Noah was mildly surprised to see Ray and Liam so close together and successfully acting the part. There was definite chemistry there that made him curious, but not so much that he was going to push it. He had only eyes for Elijah, who was acting a bit awkward since they had woken up. He suspected it was nerves about the retreat and anxiety that they were a day closer to the uncorking of the bottle and still no resolution to who stole it.

Noah didn’t need to worry about them discovering it was him, and he was willing to let them search his things if it meant they would focus on who might have actually taken it. He wanted to give Elijah a little space to talk to Elise that morning, so he finished off his coffee and said, “Gentlemen, good morning. I was wondering if I could have a word?”

Ray and Liam both looked at each other and shrugged, but nodded. Elijah looked between the three of them but soon turned his attention to the planner Elise was pointing to and discussing. Noah gave him a quick kiss on the temple, which seemed to jolt him in his seat, but Noah caught the look of amusement on Elise’s face as he moved away.

He led the men back upstairs and into the bedroom. He walked over to the side of the bed he had slept on, lifted his bag onto the bed and took a step back.

“Go ahead.” Neither man moved at first, and he sighed.

“Look, I realize even this amount of cooperation doesn’t get me off the hook, but you have one day, maybe a day and a half, to figure out who took that bottle, so if this helps to get you off my case and look for who actually took that bottle, then go ahead.”

“Why didn’t you tell us you knew who Elijah was before you came out here?” Ray was the one to grab the bag and take a brief look through while Liam folded his arms over his chest and gave him the stare down. Okay, good cop, bad cop, here we go.

The question surprised Noah, even though it shouldn’t have. It took him a minute, but then he replied, “Because I didn’t want Elijah to know. I get that it makes me look suspicious, but I must confess, I saw an interview of his on TV, and I’ve wanted to meet him ever since.”

“To invest in his business?”

“Actually, no. I found him to be endearing on the interview, and I wanted to meet him for personal reasons that you might have guessed at. I connected with him on social media in hopes that he would reach out, although I suspect it is Elise who manages those accounts. That’s probably how I warranted an invitation from her, but this was an opportunity to come out and see if we hit it off.”

“So you decided that you would risk showing up a day early? You do know that looks suspicious right?”

“Yes. It was a risk I was willing to take. Have you heard the expression, he or she is not my type? Well, Elijah is my type. Why wouldn’t I pursue him?”

Ray closed the bag up, having replaced everything in it. He had even run his palm over the lining of the bag, although a wine bottle was a fairly large item to conceal in a single suitcase.

“So, am I off the hook? I am trying to find a way to tell Elijah I knew who he was. He’s skittish, I think, when it comes to people.”

“Almost. You could have hidden the bottle somewhere on the farm with the intention of retrieving it at a later time.”

“You two really are thorough.”

“It’s our job to be.” Ray was the one to respond. “Look, we will be watching you this weekend. You and Elijah are the only two that know our true purpose this weekend. If you blow our cover in any way, we will put you right back at the top of the prime suspect list. If we catch you going after that bottle if you have hidden it, even if Elijah decides not to press charges, we will.”

Noah wanted to shout at them, but they were doing their job. “Understood gentleman.” He began walking toward the door. “And no need to worry about me blowing your cover. It seems there is very little acting you need to do to make it convincing. Looks like it already is anyway.”

With that, he closed the door behind him in the faces of the two stunned law enforcement officers. He shouldn’t have gotten his dig in, but he couldn’t help it. It was a natural response when treated like a criminal, or at least he supposed it was natural to be defensive when one was innocent. He had never had to find ou,t because he kept his nose clean in his business dealings. When he returned to the kitchen, he found Elise and Elijah still sitting there, and he placed his hand at the small of Elijah’s back.

“I wonder if we have a moment to go for a short walk. There is something I would like to discuss with you.”