“I thought it would be a handy memento. After all, it was your first proper case.”
I could see Josh staring at Max out of the corner of his eye. I didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what Josh was thinking. Max had thought up some flimsy assed excuse to come here. But Josh didn’t say a word.
I looked down at the ticket. I considered it.
I guess it was a memento, wasn’t it?
My first proper case. What’s more, a symbol of the good I’d done today. I’d saved a man’s life, for heaven’s sake. I’d also saved my partner.
I shrugged and smiled, this time genuinely. “Thank you,” I said as I carefully placed the ticket in my pocket. Then I looked over at Josh. “Should we invite the owner of the house in, then?” I emphasized the word owner.
Max brought his hands up. “This isn’t a house inspection. That being said, I’m sure,” he stared down at the cloisonné vase that had been bumped onto its side on the hall table, “that all my possessions are precisely where I left them.”
Josh blanched. He sidled over to the table, grabbed up his phone as if he were checking his messages, then straightened the vase at the same time. “No trouble here. I’m having to teach Beth the ropes, though. She is a terrible housemate.”
“Perhaps she would be better if she were allowed to actually use the house. It seems… a little unfair for her only to be able to use three rooms. After all, you’re both my tenants,” Max said, emphasizing the word tenants.
Josh looked rumbled. In fact, his expression looked the same as when Susan had threatened him to be polite it to me.
Josh smiled awkwardly. “That was just a little bit of banter.”
“You mean you’re not serious anymore? I can go into your office and do your paperwork? I can even go into that sitting room you’re so protective over?” It was meant as a light joke.
But on the mention of the sitting room, both Josh and Max stiffened a little.
“Well, I’m sure there are certain rooms that Josh can keep off limits if they are private to him, but I don’t see any problem with you using the rest of the house. Do you?” Max asked Josh directly.
Josh had lost. He shrugged. “Of course not. Like I said, just a little light banter. I’m trying to keep things real for Bethany here. She had a bit of a shock today, so I thought I’d distract her.”
Weak. That was a damn weak excuse, and everybody knew it.
“I’m not sure that’s a viable plan,” Max said politely. “Plus,” he slipped his gaze toward me, “she doesn’t look shocked to me. She handled that perfectly.”
On the term perfectly, my stomach tingled with nerves. I wanted to bring up a hand and pat my belly, but I settled for biting my lip instead. “Thank you,” I said.
“Okay then,” Josh said through a lightly clenched jaw. “We’ve both got things to do. So if this isn’t a house inspection—” Josh gestured down the hallway.
“Like I said, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’m simply returning lost property. Plus, there’s something I have to discuss with Beth.” Max looked at Josh pointedly.
For a flicker of a second, Josh looked back defiantly. But the defiance didn’t last.
He shrugged, turned, and walked toward the kitchen. “I’ll leave you two alone.” His tone was stiff.
Max didn’t say anything as he took a step back until he was standing just below me. He looked up, his hands in his vest pockets. “It was quite a day.”
“… Yeah,” I managed. As insightful comments went, it was pretty much entirely pathetic.
He looked at his feet, then back to me. And once he met my gaze once more, his expression changed.
“I have one last favor to ask, Bethany,” Max said, his hands still in his pockets. He always looked like the perfect gentleman. Or at least he did now I knew he wasn’t a bad guy.
“What is it?” I asked easily.
“I want you to find somebody for me.”
I brought up a hand and patted my hair. I bit my lip nervously, too. “I’m not allowed to be subcontracted to you, right? I haven’t brushed up that much on the bylaws—”
“Correct, you cannot be subcontracted to me. But if you choose to do this… for free, then that wouldn’t be a violation of the laws.”
I pressed my lips together. Was this Max changing his colors, just as Josh had always foreshadowed would happen? Perhaps Max hadn’t helped me save the day for free, after all. Perhaps he’d always been angling toward this.
Maybe he could see the sudden suspicion in my eyes, because he brought up a hand and pressed his fingers wide in a stopping motion. “This is not a demand. It’s a simple request. And I don’t ask for it because I helped you. Only choose to do this… if you wish to.”
He mollified me. There was sincerity in his tone, and his gaze, as always, was perfectly direct. My shoulders dropped. “What is it?”
“Miss Bethany Samson,” he said, and for the first time since I’d met Maximus C. Knights, his voice had lost its gusto. Its directness. Its confidence. It wavered, and even though it was slight, it was still noticeable.
I frowned. My stomach kicked in anticipation – though I had no idea what it was in anticipation of.
“I need you to find your husband,” he finally pushed his words out.
I don’t know what I’d been expecting. Something big. Something to justify the way he was looking at me.
This?
My brow scrunched down. I brought a hand up, tried to neaten my hair, and plain gave up. “I don’t have a husband. You could’ve just asked—” I began.
He cleared his throat. “Not yet. But you will. And I need to find out who that man is sooner rather than later.”
I looked at him. My mouth was agape. I was completely and utterly surprised. “What?” My voice shook. “Look, I think there’s been some kind of mistake. I don’t even have a boyfriend.”
Max smiled. It was the kind of smile that was little more than two lips curling. The kind of smile that it would take a crack team of psychologists to figure out what it meant. “I’m a finder too, Bethany. And my powers are… a little more developed than yours.”
“So what are you saying?” My tone went up and down, sounding like a kazoo. Yours would too. I’d never been that lucky in love – okay, that was an understatement. I’d always been exceedingly unlucky in love. My relationships were lucky to last more than several months. And I hadn’t dated anyone for about two years. Marriage was the very last thing on my mind.
But here was a finder standing on my doorstep – okay, his doorstep – and telling me that soon enough I would be married.
I didn’t know what to say. So my mouth just hung open as if I was a fish that had been pulled onto the pier.
“This may be a little too much for you to take in. But I’ll repeat my request once more. I need you to find your husband, Bethany. Sooner rather than later. Because he’s a man I’m going to have to meet.” Max did it again – he shoved a hand into his breast pocket, pulled out his pocket watch, checked it methodically, and placed it back in his pocket. Then? He nodded at me. “Good day.” He turned and walked away.
I stared at him. I didn’t shift until he was out of sight.
I turned around, closed the door, leaned against it, and wondered what the hell had just happened. More to the point – what the hell was going to happen next. Me? Marriage material? I doubted it. Max must be wrong.
But what if he wasn’t wrong?
“Would you hurry up? You can’t still be talking to Max. He’s a busy man. We’ve got another case already,” Josh snapped from the kitchen.
“I thought you were meant to be nice to me from now on?” I snapped back at Josh, the only thing that could tear my mind from what Max had just promised. “You must already know that Max’s left the house, otherwise you wouldn’t dare talk to me like that.”
There was a significant pause. “Yes, I’m well aware that Max has left the house. Now come the hell along – like I said, we’ve go
t work to do.”
“I could rush out onto the street and beg him to come back if you don’t behave.” I walked into the kitchen.
Josh was sitting at the table, and he turned around in his chair to snarl at me. “You wouldn’t do that. You’re more terrified of him than I am. Now get to work.”
I pressed my lips together, and I thought. Was I more terrified of Max than Josh was?
Yes and no.
I didn’t know anymore. But soon, I imagined, I would find out.
The end of Forgotten Destiny Book One. Forgotten Destiny Book Two is currently available.
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