Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I guess he meant a really long while. Wolf’s been on the phone for, at least, an hour. For half of that time, I floated in space. Then I came crashing back to terra firma. Hard.
Turns out thirty minutes is plenty long for me to get totally inside of my head and turn into a ball of nerves.
Too bad to waste such a good orgasm on worry, I know. But these are not normal times. So, I shower, dress, and pace.
I’m only so good at pacing. But one good thing did come of it. I remembered some photos that I took years ago. If only they weren’t in storage in my bungalow.
Glancing toward the patio, I confirm that Wolf is still standing on the patio, on the satellite phone, talking with his sister. At the rate he’s going, I would be able to get to my place and back before he even knows I’m gone. It’s not far, just a half mile away. I could be in and out in no time.
But leaving would be doing exactly what he said not to do. So, I pace some more as I watch the storm building.
They got the forecast wrong. This isn’t a thunderstorm. It has all the ugliness of a tropical storm. And I’ve seen more than a few of those in my lifetime.
The trees are whipping around as rain scours every surface. We’re definitely not getting off of this island any time soon unless this thing rips through and passes on.
But a few more hours here is actually a good thing. It will give me time to go back to my bungalow for the pictures that I forgot to grab before I left.
And the cover of the storm will make it less likely for anyone to see me moving around on the island.
Maybe Sierra or Cole would go with me since Wolf is busy. When I open the door to the breezeway, a gust hits me in the face. Ducking, I run to the doorway for room 13, the room where Sierra and Cole are staying.
My hope falls when I see the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door. Drats.
Wolf will kill me if I go alone. But, at least, I can get our transportation sorted out. No cabs will be running tonight, and the fewer people that see me, the better.
The clerk almost falls out of his chair when I walk into the hotel lobby. “Oh my god. It’s you. I thought you went with those men—”
Hm. Now I know how my father’s guards knew where I was. “Went where?” I ask just to see his response.
Schooling his face, he says, “Uh, nowhere.”
I glare at the weasel. “I need the key to that golf cart. Hand it over.”
“In this storm?”
“Yep. Now cough it up. I’m in a hurry. I need it before this storm gets worse.”
Nervously, he passes me the key which is attached to a giant pink hibiscus keychain. It’s the national flower.
“I’ll try not to let it float away,” I mutter as I stomp off.
Blocking the driving rain with my forearm, I smash the throttle on the hotel’s six-person golf cart as I head toward the parking area outside of our room.
“Oh my god! You nut!” I jam on the brakes and almost skid into Wolf.
Through the lashing rain, he pins me with a glare. “What the fuck, Kate? Where are you off to? I thought we already talked about this.”
Crap, he thinks I was going without him. “I was coming back to get you.” I swipe the rain off my face and yell, “I need to go to my place and you were busy, so I thought I’d borrow the cart so we can use it.”
He drops his head and gives it a shake. “No one in their right mind is out in this storm. Except us, apparently.”
When he climbs in the cart beside me, I’m shocked. I figured he’d go all barbaric on me and demand I go back in the hotel room. “By all means, don’t let the fact that I’m drowning stop you.”
I laugh. “The weather sucks, but… honestly, I don’t care. I’m more determined to get to the bottom of what’s going on here.”
But my heart skitters, and things take a turn for the unexpected as I turn onto my street.
I’m stunned to see a guard outside of my place in a parked car. He sticks his head out in the deluge as I approach. His eyes go wide when he sees that it’s me. “What are you doing out in this weather, Princess?”
I know the guard, of course. He’s always been friendly. Almost a little flirty with me. This is a good thing. He won’t be a problem. “Hi Craig. I’m just getting something out of my house.”
Apparently, this is not what the guard wants because he leaps from his car, his hand at the ready on his duty belt. “Who are you?”
Wolf mutters, “I think we have a problem.” He steps toward the guard as he narrows his eyes. “I’m her husband.”
The guard blocks the rain from his face as his mouth presses flat. “I heard the Princess got married to some ruffian. I was told to call Wilton if you showed up.”
Wolf snaps, “Keep your trap closed or end up like the others did earlier today.”
Oh lord! Not this again.
I hold up a hand as I step between the men. “No need for anyone to be upset. I’m just getting something that I forgot and I’ll be on my way.”
Wolf crosses his arms. “You choose, let us in, or find out the consequences.”
Finally, the guard relents and motions toward the house before he scurries back to his car.
Wolf’s hulking form blocks the driving rain as I try my key in the door. The key won’t turn. “Drats. What’s going on with this lock?”
Behind me, I hear a snippet of the guard’s voice catch in the wind. “Princess!”
I squint through the driving rain. “What?”
“They changed the locks a short while ago.”
Fury nearly makes my head spin around. “What?!? It’s my house!” I guess technically it’s not my house. It was paid by royal money. But still… it’s my house.
With an apologetic look he shouts. “Sorry.”
Wolf pushes me aside. “How important is whatever you came after?”
“Very. I wouldn’t be here, in the middle of a horrific storm if it wasn’t.”
“Stand back.”
With a kick from his massive boot, Wolf explodes the wood around the lock.
Holy smokes, that was nuts. “Wow.”
“Make it fast.”
As I rush inside, Wolf’s glaring at the guard who’s now behind his car’s windshield wipers. I don’t stop to worry about that. I have more important things to do.
The house is eerily quiet and pitch dark. None of the light switches work. “Jesus, did they cut the power off too?”
When things got crazy with the police this morning, I knew that my father and his people would be highly offended. And the fact that they changed my locks and cut the power off shows how they feel about my departure.
Wilton. That slimy bastard. I know he’s at the root of this. The situation has done nothing but go down hill since he started working for my father.
It takes a few tries, but I finally reach the box on the top shelf in the office. Quickly, I thumb through the photos. If I’m lucky, they will be here and easy to put my hands on.
My heart stutters in my chest when I hear a noise.
“Wolf?”
“It’s me.” His energy is bristling with frustration.
“Heavens, don’t you need a flashlight?”
“I’m good at moving around in the dark.”
“They cut the power off.”
“The guard told me. Now, we need to talk about this stupid stunt you pulled.”
“Stunt, I wouldn’t call it that. I just borrowed the cart so we could come here. I wasn’t leaving without you.”
“You were still on the phone. I tried to get Sierra or Cole.”
“You ducked out on me. That’s a problem.” He crowds my space. “Why would you do that? You could have asked me to bring you.”
I’m frozen by his nearness for a few seconds.
“I wanted to… “ I sigh defeatedly. “Okay, I admit. I thought about coming on my own. But I didn’t. The reason I thought about it was that you scared the life out of Wilton today and there’s no one else here that’s a threat to me.
I was going to ask Sierra or Cole to come with me, but they had a do not disturb sign on their door.
And there was NO way I was bringing Nan out in the storm.
But I knew you wouldn't want me to come alone.”
“Thank you for being honest with me.”
“I’m sorry if I upset you.”
His heat stirs around me in the darkness as my heart hammers. “I’m not comfortable leaving you tangled up in whatever is going on here. So, you’re stuck with me. And I’m hard to shake, in case you haven’t noticed that.”
I drop my head in my hands. “Oh, I’ve noticed.” Not only is he hard to shake, he’s impossible to ignore.
“What did you come for?”
“Some photos.”
He glances around the office. “Did you find them?”
“I did. I just need a minute more.”
He flips over some papers on the desk. “What are these rocks for?”
I don’t have to see to know what he’s looking at. “Just some samples from the caves on the island. I’ve been researching them.”
When I turn, he’s got one of them in his palm. “Unusual.”
“Very. It’s a unique place. Okay. I have what I wanted. We can go.”
He falls in step behind me. The guard’s standing just inside the door, apparently having abandoned his car. He’s red-faced and sweating. “Made a mess of the lock. How am I going to explain this?”
As I look at the splintered wood I say, “Tell my father I did it. That he had no right to lock up my place.”
The guard gapes at me. “I’m not comfortable with telling him that.”
“I’ll send him a message.”
“Lord, it might be the death of me.”
“How about this instead?” With lightning speed, Wolf hits the guard with an open palm, right across the cheek.
The guard grabs his face. “Ow, what was that for?”
“So you can say someone knocked you for a loop, and when you woke up, the door was trashed.”
The guard blinks at Wolf. “I guess I should thank you, mainly for not knocking my head clean off with that ham-fist you’ve got.”
“Keep our conversation private or you might find out what I can really do with this thing.”
With a quick nod, the guard ducks around us. “I’ll just be hanging out in here for a while. I won’t say a word until I have to. Hopefully, by then, you two will be on the way to the States.”