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Xavier felt his cheeks warm.Mon Dieu, was he blushing with embarrassment?

“Your face…” Annie spluttered.

Colum was starting to look alarmed.“Ah feck, what’d I say?I can be a right fecking gobshite.”

It took Xavier a minute to process what he’d said—Xavier’s English was fluent, but apparently not good enough to understand an Irish speaker without thinking about it.

Annie continued to laugh—though she sat up—in a way that made Xavier want to put her over his knee.That would either shock her, or she’d really enjoy it.

Again, his expression must have reflected the direction of his thoughts, because Annie abruptly stopped laughing as she studied his face, swallowing hard.

Better.

Xavier walked over to Colum, gripped the other man gently by the front of his shirt, and tugged him from the desk chair.

Colum looked from Xavier’s fist to his face and back.

A little shiver shook Colum’s shoulders, and he too swallowed.

Xavier switched his grip to Colum’s shoulder, turned him toward the seating area, and guided him to the couch, pushing him down next to Annie.

Annie’s eyes had narrowed, and once Colum sat, she put a hand protectively on the same shoulder Xavier had just gripped.

“Next time, use your words, Xavier.”There was a bite to Annie’s smile.

He arched a brow and dropped into the armchair, setting his bag on the low table in front of them.

“I read the manuscript,” Xavier said.“And I know what we’re looking for.”

That got both of their attention.

“You think it’s with the theater stuff donated to the museum?”Annie asked.

“I do,” Xavier agreed.

“I told you, Franco already went through the personal items,” Colum said.“So it’s definitely not there.”

“Who is Franco?”Annie asked.

“Er…” Colum ran a hand through his hair, and Xavier’s stomach muscles tightened, his cock twitching.“I fecking hate keeping track of who knows what.”

“I’ve never heard you say Franco,” Annie said instantly.“Xavier?”

“I know no Franco,” he deadpanned.

Colum looked back and forth between them, and a small smile touched his lips.

“I looked into the museum you mentioned,” Annie said.“They don’t have much on display due to size, but they have a huge inventory.We’re going to need time to go through it all.I figured we’d start with stuff from the old Union Square Theater?—”

“We won’t have to go through it all,” Xavier interrupted.“I know what we’re looking for.”

“A prop fromVera,” Colum said immediately.

Xavier shook his head.“No.That would be too simple.”

“Whatarewe looking for?”Annie asked, sounding slightly exasperated.

“Wait, wait, are you saying I missed a clue?”Colum demanded.