She kicked out her legs and folded her hands on her lap in a gesture of pure unrepentance. “How’s the campaign going?”

“Fine. It has nothing to do with why I’m here.”

She ignored him. “A retired air force major. A hero. A Massachusetts Callahan. A candidate for the United States Senate. I guess you wouldn’t be used to people giving you the brush-off, huh?”

“Antonia wouldn’t sneak off if she wanted to get rid of me.” He knew he couldn’t back down, show even a hint of weakness—otherwise he wouldn’t get a thing out of Carine. “She’d tell me. She’s a straightforward woman—”

“A clean, quick death instead of a slow one,” Carine said, her tone suddenly quiet. “Either way, in the end, it still hurts, and you’re still dead.”

“I’m not Ty North, Carine.”

Her moment of melancholy vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “That’s true. If you were, I’d have stink-bombed you out on the porch.” She dropped her hands to her sides and sat up straight. “Hank, honestly, I can’t help you. I’m sorry.”

She wasn’t sorry. He saw it now. She was stonewalling him—on purpose. It wasn’t just her close-mouthed nature at work, or the tight bond between the two sisters. Carine knew something, and she didn’t want to tell him. Or wasn’t supposed to tell him. Or both.

“Carine, normally I wouldn’t be here.” Hank tried to keep his tone reasonable. “I’d wait for Antonia to get back and talk with her then. But she wasn’t herself the other night at dinner. She blamed her work, but I’m worried it might be something else.”

“You, maybe?”

Ty had warned him that Carine could worm her way right down to a person’s last, raw nerve. Hank controlled himself, refusing to react defensively and let her see she was getting to him. “Maybe. I’m serious about her, Carine. If my campaign’s made her nervous—”

“That’s not what you think,” Carine said confidently. “Am I right?”

“You’re right. It’s not the campaign.”

“On the other hand, maybe whatever’s going on with Antonia is her problem, not yours, and what you should do is mind your own business.”

Her tone was matter of fact, as if he should have thought of this point on his own. Independent, Hank remembered, was another word Ty had used to describe the Winters, right after hard-bitten and stubborn. Hank figured his only defense was to stay the course—get Carine on his side, get her to trust him. But her emotions were still raw after what Ty had done, and she had good reason not to trust anyone, especially one of her ex-fiancé’s friends, so easily again.