Chapter Twenty
“You set a mean brunch table, Winthrop,” Kelly observed the next day. Winthrop normally set a strictly formal table. This morning he’d decided to embellish it with napkins folded into swans and little wrapped nosegays on her and Gabriel’s plates.
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“And you seem to be smiling.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, ma’am,” Winthrop said, pouring more ice water into her glass, and then retreating.
“That’s why he’s smiling,” Gabriel said, inclining his head as Teresa walked towards them, holding a paper shopping bag.
She stopped by the table. “Can I join you for lunch?” she asked hesitantly. “I brought a gift of apology, just in case you’d consider letting me act like a sister for once.”
She dug into the bag and pulled out a Styrofoam box and a gift-wrapped box.
“A pearl bracelet for my sister, and a filet mignon for you,” she said to Gabriel.
She sat down at the table next to Kelly. Winthrop hurried over and poured her a cup of coffee, a smile playing on his lips. Again. This was getting positively unsettling.
Gabriel grabbed the Styrofoam box and opened it, and nodded in appreciation. Then he slid the meat onto his plate.
He sawed off a big piece of meat and shoved it into his mouth. “She makes a strong argument for why we should accept her back into the family,” he told Kelly.
“So you can be bought off with meat?” Kelly asked, putting on the bracelet and admiring the pearls, which had a delicate hint of rose pink to them.
His eyes gleamed. “Among other things. As you know.”
Kelly’s cheeks colored. “Ahem. My sister is here. If youdon’tmind.”
“Yes, really,” Teresa said, her cheeks also reddening. She glanced at Winthrop. “They are incorrigible, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they are. Absolutely unsuitable for a lady of your refined qualities.” He didn’t address Teresa as “ma’am”, Kelly noted.
“Anyway. Have you heard anything more about those fire dragons that burned down the Maplethorpes’ house?” Teresa asked. “It was in the paper this morning. The fire dragons apparently said the same thing as the ice dragons – they literally don’t remember any of it. Principe Teague was quoted as saying that it’s still under investigation.”
“No, we haven’t been able to uncover a thing,” Gabriel said.
“I got a very interesting phone call this morning,” Teresa said. “From Chad. He said that he had been thinking about it, and he laid out the conditions under which he would be willing to take me back.”
Winthrop had grabbed the coffee carafe and was about to pour Gabriel some more coffee. He froze where he stood, staring at Teresa, wide-eyed.
“I would need to quit my job and agree never to work again, and I would need to write a letter of apology to his parents for the embarrassment I’ve caused them, and I would need to agree to cut off all contact with you immediately and permanently.”
Teresa paused for dramatic effect. Then she gave a sly smile. “I told him to kiss my – Winthrop, you may want to cover your ears. No? Okay, I warned you – ass.”
Winthrop broke out in a huge smile and refreshed Gabriel’s coffee.
“But I don’t usually speak in such an inappropriate fashion,” she added quickly to Winthrop.
“Of course not,” Winthrop said. “But on this occasion, I think it was entirely justified.”
Then he glanced up, and his brow creased. Everyone else followed his gaze. There were a couple of dozen ice dragons flying towards the castle, their enormous bodies glittering ice-blue and white.
Gabriel leaped to his feet and rushed into the castle with Kelly, Teresa and Winthrop at his heels.
“Stay inside,” Gabriel said to Kelly. “They’re probably here to try to arrest you on some kind of trumped-up charge. Let me deal with it.”
They hurried through the castle, and Kelly waited in the drawing room as Gabriel rushed out the front door. Looking through the enormous windows, she could see that Calder had driven up in his car. Fifteen of the dragons were still in dragon form, but Calder, Principe Teague and several of Teague’s men were in human form now, naked.
