“My dears, it was awful not being able to breathe a word about it to anyone,” the owner said, patting Emily on a shoulder.We had gathered around the large table in order to eat.“She came to me—the superintendent is head of the local CID, you know—and told me that either we kept quiet about their presence in the hotel, or we’d find ourself facing the planning committee about the hot tub.”
“You have a hot tub?”Amy asked.“I didn’t see one.”
“It’s not working right now,” the owner said, and continued on as he wandered around the table, topping up everyone’s champagne glasses.I kept an eye on Clara’s glass, which had exactly a half inch of liquid, which fortunately, she sipped at like it was the most precious of materials.“Well, you can see how it was!We couldn’t risk that—no, we couldn’t risk that at all.So we took them on.They said your wedding was the perfect cover.”
“You had thieves here who could have rifled our things at any time?”Corbin asked.I leaned a little to the side, just enough that I could put a hand on Iain’s thigh.He was speaking quietly about some sheep disease or other but, at my touch, shot me a long, speculative look.
I pointed at the look.“Your Mini Me definitely gets that expression from you.”
He winked at me, and let his fingers do a little dancing down my own leg.
“No, no, of course not!”the owner said, clearly scandalized.“As if we’d be a party to such a thing!The superintendent assured us—assured us quite firmly, you know—that they would be watching at all times, and would safeguard not only your protection but that of your possessions, as well.”
“I don’t believe Brother would think much of that promise,” Chris said, looking slightly squidgy from almost an hour’s worth of imbibing a very good year of champagne.
“No, of course not,” the owner said.
I leaned into Iain.“Do you know that man’s name?”
“Who?”He looked around the room.“The manager?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”Iain asked me.
“I need it for my inner narrative,” I answered, then stroked his thigh again.
He sat up straighter, his voice dropping to a whisper.“Mace Abbot, and if you continue that, you risk shocking not only your brother’s family, but Clara, as well, when I scoop you up and haul you upstairs to lick every inch of you.”
I thought about it, I really did, but in the end I reminded myself this was neither the time nor place.Besides, we had pressing matters still to discuss.
At least life didn’t look so problematic as it had a day before.
“Then, of course, Gerard double-booked the ghost hunters—burglars, that is—and it seemed as if everything was going to come to grief.Thankfully, it’s all good now.”Mace spread a sunny smile over the company.“And now that Mr.Williams is off to his important meeting in time, we can focus on providing you the best wedding experience.Can I get anything for anyone?”
“Answers, please,” Emily said, and several others nodded.
“I could go for a round of that, as well,” Amy said.“We’re a bit confused as to what happened to Emily’s dad.”
“Iain knows,” I told her.“He’s got a cat-who-ate-the-cream sort of air about him, and I just bet that means that Brother talked on the way to the train station.”
Iain smiled at me, and took my hand in his, his fingers rubbing over my knuckles in a way that made my belly go warm and happy.His voice went full Scottish when he said, “Ye know me so well, lass.”
“Dish,” I said, allowing him to see in my eyes all the wicked things I wanted to do to him when we were alone.
His lips twitched in response, but he managed to get himself under control.
“Evidently your brother went in search of a drink after we all got back from the pub,” Iain said, leaning back with obvious enjoyment.I might be the author in the family, but Iain loved the opportunity to flex his oral-storytelling muscles.“It was a bit stuffy in his room, so he went to look for something to cool him down.You remember how he was telling everyone he was with the CID?The ghost hunters heard that, and believed it.He said they were wandering the hall, and when he appeared, he demanded to know what they were doing.They hit him over the head with something, and he blacked out.”
“It’s a brass statue of a lurcher,” Mace said, popping back into the room to remove an empty chafing dish.“It sits on the upper-landing window.We bought it in the cutest little antique shop in Ireland.It’s a bit worse for wear, but Gerard says it should come back with polish.”
“Ireland,” Chris said with a thoughtful look.“They had early Celts, too, didn’t they?Hmm.”
“But what did they expect to do with Brother?”Emily asked.She was leaning hard into Fang, who really was quite the sight with two black eyes and a red, swollen nose that defied the ice Mace provided.“I don’t understand their plan.What was their goal in hiding him away?”
“According to Superintendent Tole, they tied him up and stuck him in the furthest attic, and planned to leave him there until they got safely out of the area,” Mace said, fussing with the buffet, even though we’d pretty much decimated it the second the police left.It was clear he wanted to remain.“The superintendent decided that your wedding would provide them with the perfect time to search their lodgings, and when they found nothing, they returned here to investigate what they had been up to in our attics.Only fancy, they were responsible for hotel thefts up and down the west coast, and they were caught here in our little place!”
He was clearly thrilled by the events, and although I knew Brother wouldn’t view it in the same light, in the end, things seemed to have worked out.
