27. The Most Eligible British Bachelor
THE MOST ELIGIBLE brITISH BACHELOR
Fable
Awkward doesn’t begin to explain my life now.
Wes and I sit in the back of a big SUV on the drive home from the hospital.
“Is it a record high today?” I almost melted when we left in my baggy jeans and long-sleeved cropped T, which felt great in the chilly hospital. I check my phone to see if I’m right.
“Yes,” Wes answers before I can type the search in Google. He sits beside me, working on his phone. “The humidity is unusually high for September, which makes it feel hotter too.”
I grin. He’s like an all-knowing magic box enclosed in a body that could pass for a male stripper.
“How long is it going to last?” I ask, just to mess with him.
“Two days, I believe, then the temperature drops to the seventies.”
“Low seventies is my favorite.”
“Yeah?” He glances at me as if filing this away before returning his focus to his phone.
He doesn’t even notice when we pass through the first gate to Hellfire.
“I think gas prices are higher,” I throw out, again to mess with him. I have no idea if they are.
“They are. Mostly due to severe oil disruptions in Iran, but also from seasonal demand.”
See? Magic box.
“You look sexy sitting there working.” I drink him in. No suit today, just fitted taupe pants and a dark polo with a brown belt and matching shoes. He looks like English nobility.
That earns me a smirk and his undivided attention. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I pull my bottom lip between my teeth.
He lowers his phone and takes my chin in his hand. “I want to bite that.”
“Go ahead.” I fight a grin, waiting to see what he does.
The SUV stops, and the driver announces we’re here.
“To be continued,” Wes says and gets out. He waves for me to slide across the seat to him.
I do, but before I can plant my feet on the ground, he scoops me into his arms and carries me up the stairs as if we’re late for something.
The huge doors open for us. We entered the great hall, where the staff lined the black-and-white marble floor on either side of the grand staircase, like something out of Downton Abbey.
My entire body ignites with embarrassment.
“Thank you for being here,” Wes says, like they weren’t summoned to do so.
“As I’m sure you are all aware, this little angel proved I have a heart by stealing it and further proved that fate has a plan for everyone, even a cold, calculated arse like me.
Please treat my fiancée with kindness and respect.
She went through a hell of a lot to get here.
” He smiles adoringly at me, his meaning clear.
This journey toward my future with him began six years ago in that garden.
“Fiancée?” Noah shouts. “Fable, why didn’t you tell me?”
My gaze whips to her standing in line with the staff, then back to Wes, who’s watching me for my reaction. “Fiancée?” Did I miss that part of his declaration?
“I’ve never done anything halfway in my life. If I want something, I go for it.”
“Go for it or take it?” This kinda feels like taking it.
“Earn it,” he says without arrogance, simply in the confident way he does everything. “Have I?”
My brain scrambles to catch up. He’s proposing to me in front of everyone? Without hinting to me that he might? Like he just decided?
I almost ask if we can talk about it later, in private, then I realize this is his way of showing me I’m worthy.
He knows how my father’s side of the family treated me and my mom.
He knows I’ve lived a life that means I never belonged anywhere.
I also know from his past and from what I had learned about him during our time together in the club, in the west wing, and the abandoned garden—even though I only knew him as a Lord back then—Wes is a private person too.
I understand why he didn’t reveal himself to me when I started working at Hellfire.
I wouldn’t have given him two minutes of my time.
I would have run, like I eventually did, and might have ended up dead instead of just run off the road.
Bluebell eyes stare into mine, filled with hope and a hint of worry.
Everything in me calms, the way I feel it always will with him by my side—or holding me in his strong arms. “My heart is yours.” I smile and am shocked again when he claims my lips with a reverent kiss in front of everyone.
“You hear that?” he says to the crowd, his gaze on me. “She’s mine.”
Fable
That was a week ago, and it still doesn’t feel real. Then again, I don’t have an engagement ring, so maybe it shouldn’t. Lately, nothing in my life feels real. If it weren’t for Bear, sleeping and purring on my lap, I might question if I’m still in the hospital, unconscious, dreaming all of this.
We’re on Noah’s bed in her room, which has been such a mess until now that I never noticed the color scheme is yellow. She’s packing up her life into boxes. My heart pinches at the thought of her leaving, but in a way, I’m also relieved.
Returning to Hellfire as the owner’s future baby mama and moving into his suite stirred overwhelming guilt. Having the people I once worked with now wait on me made it worse, especially with Noah as an employee.
Not everyone is still here. The staff was given the option to leave with three months’ severance or stay as housekeepers instead of servers now that the club is closed. About half left.
Wes has been gone for the last two days, having flown to London with Lachlan for a business trip he couldn’t miss.
He insisted I join him, not wanting to leave my side, but I insisted I stay here.
Making small talk with my former boss on the company jet didn’t sound like something I was ready to tackle yet.
Wes backed down easily enough at my refusal.
For such a big, strong man with a callous side I’ve seen rear up during business calls, he’s a teddy bear when it comes to me.
I like the breather too—being able to think and sleep on my own the way I’m used to. My guess is he figured that out as well and knows I’m perfectly safe at the mansion.
He hired a new staff manager before he left. Johanna is German and came highly recommended by Margo of all people. I’m the talk of the staff at the Ashfords’ estate, according to Haven, who texted to congratulate me on landing the most eligible British bachelor in America.
It’s not like I set out to land him. I didn’t even know who he was when I fell in love.
I press my lips together to keep from grinning like an idiot.
Ever since I acknowledged to myself—not to him—that I do indeed love the nobleman I once blamed for ruining my life, my face betrays me in the most obnoxious way.
I duck my chin to hide my blazing cheeks and pet Bear’s soft fur.
As much as I love having him curled on my lap, I don’t like sitting here and doing nothing because of my cast. I get it removed soon.
My ankle is basically healed. But, like Wes, Noah won’t let me do much.
It’s infuriating. I lived with cuts, bumps, and bruises all through my childhood.
These two aren’t about to let me get any more though.
“Are you sure I can’t help?”
“No.” She doesn’t look at me, just tucks four dresses in a tall cardboard box designed with a rod like a portable closet.
The boxes keep stacking up. She has three left to fill, and that’s it. “I’m going to miss you.”
She smiles at me. “I’ll miss you too, but it’s not like I’m moving across the country. Boston is only a four-hour drive away. And as much as I love you, I don’t love housekeeping in the traditional sense anymore. You get it after working here.”
“I do.” Even though not seeing her regularly makes my chest hurt more than the bruised ribs did.
She hangs more clothes in the box. “Camila says they’re expanding Masquerade now that Hayden is a co-owner.” Hayden, a former Lord of Hellfire. “She has jobs for all the servers at Masquerade if we’re interested.”
“That’s really nice of her.” She quit before we got back and accepted a manager position at the Boston nightclub.
Noah says she’s screwing one of the co-owners, or she was while she was sleeping with Wes.
It’s all so confusing. I have no idea how Camila can keep her emotions separate from sex.
A tiny part of me worries I fell for Wes too easily, as if the way to my heart was through orgasms and he nailed it—literally and figuratively.
“When does Wes get back?” Noah asks, hanging more clothes in the box.
“Tonight.”
“It’s a good thing I’m leaving then. I doubt I’ll see you for days.”
A giggle rumbles in my throat. He locked me in his room for the first three days before he left.
We had gentle sex like in the hospital. It’s good, don’t get me wrong.
I always orgasm in a fantastic way, but it’s safe.
I tried explaining this to him and that I wouldn’t mind bringing the red sashes back, but he isn’t ready to play dirty, not even when I begged for him to tie me up and blindfold me.
“I’ve waited too long to see these citrine eyes staring at me while I’m inside you, angel.” He slowed the pace even more after he said that, thrusting in and out so lovingly, his gaze hypnotic on mine, I came from just that.
When I shift on the bed, Bear stirs. He gets up and walks to the decorative pillows, snuggling between two of them and hiding his face in his paw.
“I’m glad you know the truth now about everything that happened between you and Wes in England,” Noah says on her way to the closet for more clothes.
I gave her a brief rundown on the phone one day when I was still at the hospital. It was during the two days Wes was gone, and I had some private time.
“Isn’t it strange how things can come together suddenly?” She faces me. “Look at your life now, Fable. I’m only sorry your mom isn’t here to see it.”
“She is.” I smile softly. “I feel her with me. When my dad was alive, I didn’t feel anything but fear. But it’s different now. I feel lighter if that makes sense.”