“That’s better, now put your arms around my neck.”
She did. Sebastian bent down a little bit to open the door to the office, then it felt like she was flying through the air as he strode down the hall to the drawing-room. Ever so gently he placed her onto the sofa, making sure that the back of her head didn’t hit the cushions.
“I’ll be right back with some ice, pillows, and a blanket. Here you go.” He reached into his back pocket and handed her her phone.
“You remembered this?” How could he have remembered her phone? She hadn’t even remembered her phone.
“Of course. Now call your girl and tell her what’s going on. She seemed freaked.”
“Okay.”
Sebastian left the room.
Gianna looked at her phone but she was too tired to hit Jada’s number.
This was not good.
“Gianna, can you wake up for me?” Sebastian gave her shoulder a gentle shake.
“Huh?” Her eyelashes fluttered, but she didn’t open her eyes.
“Honey, I need you to open your eyes.”
“Wanna sleep.”
Sebastian lifted her head and put two pillows underneath her. Then he positioned her so that he could place the bag of frozen peas so that it rested between the bump on her head and the back of the sofa.
Her eyes slammed open. “Cold!”
Sebastian chuckled. “It’s supposed to be cold.”
Gianna lifted her hand to the frozen bag, but Sebastian caught her before she could pull it away. “Stop that, Champ, you need to keep the ice on to stop the swelling.”
“Not a champ. Didn’t play sports,” she scowled. “Don’t like sports.”
Sebastian chuckled again. Her scowl was cute.
When she moved her head away from the ice, he gently pushed her back against it. Her hand slapped against his. “Stop that. I told you it was cold!”
Sebastian really started to laugh.
“And stop laughing at me.”
“Then stop being funny.”
Gianna tried to sit up before he could stop her, then she groaned. “That hurts.” Sebastian helped her to lie back down.
“Honey, do you remember hitting your head?”
She frowned. Then her eyes went really wide. “Oh frick. You apprehended me!”
Yep, funnier than shit. “Actually, I think I was offering you the use of my flashlight.”
He watched as she considered what he said. “You’re right, you did.” A slow grin spread over her face. “Plus, you’re being pretty darned nice to me right now. What’s up with that?”
“Hmmm, there’s a lot of possibilities. How about the whole Southern hospitality thing?”
Gianna looked at him carefully. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s it. Try another one.”
“I thought you were cleaning underneath my grandfather’s desk and you needed more light?”
Gianna snickered. “Nope. Try again.”
“You’re beautiful and I want to ingratiate myself with you?”
Gianna snorted with laughter, then winced, her hand going to the back of her head. “Darn, that really hurts.”
It was cute how she didn’t swear. You really didn’t see that anymore.
“So tell me why you offered the flashlight.”
“I will after you tell me what you were looking for in Lazar’s office.”
She bit her bottom lip. “I really can’t.”
“You mean you won’t.”
Her phone rang. Sebastian saw the name Jada Harlow appear on the screen. “Didn’t you call back Jada?”
“I was too tired. Shoot, I probably really worried her.” She swiped her phone. “I’m sorry Jada, I’m fine. I promise. Sebastian put ice on my head and it’s cold. He gave me pillows. He says he’s not apprehending me, instead he tried to make me guess why he tried to help, but now he wants to know what I was looking for in the office and I don’t know what to tell him.”
“Breathe, Baby,” her friend whispered.
Gianna closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Sebastian saw she had her shit together, and that she was once more like the woman he had met in the kitchen.
“Got it.” Her eyes slid over to look at Sebastian. “What were you doing in Lazar’s office in the middle of the night?” she asked him.
“Wondered when you were going to ask me that,” he said with a grin.
“Well, I’m pretty sure that even with your secret SEAL senses you couldn’t have heard me come downstairs with the wind howling like it is.”
That stopped him short. “That’s twice you two have mentioned me being a SEAL. Wanna tell me what’s going on?” he asked quietly.
Gianna’s eyes went wide. “Shoot, Jada, I’ll call you back. Seems I stepped in it.” She ended the call.
“Yep, you stepped in it. Textiles huh?”
Gianna attempted to push up into a sitting position, but Sebastian pushed her back down on the couch. She glared up at him. “SEAL, huh?”
“Yep. Plus, I’m the one who actually is a member of this family, so it’s my prerogative to check out every room in the house. You, however, aren’t. So how about you tell me what in the hell you and your little friend were looking for in Lazar’s office?”
“Answers,” she said succinctly.
That hit him like a punch to his solar plexus. How many years had he been after answers? Wasn’t that the reason he had been planning to go through his grandfather’s office tonight?
“What questions do you need answers for?”
“That’s none of your business.” Her expression was determined.
Sebastian needed to try a different tack. Remembering what he’d heard the two women talking about he tried again. “Who is Etta Rose?”
“She was a madam. She ran a really exclusive escort service years ago.”
Well, he sure as hell wasn’t expecting that.
“And why do you think you’re going to find information on Etta Rose in my grandfather’s office?”
Gianna huffed out a breath and her eyes narrowed. “It’s a long story.”
Sebastian put his right hand on the back of the sofa and leaned in. “Well, aren’t we lucky? I’ve got the rest of the night for you to tell me a bedtime story. So talk.”
“Etta Rose used to run a service out of New Orleans. She would recruit young women from the universities there, like Loyola and Tulane. The girls would make good coin and end up graduating free of debt.”
“Are we talking escorts or prostitutes or both?”
“I know that there was sex involved,” Gianna said slowly.
“I take it since you’re investigating dear old Grandpère I should assume that her business encompassed Baton Rouge?”
“Oh yeah. From what Jada and I have been able to piece together, the members of the state legislature were big-time customers.”
“So what does this have to do with you?”
“Why do you think this has anything to do with me?” she asked.
Sebastian looked at her. If she could have, she would be crossing her arms across her chest, or curled into a defensive ball. He’d been wondering why she’d been sucking up to his uncle when he could sense her distaste. Then there had been moments of real concern about whether he'd eaten. Now it was all making sense. Gianna was a marshmallow. It was obvious as hell that she had some kind of personal stake in whatever she was investigating. Something overwhelmingly personal. Now all he had to do was get her to tell him what it was.