AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ah! Surprise was an emotion she could do! Right now she could be more surprised than anyone. ‘Vienna...?’ she whispered.
Sweetheart?
‘Yup. What do you think?’
She thought she wanted to clock him on the head, pull on her trainers and leg it over the horizon. An alternative would be to identify this fabrication as being exactly that... But Gabe wouldn’t do this without good reason. Right?
‘Um... I sure am surprised,’ she managed.
April’s gaze was focused on her. ‘You obviously weren’t expecting this? You must be thrilled to be Lady Isobel’s successor.’
Fantastic. This gets better and better.
Good reason or not, she would not go along with this.
But before she could open her mouth Gabe kept right on.
‘Lady Isobel is the past—it’s the present I’m most interested in, and I’m looking forward to Christmas with Etta. But right now we need to get on with our fair duties.’ He turned away and then back. ‘Oh, incidentally, I believe that this also explains Kaitlin’s sudden arrival on the scene. Am I right, sis?’
Kaitlin didn’t so much as blink a perfectly made-up eyelid. ‘Busted too!’
An expressive lift of her elegant shoulders and a full-wattage authentic Kaitlin Derwent smile accompanied the words. AKA the barefaced lie.
‘I spoke to Gabe and curiosity got to me. I wanted to meet Etta in person.’
Etta gave up, pasted a smile on her face and watched the Derwents in action. Waited until the reporter finally left to cover the fair and then spun round to face Gabe. ‘What the—?’
‘Not now. People are watching, and April isn’t a fool. I’ll explain later.’
Etta was pretty damn sure that steam must be rising from her in visible waves. ‘No, you won’t. You will explain right now,’ she hissed. ‘We can go into the private bit of the house. I’m sure everyone will understand that we need some privacy, given our “relationship”.’
Kaitlin glanced from one to another. ‘I think Etta has a point. I can hold the fort at the fair. You clearly need some quality time alone togethe
r.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GABE WOULDN’T EXACTLY call this ‘quality time’. He watched as Etta strode up and down the already threadbare carpet, practically sparking with anger.
‘What the hell did you think you were doing? Because there is no way in this universe or any other, parallel or perpendicular, that we are going to Vienna.’
No preamble, then.
‘I was salvaging the situation. A minute later and April would have rumbled the family tree surprise for my father.’
‘So? Who cares? I get it you want it to be a surprise, but this is a bit extreme, don’t you think?’
‘Look, I understand you’re angry.’
‘Angry? I’m livid. I’m a thesaurus of angry.’
Each furious pace showed that.
‘But it’s done. At the time it seemed like the best solution. It helped Kaitlin out and...’
And it meant he could keep his role of bodyguard, make sure Etta remained safe from Tommy whilst she perfected her relocation plan.
‘Now the whole world thinks we’re an item. Exactly what I didn’t want.’
