Winter's Kiss (Howertys #3)

Chapter 5: Friends

"Would it hurt you so badly to share a little information?"

Winterbourne looked up from the desk in his office to give Gabriel a disinterested glance. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon," he remarked as he turned his attention back to the papers he'd been working on.

"Damn it, Winterbourne! Why didn't you tell me that the 'special client' was your wife's bloody sister?"

Winterbourne patiently put the papers aside before giving him his full attention. "Because I knew you would refuse to take it on had I told you," he finally admitted. "I can't handle the case myself since she sees me as family and refused to tell me what the matter was. Also, I didn't want it handled by one of our agents since I do not wish anyone to find out that she is using the agency. Can you imagine the scandal should someone find out?"

"But you must have realised she would run into me one night? While I admit I attend few affairs, eventually we would have run into each other since I know her brother," Gabriel said angrily.

"The possibility occurred to me." Winterbourne's face didn't show any sign of guilt, or anything else, for that matter. Gabriel had always admired his friend for being able to mask his thoughts so well, but there were times—like this—when it was only frustrating.

"And yet you sent her to me?" he grumbled. "You could at least have given me a heads up."

Winterbourne stood and walked around the desk to half sit against it as he looked at Gabriel across the room. "Isn't it time you ended this charade, in any case?" he asked. "It's been going on long enough. The reasons for you starting it are long gone. Aren't you tired of hiding behind this façade?"

"And you decided to end it for me by putting me in a situation where you knew I'd be recognised?" He could barely believe what he was hearing. The duke could be highhanded, but this was above and beyond, even for him.

"Nick would never tell anyone," his friend said dismissively. "We both know that."

"I don't see how you could know that, since you don't even speak to your wife," Gabriel snapped.

Silence greeted the words, as expected. Any mention of his wife was a definite conversation stopper. There were a few more moments of silence before Winterbourne finally spoke again. "Tell me what Nick wanted."

"Does she know you work with the agency?" It still seemed like he only knew half the story, and he didn't appreciate the feeling.

Winterbourne shrugged. "She knows I'm involved with it somehow, even if she doesn't know the extent of it."

He could do nothing but stare. No one, absolutely no one, knew that he and Winterbourne worked for the agency. Or rather, owned the agency. Now it turned out that someone actually did. Nick Howerty, nonetheless.

"How? When? Why?" Not the most eloquent questions, but damn it he was tired and unhappy, and could not be bothered to rephrase them.

"I met her outside a few days ago." Winterbourne sounded somewhat impatient about having to explain. "She was loitering outside the agency trying to decide whether or not to go in. I came out of and saw her. The rest I'm sure you can figure out for yourself. You're the Intelligence Officer, after all."

He gave his friend an irritated look. Winterbourne could be damn infuriating when he wanted to. But he was also an extremely intelligent man, so he told him everything that Nick had explained earlier. Winterbourne stayed silent throughout the entire story, and then nodded when he finished.

"I agree with Nick that there is something other than being madly in love that has Wyndon acting this way. Men don't normally blackmail women into marrying them without good cause."