Operation: Monarch. Valerie Parv

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      “My chip is my business.”

      He’d deliberately answered only part of her question, she noted. “You said we could exchange life stories over coffee.”

      “You first.”

      She wasn’t going to get anything out of him that he didn’t want to share, she understood. She was surprised how much she wanted to share. Maybe if she set an example. “As I told you, I went to the police academy. Graduated third in my class. Worked in uniform for a couple of years then in plain clothes undercover. Then got an invitation to join the R.P.D.” One of only a select few.

      He nodded. “Nothing there I couldn’t find out on the public record. What about marriage, children?”

      Don’t read anything into the question, she ordered herself. He was probably trying to even the score. “They’d be on public record, too, if I had any.”

      “So presumably you don’t. What happened? Afraid of spoiling your model figure?”

      She refused to give him the satisfaction of baiting her. “You never know when you’ll need something to fall back on.” She knew she’d said the right thing when she saw respect spark in his gaze. She crossed her forearms on the table. “Your turn.”

      “Joined the navy. Thrown out of the navy. Not much more to tell.”

      She tossed his own words back at him. “What about marriage, children?”

      “Didn’t want to spoil my model figure,” he said, grinning.

      Despite herself, she returned his smile. It felt good to laugh with him. She may not have learned much but the ice felt well and truly broken. She was surprised when he said, “I had my share of relationships, one even looked as if it would last. Remember Julia Francis?”

      Quick flare of jealousy, just as quickly squashed. “The redhead star of the track team?”

      “The same. We lost touch for a few years until she joined the navy, so we had that in common, among other things.”

      She didn’t like imagining the other things. “What happened?”

      “When I was kicked out of the service, she thought associating with me might tarnish her career. She didn’t mince words. Told me bluntly why it had to be over.”

      Underneath that gruff exterior he had feelings and they had been hurt, Serena concluded. Her hand was halfway across the table before she pulled back, sure he wouldn’t welcome her touch, however well-meaning. “I gather it was a long relationship until then.”

      “On and off for a few years, depending on what we were doing. Luckily Julia hadn’t wanted children, so the ending was painless.”

      He hadn’t said whether he wanted children. And she doubted whether the break had been as painless as he made it sound. She looked at her watch, wishing they could talk for longer.

      He caught the gesture. “I know this is boring stuff.”

      This time she did touch his hand. “I’m not bored. I don’t want to keep the prince waiting.”

      She reached for her purse, but he had already dropped money on the table. “I’ll buy the next round,” she said, wondering what had happened to delivering him to Lorne and moving on.

      There wouldn’t be a next round if he had anything to do with it, Garth thought. He had brought Serena to Alice’s kiosk to remind himself that she didn’t fit into his world, then had been surprised by how comfortable she had looked.

      Thirteen years ago she would have recoiled in disgust at the stained plastic furniture and the thick stoneware mugs Alice served her coffee in. She wouldn’t have breathed in the fish-tainted air as if it were perfume.

      Could Serena have changed so much? Her grooming still screamed class. Even glistening with perspiration in the gym, she had looked like a million dollars. And she still had the longest legs he’d ever seen. She’d always had a great body, and her work had honed her shape to a new level of perfection.

      When he had pulled her against him in the gym, his hormones had gone into orbit. He’d wanted to take her in his arms more than he’d wanted anything in a long time.

      He hadn’t exactly been honest with her. The thing with Julia Francis had been more off than on, and she had ended it about twenty-four hours before Garth could suggest it himself. They had been good in bed together, but out of it, had disagreed about almost everything.

      Pride had driven him to let Serena think he had a string of relationships behind him. And stopped him from telling her why he hadn’t. What would she think if he told her she had been his yardstick for the perfect woman all these years, and he had yet to find anyone who measured up.

      Time and again he’d cursed his foolishness in letting her haunt him. As he’d told her, one kiss hardly amounted to the romance of the century. It hadn’t stopped him from looking for her in the background whenever there was a story about the monarch on TV or in the papers. After she sent the wreath, he hadn’t responded because he’d feared the effect she might have on him. With good reason, he now saw.

      Now she was here, he hated feeling so stupidly glad about it. He couldn’t let it lead to anything. Her pedigree hadn’t changed and neither had his. As a navy lieutenant he might have had something to offer her, but not anymore, thanks to Admiral McRafe. He had presided over the inquiry that had ended Garth’s career, supposedly because his error led to a trainee almost dying during Advanced Nitrox Training.

      The admiral hadn’t wanted to hear about Garth’s suspicions of the stage bottle that carried the nitrox mix, probably because the admiral’s brother-in-law’s company had supplied the equipment, something Garth hadn’t found out until too late. He had gone to the admiral with the truth, mainly to stop anybody else from getting hurt. To Garth’s disgust, the admiral had denied everything and had him escorted off the base. Later, he had heard from a friend still in the service that the defective stage bottles had been quietly replaced and a new supplier found. It was something, he supposed.

      He had no idea why Serena had come looking for him or why Prince Lorne wanted to see him, unless he wanted private diving lessons. But he would go along because he respected the monarch. Although born to his role, the prince worked hard for the country. From what Garth had read, he had gone through hell with his first marriage, but stuck it out to set a good example rather than change the law that made divorce illegal in Carramer. Fate had intervened when his wife was killed driving too fast along a cliff road, then Lorne had married Alison Carter, the Australian tourist who had turned out to be the love of his life.

      Jealousy gripped Garth. He wanted what the prince had, but had only met one woman he considered worth a lifetime commitment. She was so far out of his reach he’d need decompression time if he stayed around her for very long.

      Not that he was going to, he assured himself. He would meet the prince, be whatever use the monarch thought he could be to his country, then get back to his own life before Serena worked her way any further under his skin.

      Finding out that he’d been under surveillance by the palace had made him feel like the boy СКАЧАТЬ