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“Why don’t you plan to come back here later?” Marlowe said. “We’d love to have you stay with us until we get everything sorted out.”
“Thank you, but it really is important to me to find a job. I did some looking yesterday and I’d like to do a bit more this afternoon.”
“Look for the job and then come back. Please,” Marlowe added.
“Okay.” Nova’s eyes widened. “We also need to set up a DNA test like we discussed.”
DNA test?
Nikolas kept his focus on her. “What test is this?”
“The DNA test I told Marlowe I wanted to take. The one that will prove if I’m Ace Colton’s daughter or not. The one that will make sure we’re all making the right decisions here.”
Everyone except him.
Shame filled him.
Nikolas made it a point to be thoughtful and measured and even-tempered in his work. So how was it that in a wild blaze of confusion, he could so easily throw all that away when it came to Nova Ellis?
“We still have Ace’s DNA. From the test that was done between him and my father,” Marlowe said. “It would be easy enough to take Nova over to the lab and test against the same sample.”
“You have a DNA sample?” Nova asked, her attention shifting back to Marlowe. “Why? I know there’s been gossip about Ace but did you really believe it?”
“She doesn’t know?”
Nikolas knew Marlowe’s question was directed at him. And suddenly, he had to admit that Nova Ellis hadn’t been the only one keeping secrets.
“I’m handling a case for Selina. I didn’t think it was appropriate to say anything about the paternity test.”
Marlowe’s gaze was direct and pointed, her attention fully on him, even as she kept her seat like a sentinel beside Nova. “What does Selina have to do with any of this?”
“She hired me to find your brother.”
“Under whose auspices? And for what reasons?”
Marlowe’s edges may have softened with her engagement and the birth of her son, but the woman was still a highly competent business professional. And it was that boardroom badass who faced him down now.
“She claimed it was for the good of Colton Oil.” Nikolas knew he had to navigate this carefully. “She said that as PR director of the company, she needed to understand what you were dealing with.”
“And you believe her?”
“I’m not saying Ace is guilty and I told her as much. I’m not looking for guilt. I’m looking for the truth.”
“And it didn’t strike you as odd that my father’s ex-wife is the one looking for the dirt?”
“I took the case and I’m willing to see it through. Ace’s guilt or lack of it is irrelevant.”
Nikolas might have a lot to apologize for, but he wasn’t going to apologize for doing his work. He’d had one of Mustang Valley’s best-respected professionals in his office, asking him to work a case. Whether he thought the subject was innocent or guilty had no bearing.
He would do his job.
“Nikolas? What is this about?”
Nova had been quiet up until now, leaving the inquiring to Marlowe. But she obviously had more than a few questions of her own.
“I know you said you had taken the case. You were very up-front about that. But what does that have to do with my father’s DNA? And why were Payne and Ace given a DNA test? I thought all this business was nothing but malicious gossip.”
At Marlowe’s nod, Nikolas laid it out. “It’s not gossip. Or maybe a better way to say it is that it is fact that has been gleefully repeated.”
