The Royals Series

by Bay, Louise

  “What did the message say?” Violet asked.

  “Just to say hi. Like I said, no big deal.” I took a bite out of the smoked salmon sandwich, hoping the girls would focus on their food rather than me.

  “Are you going to see him again?”

  “We’re neighbors—no doubt I’ll run into him. Now, can we drop this and focus on something more interesting?”

  “I can’t think of anything more interesting,” Aurora said.

  My phone buzzed again, and this time it was a call coming through. Was he so impatient for an answer? My heart began to thump against my chest and my fingers twitched with the desire to reach into my bag.

  “Answer it,” Violet said.

  Without looking at the screen, I pulled my phone out of my bag and stood up, wanting to avoid the avid curiosity of my friends. I couldn’t remember a time when a man had me so ruffled. It was as if he’d burned down my defenses last night. Nothing about it had been slow and steady, it had been quick and immediate and inevitable. And despite trying to convince myself otherwise, I wanted more.

  I got to the end of the promenade and flipped my phone over, disappointed to see that it wasn’t Logan at all, it was Lane.

  “Is everything all right?” I asked.

  “I thought you’d want to know sooner rather than later that Logan Steele has lodged an appeal against the planning decision taken by the Parish Council.”

  I had to steady myself against one of the marble pillars. “What? When?”

  “Looks like it was lodged on Friday. I’ve got hold of a copy of the appeal. They’re not going to give up, Miss Darcy.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing. I shouldn’t be surprised. A move like this was Logan Steele to a tee. Every time I thought he was one man, he showed me another side to him. I wanted him to be the man that took me to dinner last night, had spoken at the community center, had fucked me all night. Instead he was the man who was still trying to devastate the village and memories that I so wanted to protect.

  I was angry at him. Angry at myself for letting myself be seduced by him. Furious at the fact I’d been so delighted he’d just messaged me just a few minutes before. Fight drained from my body, chased off by the disappointment churning through my veins.

  I’d only agreed to go to dinner with Logan because he’d lost, but he’d planned to appeal and had never said a word.

  “Can you email it to me? I’ll have my lawyers look over it and we’ll see what they can do.”

  So much for Violet and Aurora’s enthusiasm. So much for cheese on toast, wine and orgasms. So much for me enjoying myself last night. It had all turned to ash in a fraction of a second. Everything good about last night had been reversed and rewound. For a moment, I’d let myself relax, let my guard down, allowed someone else to take the reins.

  And look where it had gotten me.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Logan

  Darcy Westbury was irritating the shit out of me—even her absence got under my skin. In fact, it was exactly her absence that had me short-tempered and foul-mouthed. I slammed down the phone, cutting off one of my IT guys who was trying to explain why I hadn’t had access to the internet for the last hour. I was pretty sure that if I hadn’t been his top priority before, I certainly was now.

  But the internet wasn’t the problem, or at least not the only problem. Darcy had been ignoring my messages, avoiding my calls and generally pissing me off since I’d last seen her five bloody days ago.

  Our evening had been incredible, the sex better than I could have imagined. And I thought she’d felt the same. Everything had worked between us. I’d confessed things I’d never told anyone and she’d been open and sweet. The next day I’d left her, knowing I should walk away—but in just a few hours, my resolve had disappeared, and I knew I had to have her again. Despite myself, I’d suggested another date, but had no response. For the first time in my life, I wanted more from a woman than she wanted from me.

  That was bad enough.

  But the fact that she didn’t even have the decency to respond to say no was frustrating the hell out of me.

  “What?” I snapped in response to a knock at my office door.

  “I can come back later if it’s a bad time,” my head of development said as he poked his head around my door.

  “Come in, Malcolm.” I should have caught up with him days ago—I needed a way forward after the planning setback for Manor House Club. “I hope you’ve come armed with solutions.”

  He took a seat on the other side of my desk. “I need to know if you want to pursue a plan B while we wait for the planning appeal.”

  I glanced up. “What plan B and what planning appeal?”

  “We lodged an appeal as soon as the decision came in from the Parish Council.”

  “Why didn’t I know about this?”

  “I spoke to the lawyers—it was their recommended course of action. We appealed the Friday after the decision.”

  I sighed. No wonder Darcy hadn’t returned my calls. “You should have spoken to me about that.”

  “You’re never interested in this kind of detail.”

  “Yeah, well, this is different. For one thing, it’s the first business I’m building from scratch, but more importantly, these people are my neighbors. My grandmother’s friends. I need a heads-up before you start making decisions like that.” At least now I understood why Darcy had been such a pain in my arse since our date. I just had to figure out how to fix it.

  What kind of hold did this woman have over me?

  “I’ll keep you better briefed in the future. Do you want me to go through possible plan B scenarios?”

  I checked my watch. “You have ten minutes.”

  Malcolm produced a presentation with three worked-out alternative solutions to pursuing planning permission. The first was to abandon the project and invest in a similar business which was looking for funding. That wasn’t an option for me. The whole point of this project was that I wanted it to be mine from the ground up. The second involved first opening a location in London to prove my credentials, and the final option was to move the location to a brownfield site about fifteen miles away from Badsley, close to transport links.

  “I’ve not been on the ground, so I’m relying on desktop research,” Malcolm explained, “but it looks feasible. The surrounding area is five rural acres that have previously been used for industry but are now abandoned.” He produced aerial photos of the proposed site. “The plot has been available for three years, with no takers, and it’s already well-priced. I figure we can secure a decent reduction.”

  “Any issues from the previous industrial use?”

  “Nothing that would require anything more than demolition and landscaping.”

  “What was there before?”

  “It’s just some industrial retail units—a scheme that was only half finished, but it means roads and water are already in place.”

  “This is good work,” I said, impressed with the idea of the brownfield site. We were less likely to come up against planning restrictions, the site was close to the motorways and we would be enhancing something I imagined the locals viewed as an eyesore at the moment. “When do we hear about the appeal?”

  “It’s likely to be months—you know what these things are like.”

  “Arrange a site visit while we wait.” Darcy had been able to persuade the Parish Council that the development of Manor House Club would be a curse on all their houses, and I wouldn’t underestimate her ability to block our appeal.

  My mobile vibrated. “We’ll go and see the alternate location next week. Monday morning would work, then I can come into the office from there. Set it up.” I picked up the phone as Malcolm stood up and headed to the door.

  Darcy’s name flashed on the screen and I willed Malcolm to hurry—I didn’t want to take this call in front of anyone. Why was she calling now?

  He shut the door and I pressed accept. “We need to talk—I did
n’t know anything about the appeal until a few moments ago.”

  “You need to get back here,” she said, her voice tight and filled with panic. “Get on that stupid helicopter. Your grandmother has fallen—they’re taking her to hospital.”

  It took a few seconds to process what she was saying. I’d expected a barrage of abuse. Or the silent treatment. I hadn’t expected her to be calling about my grandmother. “She’s fallen? Is she conscious, bleeding?” I asked, heading out of my office.

  “No blood and yes, she’s conscious. A bit drowsy—concussed, I think, but—”

  Jesus. How had this happened? It was why I paid for a nurse to be on site twenty-four hours a day. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Which hospital?”

  “Chiltern Central.”

  I didn’t even know where that was. “Stay with her, will you?” I asked. I hated the idea that my grandmother was alone and vulnerable. I was meant to protect her, keep her safe. “She likes you.”

  “I’ll be here. Just get here. Fast.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Logan

  The worry was overwhelming. The muscles in my body were so tightly strung they felt as if they might snap and I had to remind myself to breathe. “How are you feeling?” I asked my grandmother for the ninetieth time.

  “Like I’m going to hit you over the head with a cricket bat if you ask me that again.” My grandmother shifted on the bed, trying to sit up. “It was no big deal. You heard the doctor—I didn’t break anything.”

  “Let’s wait for the results of the scans before you tell me it’s no big deal.” I wasn’t taking any chances. My grandmother was my only family. She was the driving force behind my success—hell, she was the reason for my survival. If she hadn’t rescued me from my father, God knows where I would have ended up. And I would protect her, just like she’d always protected me.

  She rolled her eyes at Darcy, who was sitting on a visitor chair by the door.

  “I should go.” Darcy dropped her mobile into her bag.

  The last thing I wanted was for her to leave. She had been so capable, calmly talking to the doctors while I paced and lost my temper every five seconds when no one would give me a straight answer. “Would you wait until we get the results? You speak medicine better than I do.”

  “You mean Darcy doesn’t treat people as if they’re conspiring to murder me?” my grandmother asked.

  “Maybe.” I smiled at her. At least she hadn’t lost any of her feistiness.

  “Darcy’s a very busy woman—she’s already spent most of the day here,” my grandmother said.

  Of course, I was being selfish. Darcy had been here hours, just sitting and waiting, fetching us coffee, encouraging us both. I just wanted her to stay a little longer. I’d missed her in the week since I’d seen her, which was ridiculous, given we didn’t know each other very well.

  We were interrupted by one of the doctors who looked younger than some of my favorite ties. Surely we should be talking to someone more senior?

  “We have the results of the MRI. There’s no sign of any bleeding, which is good news. We just want to keep you overnight for observation.”

  I exhaled. Thank God. It could have been so much worse.

  “I told you I was fine,” she said, admonishing me as I squeezed her hand.

  “I’ll be happier when you’re discharged,” I replied.

  “And I’ll be happier when you stop looking at me as if I’m about to curl up and die.”

  “Granny! I’m doing no such thing. I’m just concerned—anyone would be.” Maybe I’d overreacted. But she was the only person in the world I cared about. The only person who cared about me. Without my grandmother, I was nothing.

  “Visiting hours are over,” the doctor said. “And your grandmother is in the best place. There’s nothing you can do here, Mr. Steele.”

  “I don’t care if I have to buy this place. I’m not leaving until my grandmother can come with me.”

  The doctor raised his eyebrows. “I’ll let you speak to the nurse in charge.”

  “Thank you, doctor,” Darcy said.

  “Yes, thanks,” I growled under my breath.

  As the door shut behind him, my grandmother patted my hand. “Darcy, will you please take my grandson home? I want to listen to the radio and then have a sleep.”

  I glanced at my watch. Where had the last five hours gone? “I won’t be any bother. I’ll just sit over there.” I pointed to the chair next to Darcy. “You won’t even know I’m here.”

  “You heard the doctor, Logan. I’ll be fine, and you can come back tomorrow morning.”

  Before I had a chance to reply the door swung open and an older woman in a nurse’s uniform bustled inside. “Right, visiting has been over for more than an hour. Please leave Mrs. Steele to rest.”

  My grandmother shot me an expression I’d seen a hundred times before. Usually when she’d warned me something would turn out badly, but I’d ignored her warning and slunk back with egg on my face.

  “You have your mobile, right?” Darcy asked my grandmother.

  “Is it charged?” I asked.

  My grandmother sighed. “Yes, it’s charged, and Darcy put the charger in my overnight bag, too.”

  I pulled out the phone and the charger from the small bag on the table beside the bed and turned up the volume.

  “We’re only fifteen minutes away, Logan, and your grandmother does need to rest. It’s been a stressful day,” Darcy said. “You can’t do anything constructive here and you’ll only make things worse by fussing.” As always, Darcy told it to me straight. Part of my frustration was the fact I was so helpless. But the last thing I wanted was for my stress to spill over and make my grandmother more anxious.

  I took a deep breath. Darcy was right. I should leave and maybe my grandmother could sleep. “And you’ll call me if you need anything?”

  “Yes, Logan. But I’ll be fine, especially knowing Darcy is looking after you.” My grandmother had great instincts about people and had instantly liked Darcy, making comments all the time regarding what a lovely girl she was. How capable, pretty and clever. None of it passed me by. I knew she wanted me to be happy, and thought me having a wife and family of my own would provide that.

  Although I’d never defined my success like that, I understood what my grandmother saw in Darcy. She was lovely and capable and clever. Not to mention sexy as hell and breathtakingly beautiful.

  “I’ll wait for you outside,” Darcy said.

  “No, you take him with you or I’ll never get rid of him,” my grandmother said, brushing my hands away.

  I chuckled and stood, leaning over the bed to kiss her on the forehead. “Try to behave and don’t give the nurses any trouble.” I glanced at the formidable woman standing at the end of the bed.

  “Stop fussing, Logan.”

  I would never stop fussing over her. She had been my world for as long as I could remember. “I love you, Granny,” I said.

  “I love you, too, my darling boy.”

  I blew her a kiss and headed out. Having to rely on others to take care of my grandmother wasn’t comfortable, wasn’t who I was, but making her happy by leaving was all I could do.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Darcy

  I’d never seen Logan Steele so vulnerable. So human. My heart ached a little for him and I hated myself for that. I needed to be building walls between me and this man, not have him smashing holes in my half-constructed ones.

  “You really think she’s going to be okay?” Logan asked as we headed out.

  I stared straight ahead as we headed to the car park, determined that his handsome face wouldn’t further melt my resolve. “I really do. Nothing was broken—this could have been a lot worse.”

  He nodded and scraped his hands through his hair. I imagined he struggled with the lack of control he had in situations like this. I’d felt that way when my grandfather had fallen and broken his hip.

  “I just wish I could fix i
t,” he said.

  I understood, and despite my disappointment in him, my instincts screamed at me to reach for him and provide him with some sort of comfort.

  “Thank you for being there. Were you at Badsley when it happened?”

  “No, but her nurse called me and I headed over.” I might be trying to protect myself from Logan Steele, but I was very fond of his grandmother, and frankly, anyone in need in the village would have received my full attention.

  “I appreciate it. I need to calm down. Distract myself. I know that you’re upset with me—”

  “Let’s just focus on your grandmother—she’s what’s important right now.” There was no point in rehashing what I already knew to be true. Logan Steele wanted to build on Badsley land at any cost. And I couldn’t live with that.

  The front doors slid open and we stepped into the chilly night. “I didn’t know about the appeal when we went on our date, Darcy. It’s important to me that you know that.”

  I sighed, wanting to avoid another discussion about this. “It doesn’t change anything.”

  “I found out just before you called that my head of development filed the paperwork on Friday.”

  I unlocked my Range Rover and headed to the driver’s seat without a word.

  Logan climbed in the passenger door and slammed it shut. “You don’t believe me?”

  “Are you withdrawing your appeal?” I knew that he wouldn’t, but I wanted him to understand that it didn’t matter if he hadn’t known about the appeal if the outcome was just the same.

  “I’m looking at several options.”

  “As I said, just because you didn’t know when it was lodged doesn’t change anything.”

  “Darcy, you know how important Manor House Club is to me. I’m not trying to upset you.”

  “But you have. Let’s drop it.”

  “So we can be friends?”

  I pulled out onto the main road and headed back to the village. I didn’t want to argue with Logan. He was clearly worried about Mrs. Steele, but at the same time I wasn’t about to tell him that appealing the planning decision was okay by me. Because it wasn’t.