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Keep your mouth shut, Dasha.
“No, but you’ve been drinking,” Emmy reminded him.
“Yes, but onlyafterthe conversation with Jacobi.Barnaby opened a crate of champagne—what was I meant to do, turn it down?”
“That might’ve been a sensible option.”
“It was Laurent-Perrier rosé,” Bradley said, as if that explained everything.“And I didn’t mention the case at all.I told Jacobi that a rude man wearing one of his sweaters drove into my car and refused to give me his insurance details.”
“And Jacobi knew who you were talking about?”
“All I had to do was describe the pattern.So now I have the name, and Jacobi promised not to make him any more knitwear.”
“And what’s the name?”
“Bryant Angelou.”Bradley fumbled through half a dozen pockets and finally found his phone.“Here—I had Jacobi check the spelling.Bryant is a movie producer, but not a very good one.Should I order cases of Laurent-Perrier for the Valentine’s ball?We could have matching wine-glass charms for each couple.”He turned to me.“Do you have an online tutorial for those?Could you source the materials?”
“Paulo could probably put something together.He’s the best at beadwork.”A sale was a sale, and next week, I’d be Darla again.A prospect I wasn’t particularly looking forward to.“Why don’t you message him?”
“Maybe…maybe I’ll do that in the morning.”
Bradley’s eyes began to close, and ten seconds later, he was dead to the world again.But by a miracle, we had our name.Bryant Angelou.
“Is he right?”Ana asked.
Black had already looked the guy up on his tablet.“I believe he is, and he’s also correct about Angelou being second rate.He’s listed as executive producer on three infomercials and five movies, all of which were low-budget affairs that went nowhere.A sixth is in post-production.The photo from the embassy isn’t the best, but this looks like the same man to me.”
Angelou’s publicity shot was an artsy setup that showed him half-hidden in shadow, but there were also a dozen candid pictures that caught him from varying angles, plus several that looked as if they’d been taken at red-carpet affairs.And yes, there were definite similarities.When put together with Bradley’s information, I considered it ninety-five percent likely that we’d identified our unknown subject.
The question was how, if at all, did he link to the stolen weapon?
“Hallie, Vance, your priority in the morning is to find out everything you can about Angelou and Timonenko.Once we have more information, we’ll make a decision on how to proceed.”Emmy threw Bradley over one shoulder and headed for the door.“Get some sleep, everyone.Again.”
Back in the guest house, Alex followed me up the stairs, but instead of heading into his bedroom, he stopped outside mine and wrapped one arm around my waist.
“Wewillfinish what we started, but not tonight.”He ghosted another barely-there kiss across my lips.“Not when we both need to rest.”
A part of me wanted to crawl into bed beside him.I’d always slept better when Rad was next to me—his presence had kept the nightmares away, and I wondered if Alexei possessed the same superpower.Only time would tell, and we had precious little of that.
“At least kiss me properly before you go.”
“Is that a good idea?”
“No, it’s a terrible idea, but just fucking do it.”
First, he smiled, and then he obeyed.He had to dip his head and I had to stand on tiptoes, but we made it work, and as he deepened the kiss, I felt the first stirrings of his cock against my stomach.Heat burned through me, and hell yes, this was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas because now I longed to push him onto the nearest horizontal surface and drink my fill of him.
But we couldn’t always have what we wanted, could we?The general had taught me that important lesson.
Alex wrapped my hair around his hand and tilted my head back, giving himself access to my throat.Feather-soft kisses along my jaw and down my neck sent my pulse racing before he stepped back.
“Sleep well, Dashenka.”
And then he was gone.