by Debbie Mason
“We’ll get back to Lorenzo, because there’s something you need to hear, but I want to know what’s with your relationship with your sisters. I get that you’re younger than them, but I don’t get why you let them dictate to you. Your opinion is as valid as theirs. From what I’ve seen, you’re not a pushover.”
“No, I’m not. But I’m also not their real sister. I’m their stepsister, and for a long time, they wished I wasn’t. It’s only in the last few months that we’ve become close. Maybe because it was just me and my mom for so long, family’s really important to me. Harmony Harbor used to seem like this perfect little microorganism of what life was like back in the day with Mom and Dad and two-point-five kids. I wanted that. I didn’t want to be different. All I’ve ever wanted is to fit in.”
Because he’d had what she wanted, he couldn’t totally empathize with her, but he could see how it impacted her life even to this day. “Is that why you were going to marry Lorenzo?”
She hugged her knees to her chest. “I can’t believe I was actually going to marry him. It’s embarrassing to think about now. I was so stupid.”
“Don’t. Don’t say that about yourself. My brother filled me in on Shay’s investigation. The guy is a sociopathic con man with a long list of victims.”
“Yeah, women like me who were lonely. Women he could convince would never have a chance at happily-ever-after without him. I didn’t realize until about a week ago that while for the most part he was all flattery, compliments, and praise, he was also undermining me and working on my fears.”
“And that’s why you needed to come clean with me that the guy was at Tie the Knot instead of going along with your sisters. Because now he and Gwyneth are on the wind and that’s not good.”
“I’m sorry. It’s kind of my default playbook with them. They get mad, and I do everything I can to make them happy, including letting them shove me in the fitting room. I still can’t believe they did that or that I let them. You were half-naked. If the situation had been reversed…”
“I didn’t mind, Jenna. The only thing I minded was that my mother interrupted us.” He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I—” she began, stopping when he absently caressed her face with his fingers.
A man’s voice came over the radio as he checked in with each station. Logan moved his hand away from Jenna’s face and responded to the security guard.
Jenna cleared her throat, the moment clearly over. “Maybe Lorenzo and Gwyneth are in Bridgeport?”
Bridgeport was the town adjacent to Harmony Harbor. “We checked there and practically every small town across three counties, and it’s not like we can tie up HHPD’s resources any more than we already have. They’re stretched to the max with adding extra security here and managing the press and tourists.”
“The town’s tripled in size. Business on Main Street is booming, especially the ones cashing in on the wedding. The hardware store is making a killing. Yours and Isabella’s faces are plastered on half the products in the store.”
Great, one more reason why he had to go through with the wedding. People in town were counting on it. More to the point, Jenna and her sisters were.
He didn’t want to think of that now and changed the subject. “So, what are you doing down here? Couldn’t sleep?”
“No. I come down around this time every night. Sandpipers hunt for food at low tide. Pippa’s gotten really good at it. Now I have to start thinking of next steps.”
“Like?”
“I have to find her family. I’ll have to go back to where we found her. She doesn’t really get along with the sandpipers at Kismet Cove.”
“Is that right?” he said, holding back a smile. The woman got to him. She was the type of woman you hold on to and don’t let go. Jenna Bell was a forever girl.
“No, they treat her like…well, you’ll see.” She pointed to the sandpipers coming out from the surrounding rocks to feed along the shore. Jenna stood up and peeled off her nightgown to reveal a black racer-back bathing suit. There was nothing sexy about the suit—it was basic and plain—but he couldn’t look at her without wanting to strip it off her. He needed a distraction and decided giving Pippa a pep talk would work.
“Don’t you worry about them. You’ve got this, Pippa. Go out there like you own the beach. Don’t suck up to them. Just go and have fun.” He put her down and gave her a little push with his finger in the direction of the other birds.
“She’s doing it. Wow. You really are a bird whisperer,” Jenna said as Pippa walked through the sand on her spindly legs, straight for the other birds.
He sighed when Pippa veered off at the last minute. “You spoke too soon. And it’s not the other birds; it’s her.”
“How can you say that? Look at her. She’s a baby and all by herself. You’d think they’d come over and introduce themselves, welcome her to the pack.”
When he started to laugh, she gave him an offended look and walked off.
“Babe, that’s not the way of the animal or bird kingdom. She’s gotta make a place for herself and earn their respect. Stop babying her.”
“Typical male response,” she muttered.
And as he watched her lay that lithe body of hers down in the sand to encourage Pippa to join the other sandpipers at the water’s edge, the lyrics of a song came to mind. He reached for his guitar and began to play Brett Young’s “In Case You Didn’t Know.” He’d found the perfect song for his wedding, only Isabella wasn’t the woman who’d inspired the choice or the feelings.
Jenna turned her head, and he held her gaze as he softly sang part of the chorus, the part that told her he was crazy about her. He didn’t know how or why, but what he did know was it was true. He got that feeling deep inside that you get when you know something is right.
Now what was he supposed to do?
* * *
Free of her corporeal form, Colleen enjoyed the ability to travel through doors and in and out of rooms at her pleasure. However, along with the advantages of the ability, there were also disadvantages. Like seeing Jasper in bed with Kitty, and they weren’t sleeping. Colleen shuddered as she walked straight out the door of her daughter-in-law’s suite and into the upper hall.
That’ll teach her to go into Kitty’s room at this time of night. It couldn’t be helped though. After hearing Ryan Wilson threatening Jenna outside the study, Colleen needed to get a look at her book, and she’d spent the entire afternoon and evening trying to pick up the key to fit it into the desk drawer’s lock. She’d try again tomorrow. Only this time, she’d insist Simon help.
There had to be something they could hold over the lad’s head to get him to leave Jenna alone. Colleen had recorded enough secrets to blackmail the entire town of Harmony Harbor, yet this one eluded her. Even if she remembered, she’d still need the pages from the book and Jasper’s help to see that they fell into the right hands and not the wrong ones.
And speaking of wrong hands, she thought, looking at the princess’s lady’s maid. Pilar stood under the gold-framed portrait of William Gallagher, talking on her phone. She didn’t trust the woman.
Colleen glanced down to see Simon staring at the portrait of the family’s patriarch and gentleman pirate with what looked to be a smile on his face. “He’s a fine-looking man, I’ll give you that,” she said to the cat.
She could’ve sworn Simon preened at the remark.
“I don’t know what you have to be proud of. It’s not like you had anything to do with the man’s looks…” She trailed off, glancing from Simon to the portrait and back to Simon again. “Are you trying to tell me you’re him? He’s you?”
Simon gave her another catlike smile and then sauntered off like he was lord of the manor, and well he might be. Though Colleen didn’t have time to think long and hard on the matter because just then Pilar whispered into her cell phone, “Yes, sir, I will. And please tell His Royal Highness that I am doing everything in my power to ensure the princess re
turns home unmarried and without incident…Yes, I can handle it on my own…Thank you. My family would be most honored and humbled to accept whatever you feel my service to the crown deserves. I must go,” she murmured as the door to Colleen’s old suite opened.
Luis stuck his head into the hall. “Do they believe you’re still loyal to the king?”
“Yes, but their patience wears thin and their concern grows. We will not be able to stay their hand much longer. Word of the wedding has reached them, and they are planning to send three members of the king’s guard to retrieve the princess on July sixth, the night before the wedding. The only way to protect the princess and to ensure that she does not have to return to Merradien is for her marriage to Logan to be moved ahead and the details kept from the press so no one at the palace learns of the change in plans.”
Luis nodded. “Do not fret, Pilar. I will have the date changed first thing in the morning. I should not have given in to Logan, but he would’ve become more suspicious if I asked that they be married right away as we had initially planned. And speaking of Logan, we have a bigger worry. Mateo managed to break into Jenna Bell’s phone. The couple has had relations. They’re down at the beach together as we speak.”
He looked around the upper hall, caught sight of Simon, and scowled before turning his attention back to Pilar. “Perhaps we can use this information to our advantage. Without Ms. Bell’s help, we will not be able to pull this off. We must find a way to make her comply with our wishes.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Jenna had just sat down at her desk when Luis walked into the study without knocking. Just how I wanted to start my morning, she thought, and then remembered how easy her face supposedly was to read.
Up until a few weeks ago, Jenna would’ve classified herself as an early-morning person, but Pippa’s one a.m. feedings had taken a toll and turned her into a late-morning, preferably noon, type of person. However, since she wasn’t a royal princess, she was at her desk at nine a.m. like the rest of the working stiffs. Which meant she better keep her head down or Luis would know just how unhappy she was to see him.
Pretending she was checking her e-mail, she held up a finger and said in an overly cheerful, happy morning to you voice, “I’ll be right with you.”
As her irritability factor this morning seemed to have ratcheted up a notch, or five, she wasn’t entirely sure she could lay the blame on being sleep deprived or on Luis’s visit. Her level of testiness probably had more to do with Logan sharing his wedding song in the wee hours of the morning on a secluded, moonlit beach after she’d just experienced another he’s my one feeling.
She should have Poppy on speed-dial. The thirtysomething woman could act as Jenna’s sponsor. Every time Jenna had a he’s my one feeling, she’d call Poppy, who’d then remind her the man was marrying a princess in one week’s time. As their wedding planner, Jenna shouldn’t need to be constantly reminding herself of that fact. Not to mention it wasn’t that long ago she was supposed to be marrying her own Prince Charming.
She shuddered at the thought, shocked at how quickly she’d gotten over Lorenzo. Her picture should go under the word fickle in the dictionary. No sooner had the idea crossed her mind than she thought of Logan and a new page of the dictionary appeared with his photo under forever.
At the sound of a throat clearing, Jenna looked up.
“I have a matter of some urgency to discuss with you, Ms. Bell,” Luis said, his lips curving into a smile as he took the seat across from her.
She’d never seen the man smile before and looked behind her. No one was there, so obviously it had been intended for her. She wondered why that made her nervous.
“I apologize for keeping you waiting…” She trailed off, making it sound like an aborted sentence instead of saying his name as she’d initially intended. She didn’t like calling him Luis. It sounded too informal for a man who looked like he commanded respect with a whip. She’d been tempted to ask how he’d like her to address him but was afraid he’d say Master. “I was expecting to hear back from one of the suppliers.”
“Nothing has gone awry, I trust?”
“No. Everything’s right on schedule.”
“Splendid. I was afraid the change in dates would create a problem for you. I should’ve trusted that someone as capable as yourself would have it handled.”
“Sorry, I’m a little lost. What change of date are you referring to?”
“Why, the only date that matters, my dear. The date our beloved princess will marry the Gallagher prince.”
If Jenna weren’t gripping the armrests on the chair to keep from sliding onto the floor in a faint, she might’ve wondered at his use of Gallagher prince. As far as she knew, she was the only one who’d referred to him that way. In her head, of course, and on the diary in her phone. She gave a laugh that sounded like she’d been sucking on helium for a week. “Okay, so we’re postponing the wedding to allow the royal family to attend? I did wonder. I thought perhaps they hadn’t approved of the match.”
“The royal family is not attending due to prior commitments. They’re thrilled our princess is marrying a man who is considered a hero in my country. And although it is not for public fodder, and I must warn you, you would be sued if word leaked about the baby, His Royal—”
“B-b-aby?”
“Why, yes, and the royal family is beside themselves with joy at the news. It’s why we moved the date from July seventh to July fourth. And while I may not have shared the true reason at the time, I did tell you we needed to return to Merradien by the sixth for a royal announcement.”
She didn’t need Poppy after all. Jenna had her own happily-ever-after bubble buster sitting right in front of her. “I was never informed about a royal announcement or a date change, Luis. If I had been, I would’ve told you it was impossible. It was hard enough to pull everything—” She was barely able to keep the panic from her voice.
“I must say I’m shocked by your level of incompetence, Ms. Bell.”
“Incompetence? I don’t know where any of this is coming from. Surely the royal family can wait a couple of days to make the—”
“No, they do not adjust their schedules to suit you, Ms. Bell. The wedding has to be held on July fourth as you were informed and agreed to four days ago. If you don’t believe me, check your day planner.”
“My phone’s missing. I—”
“You didn’t put it on your phone.” He stood up and leaned across the desk to point at the computer. “You entered it onto the computer, as well as in the leather day planner in the top drawer of the desk.”
“I don’t have—” She opened the drawer, and sure enough there was a leather planner inside. Jenna held it up. “This isn’t mine, Luis. It must be Sophie Gallagher’s, the manager of the manor. She’s away, and I’m using her office temporarily until construction on Olivia’s is complete.” Kitty had decided to renovate Olivia’s office and create two work spaces while Sophie and her family were in California for her friend’s wedding. They weren’t due back for another week.
“If this is how you do business on the manor’s behalf, I highly doubt they’ll keep you on. I’m afraid I have to speak to—”
“No, just give me a moment, please.” Her hand shook as she opened the day planner to July, and there beside Wednesday the 4th, written in ink, was Princess Isabella and Logan Gallagher Wedding. The names blurred on the page. “I don’t understand. I don’t remember writing this.” She looked up. “You have to believe me, Luis.”
“I was standing right here when you wrote it.”
She turned to the computer and brought up the schedule for the upcoming month. And there it was again beside Wednesday, July 4th. “I don’t understand how this happened.” She felt like she was losing her mind.
“You were somewhat overwhelmed at the time. If it helps, I came to speak to you right after we returned from our first visit to Tie the Knot. I had just heard from His Royal Highness about the scheduling conflict. I also spo
ke to you about the menu for the soiree in the garden that evening.”
“I remember you coming to talk to me about Princess Isabella’s allergy to pine nuts. I double-checked the menu and spoke to the kitchen.”
“And before you went to speak to the chef, I asked that the change be made. The request clearly upset you, but I felt that was more about your obvious feelings for Logan than for the timeline, as we’d made the arrangements only hours before.”
“Obvious feelings for Logan? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It was the best she could come up with. Her head was spinning with details and dates, trying to figure out how she could pull this off. If she said she couldn’t do it, she was almost certain he would demand that she be fired.
He wouldn’t fire her sisters out of spite, would he? They had a substantial amount of money invested in the wedding. No, they’d be okay. They couldn’t get anyone to outfit the bridal party on such short notice. That wasn’t necessarily true though. It was amazing what people could accomplish with the right incentive.
“Come, come. It is obvious to everyone, even to Her Royal Highness, how you feel about Logan. Your behavior these past two days has only proved our concerns. I imagine that learning Logan is to be a father with another woman is most painful for you, so it is probably for the best that you have made this egregious error and now must resign your position as wedding planner.”
“No, please, I need this job. I still don’t understand how I could’ve made the mistake, but I’ll make it right. Logan and I are friends. All I want is for him to be happy.” It was true, she did. And it reminded her of the promise she’d made to Jasper. With a baby on the way, it was more important than ever that Logan and Isabella find their way to being each other’s one and only. She needed to believe that they could, for their sake and the baby’s. She wanted more for Logan than an unhappy life and unhappy wife.