by Maddie Wade
With amber skin and dark brown hair with rich reds flowing through it, she was like an image from an Arabian night’s novel. All she needed was the outfit, her hips were curved, waist tiny, with knowing, seductive dark eyes.
Autumn was mesmerised by her, terrifyingly so, because in those eyes she saw secrets that she’d never want to know.
“Mitch said you were beautiful, and he didn’t lie.”
The woman pushed off the door and stepped closer, the velour tracksuit bottoms and vest doing nothing to hide her sexuality. Autumn detected a slight accent but couldn’t place it.
“Autumn, nice to meet you.” Autumn moved Maggie from one hip to the other so she could offer her hand, knowing that being friendly was far less likely to arouse suspicion than being offhand.
“Bebe. It’s nice to meet you, Autumn.” Bebe shook Autumn’s hand and then smiled as she glanced at Maggie. “She’s adorable. How old?”
Autumn looked at her baby who was waving her hand around, trying to make a grab for Bebe. “Maggie is five months now.”
Bebe took Maggie’s tiny hand and gave it a jiggle. “You are just precious.”
Her eyes found Autumn’s then, and she detected a loneliness about this woman she couldn’t place, a watchfulness that she saw in her own eyes as if she couldn’t trust those around her or at the least, it was hard-earned.
“Would you like some help with your bags?”
Autumn looked at her feet and realised she’d bought more than she thought and would need to make two trips. “I can manage.”
Bebe rolled her eyes. “I didn’t ask if you could manage, I asked if you’d like help.” Her otherwise scathing reply had the heat taken away by the softness of her tone.
“Thank you. That would be great.”
Autumn led the way as Bebe took two of the bags and followed. Opening her flat door, she walked in and placed Maggie in her bouncer chair. Knowing she should at least offer her a drink, Autumn glanced at Bebe. “Would you like a drink?”
Bebe shook her head. “I have to get back. I have a work call coming in later. Maybe another time?”
“Sounds good.”
Autumn showed her to the door, waving as she walked down the stairs. Closing it, she tipped her head at the slightly strange encounter. It was as if the other woman had been assessing her under a microscope and she wasn’t sure, but she thought perhaps she’d passed some unknown test.
Mitch had said they all worked in a similar industry with odd hours, but he hadn’t said what exactly, just that it involved security. Maybe that made them a suspicious bunch, but she knew no security company would get past her background checks. The witness protection people had promised her she was watertight for anyone looking into her.
Keisha Anderson no longer existed, and Autumn Roberts went back to the day of her birth, providing a full background, including speeding tickets and a credit file. With a frown she let the thought go and set about making dinner for herself. Perhaps she’d make a little extra and leave some for Mitch and Bebe. It wouldn’t hurt to make friends surely, and the best way to go unnoticed according to her contact was to be ordinary and ordinary people did nice things.
Chapter Four
“I hate wearing a fucking suit.” Mitch groaned as he stepped out of the back of the Range Rover outside Buckingham Palace.
Jack quirked a brow. “You can hardly come to the Palace in jeans and a fucking t-shirt.”
Mitch gave a curt nod. “I know that.”
One of the men they knew from previous visits walked towards them at the entrance, his hand outstretched towards Jack. He was a good guy, if a bit stiff, but as the Queen’s Private Secretary, James Fitzgerald III CVO had a tough job. Mitch wondered if perhaps he knew about the traitor inside the household. If he did, he certainly hadn’t told them who it was.
“James, good to see you.”
Jack shook hands and James led them inside, his walk brisk, as if he were always on to the next thing, his mind juggling a hundred different things at once.
“Gentlemen, if you’ll follow me.”
Mitch walked beside Blake, taking in the surroundings of the Palace and while admiring the décor, wondered how people could live there. It was hard to conceive of this being home to anyone, but if you knew nothing else, it was a moot point.
He caught the look one of the personal protection officers sent their way as they stepped through into the Private Secretary’s offices. Mitch glanced at Blake who’d also caught the barely contained look of disdain.
He understood it, they were private contractors and got paid a shit load more than the men that worked for Scotland Yard as PPOs. The fact they got paid from the Privy Purse probably pissed them off even more, but that wasn’t their decision nor his. It had been the Queen’s choice to have Eidolon take over certain protection roles, and Mitch had no doubt it was in no small part because of Blake.
His relationship with the Palace was a good one, and the fact that the Deputy Commissioner had shaken up the protection schedule for the Royals was the reason the Queen had taken back some control of her family’s safety by employing them.
Closing the door on a large office with an antique desk, James sat. The room was impressive, but as the most influential member of the Royal household, it was to be expected. This man ran the Royal family and had access to everything. Again, the thought filtered through his mind that perhaps James would be ideally situated to set them up for a fall, but why? That was the thing he couldn’t place and the reason during discussions within the team, he’d been ruled out time and again.
“I don’t have a lot of time, but I wanted to give you the heads up. There’s increasing tension about Eidolon having the contract for the tour next year, and we’re getting pushback from Scotland Yard.”
Mitch pursed his lips to stop himself from saying what he was thinking, which was suck it up, buttercup. These men needed to get a fucking grip. If they didn’t like the jobs they did or the pay they got, they needed to do something about it, not sulk like kids.
“That doesn’t bother us.” Jack looked calm, but Mitch knew him, and he was pissed off.
“Here are the confirmed destinations for the trip.” James handed Jack a sealed envelope. “And a proposed timeline.”
Jack took them and placed them in his inside pocket. The next twenty minutes, the four men went over some of the pitfalls they’d already identified while James made a note of them.
James Fitzgerald was in his early fifties, slim, with blonde hair fading to grey around the temples. He’d been with the Palace for almost twenty-five years, had worked his way up so he knew it better than anyone.
Mitch, Blake, and Jack had talked about asking him if he’d heard any rumblings about them having the contract, but as he’d already come out and said there were issues being raised , there was no need.
“If that’s everything, we’ll head out. I’ll be in touch next week about this and if that other job comes up, let me know.”
“Yes, I will.” James stood as did they, pausing by the door. “Jack, could I have a moment of your time in private?”
Jack looked at them and back to James. “Sure.”
Mitch and Blake waited outside the door as it closed tightly behind them.
Mitch looked at Blake who shrugged. “He’ll tell us if it’s necessary.”
Mitch watched the comings and goings of the Palace and wondered if Autumn would enjoy it or if she’d ever been. He’d found himself thinking about her a lot in the last few days, ever since their encounter on the day she’d moved in.
Mitch had seen plenty of beautiful women in his years but seeing her sitting crossed-legged on the floor of her empty flat, feeding her baby as she smiled down at her with so much love, had affected him in ways he hadn’t expected. He couldn’t remember seeing something so beautiful; she’d looked almost ethereal, angelic.
The tension between them when he touched her hand so innocently while helping her with the pram had been fucking e
lectric, making his cock spring to life, his belly tightening with the need to see if she tasted as good as she looked. He’d held back though, the wariness in her eyes telling him of a past that still haunted her.
It made him want to know what had put that look there, but he wanted her to tell him, to trust him. It was a strange feeling to have about a woman he hardly knew and especially one a decade younger than him with a new baby.
The door abruptly opening behind him had him glancing back to see Jack, with a furious look on his face, marching towards them. James followed, closing the door as he stepped through and led them back to the exit.
“Safe trip back, Gentlemen.” With a nod, James left.
Silence and tension swirled around Jack like a volcano about to blow. They climbed back in the car and drove towards the exit at the front of the Palace. The Range Rover had tinted windows so their coming and going wouldn’t be caught on camera. And even inside the Palace, they weren’t actually known to anyone other than James and the Royal family, as either Eidolon or by their real names. Secrecy was crucial to their work, so the people who were currently hating on them thought they were just a bunch of hired muscle.
“You wanna share what’s on your mind?” Mitch asked as Jack took a corner dangerously fast as they exited the motorway two hours later.
Jack glanced at Blake, and Mitch watched Jack’s jaw tick with anger. “Commissioner Wells has cancer. Deputy Commissioner Osbourne is running the show, and Fitz says he’s changed up the PPO rotation so that he has certain men on individual Royals.”
Blake frowned, his whole face going dark. “That makes no sense. The reason I left the service was that he changed it from that.”
Jack nodded. “Fitz says the PPOs they have are good, but the family is unhappy with it. I got the impression that the men Osbourne is using are hand-picked by him.”
Mitch sat forward. “It stinks of nepotism.”
Blake turned to him. “Osbourne has always been a self-serving twat.”
“You still got friends at the Yard, right?” Jack locked eyes with Mitch as he continued to drive.
“Yeah a few. Want me to make some enquiries about the guys he has on duty at the Palace?”
“Yes. I’ll have Will get you the names.”
“Sure. Brant wants a favour from me, so this might be a perfect time.”
“Perfect. We need to see if this plays into the threat to Eidolon. I’ll call a meeting tomorrow, and we can talk through what we know before I meet with Gunner later this week.”
“What happened to the last meeting? Why did he cancel?”
Jack shook his head. “Don’t know but you can bet I’ll be finding out.”
An hour later they pulled into Eidolon, and Jack stalked towards his office, closing his door.
“What the fuck happened?” Alex asked, stepping from his own office, brushing a hand through his hair as his eyebrows rose.
“Osbourne happened,” Blake said and walked towards the gym.
“The Deputy Commissioner?” Alex furrowed his brow as he crossed his arms and looked at Mitch.
“Yeah, seems he’s putting his own men in position at the Palace.”
“Prick. I always hated him. Jack think it’s anything to do with us?”
Mitch shrugged as he put his hands in the pockets of his suit trousers. “It’s certainly possible. I think he wants a meeting tomorrow, but maybe you should speak to him about it.”
Alex pushed up off the doorjamb. “Will do.”
Mitch liked the dynamic between Alex and Jack. As second, Alex was the perfect balance to Jack, especially in situations like this, and since reuniting with Evelyn, he was even calmer than before.
Knowing that whatever was about to go down in the coming weeks wasn’t going to be good news, Mitch went to grab a coffee from the kitchen before he put in a call to Brant. The man was looking to slow down, and he’d asked Mitch to put in a word with Aubrey about the detective’s position that had opened up.
Mitch had been surprised at first, the guy was only thirty-nine, but then the quiet life suited some better than others. He certainly liked the pace of life here, but he still had the adrenalin rush with his job.
Entering the large kitchen, he could smell the pot of curry on the stove that Alex had made. Having a chef on the team sure made long days a hell of a lot easier. He was surprised to see Madison, having forgotten she worked there now.
“Hey, Madison, how you settling in?”
The woman looked up; her pretty face angled to him as she smiled. She looked so much like her sister, warm umber brown skin, dark chestnut coloured eyes but where Aubrey was more athletic, Madison had all the curves. In personality, the sisters were like chalk and cheese. Madison was the tornado that struck quickly, making everything fun and leaving devastation in her wake, while Aubrey was the calm aftermath.
Mitch knew she was ten years younger than Autumn, but it was more than that, the two women were poles apart. Autumn held a sadness about her, older than her years as if life had made her grow up far faster than it should have. It made Mitch want to protect her, make her smile, and ease the pain he saw in her eyes when she forgot to hide from him.
“I’m settling okay. Lots to learn, but I want to make this work for Aubrey. It’s the least I owe her after everything I put her through.”
Mitch poured the dark, fragrant coffee into his mug. “You don’t want this for you?”
Holding the mug up, he crossed his arm over his chest and took a sip as Madison looked at him with confusion.
“What?”
“You said this is for Aubrey. Don’t you want this job?”
Madison shook her head, her eyes dropping. “I do, yes.”
“But?”
“I guess life doesn’t always turn out how you want it to. I wanted to be a nurse when I was younger, but then I kind of went off the rails.”
“Kind of?” Mitch asked with a grin to take the sting from his words.
“No, I definitely went off the rails.” She smiled back, and Mitch realised that Madison was lost. Trying to do the right thing and failing to find herself.
Pushing off the counter, he went to move past her and stopped to lay a hand on her shoulder. “You need to be happy, kid. Aubrey wants that for you. If nursing is your dream, make it happen.”
With that, he walked towards the bank of offices he shared with the rest of the team and plopped himself in his chair. He was tired after an early start and not much sleep, thoughts of his sexy tenant keeping him awake. He needed to make the call and then get home for some sleep, maybe if he were lucky he’d run into her again.
Chapter Five
Autumn looked at the clock as she paced the living room of her apartment, Maggie over her shoulder as she rubbed her little girl’s back trying to comfort her. She hated to see her baby like this. Today had been her last set of baby jabs until she turned one. Normally she’d have had them by now, but with the move, Autumn was late getting them done.
Rocking her back and forth as she walked the floorboards, her lips pressed to her baby’s slightly warm cheek. The teething didn’t help, but Autumn had expected a slight fever and crankiness. Maggie had been the same after the first two sets of vaccinations. This time she had teething to contend with too.
“Oh, Roo, I know it hurts. Silly jabs and teeth. I wish I could take the pain away quicker. Mummy will give you some more medicine soon.” Autumn glanced at the clock on the microwave and saw it was a little after two in the morning. Maggie could have some more Calpol at two-thirty—thank god.
Maggie continued to cry as if her heart would break, and Autumn felt the tears prick her own eyes with helplessness. She hated this. Typically, being alone with Maggie was fine, she kind of liked that it was her and Maggie against the world, but times like this she really missed having a second set of arms to hold her. Maggie was a relatively good baby, but when she was cranky and keeping her up all night, there was nobody to share that with.
Rese
ntment hit her as she thought of Maggie’s father. He should be here but he’d been a fool, and now his ass was dead. The man she’d loved had betrayed them, leaving her in hiding with a new baby. Not even living long enough to know she was pregnant, he’d chosen money over love, and she’d never forgive that.
Autumn stopped dead as she heard a knock at her door. Turning, she listened for a noise, her heart beating faster. Who could possibly be knocking on her door in the dead of night? Caution had her stepping closer to try and hear as the knock came again.
“Autumn, it’s Mitch.”
Relief washed through her at the sound of his deep voice, and she moved to the door, un-flipping the extra locks she’d had installed and pulling the door open. Autumn’s gaze moved over Mitch, from his gorgeous lopsided grin to his bizarrely bare feet. He wore low slung grey sweats and a white tee and looked mighty fine in her opinion.
“Just wanted to check everything was okay. I heard Maggie crying and wanted to check on you.”
She stepped back as he moved through the door and past her into the living space, which was lit by a small table lamp. Autumn followed as Maggie let out another cry. Mitch looked at Maggie with concern before his eyes went back to hers.
“I’m so sorry if we woke you.”
Mitch stepped closer, his face peering at Maggie as he laid his large hand over her baby’s tiny back with a gentleness she hadn’t expected. “You didn’t wake me. I was up working.”
He glanced up, and his dark brown eyes were filled with concern. He was a man who fixed things; she knew that about him already.
“Maggie had her vaccinations today, top that with teething and she’s not feeling too good.” Autumn yawned and quickly moved to cover her mouth. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
