Page 111 of Doyle

He studied it. “The eagle is Prussian, so the ingot probably belonged to Duchess Eleanora Maria of Valmont, and the bear signifies royalty, so that fits. The number signifies the purity, and this is the assayer’s mark, along with the date.” He seemed to debate for a moment, and then Doyle reached out and took the ingot from him, put it back into the crate.

“We need to get one of the guards down here,” Doyle said.

“You said it—it’s now or never.” Ethan made a move for the crate.

Doyle stepped in front of him. “Ethan, we need help getting this out of here. It’s late, and if this is as big of a find as you think, we need documentation and pictures and yes, Declan’s permission to retrieve this.”

Ethan’s mouth tightened, and after a moment, he nodded. “Of course. You’re right.”

Tia eyed Doyle, who seemed to study the man. He held out his hand. “Give me the crowbar.”

And if Ethan wanted to do something sinister, like overpower Doyle and grab the treasure and make off into the night, it was now?—

Silly.Her brain had clearly taken a walk into trauma land, expecting the worst, because Ethan handed over the pike. “You’ll put a guard on the door?”

“On both of them. We can trust Jones and his team.”

Ethan exhaled, then turned to Tia and winked. “We make a good team.”

But her gaze fixed on Doyle, who looked at her, a soft smile on his face, his eyes warm.

Yes,yes they did.

She followed Ethan up the stairs to find Declan returning from bringing the children to the dining hall.

Ethan was telling him about the treasure as she emerged, Declan’s hand in hers, pulling her out.

“Ethan, I never know what to think about your stories.” Declan shook his hand. “Well done.” He looked at Tia. “Both of you.”

Doyle came out, then turned and closed the door. “We need to lock this room, set a guard outside the door and another one at the grotto.”

“I’ll talk to Ham,” Declan said, moving the carpet back into place. He stood, glanced at Ethan, who stared at the carpet as if wistful. “How much do you think is in there?”

“According to ships’ records, about a hundred thirty thousand pounds, or, if you do the math, about two hundred thousand dollars.”

“In 1702,” Tia said.

“Mm-hmm.”

“And today?” Declan asked.

“With the current price of gold? Sixty million and change.”

Silence.

“Yes,” Declan said. “We’ll get security on this.” He looked at Doyle. “Stay here? I’ll send North or Skeet over to babysit the, um, carpet.”

Doyle smiled.

Declan opened the door for Ethan. Gestured to usher him out.

Ethan sighed and exited, and Declan closed the door behind him.

Tia walked over and locked it. Turned to Doyle, her back to the door. Her entire body tingled, and maybe not from fatigue.

“Sixty.”

“Million,” Doyle said. “And change.”

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