Page 44 of Rogue

“Are we going to see something else?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “A different bridge.”

He held onto her hand as she skipped and ran on her toes beside him. She was struggling to keep up, and this was no time for recriminations that he should have told her to wear the trainers. He was at fault. He’d liked the look of the boots on her shapely legs.

Max risked a glance behind them as they hurried down the road beside the River Seine.

The crowd of people dressed in hats and coats milled near them, but farther back, a disturbance parted the flow of the masses.

Maxence reached around Dree and hauled her into his arms, holding her under her back and knees. Her arms tightened around his neck. “Oh, my!”

He asked her as he ran, “Can you see if anyone is following us?”

She looked back over his shoulder, and her fluffy hair tickled his face. “There’s a lot of people back there. I don’t know.”

Max dodged down a small street. A copse of trees wasn’t strung with Christmas lights, providing a dark niche and cover. He dropped Dree to her feet, shoved her behind himself, and patted down Arthur’s clothes and the coat he carried for any hidden weapons but was disappointed. British intelligence spies were supposed to have all sorts of cannily hidden weapons. Why the hell didn’t Arthur have a stiletto or a garrote literally up one of these sleeves?

As Maxence watched, the small commotion in the crowd passed them by. Michael Rossi and three other large men were swept along by the multitude, craning their necks and peering into the Christmas lights and alleyways.

None of them spied Max and Dree among the dark trees.

He let them get farther up ahead and then waited, watching, but there appeared to be no one surveilling from the rear position.

Max let out his pent-up breath. “Come on. It’s safe now.”

“What’s going on?” she asked him as they walked.

This time, he didn’t let his guard down as they pushed through the crowd. “Just some people I didn’t want to talk to.”

“Dude, I don’t want to talk to my swindling ex-boyfriend, but I’m not going to sprint through a crowd to avoid him.”

“Ireallydidn’t want to talk to them.”

She giggled. “I thought you were going to screw me up against one of those trees in the shadows, there.”

Maxence faltered as he walked but continued. “I didn’t think that was an option.”

“I saidanything.I meant it.”

His sweet little blonde might have an exhibitionist streak.How enchanting.“I’ll keep that in mind.”

After a longer walk, they arrived back at the George V Hotel without further incident. The doorman seemed suitably bored, as if no one distasteful had tried to gain entry.

That didn’t mean anything, of course. Pierre’s commandos wouldn’t come in through the front. They’d be disguised as staff and walk into the kitchen area through the underground garage.

When they were back in their room, Maxence locked the door and stood in place, considering the unsuitable locks for several minutes.

A small hand touched his back. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, of course.” He left the front door and hung Arthur’s long coat in the closet.

She followed him. “What happened back there?”

He leaned against the wall and watched her for a moment. “Am I supposed to lie to you?”

Dree pursed her lips, considering this, and then she said, “I guess I shouldn’t ask that.”

Maxence nodded.