He cleared his throat. “My grandfather has care of our family vault. Guarding our combined treasures is the right of the eldest in the clan. I will inform him of the incident.”
“You’re going to tell yourgrandfatherthat someone stole your family heirlooms on his watch?”
“I know.” He gave a grim smile. “Wish me luck?”
“You’ll need it.” Her heart swooped in her chest. None of their conversations when she worked with Corin had been like this. But it seemed so natural not to hide her thoughts from him. To talk back. Toteasehim.
She didn’t have to make a good impression anymore. So she wasn’t. That had to be it.
“Meanwhile, on the assumption there may be a mole in my organization…” A muscle under his eye twitched. “I’ll have my cousins look in to it.”
“TheDans?” she burst out.
Corin’s eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?”
Oh. She’d never called them that in front of him, had she? “Your cousins. Aedan, Braedan, and Caedan. The Dans.”
“The—dear god. No one in the family even dares to mention my aunt and uncle’s ridiculous naming scheme, let alone make a joke of it.” Something in his expression made her heart leap. “And you don’t think they’re the right people for the job?”
Great. Now she’d insulted his family.In for a penny, in for a pound, she thought. “Maybe if the job was warming the seats at a bar, or lying about on a beach. Or being your back-up band as you chase me across the country. But sneaking around and finding out who’s selling your secrets to the enemy? No.”
“Then I had better arrange for a trusted advisor to do the actual investigating while theDanslumber around.”
“Mm, see,trusted advisorsounds to me likeexactlythe person who ends up betraying you. You might as well call them thegrand vizierand be done with it.”
His eyes glittered. “In that case, perhaps it’s better to secretly tell each of my clan mates about the investigation separately and have them all work to root out the traitor while hiding their own secrets. The Dans are not my only cousins. Then there are aunts and uncles, distant hangers-on…”
She knew his family was as massive as hers was small, but he kept his home life and his work so separate that she’d never met most of them. The same way his grandfather had.
All those relatives, and he was in charge of corralling them all. If the others were anything like the Dans?
“Sounds exhausting.”
The hint of amusement vanished. “Yes,” he said. “Exactly.”
What was that about?Maya sipped her water. Not her business, that’s what it was about.
Even if that little back-and-forth had been the most comfortable she’d felt in conversation with Corin since … sinceever.
“And that’s easier than you going and heading the investigation instead? Why would you stay here?”
He shot her an odd look.
I shouldn’t have asked him that. I really shouldn’t have.She braced herself for his answer.
“Why, indeed.” He shaped the words with a craftsman’s care, and she shivered as though each syllable was a fold of silk brushing against her skin. “I have already told you I have no intention of leaving this place. Whoever is behind this has insulted my ability to protect the things that are dearest to me. I cannot let it stand.”
So this isn’t about me? It’s just about the treasure.This time, she managed to bite her tongue before she said anything that would only end up in her stupid feelings getting more hurt.
She didn’twantCorin to be here for her. She wanted him to solve this issue with the treasure and get out, so she could get back to—whatever her life was, now.
Free. Wonderful. Entirely lacking in the stress that had hounded her heels her whole adult life.
Lonely.
She shook herself. “I work at the bed-and-breakfast, so I can check you in today if you like.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’ve already made my own arrangements.”
