re planning to charge him with industrial espionage. He purchased technology stolen from an AI startup firm in Cambridge that develops machine-learning algorithms.”
“Advanced artificial intelligence,” Nathalie murmured. “Do you think he’s the one after my avionics software?” She glanced between the two men, her gaze focused and cleared of any lingering effects of alcohol. “I mean, if he is, and the UK authorities have arrested him, then the threat to me is over, right?”
“Unlikely,” Ryder replied.
“Probably not,” Lucas said.
“Way to ruin my evening,” Nathalie grumbled.
Lucas directed his next comment squarely at Ryder. “Apparently, he’s been investing in real estate in the UK, targeting buildings housing several high-tech companies—with the help of Arborleigh Holdings.”
Ryder leveled a steely-eyed stare at the FBI assistant director. “I’m aware of the connection. My family is helping him buy property, not steal technology.” His father could be a ruthless bastard, but he wouldn’t knowingly aid the theft of industrial secrets.
Lucas threw up a palm. “I believe you. But your father’s closest friend owns one of the largest defense firms in the UK. Count on Liu to use that relationship to gain access to The Winfield Group. I’m sure MI5 plans to have a conversation with your father and Winfield if they haven’t already.”
“I’m sure they will.” Ryder’s grip on Nathalie tightened. He tugged her closer to his side. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, Nathalie told me she was ready to leave.”
“Take care of her.” The warning in Lucas’s voice was clear enough that Nathalie visibly cringed.
“Always.” Ryder’s tone carried both a vow and a warning for the other man to back down.
Bloody hell.Did Caldwell’s eyes just lighten in a brief flash of humor?
Ryder didn’t wait to find out, guiding Nathalie to the door and through the lobby to outside, where Caleb was pulling up in the Suburban. He helped Nathalie into the back and got in next to her.