“Ah, sisterly love. You know, Keira was quite a lady. I never would’ve expected Mount to fall ass over horseshoes for a woman, but that one … she was a fiery one. I see it in both of you. Must be a combination of the Irish blood and New Orleans weather.”
He was the second man to be amazed about Mount falling for their sister in twenty-four hours.
“What was he like?” Imogen asked. “We didn’t know him.”
“Ha.” Leo laughed. “He was one of a kind. There is no describing him. Law unto himself. Forged in fires I am grateful not to understand. And yet … love changed him. Maybe not at first. But eventually, it was clear he could not be the man he had been before your sister was at his side. He tried. But that man … he died before the explosion.”
His description left Imogen with even more questions … and hope. If Mount couldn’t be the crime lord he had been when he and Keira got together, especially once they welcomed a baby … wouldn’t he have made some sort of escape plan? The keys seemed to indicate detailed, advanced planning.
Then she went back to what Nic had said.If they wanted us to know the truth, wouldn’tthey have told us?
But what if they needed it to look real? The grief. The funeral. The mourning family. Had that all been part of a plan? Or was she crazy?
“What do you really do, Leo the Lion Man?” Jury asked him. “Because this doesn’t look like the boat of a marine salvage guy like your big sign said outside the walls of your river compound.”
Imogen had to agree with her sister, but she wasn’t about to say it out loud.
“I don’t know much about art, but even I know fancy shit when I see it,” Jury added.
“Replicas and reproductions.”
“Riiight.”
“How could both your sisters be so polite and ladylike and you are so …”
“Assertive?” Jury offered.
“Brassy.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“Like you could do from being put over someone’s knee.”
“Not likely.”
Imogen couldn’t help it as her head bounced back and forth between Leo and her sister during their exchange. Their sparring was taking a turn she hadn’t expected, and she felt like she should exit stage left all of a sudden.
“I promise you, madam … done correctly …” He trailed off.
Imogen stood, and her gaze locked on Nic’s raised eyebrows.
“Okay … you’re going to be fine, Jury. I’m going with Nic to get some lunch from this amazing Havit who makes delights.”
Nic held out a hand, and Imogen rushed across the room.
Instead of Jury protesting, as she’d expected, her sister ignored Imogen completely as they made their exit.
Once the door closed behind them, Imogen stared into Nic’s hazel eyes. “Did I miss something, or did that take a different turn?”
“No comment,” he replied as another man, who she assumed was Edwin, came toward them.
“Lunch, Mr. Nic? Ms. Kilgore?”
“Thank you, Edwin. Yes. Lead the way.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Oh. My. Goodness.” Imogen tried not to moan.