“Why would I mind?” When she ducks her head forward, I tease, “Unless you want to join the police. There are some lines I can’t let you cross.”
“Oh, I—” Her eyes open wide, then she wrinkles her nose. “Funny.”
“What sort of work do you want to do?”
“Maybe a shop or something related to accounts. I’m not sure. I’m good with numbers.”
“You should talk with my accountant, Russell. He could probably use someone to help monitor the investments. A position opened recently.”
Best not to tell her how that happened. Besides, if she works there, I’ll send one of our new guards to keep her safe so there won’t be a recurrence. Russell would be happy to have her on board just for that perk. He’s been growing increasingly nervous lately.
“In your business?”
“Hm?” A long ringlet falls out of her ponytail, and I reach out to tuck it back behind her ear.
“You don’t mind being involved in your business? It’s just… that’s not something I’ve seen before.”
“The finance stuff isn’t really the business. That’s just taking care of my ill-gotten gains. Why? Did you want to be involved?” My mind ticks through a list of things she shouldn’t be exposed to, can’t be exposed to, and would make me crawl over broken glass before I’d expose her to.
Surprisingly, that still leaves a lot of wriggle room. There are always jobs that need doing. Work expands to fill any gap you let it.
“If that’s what you want.” Crimson seems more confused than ever. Not precisely the point I was hoping to reach today.
“Think about it and let me know,” Sebastian says. He programs his number into her phone before he leaves, so she can easily reach him.
“Were you serious?” she asks the moment he’s gone. When I nod, she adds, “This really isn’t the way things are done back home.”
“Nor here but who cares what other people do? We can find our own path through life easily enough and I don’t think the organisation is going to collapse just because you take a job.”
For a moment, it looks like she wants to argue, then she relaxes. “Fine. Drag me kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century, why don’t you?”
Just in case she thought that applied across the board, the next caller is the jeweller.
The tray he displays for our first options seems to upset Crimson’s new equilibrium. “You know, when I returned your mother’s ring, it wasn’t a complaint about the stone.”
“Yeah, I figured that out all by myself. I still want to buy you something more fitting.” Plus, my mother doesn’t know I tried to repurpose her favourite ring. “Doesn’t something here take your fancy?”
The man with the offerings doesn’t seem offended at her reticence, instead pulling a large pink stone surrounded by diamonds from the selection. “Might I suggest this one. They are one of the rarer colours of stone and this one is sourced from Australia.”
She slides it onto her opposite finger. “It’s very pretty.” Something her stricken face doesn’t support.
“It’s meant to be a present,” I say, and could bite my tongue because the next moment her expression takes a turn for the worse. Now she looks actively afraid of something. Possibly disappointing me.
Personally, I don’t mind if she doesn’t want one. I could staff my home for years on what some of these cost.
Rather than press her, I drag Crimson’s chair closer to mine so I can take her hand. “You know, when Thaddius courted my mother, he wouldn’t leave her alone. Followed her to work, to shopping, even tagged along on dates where he had to sit by himself, watching her with other guys.”
She screws up her face, and it takes a second longer for her to process the information. Then, “Great. Stalking runs in the family, does it?”
“There was a time he almost got her. She went with her friends to a fair that was only in town for three nights. Wanted to ride on the Ferris Wheel but it either broke or the guy who ran it skipped work or got drunk, so it wasn’t operating. My dad bought out the entire fair. Kept it going for a day longer so he could take her along and get her the ride she wanted. Fifty grand to take a ride worth a dollar. She said that kissing him at the top of the wheel made her feel like a queen. Like all she had to do was ask, and he’d conquer kingdoms for her.”
She rubs her nose with her free hand, relaxing her body so it curves towards me. “Then what happened?”
“Then she got off the ride and remembered all the reasons she didn’t want to marry him.”
Crimson breaks into a low chuckle. “That’s an expensive way to be friendzoned.”
“He did something similar with my stepmother Azalea. But quicker in their relationship so she didn’t get the chance to see what he was really like.” I tap the side of my head and wink at her. “Learned from his mistakes. It’s about the only time he ever did.”
