Suddenly her phone started to ring.
“Give me that thing,” Eduoardo said, grabbing the phone. He pushed the off button and tossed the phone across the room.
“What the hell do you think you were doing there, young lady?” he said. “And with that sneaky cousin of Zander’s. What were they doing videotaping you? Was this some sort of setup? I knew we couldn’t trust that guy. He looked like such a player.”
Clementine glared at her brother. “You don’t even know what you’re saying, so just be quiet,” she said before she started to wail again.
Pippa rushed into the room.
“Clem, sweetie, come here,” she said, reaching her arms out to her.
Clementine could only cry.
“There, there,” Pippa said, sitting down on the bed on Clementine’s other side. “We’ll get this all fixed. Not to worry.”
Caroline frowned at her with skepticism in her eyes.
“We need to get to the bottom of this,” Darcy said. “What can you tell us, Pips?”
Pippa sighed deeply. “It all started because I was being super stubborn about Topher,” she said as she began to recount what happened during their Caribbean holiday.
~*~
An hour later, Pippa had calmed Clementine down somewhat. She’d talked to Zander, who did some sleuthing, and discovered the video didn’t go to quite everyone in his address book. Rather it had gone to a select group of “favorited” friends who were listed under his preferences. So it didn’t reach the ten thousand women he’d hooked up with, nor did it go to a host of particularly random strangers. Mostly it went to the same people who were in Clementine’s close circle of friends. Which was good and bad. Not like you want everyone you know to see you in what should have been one of your more private moments. Albeit a rather public one at that.
“Okay, Clem, we’re going to put this in perspective, now that we’ve got a handle on this thing,” Pippa said. “The good news? Your mother doesn’t get to see you behaving like some sort of strumpet. Whatever a strumpet is. The bad news? Well, pretty much your entire circle of friends—not to mention your brothers—have now seen you topless.”
“And look at it this way,” Caroline said. “At least you look damn good in a bikini.”
Darcy faux-smacked her.
“Sorry, Clem. She’s got that peculiar American wit about her.”
Caroline shrugged. “Well, she does. Every woman should be so lucky to look that good in a bikini.”
“What if Mum finds out about this?” Clementine said, dabbing at her swollen eyes.
Darcy half laughed. “Trust me, that’s not going to happen,” he said. “The last thing she needs is this on her plate.”
“Oh, God, but what about Sebastian? I need to talk to him to make sure his mother doesn’t find out about this. That would be totally humiliating.”
“Sorry, Clem, you can’t even reach him,” Pippa said. “He’s gone off-the-grid sailing with Toph in the Coral Sea. You’re just going to have to hope it doesn’t reach the princess.”
Just what Clementine needed: to have the toe-sucking princess with the soiled reputation thinking badly of her. Crap.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sebastian tried calling Clementine for hours before he finally gave up. Clearly she didn’t want to speak with him, as the calls were dumping directly to voice mail. And now they were under sail and they wouldn’t have service on their mobile phones for days. Which meant he was left to fret about the fallout of this whole thing while also envisioning again and again what happened at the Willy-T. Which was doing nothing to help get his mind off this mess or that woman.
Luckily he hadn’t broken his phone completely when he slammed it against the deck of the boat—something to be said for forgiving wood versus too-hard pavement. Which meant that he was able to download that footage to his phone. He’d taken to binge-watching it over and over again; it had him crazy worked up thinking about his tongue trailing down Clementine’s belly and catching the stream of rum that trickled toward her bikini bottoms.
It was going to be a long several days in paradise fantasizing about that too-damned-alluring woman and the fact that she was out of reach, both because of their distance and because she’d decided to erect a wall between them.
Damn, he thought. Maybe I can just find a less complicated woman to reenact that whole scene with. One who doesn’t make me yearn to have a command performance, for that matter.
~*~
Clementine was getting used to the fallout from being outed. As bad as the whole thing was, it could have been way worse. After all, she and Zander had many overlapping friends in Monaforte, so while too many people she knew saw the video, at least it seemed somewhat limited to the inner circle of her peers and not every bloody damned person in the country. She felt more and more comfortable that this could remain her quasi secret.
It was mid-November, and the wedding was only weeks away. After much consultation, Elisabetta and Pierre agreed to marry the day after Santa Christus Day, so that people could spend Christmas with their immediate families. And by then everyone would be ready to share in their celebration.
Meanwhile, Clementine had arranged to meet up with Mallory, who wanted to pick out a dress to wear for the big day. She was going to serve as maid of honor for her mother, which made her laugh because she was so not a maid, and that wasn’t even something they did with weddings in their country. But this was going to be an unconventional wedding, no question about that, and Mallory was nothing if not flexible.
Clementine arrived at the restaurant in town to see Mallory already seated and waiting for her. The two of them had, oddly enough, hit it off over the past several weeks. The handful of times Mallory came along to help with wedding plans, they had a lot of fun together. Otherwise, Clem would have begged off from this shopping expedition. She was still not feeling too thrilled about being in public, just in case someone she didn’t know who’d seen the video recognized her.
The two kissed in greeting and sat down to talk as the waiter filled their water glasses.
“How’s school going?” Clem said.
Mallory sighed. “It’s fine. Way more work than I care to do, but if I want to go to medical school, I have no choice in the matter.”
“I still can’t believe that’s your plan,” Clem said. “So many years of studying!”
She smiled. “I know, but I do love it. And it keeps me out of trouble.”
Clementine smiled weakly.
“Speaking of keeping out of trouble...”
Clementine blanched and squinted at her inquisitively.
Mallory scrunched her nose and squinted back.
“You heard?” Clem said, pursing her lips.
Mallory nodded. “’Fraid so.”
“Dammit,” Clem said, burying her hands in her face.
“Look, Clementine,” Mallory said. “I didn’t tell you because I wanted you to hang your head in shame. It’s just that I consider you a friend and I think friends should be open and honest with one another.”
“Could it be more humiliating?” Clem said without looking up.
“Oh trust me, it could be way worse,” she said. “Let’s just put aside that it’s my brother in this conversation. But at least you weren’t actually having sex with the man.”
“Silver linings,” Clem said with an eye roll.
“Not that you’d do that, mind you. I’m just saying, that would have been way worse.”
“You have a point.”
“But what I did want to celebrate was that I knew it! I could just tell there was something between the two of you. I could sniff it out a mile away.”
Clementine held her hands up.
“Guilty as charged,” she said. “But truly, it was a one-off.”
“One-off? So you mean the overnight in the barn wasn’t anything?”
Clem shook her head. “I’m not sure if it’s okay to be discussing relations with the little sister of the man in
question. But I will say that by the time we made it to the barn, I put a stop to everything.”
“Well, why in the world would you do that?”
“You know your brother,” Clem said. “It’s a complete nonstarter with him. The man is so gun-shy about relationships, and I am not one to just run off and have a stupid fling. All evidence to the contrary.”
“It’s true, all I’ve ever heard about you is that you are squeaky clean,” Mallory said. “I’d chalk it up to the fact that we’ve all got our Kryptonite. Yours just happens to be my elusive brother.”
“Elusive, indeed,” she said. “The one who hasn’t even been in touch with me since this whole thing blew up.”
“I think he’s incommunicado.”
“Yeah, but if he wanted to get ahold of me, he’d have found a way.”
“You might be giving him too much credit. He is a man, after all.”
Clem nodded. No way would she leave things hanging in such a dramatic state. It seemed much easier for guys to just cut and run and not worry about the consequences until they were no longer consequences. Must be nice to compartmentalize like that.
“So I think this is good progress,” Mallory said. “It’s the first time Sebastian has been into any woman ever. I mean, I can’t remember a time when he’s seemed interested in anyone. And damn, not that I watched that video too closely, but you gotta admit, there was a lot of electricity between the two of you.”
“I think it was rum.”
They both laughed.
“Yep. Nothing like a little liquor to free your inhibitions.”
“Perhaps detox would be in order for me. Although believe me, I’ve got my self-consciousness back in spades, and I can assure you there will be no more public displays of lack of inhibition in my future. I’m thinking of donning a nun’s habit as proof.”
“Seriously, Clementine,” she said, “maybe you should not give up on Sebastian yet. He’s a really good guy; he’s just a bit confused when it comes to relationships. There’s still hope he can get this all figured out.”
Clementine held up her hands. “Then best of luck to him. But I’m not the one to be the guinea pig on that whole deal. We’ll leave it up to his next girlfriend.”
Mallory arched her brow. “Girlfriend, eh? So do I take that to mean by extension you see yourself as a girlfriend?”
Clementine flagged the waiter down for a wine list.
“Sorry, no more talk about Sebastian without a libation.”
“Isn’t that what got you into this dilemma in the first place?”
“Hell, no,” she said. “What got me into this is that Sebastian and I had an amazing time together and totally hit it off. And then, well, what can I say? It was such an idyllic setting, and we were having so much fun, and well, everyone else was taking off their tops to jump off the boat, so I didn’t want to be the uptight girl who refused. And then, well, by then I guess I was having fun being a little bit liberated, and I knew no one knew who I was so no one would ever find out about it. Except who knew Zander would end up there? I mean, what are the chances?”
“Most ironic, because that would’ve totally been Zander doing that with some woman at the bar until Andi came along.”
“Yeah, well, I guess the good die young.”
“Did you ever think if Zander could fall, then so, too, could Sebastian?”
“Impossible. And I’m not about to wait around in the hopes that he will.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“I need you to get over here like, yesterday,” the text from Pippa read. “I’m talking faster than the speed of light. Hurry!”
Clementine tried to call her, but her calls went straight to voice mail.
She put the pedal to the metal and pulled up to Pippa’s house in record time. But after Clem raced inside, Pippa was nowhere to be seen.
“Pips!” she shouted as she checked every room, even the home theater, but it was empty.
She found her, curled up in a ball in her huge walk-in closet, her black Labrador puppy, Muffin—a recent acquisition to help fill the void of loneliness that had darkened her door lately—clutched in her arms, as tears poured down her face. She held a plastic stick in her hand.
Clem raced over and hugged her. “Honey, what can be this wrong?”
“Pink.” Pippa sputtered out through loud wails.
“What?”
“It’s pink.” She continued bawling.
Clem looked at her in confusion. “What’s pink?”
“The stick,” Pippa managed to say. “It’s pink.”
Pippa held up one of those sticks from a home pregnancy test and Clem finally started to understand. “Oh, crap and a half. Topher,” she said.
Pippa nodded hard.
“Baby.”
Pippa nodded harder.
“Fuck.”
Pippa nodded especially hard.
“You didn’t tell me you were having any problems,” Clem said. “Wouldn’t you have been getting sick or something?”
Pippa frowned.
“You were getting sick?”
She nodded.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
Pippa’s sobs subsided momentarily. “It’s called deep denial,” she said. “I figured if I ignored it, it wouldn’t be true. I mean what are the chances?”
“I’d say pretty good, judging by that stupid pink stick,” Clem said.
Pippa started sobbing again.
“I can’t be pregnant,” she said. “I can barely take care of a puppy who wakes me up every night. What would I do with a baby?”
“At least a baby won’t have sharp puppy teeth.”
“If you’re trying to make me laugh, it’s not working,” Pippa said. “Plus at least a puppy turns into a self-sufficient dog in a short period of time. A baby is like, forever. I’ll have this thing needing me till I’m ninety!”
“Maybe not that long, sweetie,” Clementine said with a laugh. “But yeah, a baby is needy. No question about that.”
“What the hell am I going to do?”
“For starters, have you told Topher?”
Pippa shook her head. “God, no. Are you kidding me? He shook my damned hand. I’d say he pretty much has no interest in being anything in my life.”
“Yeah, but a baby is a game changer,” Clem said.
“That’s no reason to force a man who made it abundantly clear he wasn’t interested in a relationship into a relationship. For bleeding ever.”
She started to cry again.
“Gosh, Pips, how long have you known something was wrong?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I think I must’ve known things weren’t right for a few weeks.”
“Oh, Pippa,” Clementine said, hugging her. “What can I do to help out?”
She shrugged. “Hell if I know. I don’t know the first thing about pregnancy, let alone a baby.”
“Have you told anyone?”
“Not a soul. Nor will I. Until I have no choice in the matter.”
“Are you planning to keep it?”
She nodded frowning. “I think so.”
“At some point you owe it to Topher to let him know.”
Pippa shook her head. “Honestly, it will only make it harder for me to get re-rejected by the guy. I mean the great news is I can afford to do this on my own, you know? Think about how many women don’t have that luxury.”
Clementine nodded.
The two of them talked for a while about options, with Clementine reminding her friend that this could be a blessing in disguise.
“Besides, maybe this can help you realize that you’ll be a far better mum than your own mother, as well-intended as she may have been. If I was your baby, I’d want you as my mum, Pips.”
Pippa gave her a hug. “If you came here to cheer me up, you’re doing a pretty damned good job of it. Curse you.”]
“I aim to please.”
“I can live without a man, but I could never live with
out my best friend,” Pippa said, giving her another hug as she stood up and tossed the pink stick into the wastebasket.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
It could not have been a more perfect day. Brilliant, crisp, bluebird skies served as the backdrop to spectacular sugar-sand beaches and tropical islands. It was so incredible, in fact, that Sebastian was giving thought to sailing The Royal Blue to Australia and meandering around on the other half of the planet for a while.
Topher had finished checking on tagged tortoises, so Sebastian suggested they sail to Whitehaven Beach, famous for its gleaming white sand that combined with a multitude of shades of turquoise, blue, and green water to create a dream-like swirl of unsurpassed natural beauty. Hundreds of thousands of tourists each year sought out the breathtaking pristine scenery of the protected Whitehaven Beach.
They anchored a few hundred yards out and motored to shore on the dinghy. The sand was blindingly white in the brilliant midday sun. As they wandered along the shore, Topher couldn’t believe how soft the nearly pure silica sand was. Birds, butterflies, and crabs skittered about. The environment was simply magical, what with the incredible selection of wildlife, the ever-so-white sand, and the breathtaking azure waters.
In time, they decided to walk into the bush on the island, where they encountered huge goanna lizards, bush turkeys, and even a few wallabies. Eventually, they made their way to the Hill Inlet Lookout, where they could best view the dramatic ripple effect caused by the shifting sands and tides. The view was impossibly spectacular—truly a natural wonder of the world.
They returned to the beach and spent an hour or so hanging out in the shallow waters, relaxing under the warmth of the sun. The water was so clear that from their vantage point they could spot green turtles, a lemon shark, and even a graceful ray gliding nearby.
“This sure beats a day job,” Sebastian said with a broad grin.
“You’re not kidding about that,” Topher said.
As the sun began to settle low in the sky, the men decided to head back to the catamaran for the night, hoping to enjoy sunset from the comfort of the cat’s trampoline, cocktails in hand.
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