Mikhail washed one out before coming back to the table. He sat, poured. “What is this, Alexi?”

“Celebration. My day off.” Alex took a swallow and waited for the vodka to join the rest swimming through his system. “I caught the bad guy.” With a half laugh, he toasted himself. “And lost the girl.”

Mikhail drummed his fingers on the table as he drank. It was no less than he’d expected. “You fought with Bess?”

“Fought?” Lips pursed, Alex studied the clear, potent liquid in his glass. “I don’t know that’s the term, exactly. Found her with another man.”

Mikhail’s glass froze halfway to his lips. “You’re wrong.”

“Nope.” Alex reached for the bottle with an almost steady hand. “Walked in and found her lip-locked to this guy she used to be engaged to. Bess has this hobby of getting engaged.”

Mikhail merely shook his head. Something was not quite right with this picture. “Did you kill him?”

“Thought about it.” Before he drank again, Alex ran his tongue over his teeth. Good, he thought. They were nearly numb. The rest would follow. “Too damn bad I’m a cop.”

“What was her explanation?”

“Didn’t give me one. Got pissed, is all.” He set the glass down so that he could use both hands to rub his face.

“Because you accused without trusting.”

“I didn’t accuse,” Alex shot back, then pressed his fingers to his burning eyes. “I didn’t have to. What I didn’t say was unforgivable. She tossed me out on my ear, but not before she told me she didn’t love me anyway.”

“She lies.” Before Alex could lift his glass again, Mikhail grabbed his wrist. “I tell you, she lies. A few days ago she visited Rachel and the baby. I made her sit for me and sketched her while she talked of you. There’s no mistaking what I saw in her eyes, Alexi. You’re blind if you haven’t seen it yourself.”

He had seen it, and the pain of remembering what he’d seen clawed through him so that he stumbled to his feet as if to escape it. “She falls in love easily.”

“So? There is love, and love. How many times have you taken the fall?”

“This is the first.”

“For this kind, yes. There were others.”

“They were different.”

“Ah.” Patient and amused, Mikhail held up a finger. “So it’s okay for you to play with love until you find the truth, but it’s not okay for Bess.”

“It’s—” Put that way, it was tough to argue with. Especially when his head was reeling. “Damnit, I was jealous. I have a right to be jealous.”

“You have a right to make an ass of yourself, too.” Pleased, now that he knew it could be fixed, Mikhail kicked back and crossed his booted feet. “Did you?”

“Big-time.” Alex swayed, then sat down heavily. “I was going to ask her to marry me, Mik. I had the ring in my pocket and these stupid lilacs. I was scared to death she’d say yes. More scared that she’d say no.” He propped his spinning head in his hands. “What the hell was she doing kissing that son of a bitch?”