His answer was a click that ended the conversation.
Banan nodded his head to the window. “My friend is going to take care of your watcher.”
He’d expected Jane to get up and watch, but she stayed where she was. Banan didn’t need to see if Rhys did his job. Rhys was a Dragon King. And Dragon Kings always succeeded.
“Who. Are. You?” Jane asked again, her voice growing angrier with every word.
“Rhys is a friend. He willna harm you.”
“Right,” she said as she jumped to her feet. “Which is why you asked him to come up here.”
“Nay. I asked him up so we could both talk to you.”
She leaned to the side and grabbed her purse. Banan knew she was searching for either the can of Mace or the knife he’d found while searching her purse the day before.
Neither would do much damage to him.
There was a soft knock on the door, and then it opened. Banan glanced behind him to see Rhys fill the doorway.
“Whoever that was willna be bothering you again,” Rhys said to Jane.
There was a pause as Jane pulled both the knife and the pepper spray from her purse. She released the purse and flipped the knife open so that she held a weapon in each hand.
“Ah…Banan, what’s going on?” Rhys asked as he softly closed the door behind him.
Jane lifted the Mace toward Rhys. “Stop right where you are. I didn’t invite you, and I don’t want you up here.”
“I’ve made a muck of things,” Banan answered Rhys.
Rhys grunted and folded his arms over his chest. “Obviously. I gather Jane isna in on whatever Arnold is up to?”
Banan said, “Nay” the same time Jane shouted “What?”
Rhys laughed softly and walked into the kitchen. He leaned over the leftover bowl of pasta and inhaled. “Smells good,” he said as he found a fork and began to eat.
Banan ignored Rhys as he focused on Jane. “We work for Dreagan, Jane. We knew there was some kind of plot to learn more about our—” He stopped because he searched for what to tell her.
“Your whisky?” she offered. “I know it’s good, but is it that good?”
“It’s a moneymaking industry,” Rhys said around a mouthful of food. “People have killed for less.”
Banan watched her digest the information and wondered if she believed them.
“This has to do with Sloan and Elena caving on your land, doesn’t it?” she asked.
Banan leaned against the back of the couch and nodded. “The area of Dreagan land they were on is private. The road going to that part of the mountain is hidden and known only by few. We need to know how Sloan discovered it.”
“Why didn’t you just ask me?” she asked wearily. Jane dropped the weapons and walked around the couch to sit down. “No lies, no snooping around. I’d have told you all that you wanted to know.”
“True.”
She gave a snort. “Oh. I see. I was a suspect. Why? Because I work directly with Richard?”
“Aye,” Rhys said.
Banan always trusted his instinct, and it had been telling him Jane wasn’t a part of the plot. Or was that just his cock leading him around?
Never had he been more unsure, and never had he prayed more to be right.
Because Jane Holden was quickly becoming someone he wanted to be around.
Chapter 6
Jane couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her. A suspect. She turned to glare at Banan. “How could any of you think I was part of it?”
“We knew nothing about you. We had a strong hunch Arnold was involved, but we didna know how deep it went in PureGems.”
“Have you questioned Elena? I mean, I don’t know where she was after Sloan died, but it was a few days before she returned to London.”
The silence that followed her statement made a shiver race down her spine.
“You’ve already spoken with Elena,” Jane said with a nod as it all clicked into place. “And you believe her?”
Rhys picked up the large pasta bowl in his hand and continued to twirl his fork in it as he walked to the edge of the kitchen. “Aye, we believe Elena. She nearly died in that mountain, for one. And another, she and Guy fell in love.”
Jane blinked. Then looked first at Rhys, and then Banan. “She fell in love?”
“Aye,” Banan answered softly.
Jane knew Elena had looked different, but she thought it was the near-death experience that had caused the change.
“So, Elena wasn’t part of Sloan’s plan,” Jane said as her mind tried to sort it all out. “I gather you know Sloan’s plan.”
Banan and Rhys exchanged a look before Banan said, “Aye.”
“That’s why Richard wanted Elena back so urgently,” Jane said as recalled him desperately trying to get a hold of Elena. “He wanted to know if she and Sloan had found anything.”
Banan moved to sit on the couch. “That’s why Elena is back.”
“Do you trust that I’m not involved, or are you seeing if I run back to Richard with any of this?”
Rhys said, “A good question. Banan, I’d like to know the answer as well.”
Jane wanted Banan to believe her, needed him to believe her. She wasn’t sure why it was important, only that it was. It seemed impossible that she had spent so much time with him and been completely at ease. They had talked and laughed and shared stories.
She frowned then because she had been the only one sharing stories. Banan hadn’t said much about his own life.
“I believe you,” Banan finally said.
She nodded and ran her thumbnail down her jeans. “Richard knows I heard something. If he chased me yesterday, and then sent someone to watch me, what will he do next?”
“We’ll be there whenever he makes his next move,” Banan said.
But Jane was already shaking her head. “You can’t be in the office with me. What are you going to do? Hide under my desk?”
“If I have to.” His voice had dipped low, a hard edge to it.
Rhys set aside the now empty bowl. “If you can get into Arnold’s office and snoop around, that would help us out.”
“I can do that,” she said. “He’s always gone for lunch, and I’m in and out of his office all the time. No one will notice. There’s just one thing.”