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“Want one?”
“No, thank you,” I answer.
She puts it in her mouth as well. “I really hate her.”
I let out a breath. “And are you going to hate Ellis for the rest of your life? Didn’t you say she was your cousin?”
Suzannah shrugs.
I touch her arm. “At least give her a chance.”
As much as I think Suzannah and Ellis shouldn’t be friends, I know how much Ellis wants it. And I want her to have whatever she wants.
Suzannah just looks at me.
“Please?” I ask her.
She sighs. “Fine. I’ll… try to be nice to her next time.”
“Really?”
She frowns. “I can be nice. Just you wait and see.”
“I will,” I tell her. “Thanks.”
She nods and peels the wrapper off another candy bar. I put my hand over hers.
“And enough with the sweets,” I say. “They won’t make you any sweeter.”
Suzannah frowns. “Ellis may be nice, but you, Rainier Knight, are not a nice man.”
“I know,” I answer. “I’m a good doctor, though.”
I pull her arm.
“Come on. Let’s raid your Aunt Vivi’s medicine cabinet and maybe I can find something to put you to sleep after you brush your teeth.”
~
When I finally have Suzannah in bed, it’s too late to talk to Norman. I’ll just have to do it tomorrow. I head back to the bedroom, but when I get there, I don’t find Ellis in bed. She’s not anywhere else in the room, either.
Shit.
As I walk around the massive house, I feel a sense of deja vu. Just like before, on our first night here at Northup Manor, I can’t find Ellis and I’m worried about her. With each step I take, I hope nothing bad has happened to her.
Where are you, Ellis?
Finally, I find her in the kitchen, standing over the counter wearing a red apron and holding a piping bag. From the smell of it, she’s baking cookies.
I let out a sigh. “Isn’t it a little too late to be baking?”
Chapter 21 ~ Over the Counter
Ellis
At the sound of Rainier’s voice, I look up from the tray of star-shaped cookies I’m decorating. Then I continue with my task.
“No. I think any time is good for baking. Besides, I need to do something with my hands.”
I miss surgery. There’s no doubt about that. And since there’s no operating room in sight, I’ll take the next best thing – baking.
Rainier approaches the counter and admires my work. “Well, I must say you are good with them.”
I put down the piping bag and grab the bowl of candy sprinkles. “I’m not done yet.”
“The cookies aren’t burnt. I’d say that’s a pretty good job. I know I can’t do as well.”
I look at him. “Wow. So there’s something the incredible Rainier Knight can’t do perfectly?”
Rainier frowns. “Are you mad at me?”
“No,” I deny his accusation.
I’m not mad. Just… annoyed.
“So you’re not taking your frustration out on cookies?” Rainier asks me.
I sigh because I can’t deny that, not when he’s captured it perfectly.
“Ellis, what’s wrong?”
I put the bowl of sprinkles down. “I don’t know. It’s Suzannah, I guess. She still hates me and won’t let me have a conversation with her.”
That’s part of the reason.
“I thought so,” Rainier says. “Don’t worry. I – ”
“Oh, I’m not worried,” I cut him off as I grab another piping bag. “Not anymore. I’m sure she’ll be in a better mood tomorrow.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah. After all, she finally got what she wanted.”
“Which is?”
“You,” I tell Rainier.
His eyebrows furrow.
I put down the bag. “I saw you, you know, following her into the same room. You don’t have to hide it.”
He touches his chin. “I see.”
“And you don’t have to feel guilty or anything.” I grab a sheet of gold leaf. “After all, you’re not really my fiance. And I did tell Suzannah that I’d be willing to let her have you if she considered being my friend.”
“You told her what?”
I shrug. “I thought it was the only way to get her to warm up to me.”
“You’d give up your fiance for your cousin?” Rainier asks me in dismay.
“Like I said, you’re not my fiance,” I tell him.
“Then I’m not yours to give.”
“No,” I agree. “You’re yours to give, and it seems like you’ve been giving some to Suzannah, so – ”
“Wait a second.” Rainier puts up his hand. “You think I had sex with Suzannah?”
Well, he did disappear into a room with her. I know he tried to leave because the door opened just seconds afterward, but I also saw Suzannah pull him back in, and after that they didn’t come out for quite a while. It was taking so long, in fact, that I left. What else would they have been doing if they weren’t having sex?
“Didn’t you already do it before?” I ask him.
He lets out a breath and shakes his head. “God, Ellis, you think I went out with Suzannah? Didn’t I say there was nothing between us?”
