Anne looked at him with pleading eyes. “Do you understand? I can’t say.”
He must have understood enough, because he leaned back and muttered, “Fecking hell.”
“I didn’t anticipate this. I don’t… know any of the players here except through Mary, and I didn’t anticipate—”
“Clearly.”
Murphy tapped a pen on his knee for a few moments until there was a pause in the flow of the meeting. Then he stood up and said, “If our associates would excuse Dr. O’Dea and me for a moment, it would be appreciated.”
“Of course,” Gemma said. “Your secretary can take notes.”
He put a hand on her shoulder and led her out of the room and to a deserted office down the hall. Anne realized, to her surprise, that he was angry.
“You’re angry with me?”
He said nothing until he closed the door.
“Tell me.”
“I told you I can’t.”
Murphy gritted his teeth. “We’re not with the others now, Anne. Tell me why you keep reacting to the Russians. This is important.”
“I know it is. And I still cannot tell you.”
“Because of Mary?”
“No.”
“Because of a patient?”
She said nothing.
“We don’t have the luxury of confidentiality here, Anne. We need every piece of information we can get.”
Anne’s mouth dropped. “The luxury of confidentiality?”
“We’re all revealing uncomfortable truths. And we’re doing it to save lives. This isn’t a game.”
“I know it’s not a game!”
“Then stop playing and tell me what you know about Russia!”
“I will not.”
He was furious.
“You and Mary agreed—”
“This is not about Mary. This is about your asking me to violate my own principles. Again.”
His jaw tensed, but he didn’t back down. “For the greater good, Anne. This isn’t about me.”
“You know who I am and what I do. And I will remind you that I was not the one who wanted to attend this summit, Patrick. It was you who dragged me along. My sister who forced me to come. This wasn’t my idea.”
“You didn’t put up much of a fight either, did you? You wanted to come,” he said. “Your little life in the west was driving you mad, and you jumped at the chance to do something other than listen to sob stories from vampires with more money than sense.”
Anne felt as if he’d slapped her. “Póg mo thóin.”
“Already did, love. And you liked it.”
She saw his eye twitch as soon as the words left his mouth.
“Anne, I’m—”
“No.”
She shoved him to the side, but he refused to budge. Then Anne put her hand on his neck and pushed.
“Move.”
Blinking, he stepped to the side long enough for her to unlock the door and slip into the hallway.
“Bloody fecking woman…” He muttered behind her. “Anne!”
Anne dodged the security guard, only to run into Gemma in the hall. “Anne, did you—”
“I need to leave, Gemma.”
Gemma glanced over Anne’s shoulder, and she must have seen Murphy stalking down the hall.
“Go,” she said. “I’ll call him back to the meeting. One of you has to attend.”
“Thank you.” She rushed out of the house, one of Murphy’s men following her, and jumped into the back of Ozzie’s car.
“Take me back,” she said.
“Are we waiting for Murphy, miss?”
“No.”
She was stupid. So, so stupid.
He would break her. Again. And she was the one who let him.
SHE found Carwyn visiting with Daniel in a drawing room at the Mayfair house.
“Anne!” He smiled and rose to his feet. “Daniel and I were just discussing his plans to visit Clare. He’s thinking next fall, but I wasn’t sure… And you don’t want to talk about rock climbing, do you?”
She managed a smile. “Not really.”
“Excuse us,” Carwyn said to Daniel. “I believe Dr. O’Dea and I have business to discuss in the library.”
“Of course,” Daniel said with a smile. “But Anne, when you have a chance, I would love to talk with you about my trip. If you’d like.”
“Yes, of course,” Anne said. “Carwyn… I’ll meet you in the library?”
“I’ll walk with you now.” He gave his son a hearty embrace and slapped his back, whispering something in his ear before he escorted her to a wood-paneled room surrounded on all sides by bookcases bursting at the seams.
Anne asked the computer attendant to leave them and took a seat on a settee close to the fireplace.
“How are you feeling?” Carwyn asked.
“Much better physically, thanks to your wife.”
“I know she was happy to offer. We both feel indebted to you, Anne, for helping Brigid with so many of her demons.”
“That’s what I do.”
“It is.” Carwyn sat in a sofa across from her. “It is what you do. What I did for so many years as well.”
“We help people.” Anne frowned. “Or you did.”
“I hope I still do. What can I help you with?”
She took a deep breath and decided to ignore the fight with Murphy for the moment and focus on the greater problem. “How did you balance what was told to you in confidence and the realities of our life?”