“Someone start fucking talking,” Leo shouts. “This isn’t a bloody game.”
“Huh?” Dahlia asks.
“I think he wants to know how you know that Suzanne is in residence when you haven’t seen her,” I explain to Dahlia before looking back at Leo. He nods so I continue. “Also answer quick because the stroke vein in the side of his head is pulsating. I don’t think he’s happy with us right now.”
“I’m not,” he says.
“Oh! Well I’ve heard people talking about her,” she explains.
“Like what?” he asks.
“Mostly like how entitled she is or how demanding she is,” Dahlia answers.
“Who did you hear saying those things?” he asks.
“The household staff, mostly. I know I’ve heard Maeve mention her demanding her clothes be steam cleaned and ironed. Thought she could do alterations on a gown for the ball. Maeve was annoyed,” she says.
“I bet she was,” I mutter.
“We need to get you back to the castle for the investiture,”Leo says.
“This means no burgers, doesn’t it?” Dahlia asks.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Dammit,” she says, and I laugh.
“This is serious,” Leo says to me. “You need to be secured once we arrive at the castle and only open the door to known safe people: me, the King, and Maeve—”
“Ahem,” Dahlia interrupts.
“And Dahlia,” he says. “Safety in numbers is probably not a bad idea anyway.”
“Oh, yay,” she says with mock excitement. “We can die together like the lovers inThe Notebook.”
I snicker until I get a look at Leo’s stern expression and then agree, “I won’t let anyone in no matter what.”
When we arrive at the castle, we pull into the private entrance on the far side of the building. The vehicle containing the rest of our protection detail parks behind us, and men spill out to provide the security coverage Leo requested as we drove up the hill to the castle. Once they’re in place, Leo pulls open my door and we slide out, ducking and rushing to the door. I don’t bother to ask why we’re taking evasive actions. No one has tried to shoot me; they simply tried to poison me and kill me in a manufactured car accident. In fact, no guns have ever involved. Once we’re in the hallway, Dahlia’s suites come up first and she steps inside.
“I’ll see you in a few hours,” she says to me.
I nod to her before the door closes with a snickof the lock behind her. Then Leo rushes me down the hall to my suite where I produce the heavy key from my purse and open the door. He makes sure that the rooms are safe which, they are because Rhys is already in them with my sweet pets. When Rhys sees the look on Leo’s face, he jumps to his feet from where he was reclined on the sofa and comes over to pull me into his arms.
“What’s happened?” he orders.
“I mean… what hasn’t happened?” I ask and then press my lips closed because flippant responses are not welcome here.
“I thought I saw Lady Thomley in the crowd during the block party we were at,” I explain. And when he looks at me with concern I continue. “Yeah, yeah. I know. One way trip to the funny farm… but not yet.”
“Hen,” he starts, but I don’t let him continue.
“That’s not all,” I explain. “She wasn’t there and no one saw her. I asked. But then in the car on the way home, Dahlia asked for burgers and honestly, I wish we had stopped because I’m starving.”
“Hen,” he warns.
“I’m nervous, all right?” I snap. “And a turkey sandwich wouldn’t hurt either. Anyway, she asked what Leo and I were mad about, and I said I saw Suzanne. She said, ‘I thought you said she was dead.’ And I said, ‘I did say she was dead.’ And Dahlia said, ‘That’s silly because she’s here.’”
“What?” he roars.