I call Grady before heading out to make sure he’s available. “I’m on a bit of a date,” he tells me.
“Bring her along. The more the merrier, right?”
“We’re actually on my boat.” Grady keeps a small cabin cruiser for his own pleasure even though I’ve told him repeatedly to use the yacht whenever he wants to.
“I’ve got an idea,” I tell him. “Bring your date over to the yacht. I’ll stay on half of the boat, and give you the other half, so I don’t interfere with your game.”
“I don’t feel comfortable with that,” he says. “What if your mother finds out?”
“What if she finds out what? That you have a life? Why would she care?”
“I’m her captain. I’m not supposed to be carousing while on duty,” he says.
“Grady, you are the biggest stick in the mud. Just meet me at the yacht and quit giving me a hard time. That’s an order.”
“An order?” He doesn’t seem to care for my choice of words.
“Yes.”
I’m not actually trying to pull rank on my friend. I could certainly just sit on the boat without going out, or heaven forbid, I could drive it myself. But I know Grady’s date would be impressed by a cruise on the royal yacht. I’m only trying to help him.
As I walk out the front door, I run into my sister, Bree. “Have you seen Lu?” she asks.
“I think she went into town,” I tell her. “She’s been spending a lot of time at the abbey. Can I help you with something?” I ask her.
“I’m bored,” she says. “I was looking for someone to hang out with.”
“Well, then.” I take her arm. “Hang out with me.”
“Where are you going?”
“I want to go look at the ocean. I need to put my thoughts in order and there’s no place like the Atlantic for that.”
She nods her head. “That sounds like fun. Maybe we can even have supper out.”
“Delightful.” I lead the way to my car.
We drive peacefully until we pass the turn off for our favorite beach. “You missed our exit,” she says.
I veer off at the next turn. “No, I didn’t.”
“There’s no beach access from here.” She sounds annoyed.
“Good thing I’m not going to the beach then,” I tell her. “I’m taking the boat out.”
“Turn around,” she orders. “I want to go home.”
“Why? I thought you wanted to spend time on the ocean.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see her shaking her head. “No. I wanted to go to the beach.”
“Well then, we got our signals crossed. Being that you missed our last outing, why don’t we discuss bridal shower plans tonight?”
“Can you believe Grady left me behind?” she practically screams. “How dare he? I should give him a piece of my mind.” She sounds like she’d like to do that with boxing gloves instead of words.
Come to think of it, tonight might not be the best time for them to run into each other. I don’t want to ruin my friend’s evening.
“I’ll take you home,” I tell my sister.
“No. I’m going to talk to Grady. I need to let him know that his bad behavior is not going to be tolerated in the future.”
Oh, boy. I’m not sure what to do now. If I take Bree to the boat, she might go off on Grady and totally wreck his date. Although, if things are as I suspect—that Grady has as much of a thing for Bree as she’s always had for him—then maybe that would be okay.
I decide to let things play out however they will. I’ll try to keep my sister distracted, but if she’s determined to cause a scene, then sobeit. That will be on her, not me.
After parking, Bree and I walk across the dock to our destination. As soon as we step foot onboard, we discover Grady and his date cozied up together on the deck.
“Why don’t we head down to the galley and see what’s in the fridge for supper?” I ask Bree.
“What is he doing?” she demands while pointing at the object of her ire.
“He was on a date. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind taking me out anyway. I told him to bring her along.”
My sister stares like she’s witnessing a murder—big eyes, look of horror, and all that. The tall blonde that Grady is canoodling with appears to either be a dominatrix or a stripper. Her dress, which is really more of a long shirt, is being held together by a series of leather straps. Her heels must be at least five inches tall. She is not my friend’s usual type.
“As captain, Grady should know better than to bring someone like that out on the boat,” Bree hisses.
“I told him he could, so let’s leave them to it and see to our supper.” I try to pull her toward the stairs, but she seems to have other plans.
“Grady!” she yells before pursuing him like he’s a chunk of beef and she’s a kabob skewer.
He jumps when he hears her and practically pushes his date to the ground. She grabs ahold of the railing in the nick of time. “Aubrey,” he says. “What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” she demands with her hands on her hips. “What are you doing?”
“I work here,” he tells her dryly.
“I know that. I mean, what are you doing here with her.” Her tone suggests that he was about to perform an unholy act. Which maybe he was, but that’s none of my business.
“This is Brittany, my date.”
Brittany scowls at Bree and says, “Yeah, I’m his date. Who are you?”
“Who am I?” Bree sputters. “I am Princess Aubrey. You might have heard of me?” Bree is not one to lord her status over anyone, so her comment is more than a little out of character.
“I’m American,” Brittany says. “I don’t know who any of your little country’s royalty are.”
“Where did you pick her up?” Bree asks Grady.
“We met in town today. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“None of my business? None of my business?!”
I join the party and say, “I’m pretty sure it’s none of our business, Bree. Come on …” I practically have to drag her away from them. I call out to Grady, “We’ll stay on the other side of the boat. Don’t worry about us.”
“Speak for yourself,” Bree says. Then, in a louder voice, she declares, “This is my boat, I’ll go wherever I want.”
Oh dear, this might not be the peaceful evening cruise I had hoped for. Having said that, I don’t think it’s a total loss. My little sister appears to be ready to confront some of her feelings for Grady.
Either that, or she’s going to kill him.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Sheila
“I’m going to be a grandma!” Sheila tells her sister on the phone.
“When will you know for sure?” Tooty asks before saying, “I can’t wait to meet the little girl!”
“According to Charlotte, the nun in charge of the orphanage is working on the best way to tell Beatrice.”
“What best way? Just tell her and be done with it.”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Sheila says. “As Beatrice will be moving into the palace with Lu, the press has to be handled very carefully.”
“At least Lu’s going to get her,” Tooty says. “When are you going to meet her?”
“I can’t meet her until Lu knows I’m back in town. I don’t plan on letting her know that until I find out where things stand between her and Alistair. I’m hoping that’s soon though.”
“Keep me posted.”
“You know it, hon,” Sheila says. “By the way, I talked to Charlotte about your idea for a camp, and she says she has a building you can use. It sounds like it’s on several acres, or hectares as they call them here, so not only can it be your headquarters, but you can actually use it as your campsite.”
“I can’t wait to see it. I’m working hard to clear up my schedule. With any luck, I can be back in Malquar sometime next week.”
“It’s all coming together, Toots! Noth
ing can go wrong now.”
“Sheila, do not jinx this by being too cocky,” Tooty warns.
“I don’t believe in that nonsense. I believe in happy endings.”
“That sounds like a song title.”
Sheila starts to hum a little tune, “Prince Charming, white weddings, happy endings … Hmm, I might be able to do something with that.”
Lutéce
I crawl into bed early, thinking about Beatrice, Alistair, and how my life is about to change beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I am going to be a mom. This is huge.
I’m in the weird place between consciousness and sleep when I hear a car door slam. Bree yells, “Of all the nerve! He threw me overboard!”
“You had it coming,” Alistair tells her. “Grady’s date was none of your concern, yet you hounded him all night and made it impossible for him to have any time with her.”
“Brittany,” Bree spits. “What kind of name is that?”
“It’s a very pretty name,” he says.
I roll over in bed—automatically flipping my pillow to the cold side— still not sure if what I’m hearing is real or part of a dream.
“Grady should not be allowed to bring outsiders onto our boat.”
“Enough, Bree. You either need to confront him and tell him how you feel, or you need to let him have his life.”
“Oh, I’m going to tell him how I feel all right. Starting with how inappropriate I find his behavior. I’ll follow that up with telling him that dating trashy women reflects badly on the royal family. Then…” Her voice becomes muffled, and I can’t hear the rest of her diatribe.
When I wake up in the morning, my first thought is whether the conversation I thought I overheard was real or a fabrication. I’ll have to ask Alistair.
I don’t bother putting on clothes after getting out of bed. I just throw on a robe and slippers and make my way over to Alistair’s house. The French doors aren’t open, so I press my face into the glass and knock.
Alistair appears in my line of sight. His smile causes my heart to beat overtime.
“Good morning,” he says after opening the door. Then he pulls me into his arms and gives me the sweetest kiss.
“Good morning to you, too.” I inhale the spicy scent of him, and it’s all I can do not to tackle him to the ground.
“How did you sleep?” I ask.
“Like the dead. I went out onto the boat last night. There’s nothing like sea air to clear your head.”
“Did Bree go with you?”
“She did. How did you know that?”
“I thought I heard you come home. She sounded madder than a wet hen.”
“Oh, she was wet all right,” Alistair laughs. “Grady was on a date and Bree was so green with jealousy, she followed him around all night yelling at him. He finally got so irritated with her that he picked her up and threw her overboard.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. We were almost to shore. Plus, he threw in a life preserver after her. She didn’t need it though. Bree is the strongest swimmer out of all of us.”
“So, Grady’s date was a bust?” I ask.
“You could say that. Brittany told Grady that if she’d known he was married, she would have never gone out with him.”
“Married?”
“She said that he and Bree acted like an old married couple, and if they weren’t already hitched, they should look into it. Then she stormed off the boat telling Grady to lose her number.”
“Oh, dear. Where do things stand with Bree and Grady now?”
“If I had to place a wager, I’d say that they kicked off World War Three last night. I can’t imagine they’ll be seeking each other out to fix things.” Then he pulls me into a delicious hug and says, “But who cares about them? Let’s talk about us.”
“What do you want to talk about?” I ask. “Breakfast?”
He shakes his head as a slow smile overtakes his face. “Let’s talk about how I want to date you.”
“You do?” I tease. “What about all those other women?”
“You’re the only woman I’m interested in,” he says. And I believe him.
I think back to the conversation I overheard with his ex and say, “I’d better be.” My tone is light, but there’s a strong message behind my words. If I commit myself to Alistair, I will not tolerate a wandering eye.
Right now, though, both eyes are right on me, which is exactly where I want them. “What would you like for breakfast?” he asks. “You know my specialties.”
“No offense to your eggs, but Froot Loops really is the breakfast of champions.”
After two bowls, I run home and get dressed. After that, Alistair and I spend the entire day together.
We walk, we picnic, we snuggle on the couch. The day is pure bliss. At four in the afternoon, I ask, “Do you have plans tonight or can we have supper together?”
“Alas, I have to host the son of the British Ambassador. He’s a real jackass or I’d invite you to join us.”
“Why are you going out with him if he’s such a pain?” I ask in a semi-pout that our day is ending.
“Our fathers went to university together. It’s more of a family commitment than anything else.”
“Well, then. Maybe I’ll see if your sister wants to go out with me and paint the town red.”
“Are you trying to make me jealous?” he asks.
Giving him my most innocent expression, I say, “Who, me?”
While I’m not out looking for men, I wouldn’t mind if Alistair was a little jealous. A girl likes to know she has that kind of power over a man.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Queen Charlotte
“I’m afraid your son is not very pleased with me at the moment,” Sister Hennepin tells the queen.
“Which son?” Charlotte wants to know.
“Alistair, of course.”
“Why would he be upset with you?” The queen’s tone is full of confusion.
“Because I asked him to stop coming by so frequently.” The nun shuffles through a stack of papers on her desk.
“Alistair visits the orphanage?”
“Your Majesty, he is our patron. Of course, he visits.” It’s Sister Hennepin’s turn to look confused.
“I knew he paid the bills, I guess I didn’t realize he was more involved than that.” Then she asks, “What does he do here?”
“He reads to the children, plays ball with them, or just listens to them. He recently conceived of a fairy tale writing contest. That’s the reason I asked him not to come back for a while.”
The queen takes a sip of her tea before asking, “What does one thing have to do with another?”
“The children have begun to believe that Alistair is going to adopt the winner of the contest. It’s part of the reason we need to be careful how we deal with Lutéce’s conservatorship over young Beatrice. While the children will be happy for her, there will be some hurt feelings that it isn’t them.”
“I see.” Charlotte’s brow furrows. “I’ve been talking to a family friend of ours about starting a children’s camp of sorts. I think I may have an idea …”
Alistair
Easton Hardcastle is a real dick. As much as I’ve tried to like him, I can see no redeeming qualities. We’re currently at a club downtown, and his hand has not left the waitress’s backside since she walked over to get our order.
“Easton,” I tell him. “I don’t think our server cares to be pawed while you explain that you want your martini extra dirty.”
The waitress looks at me and blows a kiss. “Who says I have a problem with it?”
Okay. See if I try to play knight in shining armor again.
“When does your shift end?” Easton wants to know while pulling her down on his lap. “Because the prince and I would love to have you join us.”
Yeah, no.
“I’m off in two hours, so if you can keep yourself occupied until then, I’ll be all yours.”
>
He pushes her off him. “Then you’d better hop to it and get me my drink.” What a slime bucket. After she’s gone, he says, “Your life must be like this all the time, you lucky dog.”
“It’s nothing like this,” I assure him.
“That’s not what the newspapers say. But hey, it’s cool if you don’t kiss and tell. I respect that as long as you don’t mind me sharing the booty.”
“Easton, while I promised to meet you for a drink, I’m afraid I can’t spend the whole evening with you.”
“I give you permission to leave as soon as my night’s entertainment is off the clock.”
I will lose my mind if I have to spend two hours with this man. I get up on the pretense of using the loo, but what I need is a breath of fresh air. Walking out the front door, I think about how much I wish I were home with Lu.
I used to enjoy clubbing when I was younger, but now that I’m nearing my mid-thirties, I’m ready for more grown-up pursuits. I’m ready to get married and have a family. It’s one of the reasons I took Ellery’s betrayal so badly.
While I loved her, it was nothing compared to what I’m starting to feel for Lu. We enjoyed spending time together, and we were both ready to take the next step. So it seemed a good choice that we settle down together. At least that’s what I thought.
As though my reflections have the power to conjure, a red sports car pulls up and Ellery gets out. My God, did she install a tracking device in my car or something? How else could she know I’d be here?
She walks toward me wearing the tiniest black cocktail dress that I’ve ever seen. “Alistair.” She throws herself into my arms. “What are you doing here?” She’s hanging onto me like I’m her lifeline.
I gently try to push her away while answering, “I’m having a drink with a friend.”
Ellery turns around and waves at someone. The next thing I know, cameras are flashing and she’s full-on trying to make out with me. What in the actual hell?
I try to push her off me, but I’m pretty sure she must have slathered herself in super glue. “Darling,” she purrs in my ear. “Quit fighting it. You and I were meant to be.”
You're So Vain: A Royal Haters to Lovers Romance (Seven Brides for Seven Mothers Book 4) Page 19
