“What?” he asked.
“Didn’t Clara tell you?” Barb studied him. “No, of course not. Penelope’s back.”
It took work, but he managed to remain neutral. “That’s good. Is she feeling better?”
“Seems to be feeling fine. You don’t look fine, though.”
“I’m not.” He rubbed his face with his hands.
Zora touched his arm. “You look pale.”
Amber nodded in agreement.
He sighed. There were only a few times in his life when he’d been sick. Typically, long nights didn’t bother him, but he’d begun the trip not feeling great. Angus chalked it up to the stress of the last week, but that didn’t seem to be the case now.
“You’re getting in pretty late,” said Barb.
“I know. I missed my connecting flight. There was a long layover, and then the plane was grounded. I ended up having to hire a driver. I was in a car for six hours.”
“Yuck. Done that. Not fun,” Jeanie said.
Angus palmed his forehead. “I’m going to go to bed.”
Zora eyed him as if she wanted to say something. She opened and shut her mouth. “I hope you feel better.”
“Thanks. A good night’s sleep should be all I need.” He looked at Barb. “We need to talk about my schedule for the coming week. Good night, ladies.”
Barb followed him into his bedroom, and he shut the door.
“Clara has Skype meetings scheduled the rest of the week.” Angus sat hard on the bed.
“Skype? She didn’t clear that with me.” Barb grumbled. “I guess that means you won’t be doing interviews this week.”
Whatever energy he had left was gone. “It won’t interfere. I’ll be able to do them. She’s scheduled them throughout the night with various directors, producers, and studios.”
“Are you going to be able to keep up with that?”
“I’ll have to. I’m contractually obligated.” He said it like an automated response.
Barb crossed her arms over her chest. “She wants to distance you from Penelope.”
“Aye.”
“She’s also trying to make you suffer.”
His eyes felt heavier and heavier. “Aye.”
“You know a nearly forty-year-old body can’t handle the things a twenty-year-old body can.” Barb huffed. “No interviews this week. Any chance you get to rest, do it. I won’t help her run you down.”
Angus nodded. “Apparently, the show’s been good for me.”
Barb smiled. “You’re back to being the man people loved. They see you as a person and not some spoiled celebrity who thinks he can do what he wants. Penelope’s been good for you.”
One side of his lips twitched up. “Aye.” He wanted to see Penelope, but the longer he sat still, the harder he found it to move.
A light tapping came at the door.
He swore under his breath. “If that’s one of them, I’m not in the mood.”
Barb answered the door.
When he looked over, it was Penelope. Barb quickly ushered her in and shut the door.
“Are you okay?” Penelope asked as she crossed the room and sat beside him.
Angus had missed her. Despite the exhaustion, his heart jumped as he pulled her into a bear hug. He’d more than missed her. He wasn’t whole when she wasn’t around. “I’ll be fine. Just a rough day of travel.”
“It looks like it. Are you sure that’s all it is?”
“Aye, I’m sure. I’m glad to see you’re doing well.” He leaned back and studied her face.
“I’m fine.”
He combed his fingers through her hair, soaking her in. Being away from her had been harder than he’d realized. “I’ll not be following you onto the patio this week, okay?” At least he wouldn’t be miles away. He’d get to see her during the day.
Penelope nodded. “It’s okay. These women are a little too competitive for me.”
“Me too.”
“Me three,” Barb said, standing by the door.
Penelope palmed his cheek. “You feel a little warm.”
He smiled. “A good night’s sleep, and I’ll be good to go.”
“I hope so.” She pulled away and stood. “Get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Angus pulled her back down and kissed her. “Now you’ll see me tomorrow.”
She glanced at Barb, and her cheeks flushed. “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Penelope stopped at the door, gave him one last look, and left.
Angus wilted back onto the bed.
“You should have told her you don’t feel well,” Barb said.
“Jetlag, stress, and Clara. It would be plenty to drag a herd of elephants down. I just need sleep.”
Barb walked to the door. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow too. Make sure you get that rest.”
“Aye.”
He closed his eyes and barely heard the door click shut.
Chapter 45
Penelope shuffled into the interview room. They’d given her a couple of days, and now it was time to pay the piper. She’d only briefly seen Angus since he’d returned. He didn’t look well, but he insisted he was fine. It had made Penelope even more determined to figure out how to get Angus free from Clara. No one needed to be subjected to that kind of cruelty.
They’d also learned that her creamer was spiked with an herb called Mexican Tea Oil. It was what caused her stomach to hurt so badly. It was something not typically tested for, which was why it took so long for the results to get back from the lab.
“So, Penelope,” Vincent said. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay.”
He smiled. “That’s good to know. You had us all worried.”
Good thing she wasn’t drinking something. She would have doused him. “Oh, well, I appreciate that.”
“You and Angus haven’t spent much time together this week. Are you missing him?” Vincent’s eyebrows knitted together.
Penelope nodded. “I am. I miss our late-night talks.”
“Even though you told him not to follow you?”
She caught her bottom lip in her teeth. “Yes. I think I like that he enjoys my company enough to ignore me.”
“It’s getting close to the end of the show. Have you got any predictions on how it will end? Do you think you’ll be sporting a ring?”
Her eyes widened. In an instant, the room was hotter than Hades. “Uh…I don’t know. I guess I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
The man’s eyes glittered with mischief. “Really? Not even a little?”
She’d never had a more vicious debate about whether or not to strangle someone. The cameras pointed at her only slightly influenced her decision to stay in her seat. “No, not even a little.”
He nodded. “Well, all right, then. I guess we’ll stay glued to our seats.”
She stood and took off out the room where she could breathe. The show ending. A ring. Too much to think about, and she was missing Angus on top of it. She’d be needing her outdoor moment tonight.
* * *
Penelope snuggled under the blanket she’d brought with her outside. It was cold enough at night now that the fireplace needed help keeping her warm. So far, Angus hadn’t followed her out onto the patio. It made her miss him.
Large flakes of snow poured down just beyond the roof of the patio. Everything was already white, and this new snow added to what was already there. It sure was beautiful.
She rested her head on the back of the chair and stared into the fire. The surrounding patio turned into a haze. The tranquility of sitting outside helped her deal with the interactions with the other ladies. They’d almost become too much to deal with since it was so close to the show’s end.
The door clicked, and Penelope startled as Angus joined her. “Angus, it’s Wednesday. I thought you weren’t going to follow me out here this week.”
“First time in a while.” He sat in the chair next to hers and leaned his head back.
Penelope studie
d him. “You’re not feeling well.”
“Just tired.”
She stood and pressed her hand to his forehead. “You’re running a fever.”
Angus pulled her onto his lap. “I’ve missed our late-night talks.”
“I have too, but you need to go lie down.”
“I wanted to see you for a moment. I’ve had to deal with Zora and Amber during the day and Skype at night, and…I need the quiet.”
“Skype at night?”
“Clara. She scheduled meetings at night all week.” Beads of sweat were popping up on his forehead.
Penelope brushed his cheek with her fingers. “Can you get up? I think you should go inside.”
He nodded.
When she got up, he stood and swayed.
She put her arm around his waist and walked with him. By the time they got to the couch in the great room, Angus collapsed onto it. Excited shouts and movement came from upstairs, and the next thing Penelope knew, Barb was standing next to her.
“What happened?” Barb asked.
Penelope palmed his face and rubbed her thumb over his cheek. “He barely made it to the couch before he passed out.”
“I knew he wasn’t feeling good. Stubborn mule.”
“Of course, you’d be right in the thick of things,” Zora said from behind Penelope.
How could she think of something so trivial right now? Penelope turned, frown lines creasing her forehead as she looked at Zora. “He’s sick. Is this show so important that you can’t stop and see he needs help?”
Any moment, Amber would probably come in with something to say too.
Zora crossed her arms over her chest. “And you’re the one that has to give him the help?”
Penelope looked down at him. “Just stop. I’ll gladly let you come over here, Nurse Zora. I simply want him taken care of.”
A small smirk played on Zora’s lips. “You bet.”
“I don’t think so,” Barb said. “I’d like to speak with you in private a moment, Zora.” She grabbed Zora’s arm and led her across the room.
Angus’s teeth chattered, and he shivered.
Penelope grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and threw it over him.
When she glanced over to where Barb and Zora were, Zora looked white as a sheet. Whatever Barb was saying was definitely having an effect on her.
“I’ve changed my mind,” Zora said after her private talk with Barb. “I’m going to leave the caretaking to you.” She retreated out of the great room, almost like a frightened animal fleeing with a floodlight trained on it.
Barb shrugged as Penelope tilted her head.
“Have you called the doctor?” Penelope asked.
“I have. He’ll be here in a few minutes. I knew Clara was going to pull something like this, working him sick. I wonder what else she has planned.”
“She wanted this to happen to him?”
“Clara is cruel. She enjoys making him suffer. Well, anyone, but him most of all. He’s a sweet man, and I sometimes wonder if she isn’t trying to kill that part of him.”
Penelope brushed his cheek with the back of her hand. “I wish there was something I could do.” She could throttle Clara. How could she be so awful to someone?
“Cut the cameras, Jeff,” Barb said as she sat on the coffee table.
Jeff nodded and killed the filming.
“Do you think Clara could be the one sending the letters?” Penelope asked.
Barb shrugged. “She’s cruel, but she’d never want him dead.”
Penelope tilted her head. “No, he said he’s personally never been threatened, but she’d want anyone she perceived as a threat taken out.”
Barb inhaled slowly and then exhaled. “I guess it’s possible, but she wasn’t around when you were poisoned in Hawaii.”
“That just means she has someone working with her.”
“You don’t trust anyone, do you?”
More than she used to. “I trust him. I don’t know why. I haven’t known him long at all, but I do.”
“Why did you believe Clara and Amber? That took trust.”
“No, that took mistrust of him. I…was expecting to get hurt.”
“I see.”
Jeff appeared at the bottom of the stairs. “Doctor’s here. Should be walking through the front door any minute.”
The doctor walked in just as Jeff finished his sentence. Barb and Penelope backed away and waited until he was finished checking Angus. Barb answered the doctor’s questions about Angus’s activities the past week.
“The flu coupled with exhaustion.” The doctor stood and handed Barb a prescription. “He needs to rest. And I mean rest.”
“Thanks, Doctor Keel,” Barb said as the doctor left.
Penelope sat beside Angus again. He was so worn out that the doctor hadn’t even roused him. His teeth chattered again, and she pulled the blanket over his shoulders.
Angus had soothed her aches by holding her tightly and making her feel protected. She caressed the side of his face. Her heart hurt for him.
How could she get him away from Clara? How could she help him? There had to be a way of getting Clara out of his life. She couldn’t be allowed to do this to him again.
Chapter 46
“I thought you were resting. What are you doing out here?” asked Penelope.
He rubbed his eyes with his hands and sat in the chair next to her. “I’ve been in my room for three days. I needed a change of scenery.”
“You needed longer than three days.”
“Naw. I’m good.”
“Are not.”
Angus glanced at her and grinned. “I am.” He shivered. The fireplace was barely keeping up with the frosty night air. “How can you sit out here? It’s freezing.”
“Why do you think I have a blanket?”
“You could share.” The fact that she’d be closer was a bonus.
Penelope narrowed her eyes and then stood and covered them both with the blanket as she sat on his lap. “Smooth.”
He chuckled. “Worked, didn’t it?”
She wrapped a lock of his hair around her finger. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
“Because of you.”
Penelope had taken care of him. He knew she was kind and caring, but the gentleness of her care blew him away. Never once did she seem impatient or put-out. She seemed to find joy in taking care of him, and he loved it.
She smirked. “I think it’s called rest.”
“And you.” Definitely her.
“I can’t believe Clara would do that to you.”
He shrugged. “She meant to exhaust me. The flu wasn’t planned.”
She brushed the back of her hand across his cheek. “Still, it was a heartless thing to do.”
“Aye. She is heartless.”
“I wish there was something I could do. I wish I could stop her.”
Angus slipped his hand behind her neck and put his lips next to her ear. “I love you,” he whispered.
Penelope couldn’t stop the smile that spread on her lips. “You aren’t supposed to say that here.”
“It needed to be said.”
She still hadn’t said it, but it didn’t matter. Her actions said she loved him louder than it could’ve been spoken.
“I want to say it,” Penelope whispered as she nuzzled his neck with her nose.
“Naw. You don’t have to.”
Her breath smelled sweet as she brushed her lips along his jaw and over his lips. Angus put his arms around her and pulled her closer.
“I’m sorry I’m such a coward,” she whispered.
“It’s not cowardice to want to protect yourself. I’d rather hear it when I know there are no reservations. I don’t want it said and then taken back.”
Leaning back, she chewed her bottom lip and looked at him, pained. “I’m sorry.”
“When you say it, you’ll mean it. That’s worth waiting for.”
“I think we need to call it a nig
ht.”
“Not yet. It’s been a while since we’ve sat out here together.”
“True. There’s only a week of the show left. I bet you’re glad about that.”
He didn’t know how to feel about that. Being done with the show meant not dealing with the three other women. It also meant Penelope going back to Destin. “I was serious when I said I was taking you to Scotland when this is over.”
“I have a business in Destin that I’ll have had zero contact with in twelve weeks. I have a house on the beach. A dog that misses me.”
“So, we take some time, go to Destin, and get things straightened out. Then we’ll go.”
When she locked gazes with him, he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. For a moment, his heart dropped. She was going to say no or, worse, be done with him.
Then she kissed him. “Can…George stay…at your…house?” she asked between kisses.
“Forever.”
When she pulled back, she held his face in her hands with a wild look in her eyes. “I’m yours. Do you understand?”
That was as good as saying she loved him. Not as sweet as those three words would be, but she was his, and that mattered more than anything. “Aye.”
Penelope held his gaze a moment longer as though she was trying to decide if he really did understand. “Do you?”
“I think so.”
This time when she kissed him, it was soft and slow and filled with desire. No one had kissed him like that before. Her lips traveled across his face like feathers. She nuzzled his neck with her nose and left a delicate trail of soft kisses until she grazed his lips with hers again. Everything about the way she kissed him was gentle and sweet.
When they finally said their goodnights, his heart was still racing as he slipped into his room and dropped onto his bed. She had said she wanted to kiss him until her lips were too bruised to kiss him anymore. She’d given it a good shot tonight.
Angus wasn’t sure what to think about the last couple of hours. I’m yours. Do you understand? It wasn’t what she’d said, but how she’d said it. The way she’d looked at him. There was a mixture of fear and vulnerability in those words. It was almost as good as he expected he’d feel when hearing “I love you” from her lips.
Mending The Billionaire Movie Star (MacLachlan Brothers Romance Book 1) Page 23