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The king laughed at that. Ray didn’t like it. For a lot of reasons. He and T were definitely not ‘boring sticks in the mud,’ but more importantly a picture was revealed to him he hadn’t thought about previously. Macey, surrounded by ‘the most impressive security and protection operatives in the world,’ buff, talented, smart, brave warriors … hitting on her and taking her out and … kissing her?
“I need to follow T,” he murmured, hurrying up the stairs.
Ray should be the only man kissing Macey, but he had no idea how to proceed with this beautiful woman. He was stirred up, confused, and longed to break his promise to himself to not pursue her. With his mum’s murder and the threats to T hanging over his head, he couldn’t be a mess himself, or he’d mess everything up worse than it was already.
CHAPTERNINE
Macey and Ray changed their clothes, escorted T to the king’s office, and she took her laptop to his office to share the information her AI models had generated on all the people they’d discussed yesterday. It was a long, long list.
They worked quietly through the names and files, taking a break to eat lunch with the king, Kiera, and Tristan and take Kiera on a walk around the gardens below the castle before getting back to work.
Macey was all stirred up with Ray right here and the memory of another incredible kiss on her lips and mind. She loved that he and Tristan had switched places for the press conference and looked forward to going to the military training center tomorrow. Since they’d come to his office, Ray was being really cautious around her. He seemed to avoid touching her and for the most part even looking at her.
Ray had to focus on some emails and border control issues, so she mostly worked alone on her laptop. By midafternoon, she’d gone through almost all the names and had found nothing out of the ordinary except a few red flags or points of interest. She tried to think like Hercule Poirot.
Standing, Ray stretched. He caught her staring and asked, “Do you want to talk through any of the names?”
“Yes.” She stood and stretched as well, and now he was the one staring. “Lieutenant General Cordon.”
“You found something on Philippe?” His brow squiggled.
“No, but you have to admit he gets a large promotion if you’re promoted to crown prince.”
“True, and he’s inside the castle. But he’d have no reason to hurt my mum and I really don’t think …”
“I don’t either.” She paced to the window and then spun to face him. “Lisa.”
“Nanny Lisa?”
“Have you seen the way she looks at Tristan?”
He raised his shoulders. “I think she wants him to date her, not to kill him. But he did reject her a couple years ago. Told her she was too young.”
“A woman scorned.”
“I guess she could be behind the notes, but her background is squeaky clean. She adores Kiera, and she’s usually at the castle, not in the village.”
Macey paced a bit, enjoying moving and talking to him. “Her boyfriend … the kid who keeps trying to climb up to the castle.”
“Jobe. Kind of an idiot, but I think he’s just a hormonal teenager. I’ll have my men keep an eye on him though.”
“Okay. Chad.”
He reared back and then folded his arms across his chest. “You found something on Chad?”
“No, but he’s so … smooth, too-charming, with almost a villain accent.”
He laughed at that and then passed a hand over his face. “I won’t tell him that.”
“Thanks.” She smiled, then sighed. “There really isn’t much to go on.” She needed to ask about a couple of his brothers, but she was putting it off, had been since she’d come. So she went with the other interesting tidbit. “Did you know your mom and Prime Minister Shule dated in college?”
“How did your analysis find that?” he asked, looking more amused than impressed.
“It finds everything.” She shrugged.
“I’ve heard that story before. That’s how Henry met Leslie. She and my mum were roommates. Do you think it means anything?”
“Do you?” she asked. She had no idea, but it was a point of interest, at least.
