second; then he shrugged. “I did speak with Trey, and he asked me to find other accommodations.” He sighed. “Fine, but I’m not happy. You’ll be hearing from my attorney.”
She plastered on her calmest, most elegant court smile. “Oh, I’ll look forward to it. It wouldn’t be safe for you to stay. And that’s fine. I can handle attorneys.”
His nostrils flared with anger. He seemed like he would have fought her too, except right at that moment there were more knocks on the door. Not really knocks, per se. It was a cacophony of knocking, doorbells, and laughing.
“Kens, open up,” someone called from the other side.
Her heart rate spiked. She threw the door open, bursting into laughter as her brothers all piled in: Brooks, her FBI brother; Marshall, the Nightstalker brother; and Trent and Hunter, the SEAL brothers.
“What in the world?” she asked, taking in the crazy looks in their eyes.
Marshall widened his stance, his arms hanging down like a bear. “Trent, looky here. I’m feeling like I want some Kensi sandwich.”
The brothers laughed but circled in. Hunter growled, “I love me some Kensi sandwich.”
For her entire life, her idiot brothers had behaved this way. Now that she was an adult, it was no less humiliating.
“We need a little Ivy League on the sandwich.” Marshall pointed at Brooks.
Brooks laughed.
Kensi knew he didn't love that nickname, but when you were the only brother who went to Harvard, the other brothers teased you about it.
Brooks joined in. “And we need a little Hunter on the sandwich.”
“No!” She tried to run.
Hunter caught her and laughed. “No getting away from us, sis! It’s sandwich time.” The men all descended upon her, making fake eating sounds.
“Stop it, you imbeciles!” she exclaimed, but that only made them want to tease her more.
It ended with them actually hugging and her punching more than one of them in the arm. Despite her annoyance, she was glad to see her brothers so playful. They had all been at Trey’s wedding, and him giving each of them ten percent of the inn had gone a long way to heal bad feelings.
“So what’s the deal?” Hunter asked, looking around.
She didn’t want to tease Hunter about his mullet. No. The other boys already teased each other mercilessly.
Marshall paused to look at Mr. Banks and the woman. “Who are you people?”
Blunt. That was Marshall, who wasn’t friendly on his best day. In fact, their mother had taken many opportunities to try to teach him any manners—to no avail.
Mr. Banks’s previous enmity toward her turned to bewilderment. “Well, I can’t believe I’m actually going to meet all of the Stone family.” He broke into a grin and pointed to Trent, then Hunter. “Oh my goodness. I read that article. There was a picture of when you were younger, but this is amazing.” A sardonic laugh came out of him as his eyes fell on Brooks. "Ivy League? Is that what they call you?"
Brooks glowered at him. "Yep."
Mr. Banks sighed. "Wow, I'm really meeting the infamous Stone family."
Trent gave Mr. Banks a sweeping look and put his hand out. “And who did you say you were?”
Kensi could see the look in Trent’s eye. Mr. Banks was going to get his hand crushed.
“Ryan Banks,” he said, putting his hand into Trent’s. “Billionaire, philanthropist. I’m interested in the conquistador gold, and I won’t stop until it’s found.”
Trent pumped his hand. “Hmm.”
Mr. Banks frowned and yanked his hand back, shaking it out. "What are you doing?"
Hunter laughed and nudged Trent. "My brother thinks he's tough." He put his hand out to shake with the man.
Mr. Banks frowned and didn't shake Trent's hand.
All of the brother's laughed.
Kensi couldn't help but smile at the torture her brothers were giving the jerk.
Hunter put his hand up. "Okay, okay, we'll quit teasing you." He cleared his throat. “So you think you’ll be the one to find the gold?”
Mr. Banks turned to Hunter. “I’m sorry, I’ve seen the picture of you and your father when you were all boys, but I can’t tell if you're Marshall or Hunter?”
“Hunter.” He crossed his arms and a bored look washed over his face. “You know the treasure is cursed, don’t you?”
Mr. Banks only smiled wider. “I’ve heard that’s the tale.”
“I don’t like the sound of a curse,” Felicity said, speaking up for the first time.
Mr. Banks ignored her. This woman must be nothing to him if she didn’t know about the treasure. Mr. Banks turned his gaze on Marshall and Brooks."I don't believe in curses. What,