Bluegrass State of Mind(42)

"Please, Madam, McKenna. Please, I am so sorry I made you cry. I know you were looking out for them. Please, let me assure you, it is not we who are causing these problems. Actually, I have been put in charge of trying to find out the culprits. As you've mentioned, we fear they will move on to us next."

Kenna cast a glance out of the corner of her eye and saw Ahmed fidgeting with his tie and lacking his normal composure. She turned her head to him and let a smile overtake her face as she removed her sunglasses, exposing tear-free eyes. "Thank you for letting me know, Ahmed. I'm very relieved you had nothing to do with it." She smiled wider as Ahmed's mouth dropped and started making fish faces as he stared at her. "I'll convey my belief to the Ashtons that you have nothing to do with the accidents and hopefully you can work together to solve this mystery before anything else happens.”

Ahmed took a good thirty seconds to recover. Slowly, a smile crept up his face, "You, Madam, need to come work for me. I will pay you more than you can ever dream of. Well played. Well played, indeed."

Kenna returned his smile. "Thank you. You have your interrogation techniques and I have mine," she winked.

By the time they arrived at Mo's farm, Ahmed and she were joking easily together and acting as if they were lifelong friends. Kenna enjoyed Ahmed's dry sense of humor. She loved that she could replace the seriousness that sat so far back behind his eyes with a little laughter. Ahmed opened the door to the limousine for her and she was met by Mo as she stood up. Dressed impeccably in a black pinstripe suit, he kissed both of Kenna’s cheeks as he escorted her up the stairs and into what she could only describe as a palace. White marble outlined the black marble floors in the center of the room. Furniture she knew was specially made for his home filled the entranceway. They walked a quarter of the way down a hallway and turned right into a sitting room twice the size of her apartment in New York.

"Sir, I feel as your head of security, I must warn you to be careful when alone with Miss Mason," Ahmed said as he signaled the wait staff to bring in the meal.

"Do you believe she would harm me, Ahmed?" Mo asked with a faked look of fear.

"I must warn you, she has unprecedented interrogation skills." Ahmed looked sternly at her.

She raised one corner of her lip in a look of deviousness.

"And how do you know this?" Mo was now looking at her, taking note of the side games going on between her and Ahmed.

"She interrogated me in the ride over here."

"Surely you mean she tried to interrogate you." Ahmed turned to Mo and lowered his head in shame.

"No, Your Highness. I mean she interrogated me thoroughly. She asked me about the accidents at the Ashton Farm. I told her everything I knew and all we were doing to try to figure out who's behind them."

"Really? She broke you? I don't mind you telling her, as I figured the subject was going to come up. But, I was hoping I could seduce her before we got to serious conversation. However, my curiosity is piqued now. How did one little woman get you to talk about a confidential matter? After all, I know when you were a commander in the Elite Service, you were captured and tortured for three days before rescue, all the while never revealing any classified information. So how on earth did Kenna get the information out of you?" Mo asked, truly confused.

Ahmed cleared his throat and looked down at the floor. "She cried, Your Highness."

Mo looked at Ahmed’s lowered head and then over to her. She knew she was the picture of womanly innocence, except for the huge smile across her face. She saw Mo fight the laugh coming, but he couldn't stop it. She and Ahmed soon joined in.

"Please, let us sit and have lunch. You may tell me all about this interrogation technique. Then I thought to seduce you with my charm, have you agree to marry me, and we can look around your new home."

Kenna laughed even harder. She knew Mo was only partly teasing, and she also knew he was aware of her relationship with Will. Anything Ahmed knew, she was sure Mo did, too. "Lunch sounds great and so does the tour, but you know Will already thinks you're causing the accidents. Do you really think it's a good idea to move in on his woman, too?"

"Sadly, it is not. That is too bad. We could have had beautiful children together. Ah well, let’s eat!" Mo approached her, slung a friendly arm around her shoulders and led her out the French doors to the table the wait staff had prepared on the patio.

Kenna enjoyed lunch so much, she thought about reconsidering his offer for marriage. The chocolate soufflé for dessert almost tipped the scales. She knew he wasn't responsible for the accidents. Maybe she could be the one to bring him out, so to say, into Keeneston society so people could change their opinions of him.