“You’re sure you want to watch me try on clothes?”
“I’m more looking forward to you stripping down for me, but I’ll live. Everything for tonight is done, so I freed up my day. Just call me the official bag carrier.”
“You do a good enough job, and I might hire you on a permanent basis.” Emma leaned in closer and ran her index finger down Cain’s chest. “But if you come with me, I won’t be able to surprise you later on tonight.”
“Then how about if I sit outside with the help and admire you from afar?”
Emma trailed her finger back up and was delighted with the shiver it caused. “Just as long as you’re not too far away.”
They both had to laugh at the gagging noises coming from Merrick in the front seat.
“Enough from the peanut gallery, thank you.”
“I’m just thinking.” Emma looked at Cain. “Any more of this, and you’ll have to retire and become a florist or something equally romantic. At least those guys might leave you alone if they hear you spitting out all this mush.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling them all these years, but no one ever pays attention to me. I’m just a big mushball.” Cain kissed the tip of Emma’s nose.
At the mall Emma headed into the dressing room with Kevin leading the way after she introduced him to Cain.
Shelby and Claire stood outside close to the elevators, sipping the last of their cappuccinos and trying to blend in with the other shoppers as best they could, envious when they saw Cain hand Kevin an invitation to the opening of the club that night.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you and Ralph there tonight, Kevin,” Cain said, putting her hand on his shoulder after handing him the envelope. “Any man who’s that talented in choosing lingerie should be rewarded.”
“Judging from Emma’s comments about you all these years, I didn’t think you’d disapprove.”
“You definitely thought right.”
The day had been so boring up till now, especially listening in on this drivel, that Shelby was almost tempted to leave, but she figured Cain would use the opportunity to pull off a major hit while they were out helping Joe and the others.
“Still watching the world pass you by, eh, Agent Phillips?”
The voice caught Shelby so off guard, she almost dropped her cup over the railing. “I’m thinking about retiring if one more person sneaks up on me today.” Trusting Claire to keep things under control, Shelby focused on the subject of more than one thought over the weeks. “How’ve you been, Muriel?”
“Busy, actually.” Muriel looked at where Claire was staring and laughed at Cain, who was making a face at her and crossing her eyes. “I’d ask what you’ve been up to, but I can see things haven’t changed much.”
“It’s a job.”
“I’m sure it is.” Muriel opened her mouth as if to add something, but just as quickly she clicked it shut. “I’ll let you get back to it, since it looks rather riveting. With any luck Cain’ll start some sort of illegal cock fighting in designer shoes just for kicks. If not, I don’t want to think what a waste of my tax dollars this is.”
“Muriel, please wait.”
Shelby’s request stopped Muriel before she got too far away.
“It’s my job. You may not like it, and you can play stupid and not try to understand it, but it’s my job.”
“Why do you care how I feel about it one way or another?”
“Because I thought we were becoming friends.” Shelby eased closer, glad that Claire acted as if nothing was happening.
“I thought so too. Then something reminded me of the enormous gulf between us. As much as I’d like to, I think that gulf is too wide to breach.”
She pointed to Cain. “In the end it’s like you said—it’s a job to you, but to me, it’s my family. My loyalty is to her and my name.”
“Even if that loyalty sinks you, Counselor?”
“Shelby, a word of advice.”
Muriel’s demeanor changed as her voice lowered, making Shelby understand she’d overstepped her bounds.
“Never speak of things you can’t fathom. One of my greatest possessions is a book of family history that goes back generations. It teaches that the Casey clan, for as much as you have watched us, is exactly that to you— unfathomable. We have survived for hundreds of years because we know no other way than to be loyal to our own. So to answer your question, yes, my loyalty is hers even if it sinks me.”
The rebuke was quiet but scathing, yet for some reason it impressed Shelby and clarified something about Cain and Emma’s relationship. No matter how many Barney Kyles came into Emma’s life, she would never again betray her loyalty to Cain, because that loyalty undergirded their relationship.
“I wonder what belonging to something like that feels like.”
“Did you say something?” Claire asked.
“Nothing important.” Shelby took her post at the center railing and watched not Cain, but the cousin who’d joined her. “Think we can finagle one of those invitations for tonight?”
“It’s worth a shot, because something tells me tonight will be exciting only if we’re in the middle of the
