Page 133 of Bodyguard By Night

Since Rach had a mini-breakdown.

I’d learned that the most put-together people could have a bad time. And Rachel had taken a long time to heal from her extreme burnout. My sister who thought perfection ruled everything had learned to go with the flow. Kinda. The CocaoBus and The Christmas Tree Farm had showed her a new path.

She was still the same Rachel. She was still a little high-strung with a list for everything, but she’d learned to let people in. Especially a certain tall, dark-haired man who could probably buy a state or two, but he only had eyes for Rachel. And they both had learned that slowing down meant more time for each other.

“I won’t let her down.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

I patted his arm. “I know. Mr. Stoic over there and his steady carpenter hands will help me get it done. Promise.”

“I have to take Rachel into the city for her final fitting, and I have a meeting I can’t do via teleconference.”

“Oh, do you need me to go with her?”

Ransom stilled behind Clay, his arms full of heavy marble. I was certain he’d have a coronary if I wanted to go into the city with my sister. But she was only getting married once, dammit.

“She and your mom are making a day of it. Claire’s been so upset that she hasn’t been here for most of the details.”

I was sure Clay preferred to believe that. My mother wasn’t exactly the most demonstrative woman. She understood numbers and spreadsheets and accounting rules, but her creative daughters? Not so much. Our parents had probably given Clay their blessing to marry Rachel solely based on his bank account.

And I did have one hell of a portfolio.

“Okay. I’m glad she’ll get to spend some time with our mom before the big day.”

Ransom hulked the urn over to the head table with only a small grunt. I fought a smile and turned it toward my sister instead as she hurried over with a binder. “There’s log-in details in here for my cloud account where all my files are to reprint the labels.” She hugged it to her chest. “Did they take the gift bags too?”

“Afraid so.”

Rachel shook her head. “Stupid kids. Why would they want them?”

Very good question. Kids wouldn’t. They’d only want the cider and definitely wouldn’t have a way to take a dozen freaking cases of it.

That required planning.

Clay moved beside her and rubbed her back. “I don’t know.”

“And there was nothing on the security videos? I know Beckett set it up when they built the cider mill.”

Clay shook his head. “There was a malfunction. About ten minutes of feed was missing.”

I just bet.I folded my arms, suddenly chilled. “You’re sure it was kids?”

“Nothing else was taken. There is tons of expensive equipment in there. At least if you know what you’re looking for. Manning Cider is starting to get a name in this area. They’re still working on distribution. Not easy to do in New York.”

Ransom came back to where we were. “I’ll check it out when we go over there.”

“Thanks. I’m sure Hayes and Beckett would appreciate it.” Clay curved his hand up and over Rachel’s shoulder, turning her into his chest. “We better get home to pack.”

Rach groaned against his chest. “I forgot about the fitting.”

“Good thing I didn’t.”

She peered up at him, her eyes shining for a different reason this time. “Always taking care of me.”

“Always.” He dropped a kiss on her head and pulled the binder out of her grip. “Time to pass the baton.”

“If you lose that, I’ll cut all your curls off.”

---