Page 140 of Keeping Kasey
Her acceptance—her willingness to please me—would be pathetic if I didn’t know her whole life has centered around preparing to be my wife. If anything, I feel bad for the girl. She didn’t sign up for this, but she’s fulfilling her duty anyway, evenwhen that means waiting around for the scraps of attention I throw her way.
When I met with Romano to discuss a proposal, he was ready to set the wedding date, but I made it very clear that I would be courting his daughter before any proposal would be made.
I may be resigned to my fate, but I’ll be going about itmyway.
Just because I don’t intend to have a traditional marriage doesn’t mean I won’t know the woman I’ll be spending the rest of my life with.
So far, there isn’t much to know.
I’ve attended a few functions with Isabella, and—while the tan-skinned, dark-haired beauty looks nice on my arm—the conversation is less than captivating. She rides horses, plays the violin, and works on the board of half a dozen charities in the city, but it doesn’t seem like she’s particularly passionate about anything. It’s just what she’s been programmed to do.
I look at the doors that separate my room from Kasey’s.
Mine is wide open.
Hers is locked.
“I’ll make it up to you,” I tell Isabella in a marginally softer tone.
“How about you start with dinner?” she asks, and I can sense her nervousness in the request.
She was bound to ask sooner or later.
“Of course. I’ll have James reach out to put it on the calendar. Have a good day, Isabella.”
“Thank you, Mr. Consoli. You as well.”
When I hang up, my phone buzzes with an incoming message.
James:Walking in now.
The knock comes just as I put my phone away and open the door for him.
“What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at the base.”
“I figured you’d need this,” he says, holding out a cup of coffee. “And that you’d want to be the first to know we have a lead on the note.”
I take the coffee. “Already?”
He nods. “It was printed on handmade marble paper, which can’t be mass-produced, but one paper supply website sells this particular pattern fairly regularly. It’s a long shot, but I’m working on getting a client list.”
Sounds like a wild goose chase to me, but it’s the most we have to go on.
“And that couldn’t have waited until I was at the base?”
James sits in the desk chair and nods toward the doors separating my room from Kasey’s. “I was also wondering what you plan to tell her when she gives us the list.”
“At this rate, we might be able to give her the truth.”
“Well, as of right now, the truth is: we have no idea. She agreed to help us because she thinks we have a way of tracking her. How do you think she’s going to react when she learns that we don’t?”
“Does it seem like I’ve gotanythingfigured out?” I ask, running a hand through my hair. “We’ll keep tracking this note and go from there.”
He nods. “How were things when you guys got here last night?”
“If you’re asking if there were more acts of physical violence, the answer is no. But I think she’s hiding something.”
“Like what?”
