“I’m thrilled to be a part of it. Oh, one last thing. Will you need me to add extra security, or will you be using your people?”
“Our people are fine,” Phillip answered for her. “A total of twelve for outside and inside. And I cannot stress this enough, no paparazzi, no pictures leaked, no advance notice anywhere of the event.”
“No problem,” Hailey said. “We’ve had similar circumstances when Claire Jordan attended weddings here, and there’s never been an issue.”
Silvia stood and the security guards moved toward her. Hailey stood and called over to Rose, who was happily trotting behind one of the guards.
Phillip appeared by her side. “Would you like to have a cup of coffee? We passed a café that looked promising on our ride in. I have my own car back to the city since we knew Silvia was meeting her fiancé.”
Hailey sucked in air. “Sure, that would be lovely.” Her voice squeaked a bit, and she prayed he didn’t notice.
Silvia went up on tiptoe and kissed Phillip’s cheek. “Thanks for your help and for running interference with you-know-who. You’re a saint for sitting through all this wedding talk.”
Phillip winked. “Anything for my little sister.”
Silvia smiled and patted his cheek before sailing out of the room, two security guards in tow.
The moment Silvia left the room, Phillip leaned down to confide, “Keeping her stateside wedding in line with royal expectations is half the reason for my visit. Shh, don’t tell her. She hates to feel like we’re babysitting her.”
Hailey smiled. “I think she’s lucky to have family looking out for her.”
“Agreed.” He bent his arm and offered it to Hailey in a gentlemanly gesture. “Shall we?”
Chapter Six
Josh waited in the shadows of the church rectory across the street from Ludbury House on a reconnaissance mission. He knew Hailey was meeting at five o’clock with the playboy prince, thanks to Mad. He hadn’t told Mad of his new strategic plan regarding Hailey, but his sister had always wanted him to make a move on Hailey and gave him ample information to make that possible. Not like he was going to barge in on them. He was gathering intel. Would Hailey walk the prince out after their meeting, all smiles and flirty body language? Would they get into one of those black Mercedes with the tinted windows parked behind Ludbury House and drive off together? Was the playboy prince a rival or a nonstarter?
The answer arrived a few minutes later when a large man in a black blazer stepped through the front door of Ludbury House and scanned his surroundings. Security. Josh shrank back against the wall. A moment later, he looked again. The security guy stood to the side. Hailey appeared first in a light green dress with white straps over her bare shoulders. The dress emphasized her narrow waist. High heels, of course. She looked fresh, young, and as glamorous as his movie star sister-in-law, Claire Jordan. Clearly Hailey was swinging for the fences with the prince. She had her pink dog purse over one shoulder and he didn’t hear a peep out of Rose when the prince appeared at Hailey’s side. The prince took Hailey’s hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm, a gentlemanly move. Damn, this guy played hardball. Another security guard appeared, and the group left the porch, walked down the sidewalk, and headed down Main Street.
He waited. They went into Something’s Brewing Café. Okay, he’d gotten the intel. Conclusive evidence the playboy prince was a rival. Hailey wasn’t just walking him out, she was spending time with the guy, which she would never do unless she was interested. Now what? He needed to prove he was a better option than a goddamn prince.
But was he?
Sure, he could pull out the gentleman manners, but the prince had that too. There was no way Josh could ever offer the kind of glamorous jet-setting lifestyle that Prince Phillip could. The kind of lifestyle Hailey would probably love. She’d even told him how much she’d love to travel to exotic places when they’d had that switcheroo date way back when. All he could offer was a life rooted in Clover Park, a suburban community where not much exciting happened. He liked that about Clover Park. It was steady and safe—filled with families and a few colorful characters like that kooky grandmother Maggie O’Hare, who looked out for him and everybody in town, it seemed—but it wasn’t glamorous.
His shoulders drooped. Maybe he’d missed his chance with Hailey.
He headed over to Garner’s, even though he wasn’t supposed to be working tonight due to his clandestine mission. Mad had taken a shift behind the bar for him. He had a ridiculous amount of vacation time racked up. He never took a day off and he rarely got sick. He lived clean, ate healthy, mostly because he was a foodie, and didn’t get close enough to anyone to pick up an illness. Only his twin ever dared invade his personal space, which felt fine, they were like two halves of a whole, being identical. The guys understood his need for a perimeter of personal space after his time in combat.
It was a little after six when he walked into Garner’s. The dining area was full and people were waiting for a table. Always good to see on a Friday night. He greeted a few regulars as he moved through to the bar. Several people sat at the bar, where Mad was chopping some limes.
“I’m back,” he told her, heading around behind the bar.
Her head whipped toward him. “Aww, man. I was hoping to keep all the tips from tonight for my honeymoon.”
“Tips are all yours.” What did he need the money for anyway? Tips could never add up to a princely sum. Ha. Royal humor. He glanced out the window of the dining area over to Something’s Brewing Café and spotted Hailey’s familiar strawberry blond hair, her back to him as she stood in line for coffee. He used to think of her hair as light red, but she called it strawberry blond, and the luscious-sounding words stuck in his mind.
Mad appeared at his side. “Thanks, Josh. You’re the best.”
He grunted, his gaze still riveted on the action across the street.
“Hey, there’s Hailey. I wonder how it went with the prince.”
He didn’t respond.
“Wow. She just texted he asked her out for coffee. I don’t see him, do you?”
He ignored her. He saw him all right, his profile turned toward Hailey. There was a security guard behind him and one standing by the door.
Mad elbowed him. “You think coffee’s like a first date?”
He shifted away. “Coffee’s like coffee.”
“I don’t know,” Mad said, going back to slicing limes. “I think the order is beverage, dinner, and then some of the ol’ in and out.”
He glared at her, but she didn’t notice, her gaze fixed on her task. Hailey wasn’t the kind of woman who rushed to bed. Was she? Hmm…she had stripped down to her bra and thong and offered herself the first moment she’d ever been alone with him. Why? Did she just want him for sex? Because now that he knew they belonged together, that was a very bad thing. Maybe she didn’t see him as relationship material. His gut churned, an all too familiar acid feeling when he got thinking about Hailey.
Maybe she’d been drunk on vodka like she’d said. So it was good that he’d been a gentleman, even though it sucked right now. He never wanted to take advantage. He wanted her willing and begging for it. An image of a flushed pink Hailey in all her naked glory, panting, begging him to give it to her flashed through his mind. Fuck. He forced his mind back to the hideous prince, his new nemesis. The battle lines were drawn.
Mad finished with the limes, wiped her hands on a paper towel, and checked her phone. “Mind if I take a break? Hailey wants me to stop by the café to check out the prince.”
He stared at her. Women did that? Ran potential lovers past their friends first? “Check him out for what?”
Mad grinned. “It’s a girl thing. I’ll just casually show up like, oh, hey, nice running into you. Then later I’ll tell her what I thought of him and any potential between them.” She looked proud of herself for knowing about girl things. He was proud too. It had taken a while, but Mad was finally up on the intricacies of women’s relationshi
ps. No easy feat. He didn’t know any guy, him included, who’d cracked that code.
Still, he wasn’t ready to yield the battlefield just yet. He tugged a lock of her half brown, half red hair. “Sorry. I need you here. I’m going to take the night off after all.”
He stepped out from behind the bar and headed toward the door.
“Tell the prince I said hi,” Mad called from behind him with a laugh.
He flipped her the bird over his shoulder. Brat.
He headed across the street and decided he’d play it exactly like Mad had planned, all casual, like he’d just happened to run into them. He walked into the café with its deep red walls, glowing golden sconces, and dark wood tables and chairs, his gaze quickly narrowing to the table where the prince sat with his arm around the top of Hailey’s chair, his fingers mere millimeters away from her bare shoulder. Another few minutes and that hand would be on her bare shoulder or in her soft hair or worse.
He closed the distance between them, careful to keep to his usual amble so as not to alert the security guard standing a few feet away. “Hey, Hailey, nice running into you.” Smooth was his middle name.
She straightened. “Josh! What’re you doing here?” Rose popped her head up from Hailey’s purse under the table and growled at him.
He lifted one shoulder. “Stopped by for a coffee. Mind if I join you with…”
“Phillip,” the prince supplied, offering his hand.
Josh gave him a firm handshake. “Nice to meet you. I’ll be back in a minute after I put in my order.”
“No.” Hailey pasted on one of her fake smiles. “Sorry. Phillip is only in town for a short time. I’ll see you another time. Enjoy your coffee!”
He ignored her brush-off. The stakes were too damn high for that. Instead he pulled out a chair, set it on Hailey’s other side, and took a seat. Rose started up her I hate Josh barking spree. He spoke above the racket. “How long are you in town for, Bill?”
“It’s Phillip,” Hailey said through her teeth. She dug into her purse and fed Rose a treat under the table. Rose quieted as she chewed.
“That’s what I said,” Josh replied.
Phillip scratched the side of his neck, eyeing him and then Hailey. “Would you prefer I leave you two alone?”
Smart man. “Yes.”
“No!” Hailey turned to Josh. He smiled pleasantly. She fake smiled back. “May I speak to you for a moment in private?” she whisper-shouted.
“Sure.” He turned to the interloper. “Could you watch Rose? Thanks.”
Hailey marched to the back of the café to an empty children’s section. Her back was bare—the dress open all the way to the sweet dip in her lower back just above her curvy ass. Only a narrow white band across the middle of her back held the sides of the dress in place. He clenched his jaw. This was how she dressed for the prince?
He leaned against the wall in a casual slouch by a short kids’ table, hiding the intensity of all he was feeling. It was worse now that he saw the prince up close, looking all pretty, the perfect match for beauty queen Hailey. Jealousy took a gleeful ride on top of missed opportunity and unsatisfied lust. “What’s up?”
She stood in front of him, her pale blue eyes flashing fire. The jolt it gave him was more than lust; it was a primal recognition of a warrior’s spirit. She was magnificent. “What is up?” she half-shouted. “I’ll tell you what is up. Just because our parents are getting married, that doesn’t give you the right to show up here acting like an overprotective big brother.”
“Sorry, little sis. Mad was concerned, so I stepped up.”
She huffed. “Mad was happy for me. You came here because of some twisted sense of honor. News flash, I can handle myself.”
He straightened out of his slouch, keeping his voice low. “I see a player moving in for the kill, I can’t just stand by.”
She leaned in, whisper-shouting at him, “I have plenty of experience handling men, even players, so back off! I do not want a scene here like when you had a throwdown with Blake Grenier over me. Phillip has security here.” Blake Grenier was the costar in his sister-in-law Claire’s Fierce trilogy movies.
“Blake was an asshole. You knew that and you still wanted to go upstairs with him.” That still pissed him off. They’d been at the Fierce trilogy movie wrap party with Claire and crew. Josh knew the real deal about Blake from Claire, and he also knew Claire had warned all of her friends, including Hailey, to stay away from Blake. So when Hailey hadn’t listened to Josh’s request not to go upstairs with Blake, he’d been forced to warn Blake away from Hailey. The man came at him and he’d neutralized the threat.
Hailey’s cheeks and neck flushed pink, her voice loud now. “He was giving me a tour of where they filmed the Fierce trilogy!”
He went nose to nose with her. “He wanted your panties as a fucking trophy.”
Her breath quickened, lips parted, eyes locked on his. The air vibrated between them for a tense electrifying moment. His gaze dropped to her luscious pink lips, the urge to stake his claim so powerful he held back for a second more, needing to be sure he was under control.
She shifted back a step. “Look, I get that you’re protective, but I don’t need it. Now go before I sic Mad on your ass.”
He crossed his arms. “Mad would back me up. She’d look out for you just the same as me.”
She looked over to the prince, who now held Rose in his lap. Asshole kissing up to her dog. She turned back to him. “Goodbye, Josh.”
“I know his type. He uses women and throws them away. Look him up. He dates models from all over the world.”
She flicked her long hair over one smooth shoulder. “So you think he wouldn’t be interested in me because I’m not a model?”
He lowered his voice to a husky tone. “Not in the way you’d want.” Not like me.
She lifted her chin, proud and haughty and beautiful. “You have no idea what I want.”
“Try me,” he drawled.
She stiffened, but her eyes never left his. She was at least curious what he might offer.
“Is there a problem?” a masculine voice asked.
They both turned to see Phillip standing there.
“Where’s Rose?” Hailey asked.
“Back in your purse,” Phillip said.
“You left her alone?” Hailey cried. “She could run away.” She rushed back to Rose.
Josh spoke under his breath to the playboy prince. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”
Phillip laughed. “I’m not too worried. If she actually wanted you, you’d be the one sitting with her, not me. I get the feeling you’ve known each other a while.”
Josh wanted to punch him so badly, but he knew security would close in and there’d be a scene, as Josh would have to neutralize the threat of three men. Hailey would be furious after she’d just told him no more throwdowns.
“Asshole,” he spat and stalked toward the door.
Rose barked at him as he passed by Hailey. What did he ever do to that little rat? Geez, he had to win over a beauty-queen wannabe princess and a rat-dog? Why couldn’t he just have it easy and be born a prince?
But that had never been the way life rolled for him. He had to work hard for everything he’d ever gotten. No one handed anything to him. He opened the café door and headed outside, not bothering with the coffee. Fine. He’d have to be smarter and work harder to get what he wanted, just like always. No choice in the matter now that his eyes had been opened. He’d start with the dog. If he couldn’t even win over Rose, what chance did he have with her owner? Surely he could outsmart a dog. All he had to do was carry a treat in his pocket.
The owner required more finesse. He headed across the street to Garner’s, stepped inside, and caught his sister’s questioning look. Why hadn’t he thought of this before? His sister had the inside track with Hailey. He wasn’t above using that kind of intel. A frigging gold mine.
Chapter Seven
Hailey welcomed her mom and Joe Ca
mpbell to Ludbury House for a Wednesday five-o’clock appointment and walked them to the ballroom. She was the maid of honor and had agreed to be their wedding planner. She was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, as it always did with her mom. At some point her mom would flake on this relationship and leave Hailey desperately trying to pick up the pieces. She’d never had a stable foundation—not with family or a home—and the Campbells were the closest she’d gotten to experiencing that. Her recent group of friends through the Happy Endings Book Club was also entangled with the Campbells through marriage and engagements. Everything in her life tied back to them, and she didn’t want anything or anyone to screw that up. Mom.
Hailey took a seat, and the happy couple sat across the table from her, holding hands, their fingers entwined. She had to admit they looked totally in love. Her mom had come straight from work, wearing a sophisticated robin’s egg blue dress with cutout lace panels at the bodice and her sides. Joe wore a black long-sleeved cotton shirt with faded jeans. They were an odd pairing of dressy and casual, but maybe when you were old (her mom had turned fifty last week) the pickings were slim and you just went with anyone your age who happened to be single.
Geez, she was becoming downright cynical now that she was staring down thirty. In three years anyway. But there it was, the big three-oh taunting her like a big ol’ deadline for what was rapidly becoming a delusional fantasy of happy-ever-after. Sadly, Phillip had left the moment he finished his coffee last Friday at the café, saying he had to get back to the city. Obviously Phillip wasn’t interested in her. He’d probably just wanted a friendly coffee, being a stranger in a strange land.
She handed the rose corsage to her mom. “For the bride. You can just hold it if you don’t want to pin it to your beautiful dress.”
Her mom beamed and removed the rose from its plastic casing. “I’ll put it in my hair.” She smoothed her long strawberry blond hair back—dyed to match Hailey’s hair—and tucked it behind her ear. Her mom’s hair was naturally blond and white. She was a former model and clung to her looks with a death grip. She regularly got Botox too.
An Inconvenient Plan (Happy Endings Book Club, Book 10) Page 6