Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“That’s the hope,” Valentino said.
Amaranthe curled up in the love seat, giving Geno plenty of room to sit beside her. He set their drinks on the little table close to their chair. “The sun is coming up. I guess it wasn’t as early as it seemed.”
We didn’t get much sleep last night, did we? He couldn’t help giving her a faint grin, remembering the long night of making love to her. Or Amaranthe making love to him.
When her eyes met his, there was a curious melting sensation in the region of his heart. It was pathetic, and he wasn’t about to admit that to anyone—unless it was her. One shouldn’t have such physical reactions just by looking at a woman and seeing love in her eyes—but he did.
We didn’t need to sleep.
Amaranthe smiled at him, and his breath caught in his lungs. She was right. He would give up sleeping every night to spend the time just watching her dance for him, let alone making love to her. Or even just lying next to her watching her sleep.
Emmanuelle and Dario entered the room side by side. It was impossible to see beyond Dario’s mask, but Emmanuelle looked tired. She went straight to her husband and buried her face against his chest. He wrapped his arm around her, his eyes meeting Dario’s over her head.
“We’re good,” Dario confirmed.
“I don’t know why Geno didn’t shoot him.” Emmanuelle’s voice was muffled by Valentino’s shirt. She didn’t lift her head. “Geno usually shoots first and asks questions later.”
“I smelled lavender,” Geno said with a straight face.
Dario gave him the finger when the others burst into laughter.
What does that mean? Amaranthe asked.
Dario bought a beautiful piece of property on the lake in Chicago, a working lavender farm. He didn’t shut it down. He’s kept it running. When he had to give Brielle CPR, she said she remembered smelling lavender. It’s been a running joke ever since.
From across the room, the elevator doors slid open and Beniamino Latini, Geno’s cousin and one of his top investigators, handed Salvatore a folder and stepped back into the elevator without speaking to any of the rest of them.
“I think all the reports are available now,” Geno announced. He wanted to read the one Dario had brought.
Dario was included, along with Valentino as the various reports were distributed. Amaranthe and Geno pored over Brielle’s very detailed dispatch.
Geno found himself looking to Stefano, his gut churning. If what Brielle found was confirmed by even one other report, the implications were damning. He didn’t want to look at Amaranthe. She was an elite rider sent by the International Council to ferret out the reasons behind the murders as well as to find the murderers. Amaranthe was extremely intelligent. If he thought there was a direct correlation between Brielle’s findings eighteen years earlier and the murders now, so would she.
“Geno?” Salvatore asked. “Brielle’s report is very thorough. She doesn’t make mistakes. It looks as if she’s the only one of the investigators who caught that there were two branches of the Boutler family working in Queensland at one time.”
“It was well over a hundred years ago when the two families began working in Queensland,” Stefano murmured, resignation in his voice. “That woman is amazing. She doesn’t miss anything. One branch lived on the coast and one in the interior, but from what Brielle could tell, they were close. Apparently, it took some digging, but she found documentation of the families getting together often when the first shadow riders were assigned there. Theo and Meghan Boutler resided on the coast, and Theo’s brother Hamish with his wife, Felicia, took up residence hundreds of miles away in the interior, but they visited as often as possible. There’s a reason the other investigators didn’t go that far back.”
“Why would they?” Taviano murmured. “They were thinking in terms of eighteen years ago, not a hundred. Brielle is amazing. We’re all very sad we lost her to those underhanded sneaks Val and Dario.”
His comment provided some much-needed levity. Even Emmanuelle smiled.
“We were just faster at seeing how brilliant she is,” Valentino pointed out. “For once, Stefano, you didn’t win.”
“Don’t remind me,” he groused, staring down at the report Brielle had prepared for them.
“Theo and Meghan had five sons and a daughter,” Elie continued with the information aloud. “They trained all their children to be shadow riders. Of the six children, only the oldest, Erik, and the daughter, Rachel, married and had children. Erik had three sets of twins and a daughter. Rachel had two boys and a girl. Interestingly, Rachel left home early. Once she left, she never returned. She ceased shadow riding altogether, married and lived in Italy. Her husband, according to Brielle’s report, knew nothing of shadow riding and had no connection with it whatsoever, nor did any member of his family.”