When Ravi turned from the front seat of the chauffeur-driven SUV that had been at the airfield to meet us, his eyes were wide.
“This is a house?”
At least I wasn’t the only one to be surprised.
“It’s more of a playground for grown-ups,” Alaric said.
Emmy’s car had left us in the dust on the journey, probably because she’d shooed her driver into the back seat and taken the wheel herself. I spotted him when we reached the turning area at the top of the driveway, leaning against one of the stone pillars that flanked the massive front doors, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Mental note: don’t get in a car with Emmy driving.
Sky didn’t seem shaken, but she was staring up at the gargoyles that decorated the roofline with a dazed expression on her face. Glad it wasn’t just me. Then she caught me looking at her and scowled as I climbed out of the car.
“What?” she asked. “We weren’t all born with a silver spoon up our arse, okay?”
I was getting used to Sky now. To her snark and the somewhat abrasive personality she used as a defence mechanism. Underneath the prickly exterior, she had a good heart. I nodded towards the building.
“No, it seems some people were born with a gold spoon.”
“Platinum, actually,” Emmy said as she slammed the car door. “But that was my husband, not me. Need a hand with your stuff?”
“Uh… Yes, please.”
Alaric had already started unloading the suitcases. One, two, three, four of them. And embarrassingly, they all belonged to me. He and Ravi had brought a duffel bag each, Sky carried a well-worn backpack, and Emmy had a laptop bag and nothing else. Until the others arrived at my flat to pick me up, I hadn’t realised they were travelling so light, and by then, it was too late to repack. Whenever I’d gone on trips with Piers or my parents, it had been practically mandatory to take a mountain of luggage. A girl never knew when she’d need that third cocktail dress. But with hindsight, perhaps I could’ve left some of the shoes behind, and the yoga mat too. This place probably had its own gym. Heck, I bet there was even a personal trainer just waiting to whip everyone into shape.
I moved to grab a suitcase, but before I could extend the handle, a small man with orange hair bounced down the steps, his silver jumpsuit shining in the sun.
“Ooh, new people!” He scurried towards Sky but quickly veered in my direction when she took a step back. “You must be Bethany? I love your necklace.” Oof. He squashed the breath out of me in a hug, then set his sights on Ravi. “Hey, hot stuff. I’m Bradley.”
Behind his back, Emmy rolled her eyes. “Bradley, for fuck’s sake let people get in the house before you start molesting them.”
“I’m just being welcoming.”
“Really? I pay your salary, and I didn’t get so much as a hello.”
“You live here. That’s different.” Now he headed for Sky again, and I noticed her fists ball up at her sides when he flung his arms around her. “So, you’re Emmy’s new project? I hope you know what you’ve let yourself in for. She’s a real slave driver. I’ve barely had a day off since Christmas.”
“Bradley, nobody made you go to every single fashion week. You also invited yourself to ‘help’ in Florida and then took it upon yourself to redecorate my house. Again. And you have an assistant now. Where is Izzy, anyway?”
“I sent her to the spa. Her manicure was chipped.” He gave up on Sky, who was stiff as a board, and grabbed my hand instead. “Come on, I’ll show you around. The guest house is ready for you and your men.”
His wink told me exactly what he was thinking.
“My men? No, no, it’s not like that.” Both of them? Not even in my dreams. “Not at all.”
“Sure it isn’t. Oh dear, you need a manicure too. I’ll book you in. Does tomorrow morning work?”
“Actually, we’re going to Kentucky tomorrow.”
“Tonight, then. I’ll get a beautician to come over. Where’s the rest of the luggage?”
“Uh, this is it. The cases are all mine.”
“Well, at least somebody knows how to pack properly. Leave it, leave it, one of the men can put it in your room.” He tugged me towards the front doors, and I pleaded with my eyes for Alaric to save me, but the cruel sod just grinned and waved. “The main house was built at the end of the nineteenth century, although it’s been extensively modernised since…”
CHAPTER 2 - EMMY
PROBABLY I SHOULD have made more of an effort to rein in Bradley, but I didn’t have the energy. The last week had left me drained. Not only the brush with death—although nearly following a lunatic off the roof of a high-rise was the closest I’d come to carking it so far this year—or even the dull ache from a broken nose, but part of my past coming back to haunt me.
And not just any old part.
Alaric.
We’d been together once, only for it to end in disaster when ten million bucks’ worth of cash and diamonds had vanished from his custody. At the time, I’d been his fiercest defender. I’d put my job and my reputation on the line for Alaric fucking McLain, only for him to disappear as well. And I mean disappear. Poof. Gone. Believe me, I’d looked, and he’d given me nothing—not so much as a postcard—for almost a year. I thought he was dead. Hell, I’d even picked out an outfit to wear to his funeral.
Had I been in love? No, but I’d cared for him a great deal. His moonlight flit hurt.
Boy,
