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“Bummer. I don’t like living in the whitewashed palace of take-out dinners and too much open space …” She exaggerated her disappointment. “I can’t escape you there.”
“Oh yes, you can, and you have. But we won’t be having any more of that when we return. We’re going to get to know each other, no matter what. This is the only time we’ll have together before the baby comes and we get swept up in our lives again. Just buck up, little camper …” I patted her belly. “It won’t last forever. I’m starving, so you must be near death. Let’s get home and get something to eat. You’ll be happy to know,” I announced, “my caretaker cooks real homemade food. I had him prepare a whole weekend menu. I hope you’ll be delightfully surprised.”
She craned her neck up at me, and her face broke into a glorious smile. “I am.”
“Stay here while I get your clothes.”
I went to the driver’s side and retrieved her sweater and pants and helped her dress. We motored back across the lake, and I marveled at the serene and peaceful expression on her face. I’d never seen her at ease. She was either pretending to be something she wasn’t or holding up her well-crafted fortress to protect herself from the world. I made sure to skim around the periphery of the lake to give her a chance to see the migrating birds roosting in the low hanging trees as the fish continued to dive into the air for their dinner.
When we reached my home, the smell of roasted fowl and butter filled the space.
“Wow, that smells amazing,” Kylie noted with a look of delight. “I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving; you literally eat nothing.” I rolled my eyes at her.
“Oh yay, model humor.” She playfully rolled her eyes back at me.
I walked with her into the kitchen to find Edwin, my caretaker busy in the kitchen.
“What have you got here, Ed?” I was jovial and light, somehow feeling better out of the city and relatively secluded.
“Game hen, greens, garlic butter mashed potatoes, and rosemary challah bread.” I looked over to Kylie whose bright expression warmed my heart.
“That sounds amazing.” She clapped her hands together. “Thanks for cooking all of this for us.”
“Good to have someone to cook for, Miss. We don’t get a lot of guests here at Stoker Estate.” Edwin was proper and matter of fact as he pulled the small golden roasted game hens out of the oven. There were four of them all glistening and slick on the pan.
“Stoker Estate? Your house has a name?”
“When you have this much house, it has to have a name, my dear.” I winked at her. “Ed, this is Kylie.” I made introductions.
Kylie reached out her hand to him as he wiped his hand on the apron. “You’re all over the news my dear, congratulations on your engagement, Ms. Morgan.” A tickle of molten lava shot up my spine.
It was one thing to be playing at marrying Kylie, but when people such as my staff were swallowing the bait, it was hard not to blow our cover. Kylie, being very well-versed in living a false life, smiled and batted her beautiful eyes.
“Thank you.” She turned to me with face all aglow. “We are really excited.”
I did all I could not to stumble on my words. I was one hundred percent into this until I heard a member of my inner sanctum refer to Kylie and me getting married. This was all going to take some getting used to. Though I wanted to just bowl right into this, I suddenly had my reservations.
Chapter 25
Kylie
I had to admit the lake was beautiful, and Alec’s mansion, ostentatious and excessive. It spoke volumes about the kind of man he was. He lived in the city in a stark apartment but hid a lakeside mansion rife with expensive artwork, simple modern furniture, and thick shaggy rugs. Though the walls sported a fine mist of mint crème green, it was still balanced against white. It was obvious to me that he didn’t really like to live. He must have gone through the motions not really experiencing the joys. At that moment, I was grateful for my posse. We lived life; we were crazy lunatics who just embraced whatever came at us. And I was notorious for dripping chocolate ice cream and pasta sauce on stuff when I ate, so all the white gave me the heebs.
Alec’s face looked very greenish-yellow, a color variant of the walls. Apparently, he hadn’t told anyone about his plan to marry me; that was rich. I enjoyed watching him squirm a little; at least he knew what it felt like. He looked seriously off-kilter, though, perhaps he really was hungry.
“Dinner is almost ready,” Edwin said. “Would you like to eat in the main dining room or in the solarium?”
