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She texted Kingsley to video call as soon as he was out of his meeting and helped Conner put his slippers on. He held his pig in one arm and the iPad in the other. She picked him up and carried him out to the patio area where there was a fire pit.
Mrs. Tillman had gone to bed in the guesthouse she lived in on the property, so it was just the two of them. In the distance she heard the winds blowing across the land and the sky was clear tonight.
“My cousin Gui used to tell me tales about the stars when I was little,” she said as she sat Conner in one of the chairs, taking a thick blanket from the storage bench and wrapping it around him while she got the fire ready.
“Like what? Unca Hunter says a man lives in the moon.”
“Did he? What does that man do up there?”
“He watches over me. My mommy asked him to,” Conner said.
Gabi had a hard time reconciling the playboy she knew Hunter to be with the man Conner knew. He was a good “uncle” to Conner and she could tell that Kingsley and he had each other’s backs. That must be important to them both. After all, they were the only two people who knew what had really happened that night Stacia died.
She’d stopped thinking about it. Instead, she focused on her job of being a nanny to Conner and also trying really hard not to lust after Kingsley whenever he video chatted with his son.
But Kingsley had kissed her in a way that made it impossible to think of anything else. She’d wanted some peace of mind and hadn’t even come close to finding it.
Not when he was here.
And certainly not when he was gone. It was as if...
What?
She liked him. She knew that. She wanted his body moving over hers—she admitted that, too. But another part of her, the woman who kept seeing signs of him in his son’s face, wanted Kingsley to be something she thought she’d given up on wanting.
She wanted him to be her knight in shining armor. To woo her, and this time when he won her, to keep her.
Idiot.
She was too old to believe in fairy tales.
She got the fire started and they roasted marshmallows and told stories to each other until Conner drifted off to sleep. She kept his iPad open as she promised Conner she would and waited for a call from his father.
She finally acknowledged that Kingsley wasn’t going to call and wondered what had distracted him from his son. She could think of only one thing. A woman.
She carried Conner to his bed and tucked him in before going to her own room, where she tossed and turned all night. She knew she had no claim on Kingsley. But she’d started to think he was someone else. A better man.
* * *
New York was too crowded and the party at the Kiwi Klub was too loud. Damn. He was getting old when he couldn’t hang out in the club like he used to. But he was here with a purpose. Supposedly this was where he could find Daria Miller. She’d had her assistant text him the names of three different nightclubs she was checking out tonight.
“Kingsley Buchanan. I’m surprised you want to see me,” she said, coming up next to him at the bar. She reached around him and took his drink—a scotch neat—and took a sip of it. “You know I’m a reporter, right?”
“That’s precisely why I want to talk to you,” he said, gesturing to the bartender for another drink.
Daria had short curly brown hair and a heart-shaped face. She was curvy and wore a pantsuit that accentuated her curves. Her eye makeup was understated and the look in her brown eyes was cautious.
“Finally decided to confess?” she asked.
“I already am on record with my story. I want to ask you about that night,” he said. “What are you drinking?”
“Scotch,” she said. “You really want to talk about that night?”
He ordered for her and when they each had their drinks he led the way to the VIP area. He found a quiet banquette toward the back of the roped-off area. Around them VIPs were partying but Kingsley wasn’t interested in celebrity spotting. He wanted to know what Daria had experienced in college.
She sat down, crossing her legs. Her legs were nice enough but didn’t hold his attention the way Gabi’s did.
“What exactly do you want to talk about?”
“I read your blog post about people being drugged on college campuses and I wanted to know if anything like that went on at our school.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. I know Hunter and I didn’t harm Stacia, but someone did and I’m in a position now to find out who.”
She leaned back against the bench and stared at him. He suspected it was her version of the truth stare. But he wasn’t interested in lying about anything. He needed answers. And liars only heard more lies, in his experience.
