Page 12 of Furever Loyal
He’d been at her place of work for nearly an hour, waiting for her to show up. Turned out she didn’t start all that early and he’d made the trip for nothing, wasting some of his day, and more of the precious little time his Queen had given him. Not that he blamed her. Word would get out sooner or later, and she would be forced to call him in for questioning, at a minimum.
“What do you want?”
She was out of the car now, the door still open. The small parking lot was right up tight against the building, leaving only twenty feet or so between the two.
“What do you think?” he said, asking the rhetorical question, then answering it himself. “I’m here to clear my damn name, and you’re going to help me like Kaelyn ordered you to.”
Haley shook her head. “I’m not some sort of servant. Nobody orders me around, got it?”
He dipped his head in her direction, acknowledging the truth of that. “Bad wording.”
But you’re going to help me anyway, or she’s going to fire your ass. You know it. I know it. Now stop being an obstinate bitch.
That was what he let his face tell her despite what he’d said.
Haley’s thin eyebrows came together over her eyes as she shot a look back at him. It said the same thing, except she used some other words to describe him, ones that weren’t very polite. It was clear Haley didn’t believe a word he was saying.
That was what fired him up more than anything, and why he’d sent her home the day before. Kincaid wanted her to believe him, to know that hewasinnocent. It bothered him that she wouldn’t, and he didn’t know why. It wasn’t like he cared. She was the one who had accused him in the first place, without even asking him about it.
Bitch.
“I’m not a traitor to my House,” he called, breaking the silence that had been lingering on between the two of them.
“You people are soweird,” she said, sounding exasperated. “You work at a company. Why do you talk about it like that? House. Queen. Traitor. She’s the President, you’re an employee. You stole from the company. I don’t know why she’s letting you look into it, but we should be getting thepolice. They handle these things. Not accountants.”
As much as she might not want to be there, Kincaid couldn’t help but admire her fire. She fought to obey the rules with as much strength as most did to break them. It was…odd, but respectable at the same time.
“Maybe,” he said. “But the police aren’t going to be involved. So why don’t we go inside so you can stop shivering, and you can give me the information I want. You know, workwithme, like you’re supposed to be doing.”
“Are you alone?”
He blinked. That wasn’t the response he’d expected. Why would she be asking that? Who else would he bring? It wasn’t like Kaelyn was going to be accompanying them or anything. The Queen had assigned them to work together to figure things out, and that was what he was doing. Why was she…
Suddenly, he got it. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he growled, insulted. “You’re safe with me.” He didn’t want her scared of him, but that’s exactly what she was, he realized, looking at the situation from her side.
He’d been waiting for her outside of her work, where she was alone, by herself. Little tiny five-foot-four Haley, and him. She didn’t strike him as being particularly weak, but obviously, there was no contest between the two of them if it came down to it. Kincaid felt guilty.
“I promise,” he added, spreading his hands. “I’m sorry for waiting for you like this. I wasn’t really thinking about how it would appear from your point of view.”
Haley chewed on his words. “That’s not a surprise. Though this time, I think I do believe you. And thatisone.”
Kincaid rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything else. Haley had closed the door and was grabbing her bag from the back. The last thing he wanted to do was to say something that would damage the fragile truce between them. He needed her to work with him. For now, at least.
“Why didn’t you call me?” she asked, unlocking the door and walking inside without waiting for him. She punched in a code to disable the alarm and then they went to the elevator, where she punched the button for the top floor.
“I don’t have it.” He smiled, mostly to himself. “You’re not the only one who had no idea who the other was before yesterday, you know.”
Haley had the good grace to look sheepish, but that was the end of it.
“What more do you want from me?” she asked as they emerged into the offices for her company.
“I want the name.”
“What?”
“Of the company or person that deposited the money into my account. The name. You can look that much up, right?”
“I suppose,” she said. “What good will that do?”
