Page 58 of The Reluctant Wife

Aurelia

"I don’t understand why we have to go to this dinner," Gavin whines from the seat next to me.

Tyler is in James’ car ahead of us. We’re in the armored car, Tyler drove over.

Ryot, who’s driving, stiffens. He filled us in on where we're headed and explained that Arthur and my father decided we need to appear at the dinner at Arthur’s place before we head to Verenza.

Gavin seems to have conveniently forgotten the conversation, for less than an hour into the journey, he’s begun to voice his protests.

I scowl at him, hoping he’ll shut up. Not that he takes the hint. Instead, he begins to fidget in his seat. "Why can’t we head back to Verenza? The jet is waiting for us. We could be airborne within a few hours and be back in time for dinner." He turns to me with a pleading look in his eyes. "You know how much I already consider Verenza home. I already miss it."

"You’ve been away for less than twenty-four hours. You’ll survive," I say rudely.

"But, Aurelia, I promised my friends we'd be hosting them at the palace this evening."

I ignore him.

The silence in the car stretches. Then, Gavin begins to squirm around in his seat. It’s an attention-garnering tactic on his part, and I try to pretend I don’t notice. But he continues to shuffle around. I blow out a breath and turn back to him. "What is it?"

"I have to piss."

"What?" I blink.

"I need to pee, Aurelia," he says in that prissy voice I hate.Jesus, he’s really getting on my nerves.

Before I can answer, Ryot’s deep voice interrupts. "We’ll pull off at the next exit for the amenities."

"You want me to use the public lavatories?" He gapes.

Ryot and I exchange a glance in the rearview mirror.

"It’s either that or hold it in until we reach Arthur’s place in the next hour," he drawls.

Gavin glowers at him, then pulls out his phone and, muttering under his breath, pretends to get busy with it.

Ryot calls Tyler to update him, then takes the next turn off.

Gavin’s phone pings. I glance at it, not because I mean to pry, but it’s the instinctive response to look at a device when it calls your attention. I notice Veronica’s name on the message he’s received.Huh? She‘s in touch with him?He notices me looking and angles his shoulder so I can’t read the words on the screen.Hmm.

They’ve met a few times that I’m aware of, but I didn’t think they’d know each other well enough to text each other. Then again, Tyler mentioned that Gavin called her, trying to find out about my whereabouts. Which is strange. He could have called Fred or my father directly. Perhaps, he couldn’t reach them?

The car turns off the highway, and I put it out of my mind.

A few minutes later, we pull into the rest area behind Tyler’s car.

"Hold on," Ryot cautions. "Tyler is sweeping the place to make sure it’s safe."

Tyler stalks out of the entrance and nods at Ryot, who steps out and opens my door.

Ryot and I walk up the steps and follow Tyler into the service area. There’s no one else around.

"Tyler cleared the area temporarily," Ryot clarifies.

"Very efficient." I search his features, but if I thought that shared commiseration over Gavin's whining eased things between us, I was mistaken. Ryot’s features are hard. His gaze is impersonal.

"Your safety is paramount to us, Princess," he says in a formal tone, then leads us in the direction of the restrooms.

Tyler opens the door to the men's room. Gavin disappears inside.

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