Page 28 of Seaside Cowboy's Marriage of Convenience

Mrs. Lawrence picked up the dinner fork. “Waste of silver if you ask me. Which takes forever to polish, by the way.”

“It’s platinum.” Kennedy covered her mouth as soon as she blurted out the words. Did she have to saythat? Her throat went dry, and she drank her sparkling water.

“You gotta be kidding me.” Mrs. Lawrence threw her arms up in the air.

Kennedy’s uncle shrugged as he forked his salad. “Why doesn’t one just eat with their hands? After cooking over a fire?”

“I agree. Food eaten with one’s hand tastes the best. As does food cooked over an open fire.” Mrs. Lawrence cut off some lamb and forked it with such force it jumped from her plate. Somehow, it projected into the air and hit Uncle in the eye.

Austin and Kennedy gasped at the same time. Marina’s lips moved as if she were trying to contain laughter, and then she half snorted, half hiccupped.

Uncle just wiped his eye with a napkin. “Well, I’ve seen many things in my life. But never before have I seen a lamb fly.”

“I guess there’s a first time for everything. My apologies.” Undisturbed, Mrs. Lawrence jabbed more lamb, but this time with more success. “But really, far better than seeing a lambfly, you should try my lambfries.”

A bemused smile touched Uncle’s lips, an expression Kennedy had rarely seen. “Please don’t apologize. I believe this makes the most entertaining lunch I’ve ever attended.”

Kennedy breathed easier, and everyone resumed their lunch.

I love you, Uncle.

“That’s because you haven’t been at our meals yet,” Mrs. Lawrence said modestly. “Especially when the entire family gathers. Including the parrot and dogs.” She paused. “But excluding the cattle and lambs.”

Marina chuckled and tried to cover it with a hurried sip.

“I’m glad you clarified,” Uncle said.

Okay, Kennedy could understand where Austin got some of his goofiness. She hid a smile behind her crystal goblet and sent him an encouraging glance. Then she winced. She was trying to merge two worlds that wouldn’t be easy to merge. Maybe it wasn’t fair to him. Then Mrs. Lawrence coughed over her salad.

Austin jumped and patted her on the back. “Mom, are you okay?”

“Yes. What is in this thing?” She hurried to drink her water. “In the salad, I mean.”

Uncle started naming ingredients.

When he made it to artichoke, Mrs. Lawrence interrupted him, “Thechokepart is right.”

Kennedy couldn’t help herself. She snorted. Her uncle was right. It was one of the most entertaining meals she’d ever been to, as well, and she couldn’t wait to join more dinners with the Lawrence family. They must have a blast. Dinners with her parents had been a quiet affair where nobody had seemed to talk or pay attention to one another. Kennedy had felt invisible and more like a decoration than a child who was allowed to move and dared to remind anyone about her existence.

“Any progress in the investigation?” Her uncle’s voice suggested he still didn’t like her unwillingness to let him participate.

But she wasn’t a little girl. She couldn’t still ask him to jump in to solve her issues. His stepping in to help with the hotels during her vacation was more than enough.

She set down the goblet with sparkling water and straightened in her seat. This was one of Marina’s first cases as a private investigator, and Kennedy’s stomach clenched. Was she putting too much pressure on her friend and now matron of honor? “Marina has done great work on this.”

Marina squared her shoulders, not looking intimidated. Phew. But then, verbal sparring used to be part of her job. “The police haven’t determined yet who cut the brakes. But here’s what I found so far. Kennedy’s assistant, Mason, has a girlfriend whose somewhat violent ex-boyfriend threatened him—that is, Mason—before. They even fought because the ex blamed Mason for the breakup.”

“And not his own violent tendencies?” Austin exhaled fast. He even placed his platinum—Uncle didn’t think silver was classy enough—fork back. “Wow.”

Her heart warmed. But that was another difference between them. They saw people differently. He saw them as kind human beings and pet lovers because that was mostly who he’d dealt with. She saw them as something that could potentially mean her harm if she allowed them too close.

“So...” Uncle’s shoulders relaxed. “There’s a possibility he cut the brakes as a means of retaliation?”

The pressure on Kennedy’s diaphragm eased up before she chastised herself over her relief that she might not be the one targeted. She forked vegetables from the Greek salad. Including artichoke. She’d offer Mason whatever help he needed. The lanky young man was efficient and hardworking while remaining humble. He’d be a manager one day, partly because she’d be the one to promote him.

Marina nodded. “It might not be connected to our Kennedy. The police questioned the guy, but of course, he denied everything.”

“Of course, he did,” Kennedy echoed, then sipped some sparkling water while rearranging this development in her head. “What does the girlfriend say?”

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