Love still wasn’t for me, regardless of what my wolf thought. But there was definitely one way to get what we all wanted — the next stage of my business for me, help with Jo’s business for her, and a way to quiet my wolf.
I cracked some eggs into a bowl, focused wholly on my task as I spoke with a casualness that belied my words. “Do you think we should get married?” I asked.
29
JO
One moment I was watching Patrick beat eggs into submission. The next, the word “married” appeared to have fallen out of his mouth.
Just like that.
Like it didn’t matter. Like he was making an inquiry about the weather.
What the hell?
No man ever asked a woman to marry him by essentially sayinghey, how about…?Where was the romance? The feeling? Did he even want to marry me, or was he just spit-balling new ideas to keep me out of danger or ways to get to Gold Moon?
I struck that last one off the list. Nothing he’d done recently had been to get anywhere near my company, so it seemed wrong of me to suspect him of that now.
“I beg your pardon?” It was an oddly formal response, but perhaps we were both saying peculiar things. Or maybe I still had water in my ears. “After the day I’ve had, did you really just make marriage sound like running out to grab a coffee?”
He looked up, but didn’t say anything immediately.
I tried again. “Would you like to explain what you’re thinking?” Maybe I sounded a little bit annoyed, but…really?
Patrick looked at me, his hand suddenly still, the kitchen quiet. We stared at each other silently for a few seconds.
Then those seconds stretched, and eventually he shook his head. His chuckle was awkward, but then he spoke. “You know what, forget I said that. It’s a crazy idea.” He shook his head and laughed again, the sound tight. “Completely crazy. And you’re right. It’s been one hell of a day all round.”
“But what did you mean?” Surely, he couldn’t just casually mention marriage, then equally as casually tell me to forget it?
Yes, it was a crazy idea, but what was his thought process around that? Why had he mentioned it in the first place?
“Is marriage even a consideration for us?” My heart leapt as I spoke the words, but I hadn’t even thought of that before. I didn’t know if I’d want it. I didn’t know if Ididn’twant it.
It wasn’t fair of him to float the idea, then withdraw it without explaining himself. I needed more information.
But he returned to chopping vegetables for the omelet, the quick tapping of the knife against the board forming a rapid percussion before he spoke again.
“So, some of the stuff Brody has been looking into has thrown up some names that may or may not be linked to Gold Moon in your records.” He glanced at me, and very clearly, the subject of marriage was over. Pursuing it further wouldn’t gain me anything but frustration.
Patrick was a man who liked control. I knew that. And he only did the things he wanted, which included only talking about the things he chose to.
He’d segued very awkwardly into something completely different, but he seemed committed to his change of subject now, and it would be useless to try to backtrack.
I squashed down my frustration. I’d choose my moment to revisit the subject. It would be easier once I’d had a chance to ponder what to say.
“When you’re going through records, keep an eye out for any links to the following names: Bane’s Garden, Bane’s Night, and Owen Vulcan.” He chopped a little harder.
I shook my head. While I still wanted him to explain what he’d meant with the random marriage idea, he’d distracted me with something else — and those names didn’t sound even remotely familiar.
“They aren’t names I remember seeing.” And Wes, Charmaine, and I really had gone backwards and forwards and over so much of the paperwork as we sorted it, then narrowed it down for additional searches and cross-referencing. It made me want to dig back into the records to see if I’d read them and not picked up on their importance.
But every small detail had been cataloged or noted as missing if we couldn’t find a trace of attached paperwork. And the nameBanewould have stood out, surely? If nothing else, the tenuous link to wolfsbane would have amused me. It sounded like something I needed to stay away from.
“Well,” he said, glancing at me briefly, then returned his focus to the egg mixture in the frying pan in front of him. “Maybe that’s good. Except now we’re back to waiting for him to make his move rather than having something concrete to follow up on.”
“Why are those names important?” I snagged a piece of chopped bell pepper and chewed while I waited for his reply.