Page 25 of Operation Protector
“You aresucha good dog,” she crooned. “And so smart!”
She straightened up to look at the Foxworths, who were smiling at their clever pet. Or fellow operative. Probably both.
Then she walked into the room, shifting her gaze to Colby.
“And I don’t ever use this word, but your ex,” she said with a sour twist of her mouth and an eye roll, “is a bitch.”
He couldn’t help it—he let out a snort of laughter.
“I know, you warned me,” Ali said, “but holy cow, she’s…”
She waved her hand as if there were no way to describe the woman she’d just left. Colby couldn’t argue with that, so he merely nodded.
“And you,” Hayley said, coming over to take the earrings Ali removed, reminding him to pull out the earpiece they’d given him, “handled that perfectly. You got more than we’d hoped. So now that we have the groundwork laid, we have to plan what’s next.”
She sounded so confident it filled Colby with hope all over again. And he couldn’t stop himself from taking that half step between them and giving Ali a heartfelt hug.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice more than a little hoarse.
“Grace is a treasure. Thank you for trusting me to be a part of this.”
He no longer had any doubt that slicing up his arm on that window was the best thing that could have happened.
Chapter 11
“I have only one question,” Ali said as she took a seat next to Colby on the sofa, her last—truly it was—slice of pizza in her hand.
He was wiping his fingers with the napkins that had come with the delivery—albeit it had been another Foxworth man called Teague, not the guy from the actual pizza place—and now stopped to look at her. She had the feeling he hadn’t been eating well lately, or maybe at all, judging by how much and how fast he’d bolted that down.
“Only one?” he asked, with a half laugh that was clearly self-directed. Lord, that woman had done a number on him.
She glanced from where they were seated at the counter back toward the table, where Quinn and Hayley were working out whatever planning they had left to do, although she couldn’t imagine what they could possibly have overlooked. But once certain they wouldn’t be overheard, and because she genuinely wanted to know, she asked her question.
“How did you end up with her?”
He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, audibly. “I claim ignorance. I met her my freshman year in college. I had no idea who her family was. All I knew was she was a couple of years ahead of me, she was…well, gorgeous, and she took an interest in me. Much to my surprise.”
She tilted her head as she looked at him. “I don’t find it surprising at all.”
His eyes widened. He stared at her for a moment, opened his mouth, then closed it again, as if he could think of nothing to say. He lowered his gaze to the crumpled napkin in his hand.
How could such a simple thing flummox him so? He had to know he was a good-looking guy, who would catch any woman’s eye. Even Liz, bi—she caught herself, she’d meant what she’d said about not liking to use that word—witch that she was, had seen the appeal.
“So she was gorgeous, practiced, a little older, more experienced in manipulation… No wonder you fell for her.”
“If that’s your way of saying I was a gullible, naive idiot, then yeah.” He grimaced. “I was stupidly happy that she wanted to get married. But it was…miserable. I knew it wasn’t working. But then she got pregnant with Grace. After telling me she was on the pill.”
She knew she hadn’t mistaken the bitter tone that had come into his voice. She remembered the call Quinn had made, to the contractor whose name she’d seen on such beautiful work.
My take is that Colby Kendrick is a great guy.
Then, even stronger, what Colby himself had said hit her…She was embarrassed when she had to introduce her husband,the carpenter,to their ritzy friends.
A fierce sort of anger began to bubble up inside her. The impression she’d gotten in person added fuel to it. It was quite clear Liz Hollen was the kind of woman she had to try very hard not to hate.
“She really did a number on you, didn’t she?”
He let out a long sigh. “I was supposed to join the family firm. Rise to the top and all that. But I had no interest in that. Which is why she divorced me.”
