Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 127368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
“I’m sure,” I said softly.
“I sense we’ll soon find out where he’s at with Portia, but from what I saw earlier, I’m not sure, at this juncture, who’s shitting on who. But it looks like a watershed moment happened in the Sherry Room. I just hope we don’t get caught in the spillage.”
“Mm.” I hummed. After I did, Ian studied me for so long, I asked, “What?”
“Ask it.”
“Ask what?”
“Ask about what you’ve been noticing, but I can’t ask about it, because if I do, I’ll sound like an arrogant prick.”
Well, damn.
“It’s not a question,” I said.
“It’s an observation, so say it.”
“Portia is pining for you.”
He drew in a big breath through his nose, expanding his chest, then he let it out.
“So it’s not just me feeling that,” he remarked.
No, it wasn’t.
And it might explain a few things.
Why we were there for a full week, all the more time for Portia to rub her relationship with Daniel in Ian’s face. And the fact Ian was there at all. It was a meeting of the families, of course, but he was a busy man, who it was my understanding managed a vast empire.
Lady Jane never left Duncroft. We’d have to come here to meet her.
If there was going to be a sibling meet, we could have had dinner with Ian in London.
“She looks at you a lot,” I remarked. “She was furious you were in here with me last night. Some of her only displays of affection for Daniel are when you show one to me.”
“Yes. Yes. And yes.”
“Shit,” I muttered.
“Thus, this is what we’re working with,” he began.
He then ran it down.
“My father is about to lose his title, so he’s acting more of an ass than usual. My mother is off, maybe because of that, maybe because of Portia, maybe for an as yet unknown reason. Danny’s future lies in the balance because it’ll soon be up to me, not only his status here at Duncroft, but if I’ll continue to allow him to be a line item on the estate’s balance sheet. And instead of having a man-to-man chat with me about it, Danny has some play he’s making, we don’t know what it is, but I sense it’s coming.”
All true.
Ian kept going.
“And now there’s the possibility that whatever it is, is independent of what Portia is up to. She wants me. She may or may not have been using my brother to attempt to make me jealous. This backfired. Worse, she threw you in my path. Now you have me, which could exacerbate whatever she has on her mind to do. And the stakes that hang in the balance of all of this are hearts, minds, family ties and the small matter of a hundred billion dollars, which two of those players want their hands on pretty badly. Neither have control of it, but you do, and they just tied your hands in confiscating it. At least for the next year. Have I covered it all?”
He’d been pretty thorough.
Though my favorite part was, “now you have me.”
And none of the rest was favorite at all.
“I think that sums it up nicely,” I replied.
“My brother told me about your éclairs before I even met Portia. I’ve been to your shop. I’m partial to your Viennese whirls.”
I loved that.
And I loved he’d tasted my work, he’d had a part of me, even before he met me, and he liked it.
I didn’t tell him that.
I said, “Those are simple.”
“There’s nothing simple about excellence. Especially the kind that’s no muss, no fuss, just sweet and decadent.”
“You’re being flirty again, babe.”
“No, Daphne, I’m not.”
What?
Wait.
Pow!
Right to the heart.
Argh!
“I’m not loving this kissing date we have for later when you’re right fucking here,” I groused.
“It’s better to wait. Promise.”
“I hope so, for your sake,” I muttered.
He grinned at me and the promise in his eyes made me shiver again.
“Okay, changing the subject…” I began, starting to reach toward my Kindle to show him the picture I found, but stopping dead when we both heard a spine-chilling scream.
And if I wasn’t wrong, it was coming from Lou’s room.
Before I could blink, Ian was up, bent to me, finger in my face, growling, “Don’t leave this room.”
And then he sprinted toward the door.
Eighteen
THE POPPY ROOM
I wasn’t proud that when I popped off the lounge after Ian raced out, I froze.
This was because thoughts collided in my head as adrenalin rushed in my veins, and I couldn’t decide what to do.
That scream was close. It was horrible. Ian had rushed toward it. I wanted to know if Lou was all right. I wanted to know if Ian was all right. But I wondered if first, I should find a weapon or call the police.
My decision was made for me when I heard Ian roar, “Daphne!”
I dashed out and instinctively went right to the Poppy Room.