Page 46 of Cloaked in Deception (Spencer & Reid Mysteries #4)

“I’m sorry. You didn’t want to talk about the case,” she said.

Though, she wondered what he might like to talk about instead.

His work was such a large part of his life.

He didn’t leave his role as detective inspector at the door whenever he returned home each day.

Like the Inspector had, Jasper lived and breathed detective work.

She knew him well, and yet, she also wondered if there was a side to him that he’d never shown her. What did he do with his time off from the Yard? Did he even take a day for himself during the week like he was entitled to do?

When he grinned half-heartedly, Leo suspected it was more than just a bad mood plaguing him.

“What is wrong?” she asked.

He was wrestling with something. He’d swallowed the rest of his brandy and was now staring intently into his empty glass. At last, he said softly, “We cannot go out to dine.”

Leo’s pulse fluttered. “It is a little late in the evening for that, I admit,” she said lightly, though she suspected that wasn’t what he’d meant.

Jasper met her gaze but held his tongue. He had something difficult to say, and she thought she knew what it was.

“You regret kissing me, is that it?” Leo whispered, an invisible spear sinking into her heart.

He winced. “No. In fact, there is little else I’ve been able to think about. Even while working.”

His work was everything to him. And she had made that difficult at the Yard, among his fellow officers and superiors. He’d told her a few times now that he needed to keep her out of CID inquiries, or else.

“Is it Chief Inspector Coughlan? Or Superintendent Monroe? Have they reprimanded you because I was involved with the case?” For the slimmest second, she felt regret and guilt.

But then, Jasper had been the one to invite her to Gavin Seabright’s room to view a dead body and interview the woman who would ultimately be the nefarious mastermind behind the whole murder plot.

“No. Actually, Coughlan wasn’t as upset about your involvement this time.”

That did surprise her.

“Then, I don’t understand. Why have you changed your mind?” After the kiss they’d shared in the morgue’s office, Leo had been certain his feelings for her were sincere.

Jasper got up from the sofa with a groan, as if his bones ached. He went to the decanter and poured himself another brandy. With his back to her, he said, “There is going to be trouble soon. I’m afraid there is no avoiding it.”

He faced her, and at his severe mien, Leo rose to her feet, bracing herself for whatever he had to say.

“Andrew Carter picked me up as I was leaving the Yard this evening.”

She hadn’t known what to expect, but it wasn’t that. “Why? What did he want?”

Belatedly, she assessed Jasper for any injuries that he might have been concealing. But his tie was neat; his clothing, if rumpled, wasn’t damaged. He didn’t sport so much as a bruise.

“He knows who I am.”

The words shoved at her. She didn’t—couldn’t—draw breath.

“He knows what the Inspector did, presenting the drowned boy wearing my clothes and in possession of my grandmother’s rosary beads as me to my aunt.”

That day, the Inspector had bent the letter of the law, though Leo didn’t believe it was for personal gain.

He’d wanted to protect Jasper from what would happen to him if he were sent back to his aunt and uncle.

So, he’d gotten creative and taken a risk, and for sixteen years, it had worked. Until now.

“Do they all know?”

Jasper shook his head. “Not yet.”

She crossed the room to where he continued to stand. “What does he want?” But then, she considered Jasper’s job, his position with the Metropolitan Police, and answered her own question: “He plans to blackmail you.”

It was the only reason Andrew Carter would keep such knowledge to himself rather than share it with the rest of his family.

Jasper looked down into his glass, unable to meet her gaze. “He knows what I stand to lose if anyone at the Yard learns the truth. And if he informs the others…well, I don’t need to articulate what they will do.”

A swirl of cold nausea struck her. No, he needn’t articulate that. The Carters would see what Jasper had done as a betrayal. They would punish him the same way they had her father. The bilious spin of her stomach intensified when she thought of how Jasper would answer any demands Andrew made.

“You won’t bend to his will.”

Jasper would rather give up his career, his very life, than become corrupted.

“I won’t,” he agreed. At last, he looked up at her. “Unless he threatens you. That is why it would be best if we don’t change how things stand between us.”

Leo shook her head, confused. The two points failed to connect in her mind. “Why would you say that?”

Jasper set his still full glass of brandy on the drinks table. “He’s had a man watching me for some time. He’s seen you. Us.”

That word— us —brought her back to the morgue office when they’d kissed in the open doorway. Sergeant Lewis had come upon them, but perhaps someone else had been watching too.

“Andrew doesn’t seem to know that you’re already aware of the truth. He believes the threat to expose to you who I am and what I did on the night of your family’s murders will sway me to fall in line.”

“But that will fail to work in his favor,” Leo said, catching on.

“And then he will find another way to use you.” Jasper’s eyes filled with torment. “I will give up my job, my reputation, if pressed. But I will not risk you or your safety.”

Leo knew how strongly he felt about protecting her. He’d made a vow to keep her safe, no matter what. But he wasn’t thinking clearly. “Ending things between us now will do nothing to stop Andrew. He already knows you care for me and that I care for you.”

Saying it aloud brought a rush of blood to her cheeks. But she wasn’t sorry. It was the truth. She no longer wished to confine her feelings for him or guard them.

“Besides, you said it yourself,” she went on. “There can be no going back to the way things were.”

The ripple of a muscle along Jasper’s jaw displayed his deep frustration. With discernable misery, he reached for her hand. “I never meant to put you in danger.”

Though he’d only taken her hand, the gesture made her unpredictably bold.

Leo stepped closer, and lifting to her toes, she pressed her lips to his.

He stood rigid, and her daring faltered.

As she began to lower her heels to the floor and pull away, Jasper’s arm hooked her waist and dragged her mouth firmly back to his.

The heated pressure of his lips only lasted another few moments though.

He broke the kiss, but rather than step away, he kept her tight against him.

“A part of me wishes you were appropriately afraid and that you’d tell me to leave,” he said softly, the tip of his nose brushing against hers. “But a much larger, more selfish part of me is deliriously happy you’re so bloody stubborn.”

Leo laughed and, though she longed to kiss him again, restrained herself. She did, however, allow herself to enjoy how he was holding her. Especially the feel of his palms as they slid along her back, warming her through her shirtwaist.

“Does this mean you’ll take me to dinner after all?”

“I will,” he replied, though he still sounded reluctant. “But, Leo, we cannot ignore the danger the Carters now pose.” His palms reached the waist of her skirt. There, they held still.

“We’ll find a solution,” she said, and for the moment, she did not mind so much that any notion of what that might be felt miles away. “You must agree that we will find it better together than we will apart.”

He made a sound in the back of his throat, something between a grunt of doubt and a sigh of surrender.

Reluctantly, he released her and stepped away. “I need to go.”

Leo nodded, knowing he must. It was late, and though Claude had said he was turning in, he was surely listening for the kitchen door to shut and lock after Jasper’s departure.

Leo led him to the kitchen. He picked up his hat from where he’d left it on the table as she opened the door. As he passed her, he paused. Then, Jasper leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“I’ll pick you up for dinner tomorrow at seven o’clock,” he said, putting on his hat and stepping outside.

“With any luck, you won’t need to postpone.”

“Then, let’s hope for a boring day,” he replied.

She shot him a teasing frown. “When has that ever happened?”

Jasper only grinned, then tipped the brim of his hat and set off into the dark.

Leo watched him for a few moments, worry tripping through her that Andrew Carter might be out there, waiting. But no. First, he would want to extort Jasper to the fullest potential.

As she shut and locked the kitchen door, some of the delight that had filled her to the point of giddiness—a state she did not often reach—diminished.

Jasper had been right: They could not ignore the truth.

Andrew was a danger to them both, and he had every intention of pressing Jasper to a breaking point.

But as Leo made her way to the sitting room to douse the lamps, she decided that for tonight, at least, she would go to sleep thinking only of Jasper.

She would not give the East Rip or his threats another thought.

Those were worries for tomorrow.

Thank you for reading Cloaked in Deception, the fourth book in the Spencer & Reid Mysteries!