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Steffen is undeterred in his goal to keep watch over us tonight. “Would you like a tour of the ancient ruins? How about a nice game of shuffleboard with some of my staff?”
He knows. He definitely knows. My gods, our stupid plan might actually work.
With his hands folded in front of him and delivering the most sober look yet, Etienne says, “We’d like a moment alone to take a romantic walk on the beach.”
When Steffen glances nervously at our backpacks, Etienne explains, “We’ve packed supplies for an evening picnic by the cliffs.”
Steffen continues to wring his hands. “I will send our top security people. The forest is dangerous at night. Creatures come down from the mountains to look for food.”
“Steffen,” Etienne repeats.
Etienne’s take-charge attitude is back. Much like the time he stopped traffic to buy me cake, this is a total turn-on to witness.
“Sadly, tourists have been known to get too close to wild animals, feed them. I would hate for anything unfortunate to befall you,” Steffen is really worked up about this. He thinks we’re up to something but doesn’t want to come out and say it.
“We’d like to be completely alone,” Etienne says with a severe, knowing look. “If you understand what I mean by a romantic evening on the beach.”
Steffen’s throat bobs. The concierge's worry deepens, then he nods and shakes Etienne’s hand. He reaches for mine and kisses the back of it. “It has been…it is a pleasure.”
If I’m not mistaken, the man is having feelings about us leaving.
Let’s hope the only reason for that near-outpouring of emotion is about knowing he’s never going to see us again and not because he’s worried for our safety.
* * *
This isn’t the worst idea I’ve ever had, but it is up there with the worst.
I hadn’t thought through the trouble with using flashlights. They may keep the two of us from tripping over tree roots and plummeting to our deaths, but they also cause other problems.
The cover of night protects us as we clamber over rocks and enter the dark forest. But once we are under the cover of the trees, we are in total darkness. The plan had been to walk about a quarter mile into the woods, then leave evidence that we’d suffered some unfortunate end. But the minute we turn on the flashlights, moths cover us. Not cute, harmless Gravenlandian moths. Gigantic tropical moths buzz our ears and faces, making seeing impossible.
We ditch our decoy supplies earlier than planned, randomly ripping and spreading pieces of clothing and bits of food, and other belongings around one spot in the forest.
“This is far too close to the resort for anyone to believe we were kidnapped. Everyone will know this is fake,” Etienne grumbles as we walk away from our staged scene of struggle. He grabs my hand in his and keeps me close as we continue through the rocky, muddy terrain that circles the far edge of the resort’s property. Looking ahead and judging by the lights down below, we should reach the ferry station in another mile.
“At least we can see the station from here,” I reply, squeezing his hand. “My original plan would have had us trekking much deeper into the jungle, and who knows what we might have faced.”
He growls protectively, sparking my interest in exploring that reaction some more. This is not the time for that, though.
My ego is eating up all this attention. I thought I could deal with a divorce, but now everything is muddled and gray…and having him close to me feels tragically wonderful.
Tragic because one day, I won’t have him anymore.
I shudder to think with whom he might move on after he lets me go.
Fortunately, I don’t have a chance to chew on that dreaded thought because we’re now close to the ferry station.
And here is the thing I will always feel the most guilty about I use the burner phone the housekeepers obtained for me to trigger a spoof number. That number sends a text to the concierge desk:
Me: Help!
If all goes to plan, this will lead Steffen to my original phone, which I left at the phony crime scene.
“I’m going straight to hell for making that man worry about us,” I breathe, shoving the burner phone into the front pocket of my jogging pants.
With a grumbly growl, Etienne hovers over me and sighs, “That man is a little too worried about you in general if you ask me.”
Gods, what will I do when I don’t have the prince I’ve desired for so long looming over me like this? It’s so…very different from what I’m used to.
