Chapter 54
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
I can’t take this much longer. I’m not going to have any hair left. My fingernails are already toast. My lip is bruised. Please, come on!
When a peck on the window shatters the silence, I nearly come clean out of my skin. When I sit up, Penelope’s on the other side of the window, grinning.
She’s laughing. “Wilton’s singing like a bird.”
My eyes bulge. “Really?”
“I eavesdropped. I think you’ll be quite happy with the news.” She glances toward the entrance of the Palace. “There come your men right this minute.”
“Thanks for all you’ve done.”
“Oh, honey, it’s nothing. I’ve been dreaming of ways to get rid of that snake since the day he arrived.”
“It’s been dreadful, hasn’t it?”
She rolls her eyes. “You don’t know the half of it. Anyway, I think you and Wolf should sit down and have a nice chat with your father. How about I arrange for dinner for the three of you tonight?”
As I watch Wolf and Mikail walk toward me, my heart speeds.
Wolf’s looking right at me. He and Mikail are talking easily.
Hope blooms like a million sunflowers inside my chest. “I think that would be great. Make it for eight, if you don’t mind.
We have some other business to take care of during daylight hours. ”
“On a treasure hunt, are you?”
My mouth drops open as I stare at her knowing smile. “Word spreads fast around here. But don’t worry. Only the safe people know about this situation.”
“Except for Wilton.”
“I think you’ll find that Wilton doesn’t know nearly as much as you’re worried about.”
Penelope steps back as the men approach. “I’ll be getting back to work now. I’ve got a bit of a mess to clean up. I started a small fire in the kitchen as a distraction earlier.”
I can’t hold back my laugh. “You’re the best.”
She waves as she walks away. “Toodles. Dinner at eight for you, Wolf, and your dad, on the veranda.”
Wolf’s looking more satisfied than I expected.
He opens the SUV door and pulls me out before I even realize what he’s doing. I barely have time to get a breath before he kisses me.
When he pulls back, I say, “What was that for?”
He smugly says, “Because I can.”
Grumbling, Mikail hops in the passenger seat. “Good grief, enough with the kissy face, we’ve got us a meteorite to find.”
Wolf lifts me back into the rear seat of the SUV, “Everything makes sense now, after Wilton spilled his guts.”
The choking sound that comes out of me is none less than someone who’s got their stomach in their throat. “You didn’t—”
Mikail’s laugh is loud and long. “Your face, Kate. My god. You don’t really think we’d gut him, do you?”
“I have no idea what you two would do. And quite honestly, that makes me more than a little nervous.”
Wolf starts the SUV and guns it, peeling away from the curb. “Yeah, just wait to see what she thinks of our next act.”
I grab onto the handle above my door as Wolf careens around the corner, completely certain that I’m in for a shock, no matter what it is these two have dreamed up.