by Debbie Mason
“Good to hear, but there’s something more going on with you. What is it?” Michael asked.
“Okay, I haven’t told you the whole truth about the accident. Before you give me grief, Luis insisted I keep quiet about it. But I trust you guys to keep it to yourselves, and that means you don’t breathe a word to anyone, including fiancées and girlfriends. Got it?”
“Don’t look at me. I don’t do relationships that last longer than a week,” Connor said.
Logan couldn’t criticize his brother since he’d basically been the same way. “Okay, so the concussion was severe enough that I’ve lost a chunk of memory. From what I can tell, the month of June. The neurologist is optimistic I’ll get it back, but it could take some time.”
“No chance it caused a personality change too? Because, big brother, I’m serious. You were as confirmed a bachelor as me,” Connor said.
Logan blew out a frustrated breath. It was good to finally open up about it because his gut said something wasn’t right.
“Speaking as someone who thought he was as confirmed a bachelor as the two of you, when you find the one, you’re done. And yeah, I didn’t believe in soul mates or perfect matches, but now I kinda do. What are you grinning about?” Michael asked Aidan.
Their cousin laughed. “You thought you were Shay’s perfect match before she did.”
“What can I say? I’m the romantic in the Gallagher family. So, is that what happened? You fell head over heels in love with Isabella?” Michael asked him, but Logan could hear the doubt in his voice.
“That’s the thing; I don’t remember. Five minutes after I regained consciousness, Luis told me Isabella and I were engaged. I questioned her personal bodyguard and lady’s maid, and they all had the same story. I’d bought a ring for her too. I used my credit card and signed for it four days before the accident.”
“I don’t know, Logan. It sounds a little fishy to me. What about your phone?” Aidan said.
“It was destroyed in the accident. But I think I know someone I might’ve been communicating with.”
“Who?” his brothers and Aidan asked at almost the same time.
“The wedding planner, Jenna Bell.”
“Why didn’t I think of that? Of course you’d keep in touch with her.” Michael looked around and then waved someone over. “Jenna, can you come here for a minute?”
Logan looked to where Jenna was standing on the garden path with her stepsisters and Poppy Harte. As he turned back to his brother, Logan caught Luis’s eye. The older man didn’t look particularly happy with him. Luis said something to Mateo, and Isabella’s personal bodyguard began walking their way. Obviously, Luis wanted Logan at Isabella’s side and was sending Mateo to retrieve him, but he wasn’t leaving until he got to the bottom of this. “Why aren’t you surprised I’d be talking to Jenna?”
“Right. You wouldn’t remember what happened.” Michael pulled his phone from his pocket.
While he searched for something on it, Connor said, “For the past few weeks, all you’ve been focused on is protecting Jenna Bell. Her fiancé dumped her a week before their wedding, and her stepmother stole her matchmaking company from her. You hired me to represent her.”
“And he hired Shay to dig up the dirt on both of them. Good call, by the way,” Michael said to Connor, and then handed his phone to Logan. It was an article in the Harmony Harbor Gazette.
“Okay, you guys need to keep me in the loop. I had a visit from Lorenzo and his uncle. Lorenzo dropped the charges against you, Logan, not that it does you much good from what I can tell, but the only reason he did was to get the ring back from Jenna. They were expecting me to hand it over, and when I didn’t, they weren’t happy. I’m sure you heard about it because they were calling you next,” Aidan said to Connor.
“I did, but I’ve been threatened by far more dangerous men than them.”
“Lorenzo’s not dangerous, but I wouldn’t be so sure that his uncle isn’t. I heard them asking about Jenna and let Jasper know to keep an eye out.”
Logan looked up from the screen. “Jasper?”
“Oh yeah, Jasper. Our mild-mannered butler isn’t who he seems,” Michael said. “Ask Shay if you don’t believe me.”
“Do either of you know if Lorenzo and his uncle returned to Italy or went back to Charleston?” Aidan asked.
“No. You?” Connor asked Michael, who shook his head in the negative.
“Okay, as a precaution, I’ll pass around their photographs to security. Now, I better get back to Julia before she tells Jenna to order me a tail for the wedding. I’m okay with a mermaid-themed wedding, as long as I’m not dressed as a merman,” Aidan said, nodding to where Jenna had been waylaid by his future wife.
Logan laughed. “You’re having a mermaid-themed wedding?”
“Yeah, and you know what they say about people living in glass houses? You’re having a Cinderella-themed wedding, big guy,” Aidan said as he walked away.
“What’s going on?” Logan asked when his brothers shared a glance.
“It’s not your fault—you obviously didn’t know—but Jenna was having a Cinderella-themed wedding here at the manor. Shay said she’d been dreaming about it since she was a little girl and saving for it about that long.”
“And her fiancé didn’t only dump her, he took the money she’d been saving for her wedding, and her car,” Connor muttered. “I can’t wait to get that guy in court.”
“I wished I’d done more than give him a bloody nose,” Logan said, handing back his brother’s phone after reading about his actions in the local newspaper. “I’ll talk to Isabella about the wedding. Explain—”
“No. Don’t do that. As hard as it is on Jenna, it probably saved her a lot of time. Mom said she’s already got everything ordered. She pretty much thinks the sun rises and sets on Jenna now.”
“Really? That doesn’t sound like Mom. Unless you’re keeping something from me and Jenna’s an heiress.”
“No, she’s not,” Michael said, sharing another glance with Connor, who lifted a shoulder in return. “I feel bad breaking this to you again, but we think Mom is sick.” His brother shared what the amnesia had stolen from Logan. “Anyway, Mom refused to have further testing until Jenna talked to her. Shay thinks you’re the reason Jenna approached Mom about the diagnosis in the first place. I think she’s right. You must’ve told Jenna about it. There’s no other way she could’ve known.”
“That doesn’t sound like something I’d do.” He was private about his personal life and didn’t share easily.
“Jenna lost her mom to cancer when she was twelve. Maybe she talked to you about it and you shared. I don’t know, but however it came about, we owe Jenna. Connor got Mom an appointment with a world-renowned oncologist, and she’s agreed to see him.”
“Well, that’s good news at least. So, is that why she left Dad?” he asked, searching for his parents on the patio. He hadn’t talked to his father, who had just arrived a few minutes ago and was talking to Kitty and Jasper. His mother was talking to Isabella and Luis, with her brother-in-law Daniel at her side. Just then she waved over Jenna, who’d been slowly making her way toward Logan and his brothers.
“That’s what we thought, but now we think there might be more to it. Or, to be more specific, that there’s another man involved,” Connor said.
Logan frowned. “You can’t be serious.”
“I wish I wasn’t. But apparently Mom and Uncle Daniel were an item before she and Dad were. I guess you didn’t get that far in the article, but they had a fistfight the day Mom told us about her diagnosis and the day Uncle Daniel came home. We still haven’t found out if it was a coincidence he showed up the same day we staged our intervention or not. And none of them are sharing.”
“Are you forgetting Uncle Daniel is married to Aunt Tara?” Logan asked.
“Are you forgetting we’re talking about Uncle Daniel? Aunt Tara is wife number three—or it might be four, no one really knows. With his track recor
d, he’s probably left her.”
“It might be something we want to find out. But right now, I need to find out if I’ve been texting Jenna, and if I have, what I’ve been saying.” He felt someone’s eyes on him, and he turned.
Mateo was standing a few feet behind him. He was several inches shorter than Logan, about thirty pounds lighter, and at least a decade younger, but he was sharp, fast, and had killer instincts. “I am sorry to disturb you, but Luis asks that you return to the princess.”
“Tell Luis I’ll be right there, Mateo. I just need to ask the wedding planner a question,” he said as Jenna approached.
Poppy caught up with her, and the two women appeared to be having a heated discussion.
“I thought Poppy and Jenna were friends. I wonder why Jenna’s trying so hard to get rid of her,” Michael said.
“I think we’re about to find out,” Connor said when Jenna couldn’t shake the other woman and they both walked over.
“Hi.” Jenna gave them a forced smile. “You wanted to speak to me, Michael?”
“Actually, I did. I’m really sorry about earlier, Jenna. Why didn’t you tell me…?” Logan trailed off because he couldn’t say anything about the amnesia in front of Poppy. The woman was a reporter.
“That you had sex on—” Poppy began.
Jenna gave a panicked squeak and covered the other woman’s mouth. “Don’t listen to her. She’s been drinking.”
“Is she saying that you and I—” Logan managed to get out before Poppy pulled Jenna’s hand away.
“Had sex on the beach?” she whispered angrily. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. And she might think you’re Prince Charming with a magic penis, but I think you’re a real tool…toad, pretending that you don’t know her just because you hooked up with a princess.”
Chapter Seventeen
What is that about the princess, Ms. Harte?” a man asked from behind them, the rolling r’s giving him away. Luis’s r’s were like the Energizer Bunny; they kept going and going. Unfortunately, the man didn’t resemble a cuddly bunny in the least. He actually made Jasper seem soft and fuzzy in comparison.
Poppy whispered a pained, “Oh crap.”
Which no doubt summed up how every member of their chummy little group was feeling about now. Though Jenna would have opted for something stronger. Oh crap didn’t exactly cover her extreme embarrassment or her panic that she would be the cause of an international incident and the Gallaghers would fire her.
She needed this job. Arianna and Serena were actually speaking to her again and planning a night out at the Salty Dog to celebrate their collaboration on the wedding of a lifetime. The Bell sisters, wedding planners to royalty. That’s what they’d said.
Now, would someone else please say something? she pleaded in her head, because she was too afraid if she opened her mouth the truth would come out or Luis would see it on her face. She was so accustomed to Logan stepping in to fill the breach that she was surprised to hear Michael’s voice instead. Without thinking, she lifted her gaze to Logan. He wasn’t looking at Luis or his brother. His gaze was focused on her. The last thing she wanted to do was look at him after Poppy had hit him with the truth. And what was with her telling him Jenna thought he was Prince Charming and had a magic…It wasn’t only his penis that was magic.
If he could read everything on her face, she could read it in his eyes. He’d truly had no idea they’d made love on the beach that night. He had no idea she’d let the moon and the stars mess with her head and her heart. It wasn’t his fault their conversations over the past couple weeks had made her feel like there was something more than that one night between them.
Like the amnesia, maybe Logan and Isabella had to keep their relationship a secret. Celebrities did it all the time. And while it was no excuse, the couple had been in a long-distance relationship, with the added strain of Isabella being a royal and Logan a commoner. And maybe Jenna had caught him on a night when the pressure had gotten to be too much and he’d needed her as much as she’d needed him. Just for that one night. He’d never promised her more, but in a way, he’d given her more. Like her job and a second chance with her sisters.
She tilted her head to the side and offered him an apologetic smile both for Poppy’s comments and for the shabby way Jenna had treated him earlier. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his pants, bowed his head, and gave it a slight shake. She may have forgiven him, but it didn’t appear that he’d forgiven himself. She knew why. Whatever the reason he’d kept his relationship with Isabella secret, he’d cheated on her with Jenna, who’d been ignorant of it all, becoming the other woman through no fault of her own.
She felt movement beside her. Luis had edged closer to listen to whatever Michael was saying. Since Luis wasn’t calling for her head on a platter, Michael must’ve figured a way out of the mess. Thank goodness for secluded corners, angry whispers, and lawyers.
“Sorry we kept him from Princess Isabella, Luis. Like I said, there was a legal matter that needed to be taken care of. And Poppy and Jenna have just brought another urgent matter to our attention.”
“And this matter, it involves Her Royal Highness?”
Michael got an oh crap look on his face, because clearly he’d thought whatever baloney he’d been feeding Luis was enough.
Connor stepped in to fill the breach. “It does. You see, Luis, Poppy’s writing an article about Logan and Isabella’s love story for her paper. The citizens of Harmony Harbor are all about the romance, you know. And, well, Poppy’s upset that Logan doesn’t have any photos of him and Isabella together. I know it probably sounds crazy to you, but she’s concerned people will start questioning their relationship.”
Crazy to Luis? It would sound crazy to anyone. Connor had taken it too far, and for the first time, Jenna second-guessed leaving the fate of her inheritance and business in his hands.
She glanced at Luis, who seemed distressed by the charge. A charge Jenna could sort of address on the princess and Logan’s behalf. It might even put her in Luis’s good graces. The man had made it pretty obvious he wasn’t a fan.
“I have a great photo of Logan and Her Royal Highness.” Oh crap. She hadn’t thought this through.
“And where, may I ask, did you get this photograph?” Luis asked.
Jenna cleared her throat. “Uh, well, Logan sent it to me.” Heat traveled up her neck to her face as everyone’s eyes narrowed on her, Logan’s included. “He knows I’m a huge fan of Princess Isabella. I stalk her on social—” She raised her hand. “That came out wrong. It’s just that I might be a little royalty obsessed. Stalkerish and obsessive. I’m probably scaring you, aren’t I? But I promise, it’s not like that. It’s the fairy-tale effect. American girls are brought up on them. The whole Prince Charming riding to the princess’s rescue, so damaging. Horribly damaging. Anyway, I’m so over them now I can’t even tell you. So you don’t have to worry about me. Not that you had to worry about me before.” Sweet baby Jesus, be quiet, Jenna, before they take you away in a straitjacket, she told herself.
Beside her, she could feel Poppy’s shoulder’s shaking as she kept her laughter inside. Connor and Michael didn’t even bother trying and laughed out loud.
“Trust me, no one in their right mind would ever question your motives, Jenna,” Logan said. “If you can get me the photo, I’d appreciate it. Actually, why don’t you just bring me your phone, and I’ll hook it up to the printer.” He didn’t seem to be having any trouble keeping a straight face. There was something in his eyes, but it wasn’t amusement.
Wait? Did he just say…? “You want my entire phone, not just the picture?” She couldn’t give him her phone. She hadn’t deleted her text to Lorenzo. And hooking it up to the printer? That didn’t make sense…Unless he was just placating her, lulling her into submission so he could check her history and see if she really was a stalker. She liked the old Logan much better than this one.
“Yeah, if you don’t mind.”
His mother sa
ved her from answering. “Darling, poor Isabella is wondering what’s happened to you,” she said as she approached on Daniel Gallagher’s arm. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine. Where’s Dad?” Logan said, obviously unhappy to see his mother with his uncle and not his father. The longer he was at the manor, the unhappier he would be because his uncle was clearly looking to replace his brother in Maura’s affections. Jenna wouldn’t be handing over her phone to him, but noting the lack of pink light dancing between the couple, she might be able to nip Maura’s affair with her brother-in-law in the bud.
“Now, don’t get testy with your mother, son. Her fancy heels are getting stuck between the flagstone, and she needed someone to lean on. If anyone deserves your—”
Connor intervened, “Uncle Daniel, we haven’t finished our conversation about your last dig. Let’s grab a drink at the bar. Poppy, you should join us. Interview my uncle the famous archaeologist for the paper. Your readers will be begging for more.”
As they moved away, Logan said, “Mom and Luis, do me a favor and keep Isabella company while I go with Jenna to grab the photo off her phone. I’ll be ten minutes at the most. The photo is for an article Poppy is doing on me and Isabella,” Logan responded to his mother’s questioning frown.
Jenna prayed Maura or Luis would object, but they didn’t. In fact, no sooner were the words out of Logan’s mouth than Luis hurried off to Isabella’s side, leaving Maura standing there.
“You walk your mom back, Logan. I’ll get my phone and bring it to you.” That would give her the opportunity to delete anything incriminating, including her text to Lorenzo.
“It’s fine. Mike will walk her back. Get Dad while you’re at it, baby brother. He hasn’t spent nearly enough time with Isabella.”
Michael nodded and held out his arm to his mother.