Read Online Finding Grace by Rhea Rhodan - Free Book Online

he
could understand how his lighting that cigarette had affected her.
She never wanted him to, either. Not ever. And he had been sorry,
even if he hadn’t actually said so.
    She’d just avoid him, that’s what she’d do. She
needed to do that anyway. She didn’t dare allow herself to
feel.
    Then there was the problem she’d discovered with one
of the clients. If she didn’t go back and figure it out, something
bad was going to happen.
    * * * *
    Paul felt the slight vibrations of music through the
floor joists of the renovated warehouse as he hit the top stair. It
was good that she’d come back, better that she was early. After the
way she’d kept getting into it with the team yesterday, he hadn’t
been sure she would. It had bothered him enough that he’d actually
brought it up to Katherine last night over supper.
    He hadn’t given her any details of course, or even
told her Thorne was a woman. For one, he’d given Thorne his word.
On top of that, he couldn’t allow himself to think about what had
happened to her when he was in the same room with his wife. Not if
he wanted to sleep. He’d learned that the first night after Luke
had sent those files. He’d do anything to protect Katherine from
even a whisper of it.
    As far as she knew, Thorne was a just a very gifted
new employee with an unconventional appearance and difficult
personality. Her advice had been to give it some time and trust
Jack like he always did. Jack would find his way and the rest of
the men would follow, she’d said. He was a little surprised by her
advice because he knew Dagger made her nervous. Dagger had that
effect on everyone except him, and—apparently, for no reason Paul
could fathom—Thorne.
    Well, he hoped Dagger found his way, and soon, in
spite of the roadblocks Paul wasn’t able to remove for him.
    The sound of slow bumps coming up the back stairs
broke into his thoughts. He found Thorne moving a table by herself,
pulling it up the stairs one step at a time.
    “Where’s Dagger? He’s supposed to be helping you.”
Damn it. He’d really hoped Katherine was right.
    “Hell if I know, but I don’t need him anyway. I’ve
got it under control. This is the last one.”
    “Here, let me help you.” Paul walked down the stairs
past her and the table, picking it up from the bottom. “You’re, ah,
used to taking care of things on your own, aren’t you, Thorne?”
    “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
    “It could be. We operate as a team here.”
    “This team stuff is new to me, Paul. I’ve always
been on my own, more or less. Even before. The academic community
is pretty competitive, you know. Besides, your team doesn’t want
me.”
    “Look, I know things didn’t get off to a great start
yesterday. I warned you it wouldn’t be easy. If you’d at least let
me tell Dagger something , he could—”
    “No. You gave me your word, Paul. Besides, if he was
interested in smoothing things over, he’d be helping me here like
you asked him to, right?”
    Was that disappointment he’d heard in her voice?
    “Oh, who cares?” She shrugged, table and all. “I
don’t need them to do my job. But if I do things right, they’ll see
just how much they need me.”
    He wasn’t so sure. “That might be part of the
problem. They feel that they’ve been effective without you and I
have to say, our track record is good.”
    Damn good. But he could hardly tell her that she was
here because he wanted to help her and not the other way around. He
knew her pride would never tolerate that.
    “The first guy to dig a trench for a latrine
probably thought he was pretty cool, too, but that doesn’t mean
indoor plumbing isn’t a significant advancement.”
    Oh yeah, she had plenty of pride.
    “Is there a deeper meaning to this analogy,
Thorne?”
    “If you smell one, Buzz.” She grinned before turning
serious. “That brings me to something I found yesterday when I was
researching your clients. What can you tell me about FedCo