Page 85 of Reckless Kiss

“They don’t get on?”

“Not at all. Daisy calls her The Dragon.”

“Oh dear, not exactly happy families,” Erica said.

“Not for a very long time. Let’s go in, and you can meet our pint-sized human bottle of champagne. She irritates the fuck out of me, but I still love her,” Luke said.

“You guys are all close. I’m envious,” Yanny said.

“We have our fights like any other family, but we would drop everything if one of us were in trouble.”

“That doesn’t sound good if you’re all here. Is Archer in trouble?” Erica asked.

Luke halted her progress up the path by grabbing her wrist. “You tell me, is he?”

“We’ll soon see. I hadn’t thought there would be this much of an audience when we arrived.”

“You’ll get space. I’ll make sure of it,” Luke said.

Erica stepped back into the cottage she was familiar with and looked around to see all her stuff was where she left it. The shawl over the chair in the kitchen was folded and placed on the seat.

“Hi, I’m Daisy,” the woman from upstairs came running across the living room to hug Erica. “I’m so happy to meet you. We’ve organised the best wedding you can imagine.”

Erica groaned inside. Was there still going to be a ceremony? The earnest look in Daisy’s eyes gave her hope Archer had thawed out since they’d last talked.

“Thank you. Is Archer here?”

“Um, yes, but there is a situation.”

“What’s going on, Daisy?” Jason said.

Erica, Yanny, Luke, and Jason all faced Daisy. She bit into her bottom lip, looking at each of them in turn.

“They’ve been yelling at each other for a while. It’s why I had the music up.”

“Who is arguing, Daisy?” Luke asked.

“Archer and a man. He arrived half an hour ago looking like a shambles. I swear he slept in his clothes on the overnight ferry. They’re in the middle of the lawn out the back. No one’s thrown a punch yet, but it has that vibe.”

As a unit, the four of them moved to the back door, led by Erica. As they stepped out into the covered patio area one by one, Erica sucked in a breath.

“Oh shit,” Erica said.

“This is not good,” Yanny said.

“Who is that with Archer?” Erica heard Luke ask.

To her surprise, both Jason and Yanny answered at the same time. “Her ex-husband.”

Erica strode away towards the two men who were staring each other out. Archer’s arm muscles bunched as he fisted and unfisted his hands at his sides. Dressed in black board shorts and a black t-shirt, he looked menacing against Gregg’s creased suit and shirt.

Tearing her eyes away from Archer, she looked to Gregg. “What are you doing here?”

“You didn’t attend the lunch we arranged, so I was forced to come here instead.”

“How did you know I’d even be here?”

“Who is this guy?” Archer asked. “He turned up here an hour ago scaring the shit out of Daisy by banging on the cottage door. She called me to say a strange man was trying to break into the house. Daisy thought it was a crazed fan, and I came over.”

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