Page 120 of The Scandal You Started
“You did it,” she muttered, her voice thick with amazement.
“I would not have without you,” he whispered back.
Someone shook a whole load of bottles of fizzy drinks inside her, and they all expanded so full of bubbling air, she felt like she would shoot off with them. Right into Dominic’s arms.
But Cassie made them both jump when she sang his name loudly.
“You are a star, young man,” she said, beaming. “Gosh, I could hug you right now. I won’t! That would be inappropriate, butgosh, do we owe you as a team for saving us from another day of blindly running around in circles.”
Dominic grinned and shook his head. “Not at all. It was a collective effort.”
“Oh, shush.” Cassie waved her hands around, dismissing his modesty. “Name your price right now. I’m in such a good mood I might even be able to convince the team to let you take one of these letters home with you, or—oh, wait.” Her brows shot up in a dinging moment as she glanced at Rayna. “The articles. You can show him what you were looking into, and we can see if there’s anything else the library or archives might have for him.”
Blotchy, molten heat fired through Rayna as she gaped at the older woman the way a child who’d been publicly outed by a parent would.
Cassie! What the fuck?
She was caught by Dominic’s curious stare, and fuck, her face stung like her skin had been ripped off. She swiftly directed her gaze away.
“Articles on what?” he asked.
“Well, unlike Rayna,” Cassie explained, “you’re a temporary agent who doesn’t publish research, so we probably won’t work with you again. That’s just kind of how Two Worlds works, as I’m sure you were made aware. So we were putting together a little parting gift for you. Just a little something in your personal area of interest. But we can add to it if we’ve found what you were looking for.”
Cassie’s expression danced with mischief. “We’ll let Rayna here show you later, seeing as shepersonallyworked so hard to find it.”
Hania and Matt wore the same grinning look of knowing a big, juicy secret, and realisation peeled off another layer of Rayna’s skin.
Fuck.They knew. They knew something was going on between her and Dominic.
Except her heart battered not in concern, but with jittery nerves.
Gosh, she hoped Dominic liked it, because she’d broken so many POTeM rules for him trying to find it.
Again.
Dominic
Rayna was nervous.
Dominic had never witnessed her so. It was odd and endearing.
He was curious to find out what this so-called gift was that was making her blush whenever he caught her gaze.
After a few more hours of discovering the secrets Lord Ian and Mr Farringdon had been hiding within their missives, he finally left the research room with Rayna to find out.
She led him into the museum library, a private space split into two big areas connected by a short corridor, full of dark shelves and bound books placed between newer ones. Attached to thesecond area was a small, closed room with a hefty table and chairs.
Rayna collected a book from the old, grey-haired man who’d been tidying one of the shelves before they disturbed him. Then Dominic followed her into the last room and closed the door behind them. The yellow lights automatically switched on above them.
Without a word, she pulled out one of the eight wooden chairs to make space for them to stand at the edge of the square table and placed the book down. Then she glared up at him with rosy cheeks and a stubborn mouth as if he’d made her do something she didn’t want to do.
An adoring smile quirked his lips. “Why are we here, my love?” he said, keeping his voice quiet even though they were alone. It was unlikely the old man would hear them.
She sighed and straightened. “Do you remember when we first started the case study report, you asked if I knew about your history, and I said only what I’d been told, but even then, I wasn’t allowed to tell you anything?”
“Yes. You also said there was nothing you could do to stop me if I chose to do so by myself.”
“Did you?”
