by Jillian Neal
Apparently, everyone in the guesthouse had been having a very nice morning.
With his fury that Fionna would somehow be ashamed of her own desires coursing through him viciously, Dan stepped into the hallway and closed the door to their room firmly.
“Which brings me back to the question of why the hell you’re here for the second time when it isn’t even eight in the fucking morning,” Dan demanded hotly.
“Well, sir, there’s really no reason to be so rude.”
Dan narrowed his eyes further.
“Lachlan would like to extend an invitation to you and Ms. Styler to join him in his apartment for brunch. Lucas asked me to inform you that Mr. Logan and Ms. Adeline might like for you and Mr. Lawson and Ms. Haydenshire to join them in his apartment before your shopping excursion. He’d like you to be ready to leave whenever Adeline is ready to go. And Lady Nguyen is quite insistent that I tidy up the guesthouse and change your sheets.”
Dan stomped towards the man, whose eyes goggled as he backed away.
“You can tell Lachlan and Lucas…” Dan drawled, but Rainer stepped in.
“I’m going to go with Officer Vindico, and Ms. Styler will not be joining Lachlan in his apartment for any reason, ever. As I mentioned before, whenever Logan and Adeline want us, they know where we are or, if they want us to come to them, then they both have our cell numbers.” Rainer knew perfectly well that Lucas was behind the invitation, not Logan.
“Now, our sheets do not need to be changed and, judging by the expression on his face,” Rainer gestured to Dan, “I’d say if you take one step into their bedroom, it might just be the last step you ever take. So, I’m asking you nicely to leave, and please tell Logan that if he needs me, to call.”
“This is really quite rude,” was the butler’s rebuttal.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Dan spat, “he was a hell of a lot nicer than I would’ve been.”
Rainer’s cell chirped, and he looked momentarily surprised. He pulled it from the pocket of his jeans and held it up for the butler.
“See, Logan says ‘Hey, man. Ad misses you guys. We’re coming out in a few, but Lucas really wants you to come back over here later.’”
Rainer pulled the phone away so the butler couldn’t read the rest of the text that Dan assumed was Logan’s complaining about Lucas’s insistent invitation.
“This is all it takes,” Rainer huffed indignantly.
“Are you ready for me to take the breakfast tray then?” the butler asked derisively.
“No,” Dan and Rainer spat simultaneously.
“Well…” the butler huffed, and stomped back down the stairs and out the front door.
“Let me see Logan’s text,” Dan held his hand out for Rainer’s phone. Rainer supplied the phone. He was shaking his head over their morning, and what had been interrupted.
“Believe me, I feel your pain,” Dan lamented.
“Yeah, I heard,” Rainer informed wryly.
Dan chose to ignore that information as he read Logan’s text. With a smile, he replied on Rainer’s phone, letting Rainer see what he was typing.
Hey Logan, it’s Dan. If your father-in-law is getting on your nerves as much as he’s getting on mine then tell him that I’m a hard-ass and that I’m making you and Rainer work out this morning with me. I know you two have been slacking since I’ve been gone. Adeline can hang out with Fi and Emily over here longer.
Rainer grinned as Dan hit send. “Very cool, man.”
“Yeah, well, you might want to work out with me, because I may need some help if I decide to let Lachlan know just what I think of his making a play for Fionna.”
Rainer laughed and shook his head.
“Come on. He’s an international playboy. You could take him in your sleep.” Rainer’s admiration made Dan chuckle.
“Yeah, well, the international playboy is humping my last nerve, and that’s a very dangerous thing to do.” His mind immediately went back to Fionna, holed up in their room. He knew she was regretting what he’d done.
Rainer’s phone chirped again, and he smiled.
“Logan says, ‘you are awesome’.”
“I do what I can,” Dan allowed before waving to Rainer and returning to Fionna. He tried to think of what to say to take away her self-imposed shame.
Fionna was pacing and looking morose as Dan entered the room. He moved to her.
“Ok, that was not at all how that was supposed to end. Come here, honey,” he wrapped his arms around her and let her feel his powerful, protective embrace as he pushed his shield out from his body with ease. He moved his hand to her chest and healed the rather large mark in a matter of seconds.
“Do you think he saw it?”
All Dan could feel in her energy was shame, and it infuriated him all over again.
“No, I don’t, and you know what? He had no business being up here. I may kill Lachlan Nguyen, as I’m beyond certain that he’s the one who pressed the issue and sent him back.”
Before Fionna could ask how Dan knew that, he went on.
“Baby, what we share, what happens in our bedroom, is for you and me, and not anyone else. I will never share anything that we do with anyone else. That is sacred between the two of us. I will guard that with my very life, and I don’t ever want you to feel ashamed because you want something, Fionna, ok?” She nodded against him and let him soothe her regret-filled rhythms.
“Why do you think Lachlan did that?”
“Because, last night Rainer and I eavesdropped on a conversation between Lucas, his brothers, and his dad. I wanted to know what they really thought about Adeline.” He knew that he should feel bad for listening in, but he couldn’t locate any remorse anywhere in his body.
“Oh, that was a good idea,” Fionna lit excitedly. She seemed eager to let her shame and disappointment go.
“What did they say? Please tell me that all of that about having a relationship with Adeline wasn’t just a line?”
“No,” Dan shook his head. “Lucas seems very genuine. He said basically the same things to his brothers that he said at dinner. Lachlan, however, made an extremely lewd comment about you, and I’m pretty sure he’d like nothing more than for you to be a notch in his bedpost.” Dan felt fury pulse through him. He felt sick.
“So, maybe you’re the antidote to my temper, because I didn’t beat the seven shades out of him last night, though I wanted to. But if he keeps this up, I’m going to.”
Fionna smiled against him.
“Ok, tell me what he said, and I’ll decide if I want you to just go ahead and beat him up, or if I want to rub it in his face all day and then let you beat him up.”
Dan felt his heart swell, but he shook his head.
“I don’t talk like that at all, and I most certainly don’t say things like that in front of women, especially you.”
“Wow, it must’ve been bad,” she assumed, and he didn’t argue. “Ok, then, I’ll get Emily to get Rainer to tell her, and then she’ll tell me,” she strategized with a grin.
“Fi,” he raised his left eyebrow.
“Just tell me.”
Dan sighed.
“He said he’d ‘be up you like a rat up a drain pipe’.”
Fionna scowled in disgust. “Oh, gross.”
Dan held up his hands. “I told you,” he huffed.
“Well, I just think we can treat Lachlan to a little show today. He’s probably going with us, right?”
“I have no doubt.” Dan wondered what she was up to. “I’m pretty sure he thinks that being in the Australian royal family, with more money than he knows what to do with, will have you jumping at the chance to climb into his bed, as compared to a lowly Iodex officer, with a bad temper,” Dan stated morosely.
Fionna looked highly insulted.
“Well, then he doesn’t know the first thing about me, does he? First of all, Dan, I don’t jump into anyone’s bed and, more importantly, I’m your girlfriend. I made a commitment to you, even if we haven�
�t worked out all the details. I’m in love with you, even if it has only been a week.” She looked momentarily shocked by the revelation.
Dan felt renewed breath cleanse his lungs. His heart located a healthy cadence. Life washed through him. He wrapped his arms around her. He just had to keep her safe. It was as easy and as painstakingly, gut-wrenchingly hard as that.
“And Lachlan can stuff it,” she declared. “I plan to show him precisely where my loyalties lie.”
“You just keep blowing my mind,” Dan stole her line for him as he pulled her back to him. “And tonight, when we get back here, I’m taking you for that ride, Ms. Styler.”
69
An Adeline Out of Water
Dan used every piece of equipment in the well-equipped, albeit small, gym in the guesthouse. Rainer and Logan joined him in the workout room. They both seemed to have a fair amount of tension to sweat out.
Two and a half hours later, Dan re-entered the living room to find the girls lying on the couches talking and laughing. Adeline looked vastly more relaxed than she had when she’d arrived. Fionna wrinkled her nose as Dan neared.
“What, I don’t get a hug, baby doll? I’ve been gone for two hours. I missed you,” his teasing elicited her infectious giggle as he ran a towel over his face.
Rainer and Logan followed Dan in, a few minutes later. He’d finished his mile run cool-down several minutes before them.
“I am so sorry,” Adeline shook her head. “I cannot believe they sent that guy out here twice. The whole thing is just so crazy. I will never get used to this.”
“You don’t have to get used to it, baby. Just get to know your dad while we’re here. Then I’ll take you back to the ho-hum life we live where, if you want to hang with Emily, you text her and say ‘hey Em get over here and bring me a Dr. Pepper’. You don’t send your butler out to give her a formal invitation to request her company and that she bring a fizzy refreshment,” Logan made everyone laugh heartily.
“I can’t wait,” Adeline vowed. Everyone grinned at her sweet concern and the bewilderment that she’d been living, for the past several hours.
“He really does want you all to come back over for a little while. Do you mind?” she looked like she was asking her friends to commit some sort of heinous crime.
“Of course we’ll go, Adeline,” Fionna immediately pledged. “We want to help you with all of this, as crazy as it kind of is,” she admitted with another giggle that Dan found to be adorable.
After the men showered, they changed into polo shirts and slacks. The girls all donned skirts and heels as Lucas’s maid, Marta, had informed them that the dress of the day would be business casual.
They headed back into the palace and towards Lucas’s apartment. The maid, who’d also made them refreshments, welcomed them in. Lucas seemed very pleased that they were all there. Dan thanked Lucas for the Dr. Pepper that he was providing rather insistently.
“So, Adeline thought you might all like to go shopping today. Any particular stores are your favorites?” Lucas asked the ladies, who all looked quite uncomfortable being singled out.
Dan draped his arm over Fionna, as she seemed to want to be tucked away. “We did a little shopping the other day, but I don’t think they really know what might be around Sydney. Perhaps you have a few suggestions.”
The girls looked relieved.
Lucas considered for a moment. “Well, my ex-wife preferred the Westfield boutiques; La Perla, Armani, Chanel, things like that, but there’s also the Victoria, which would probably be more like the malls you have in the States.”
“There’s a La Perla?” Fionna was almost drooling.
Dan stifled a chuckle. “I think that means she’d like to go to Westfield,” he interpreted for her as Lucas smiled and offered a polite chuckle.
“Excellent.”
Marta made another appearance. “Sir, Edward Davies is calling. He says it’s urgent,” she offered apologetically.
Lucas scoffed. “A friend of mine from New Zealand; he wants to play golf,” he chuckled. “Will you excuse me for just a moment?”
“Certainly,” everyone assured him. Marta followed Lucas out.
“Hey, Ad, I think we should ask Lucas if we could get you a maid outfit like that to wear for me,” Logan teased. Everyone cracked up, and Adeline blushed violently. She elbowed Logan’s ribcage.
“You wish,” she teased.
“Yeah, Haydenshire, why don’t you ask her dad about that?” Dan goaded. He was astonished at how different Adeline was when she was only with Logan and her friends. She clammed up immediately when Lucas entered the room.
Rainer leaned to set his cup on a nearby side table.
“Rainer,” Emily gasped, “don’t set that there. That table probably cost more than your Porsche!”
“Don’t worry, Em. I’m sure a plethora of maids will be by to wipe off the tables, and probably Rainer’s chin if you want them to,” Logan teased, and the laughter kept going.
“Nah, I only let Em wipe my chin,” Rainer winked at Emily, whose mouth hung open as everyone laughed at the dirty quip.
“You are in so much trouble,” Emily shot Rainer a mischievous glare.
“I’m hoping.”
“Ok, but she’s probably right. This is all so crazy.” Adeline seemed to be coming out of her shell before everyone’s eyes.
She gestured around the sitting room. They all took in the grand room, with its high back, inlaid silk, woven settees, uncomfortable Queen Anne chairs, and heavy wooden furnishings.
“And you should see the room we’re staying in. I can’t even get in the bed without a stool.” Adeline sounded thoroughly nonplused.
“Oh, now, I bet Logan can get you into bed, Miss Adeline,” Rainer teased her.
Dan grinned wryly. “Haydenshire, what is wrong with you? Pick her up,” he extended his arms in front of him and simulated lifting a woman onto a bed.
Logan shook his head. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy just being with his friends.
“Yeah, I thought about that, but I figured if I just laid there, a maid might bring her to me on a silver platter.”
Everyone guffawed but, as the laughter died down, Dan and Logan glanced towards the door just in time to see Lucas’s coattails as he made a quick exit.
While wondering just how much he’d overheard, Dan and Logan shared an ominous expression. Logan shook his head slightly.
Dan understood that he did not want Adeline to know what had happened. He nodded his understanding.
70
Latitude
A few minutes later, Lucas made another appearance. He did a decent job of pretending he hadn’t heard Adeline and her friends making fun of the palace and the serving staff.
“So, are we ready to begin our day?”
No one looked like they were overly excited to spend the day with Lucas and Lachlan, and then have to endure another formal meal with the Nguyens at the Opera House, but they all nodded politely.
Dan pulled Logan to the side as they entered the Westfield. All of the ladies began oohing and ahhing over the available boutiques.
“Why don’t I go with you to apologize?” Dan thought that Logan really should offer an apology to Lucas, and that he should as well. He was certainly old enough to know better.
“Thanks. I really appreciate it. I don’t want to tell Rainer. I’m scared Em might tell Adeline.”
Dan nodded his understanding. Emily and Adeline followed Fionna into a Beauty Central, while Rainer and Lachlan discussed his Porsche.
It appeared to be a perfect time, so Dan and Logan made their approach.
“Hey, Lucas, I’m really sorry about what you overheard. I was just trying to let her blow off a little steam. I shouldn’t have said anything,” Logan offered sincerely.
Lucas looked highly put-out. “Did you not tell me, this very morning, Logan, that you would help me establish a relationship with Adeline?”
Dan didn’t like his tone, but he said nothing.
“I did, and that’s why I’m apologizing.”
“I don’t really find making fun of the way I live to be very helpful, do you?”
“I said I was sorry,” Logan came right back. He reached the end of his rope rather quickly.
“And you, Officer Vindico, require that your officers work out for two hours while they’re on holiday and that their wives remain with them while they’re in the gym?” Lucas turned his disdain on Dan.
“I did request that Logan work out today. We do have to remain in top physical form and, as we will both be back at work next week, I thought he could use a good workout. He’s been here for several days vacationing,” Dan dared Lucas to debate his reasoning.
“I’m sorry if that took your time away from Adeline,” Dan added at the end. He tried to remember that they needed Lucas’s help if Adeline was going to keep her job, which was the entire mission of the trip.
Logan seemed to remember the same thing at the same moment. While drawing a deep breath, Logan swallowed his pride.
“Lucas, I told you that she needed a little time with Emily. Look at her; she’s smiling again. She’s happy.” He gestured to the makeup and perfume shop. Adeline was standing beside Fionna. They were sampling a perfume and beaming.
“Again, I am really sorry. What I said was stupid and childish, but you gotta give us a little latitude. This is all really new to us. I’m not saying that our way of life is right and yours is wrong, but maids and butlers don’t wake us up; alarms do.”
“If we want coffee, we go to the kitchen and fix it, in our pajamas and sweats, and then cuddle up on our ancient couch and drink it. If we want something to eat, we fix it ourselves and generally serve it up on paper plates, unless we’re eating at my parents’ house.”
“If the toilets need to be cleaned, we clean them. Our house has six rooms, not six hundred. My family owns a huge farm and, let me tell you, if my mom needs the garden tilled or weeded, guess who does that?” Logan pointed to himself.
“We’re not accustomed to being waited on or having our sheets changed every day,” Logan gestured to Dan, who was still irritated about their morning. He nodded his agreement.