Arrabella
She can’t miss this voyage. Won’t. Everything rides on it: Patrick’s fortune. Lillith’s will. Her own future.
For a moment she freezes, panting, sweating, her heart galloping. Patrick gently lifts her fully upright and steadies her back onto her feet. His lean limbs are strong against her body, and his glacial-blue eyes—usually so wintry—sparkle with mirth. A grin cracks across his face.
“Christ, it’s not funny, Patrick,” she snaps as she pushes him off and dusts her dress. “I could have knocked my bloody teeth out.”
He laughs, full-throated. “Hey, but I got you, babe.”
She snatches up the bag handles. “Good thing you remember some rugby tackle moves, despite complaining about your dad pushing you into the sport.”
His smile fades. A darkness flickers into his features, but just briefly. He turns away, gathers his own bags, and she realizes it was a mistake. Patrick hasn’t wanted to discuss Angus since the big Christmas blowup that saw him being axed from the will.
Since then, Patrick has grown increasingly distant from Arrabella, but things changed in Venice, where they stopped en route to join the cruise.
The pasta, wine, late nights, lazy mornings, long walks through historic alleys, people-watching in plazas.
Incredible sex. It worked magic. For the first time in months, she felt she wasn’t losing him.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
“It’s okay. Let’s just do this. We’re not missing the trip now. Not after all your badgering.” He starts toward the building entrance.
Guilt shadows her as she follows him, recalling their countless arguments about the trip.
“I don’t want to go on a cruise.”
“Why not?”
“I abhor the idea—thousands of people crammed together for days on end? Are you joking? No thanks.”
“This one’s different, Patrick. It’s the maiden voyage, invite only. And it’s—”
“Marketing, Arra. Smoke and mirrors.”
“It’ll be good for us, love. A break from work . . . and all the other family shit. Just me and you. We need this, Patrick.”
It wasn’t a lie. Just not the whole truth. And now she dreads the moment he does learn the truth—that Lillith is on board.
Terminal staff have been waiting for them. The ship is being held. They’re rushed through check-in and security, and within minutes they’re heading up the VIP escalator to the gangway.
Patrick inhales deeply and reaches for her hand as they ascend. His gaze meets hers.
“You know, I think I’m actually looking forward to this now.” He squeezes her hand. “Thanks for persuading me.”
She nods and looks away, worry rising in her belly.
Softly, he says, “The Orchid has a jewelry boutique aboard.”
Her gaze shoots back to his. “What?”
“Maybe it’s time, Arra.”
“For what?”
“That we pick rings. Platinum bands.” His thumb strokes her palm as he speaks. “A wedding next spring, maybe?”
Her jaw drops. She stares at him, speechless—which is rare for Arrabella Fairfax, infamous for speaking her mind without the slightest provocation, and for verbally slicing and dicing with a sweetly sugared tongue.
A wedding? Finally? To Patrick McGregor, the only true son of a deceased global media mogul?
It’s what Arrabella has been gunning for since her last disastrous marriage and ugly divorce.
It’s why she wangled a features editing job at P.L.U.S.H.
, one of the magazines in a chain controlled by Patrick McGregor.
Her goal from the get-go was to attract the attention of the big boss, touted as one of the most eligible bachelors in the UK.
And she did. She went so far as scoring an engagement ring from him.
But after Patrick was cut from Angus’s will—after his humiliation in the public eye because of it—her plans threatened to collapse.
Patrick has thus far refused to legally challenge his right to his father’s inheritance, which is something Arrabella still doesn’t understand.
Getting him onto the Black Orchid is her last chance to salvage it all.
They step off the escalator hand in hand. The gangway yawns ahead. The Black Orchid awaits, lines about to be cast off. Arrabella glances back over her shoulder, back down the escalator. For a wild moment she wants to stop this. She’s afraid.
“What’s up?” Patrick asks.
“Nothing.” She forces a light laugh. “Just thinking how close we came to missing the boat.”
A sleek woman with a tablet welcomes them on board with obvious relief.
“Lady Arrabella Fairfax, Patrick McGregor, I’m Maxine. We’re so thrilled you made it. The ship is fully boarded—we’re preparing to weigh anchor.”
Another woman approaches them, looking flustered.
“Ah, here’s Roshaan, your concierge,” Maxine says. “She’ll escort you both up to the Calliope Sky Villa. I’m afraid the larger suite you requested—the one immediately across from your stepmother—was already booked, so we have you just a little ways farther down the hall.”
Patrick freezes. “Lillith? Her suite is—what the fuck?”
He shoots a glance at Arrabella.
Arrabella stiffens.
“She’s here?” His eyes blaze with sudden anger. “You knew? This is why you dragged me onto the Orchid? This is why you badgered me into taking this trip?”
“Patrick, I—”
He spins to Maxine. “Get my bags off. I’m leaving.”
“Patrick!” Arrabella grabs his arm.
He holds deadly still. The look on his face terrifies her.
Through clenched teeth, he says, “Let go of me, Arrabella.”
“Sir,” Maxine cuts in, “your luggage is already loaded. Lines are casting off. Port authorities won’t allow us to delay any longer, but I can arrange for your departure from our next port of call. Souda. Tomorrow morning earliest.”
“I’ll charter a chopper, then. Maxine, can you get me a helicopter? Now.”
“Patrick,” Arrabella says quietly as she takes his arm again. “Please just come over here.” She tries to draw her fiancé away from Maxine and Roshaan and into a quieter corner.
“People are starting to stare,” she whispers. She knows he hates making any kind of a scene that could attract media interest. “Please, love, can we just go up to the suite and talk about it?”
He glowers at her, a raw energy thrumming under his skin. Where moments ago his eyes were soft and he was talking about a spring wedding, his gaze now burns with something akin to hatred. And the sudden depth of it shocks her.
She might have gotten him onto the ship—she might have won that battle. But has it cost her the war?
Because if she loses Patrick, she loses everything.