Everyone was suitably surprised when Adrian and I came walking across the cemetery lawn to the group gathered around the prepared gravesite.
We had missed the chapel service, but the priest had a few more words to speak from the Bible as the casket with Wallace's urn was lowered into the ground.
Adrian and I stood at the back and I tried not to think about how I rather wished I could hold his hand.
I tried not to think about how horrifyingly depressing it was that an entire life could be reduced down to ash in a matter of minutes. Seconds, really.
I doubted that poor Wallace had even seen those thugs coming when they had stormed the Kingsley building.
One day he had been waiting for his shift to end, wondering what was for dinner, worrying about bills and his grandchildren getting through college, the next, BAM!, gunned down, dead, for no reason other than the fact that he was in the way.
Because he had worked for Adrian Kingsley.
I glanced up at my employer to find his face completely deadpan and glazed over.
Nobody home?
Or perhaps the funeral was making him uncomfortable so he felt the need to shut himself off from the entire event, the entire world, including me.
Or maybe he was still feeling down about having to return Ty to Tiffany so early. Or maybe he was still kinda mad at me for turning down his offer for free and easy sex.
My employer was a complicated creature, after all.
And yet, at the same time, he was such a classic idiot man sometimes.
When Wallace was finally lowered into his final resting place, his widow and a few of Wallace's old friends who were still in Adrian's employ approached us.
"Can we leave now?" Adrian asked me in a low voice, gazing longingly back the way to the car.
I stepped on his foot as I smiled sympathetically at the widow, who was nearly upon us. "Mrs. Keats. We are so terribly sorry for your loss." I said to her. I might have even offered an awkward little bow.
The old widow had eyes only for Adrian, however. "Oh, Mr. Kingsley!" She crooned, grasping his hands earnestly in both of hers. "How good of you to come! I understand how busy you are. Wallace would've just been tickled by this, you know."
I'm not honestly sure who was more surprised, me or Adrian.
"Oh, would you mind terribly if I introduced you to a few people who were very special to my dear Wallace? You benefitted all of our grand babies so much with all those hefty Christmas bonuses, you know!"
Adrian looked to me, and I had to hide my smile. I'd never seen pure terror in my boss's eyes before, and he was looking at me; for help.
It honestly warmed my heart a little, especially because I knew he'd be just fine. It wasn't like he was in any real danger.
And if he was, that was Mike Barrett's job to take care of. The surly bodyguard was standing back a ways, looking very official in his dark blue suit and sunglasses, his deadpan expression and folded hands.
I glanced back at him as Wallace's family dragged Adrian away, leaving me in the wake of their mass.
Mike looked at me from behind his glasses, but he made no change of expression.
He was disgusted and disappointed with me, I could tell.
I knew because I was a little disgusted and disappointed with myself right then.
Turning back to follow after Adrian, however, watching the sway of his broad shoulders and the bounce of his thick black hair, I was instantly reminded of all the reasons why I had fallen into his bed.
It was inevitable.
When he glanced back at me searchingly, those big, dark blue eyes practically begging me to come with him and save him, I was then reminded of all the reasons why I had fallen for him.
That, too, I suppose, had been inevitable.
I quickened my pace to catch up to him, and save him I would.
###
I slid my arm through his, slanting a reassuring smile up his way that he returned with a smaller, rather bemused smile.
I used all of my wits and social charm to get him out of there as soon as I could, but not before Wallace's family had regaled him with stories of how his bonuses had helped them; Wallace's sons and daughters, his nieces and nephews and his second cousins, and even his god children.
It was suitably overwhelming. Apparently Wallace had been supporting an entire college's worth full of children via his paycheck from Kingsley Core.
Adrian probably received more hugs today than he had in the entirety of his life so far.
I watched with a little smile I just couldn't control as the Keats clan hugged the color right out of Adrian Kingsley's face.
I knew how uncomfortable he must be with this many strangers touching him, but he was also too polite to resist, bless him and his good breeding.
Not all of them were so grateful, though. One surly young man in particular, who looked like the spitting image of Wallace; or how Wallace must've looked when he was in his early 30s. The young man was Wallace's nephew, as it turned out.
His name was Scott and he had dark brown eyes in an angular face with a hairline of dark hair that was already starting to recede, ever so gently. He was tall and stately in his cheap black suit and I knew instantly that this was kin of Wallace.
"Yeah, my uncle was a great man." Scott met Adrian's eyes with clear challenge in his. "He stayed on long past retirement to work so he could have enough money to put his grandkids through school. And we all crow about how great his boss was, for all the extra bonuses, but the truth is that my uncle died on the job, working for you, for no reason!"
I blinked up at the young man in surprise at this sudden and utter mood change from a family member. The rest of them were all looking crest fallen and chagrined now and my heart ached.
Before Adrian could even open his mouth to apologize or defend himself - I guess we'll never know which one he would've chosen - because suddenly Mike was standing between them.
I found myself blinking up at him now in surprise. He had practically materialized on the spot.
"Is there a problem here?" Mike asked Scott in a cold, flat voice. He had removed his sunglasses and was staring intently into the other man's eyes, which were about level to his.
I glanced down as I felt a hand lightly touch my arm. It was Mike, gently pushing me back a few steps, out of harm's way.
Adrian hadn't moved a muscle, staring Scott down still over Mike's shoulder.
Scott glared at him right back, ignoring Mike like Adrian was.
"No. Sir." Scott finally said rather grudgingly.
The matriarch of the family had just put her hand on his arm in a soothing gesture. "Now, Scott." She said softly, regarding the other men with worried, tired blue eyes full of grief. "Why don't you go pull the car around and get it warmed up and what not?"
Scott grumbled something under his breath, dark eyes still locked on Adrian.
"This isn't what Papa would've wanted." The widow pointed out quietly and this was finally what broke through to Scott, I think.
With some more resentful grumbling, Scott stalked off, presumably to go get the car.
I was able to breathe easier when the angry man was out of earshot, we all were.
Mike disappeared almost as fast as he has materialized and I was both surprised and secretly pleased when Adrian stepped closer to my side to rest his hand on the small of my back. "Are you okay?" He asked softly, into my ear. It made me shiver uncontrollably.
"Yeah. You?" I looked up into those dark blue eyes of his.
Before he could reply, however, the Keats clan clustered in around us once more.
"Sorry about that, Mr. Kingsley." Mrs. Keats said anxiously. "Our Scott has always had a temper about him."
"No need to apologize, Mrs. Keats." Adrian said with a surprising amount of tenderness to his tone.
I looked up at him again with interest. He rarely even spoke to ME in that voice.
"And please allow me to say how deeply, unspeakably sorry I am for what happened to your Wallace."
Mrs. Keats immediately blossomed up with tears again. She dabbed at her eyes with a kerchief in a perfunctory manner that bespoke of how often she had been weeping lately. "Aye, He was taken from us too early." She said thickly and I heard traces of a long since faded Scottish accent. "But 'tis not your fault, Mr. Kingsley. You never asked to have armed thugs break into your home, no one ever does. And who are we simple creatures to question God's ultimate plan?"
This was a question that certainly had no lucid answer, at least in my opinion.
"Now!" She said more stoutly. "Would the two of you like to join us for a family dinner back at the homestead? I know it's what Wallace would've wanted. My, it would've tickled him pink, it would've, to see Mr. Kingsley at our table when it was all said and done. I made Wally's favorite roast in his honor..." She trailed off as her voice inevitably cracked and she had to stem back another bout of waterworks.
Adrian went rather ashen in the face and I suavely leapt in to save him.
"Unfortunately Mr. Kingsley has a business meeting with delegates from overseas, and we're already at risk of keeping them waiting. I'm so sorry, ma'am, perhaps a rein check?"
"Oh, of course!" She beamed up at Adrian who smiled weakly back at her. "You must come make a stop in for Christmas then! Wallace always would worry about you at Christmas time, you know, saying you had no real family to spend it with. I remember one Christmas he said, when he'd had a few nips of the brandy o'course! He said, Martha, he said to me, Martha that man is as generous as he is rich, but it's a dog gone shame that he's all alone every Christmas. No man should be alone this time o'year! He would say."
Adrian's smiled was definitely pained now and I couldn't refrain from sliding my arm supportively through his once more. "Well, that was very sweet of ya'll to worry so. Adrian won't be alone this year, will he?"
"No, most certainly not if we can help it!" Martha asserted.
Finally we were allowed to take our leave and leave we did, as hastily as we could without seeming horribly rude.
"Foreign delegates, huh?" Adrian said as he escorted me back to the car where Mike was waiting for us.
I shrugged. "Had to say something!"
"I'm impressed at the ease with which you lie. I shall take a mental note that you're scary good at it. I half believed you!"
I grinned in pleasure at hearing this. That was quite a compliment coming from him.
Our good cheer fell away when we were sitting in the dark, quiet confines of the back seat.
Mike rode up front as was his custom and the divider remained firmly in place.
The car pulled away from the little gray stone chapel, taking us home.
"Eve, do you believe in God?" Adrian asked me quietly when we were pulling out through the cemetery gates.
I looked over at him in surprise. "Why do you ask?"
He shrugged. He wasn't looking at me. "What she said, I suppose. Do you believe that? That God has some ultimate plan for us all; that things are capable of magically working themselves out even when it seems like it's all gone to shit?"
I bit my lip. I wasn't really sure what he wanted to hear right then.
"I think that we have to save our damn selves." I said, settling on the bald truth. "I believe in some invisible life giving force, sure, but no, I don't believe in Fate. I don't think everything magically works itself out in the end. I think we have to save ourselves 'cause there sure as hell ain't nobody comin' to save us."
He turned his head and those dark blue eyes finally focused on me. "Well that's...bleak."
I raised my eyebrows. "You disagree?"
"No, not entirely." He shrugged. He rested his head of black hair back against the seat rest and sighed wearily. "I'm just so tired." He massaged the bridge of his nose. "That whole experience was draining. I feel like shit."
Concern welled inside my big, generous chest. "Adrian...you know it's not your fault, right? What Scott said...he was just angry and grieving and looking for someone to blame."
Adrian opened his eyes, but he didn't look at me. "No, he was right. It was my fault. I could've just given Wallace a lump sum retirement payout and forced him to quit. I knew he was working to put his grandkids through college and I didn't care. I never even asked him what school they were attending. I just wanted him to stay on because he was a damn good employee and never tried to talk to me too much."
I considered my boss's noble profile for a moment, weighing if I should tell him something or not. Finally I decided I should. "You know, I talked to Wallace now and then, not a lot, but enough to know that two of his flock were going to Princeton. Anyway, it wasn't all about them, or you, or anyone. He once told me that he kept on at the position because he didn't know how to be home all the time. Said he didn't know who he'd be without the job.
"Wallace Keat's death was not your fault." I repeated, quietly and firmly.
Adrian slowly turned his head to meet my eyes. He studied me for a moment longer before he said, with an abrupt and nearly shocking change of subject, "Do you remember the detective who handled the case after the break in?"
I frowned in confusion. "Detective...Cortez?" I said hesitantly. Of course I remembered that fearsome, intimidating man with his intense, probing dark eyes. Not soon to forget! I hoped only to manage to avoid him for the rest of my life.
"Yes. Well, he's marrying a family friend, Tiffany's sister, to be exact, Sophia. She's the nice sister, some say. Anyway, I'm obligated to attend by my mother."
My eyes went from a narrowed squint to opening full wide. Was this leading where I thought it was leading?
"Okay..." I said warily. "A funeral and a wedding all in one week? Busy week!"
He arched his eyebrows. "Indeed. And I was wondering if you wouldn't mind attending it with me, as my plus one."
*~*~*~*~*~*
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