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“And when is breakfast?”
“About fifteen minutes from now.”
Reluctantly, Sebastian pushed himself up and swung his legs out of bed. “I’ll be ready in ten,” he grumbled as he stumbled into the shower and turned on the water.
He quickly washed his hair and body, cleaned up his goatee, and was ready to go in ten minutes, as he’d predicted. He was wearing a more casual outfit for a day in town, so the jeans and polo shirt had come together quickly. Harper was dressed more casually, as well. When she stood to leave, he couldn’t help but notice her skinny jeans were like a second skin. They clung to the delicious curve of her ass and thighs, bringing back flashes from the night before that were not breakfast appropriate.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
If he didn’t want to embarrass himself, yes.
“No,” he said and reached for a windbreaker in the closet. “I was just considering a jacket.” He folded it over his arm and carried it in front of him as they headed downstairs to eat.
“Miss Drake?” a voice called out as they reached the lobby and headed toward the great hall.
They both stopped, turning their attention to the front desk where a clerk was looking their way. The woman had an envelope in her hand that looked eerily familiar.
Sebastian’s empty stomach started to ache with the feeling of dread. It was a similar envelope to the one Harper had received on the plane. He wasn’t sure why that surprised him. She hadn’t met last night’s blackmail request, so another note had arrived. He hadn’t been in the lobby to see who had left it there. When he’d mentioned seeing Quentin loitering around the desk the night before, Harper hadn’t seemed surprised, which had just reinforced his idea that he was the suspect to watch.
“I have a message here for you, ma’am,” the clerk added in a thick Irish accent.
Harper knew what it was, too. They walked together to the front desk and she took the envelope from the woman’s hand. It had her name written on it in the same nondescript block text. “Thank you,” she said.
“Did you happen to be working when they left the note? To see who left it?” Sebastian asked.
“No, sir. I just started my shift. The previous clerk said it had been left at the desk early this morning while she was setting up the coffee station. She didn’t see who left it, either. Is there a problem?”
“No,” Sebastian said with a reassuring smile. “Thanks so much.” He turned back to Harper, who was looking at the envelope with a face almost as white as the parchment. “Let’s take that back upstairs,” he suggested. “Breakfast can wait.”
She nodded blankly and let him lead her out of the lobby. He glanced around, looking for someone loitering curiously in the area, but it was mostly empty. A couple he didn’t recognize was looking at magazines in the corner, but there was no one else there. They were all likely in the great room gathering for their first authentic Irish breakfast.
Back in the room, he escorted Harper over to the love seat and sat beside her.
“You know, with everything else going on last night, I almost forgot I was missing the deadline. This morning, the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. How could I forget about something like that? And then I saw the envelope in her hand and I remembered what a mess I was still in. Now I don’t want to open it,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Because...it’s not going to be good. He’s going to be angry because I didn’t pay the blackmail money. There’s one of two things in this note—a second chance to pay or notification that my secret is as good as public knowledge by now. I could walk into the dining hall and everyone could know the truth about me.”
“You won’t know which it is until you open it.”
With a sigh, she ran her finger under the lip of the envelope and ripped it open. She pulled out another small card, identical to the first, with the same block-style text inside. Harper held it up to read aloud.
“‘It seems your payment got lost in the mail, Harper. Yesterday was a tiring day of travel, so I’m going to be kind and give you another opportunity to give me what I want. This time, to make it easier, make it one hundred thousand euros in an envelope at the front desk by noon tomorrow. Don’t disappoint me again.’”
Harper’s hand dropped into her lap with dismay. “Great, now the price has gone up. When I looked at the exchange rate yesterday, it was in the euro’s favor. He’s now asking for something in the neighborhood of a hundred and twenty thousand dollars in the name of ‘convenience.’ I mean, why not?” She giggled, bringing her hand to her mouth just in time to stifle a sob. “I couldn’t pay the hundred grand, so two days later, naturally, I should be able to pay that and more.”
Sebastian wrapped his arm around Harper’s shoulders and pulled her tight against him. She gave in to the embrace, burying her face in his chest and holding on to him. He hated seeing her upset. He wasn’t a very physical person by nature, but if he got his hands on her blackmailer, he wasn’t sure what he would do. At the moment he wanted to choke the guy until tears ran down his cheeks like Harper’s did.
“What am I going to do?” She sniffled against his polo shirt. “He’s not going to go away. I don’t have the money. I don’t know what to do, Sebastian.”
He sighed and stroked her hair as he tried to come up with an answer. He wasn’t sure there was a way out of this that wouldn’t be painful somehow. “Do you trust any of your friends enough? Lucy or Emma maybe? Your brother perhaps?”
“Trust them enough for what?”
“Enough to ask them to help you with this. To give you the money. Just a loan until you get to your birthday and can pay them back.”
Harper pulled away and shook her head. She wiped the tears from her cheeks, leav
