Crown Jewels (Off-Limits Romance #1)(65)

I tell myself, as I unload the car, that my feelings for her are one-sided. She’s not as desperate as I am. She’s not as fucked up. She might be sad, she might have been hurt by that fucker Parsons, but she’s strong. So unlike me.

I don’t deserve her. That’s what I have to keep on telling myself, until it’s time for her to leave.

For now, I show her to the kitchen, hook her up with Mora, leave her there eating my favorite lamb chops and those fucking whipped potatoes Mora does so well, and go upstairs and call my cousin.

Heath answers on the second ring. When I ask where he is, he says, “I’m here. Outside. I just saw you—and was that Lucy Rhodes?”

“We’ll talk later.”

“Was that her?”

“What do you think?”

“I think you’re fucking stupid.”

“Fuck you. I’m going to Clary. I’ll be back later. If you see her, Heath, you better—”

“By yourself?”

“What?”

“You’re going to Clary by yourself?” he asks.

“All by myself,” I tell him in a mocking tone, “just like a big boy.”

“Like hell you are. I’ll drive.”

“Fuck you.”

“A lot of ladies want to,” Heath says.

“I’m surprised there’s no one here.”

“Tonight. Big party. Show your girl a good time—right before you send her ass packing.”

I hang up on Heath and return to the kitchen, where Lucy looks about as blissed out as I’ve seen her so far. The sight of her indulging in my favorite meal makes me unable to refrain from grinning.

“Mora, have Pete show Lucy around when she’s finished.” I grab a lamp chop from the counter, smiling as I wrap it in a paper towel. “One for the road,” I tell the kitchen crew and Lucy. I lean down and plant a quick kiss on her head. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

Outside, I find Heath leaning against the side of his gray Lambo. He scowls in my direction as I walk up to him. When I sit inside, he gives me a damning stare.

“You really have Lucy Rhodes here?”

“I didn’t invite her, Heath. She’s visiting the area.”

“You shouldn’t have let her in the doors.”

“Fuck you.”

“This is not smart, Liam.”

“Did anybody ask you?” I snarl.

Heath takes off, spinning out before he rights himself and zooms toward the south edge of our property. I unscrew the cap of my flask.

I drain half of it. Heath chugs too, then we zoom toward Clary.





*





Lucy





There is a dungeon in the castle. I find out from Pete, the high school student who also happens to be Mora’s nephew. I beg him to take me down there, but he tells me the main entrance was walled off a long time ago, and the only remaining one is in one of the “private rooms”—whatever that means.

I finish my amazing meal and then Pete shows me which areas I can wander through. I spend some time at the grand piano in one of the parlors, then looking at animal heads in the hunt room. I’m not sure if I’m appalled or intrigued to see a lion’s head, and what I’m pretty sure is a leopard head. Probably appalled.

I wander through a massive library I’ve never seen before, with such tall floor-to-ceiling shelves, you have to climb giant ladders to get to all the books. I wonder which rare books are housed here, but it’s impossible to tell at a glance.

In another of the office-looking rooms, I find a case of Liam’s sports trophies. Back upstairs, I linger outside his room for a few minutes before going into my own. I’d really love to go lie on his bed and smell the Liam smell, but I’m not going to invade his privacy.

In my own bed, I snuggle up with Grey and contemplate calling Amelia. In the end, I don’t. I’m not sure what I’d tell her.

I’m borderline obsessed with Liam, and I’m thinking of just dating him without saying a word about this child until I start to show. By then he’ll be in love with me and then we’ll all live happily ever.

Yeahhhh. I lost some marbles on Pirate Island.

In a moment of weakness, I follow the instructions scrawled on a sheet of paper on my nightstand and connect my iPhone to the castle’s internet network. Then I navigate the browser on my phone to TMZ. I can’t bear to read the articles with my name in the headline, but I’m there for long enough to note the absence of those pictures.

Good.

I wonder if the baby is a girl, what will I tell her about what happened between Bryce and me. The sad thing is, I know she’ll know. With the media the way it is, and my family in the spotlight, nothing can stay hidden. If the baby is a boy, it’s just as bad. I wish the story didn’t exist at all. That it had never happened.

I sigh, and Grey licks my arm.

“I need to tell Liam, don’t I?”

Grey licks his paws.

I get off the bed and walk out onto the balcony, smelling the fragrant ocean air and feeling lost and slightly scared.

It doesn’t matter what he says, I tell myself. He might run the other way, and that’s okay. I’ll do this on my own. I’m strong. I can handle the media. I can raise a child to be a good adult.