Page 114 of Keep Her from Them

“Lunch,” Sarah decided. “Perkins has arranged for us to eat indoors. He is making a suggestion, which comes from your father, I believe, that you do not go outside for a little while.”

“Did he say why?”

“Something about long lenses and the right moment.”

She directed me into a dining room where a buffet was being laid out by more of my father’s staff. We took a plate each, though I wasn’t sure I could eat. Not until I had Raphael back with me. Sir Reginald had threatened him. I couldn’t get that out of my head.

“I’ll be staying here, you know,” Sarah informed me. “It suits me to be away from home, but I also wanted you to be reassured that your father is well taken care of. He asked, and I finally accepted.”

That…was good to hear. “You’re serious with him?”

“I always have been. My marriage has long been over. I stayed for my children, but I don’t think I’m helping them by being so on-hand now.”

“Will you marry my dad?”

“Gosh, no. Can you imagine what they’d dig up on me? How simply awful to be the subject of that attention.”

Sarah lifted a hand, and one of the waiting staff brought a bottle of wine and filled up her glass. I refused the same. It was barely noon, not that I was judging.

My father’s companion took a healthy sip. “You don’t have to do that either. Have your relationship, but don’t feed your man to the wolves. I like Raphael. Seems a steady and serious sort of boy. It would be a shame to see him shredded in the same way others have been. That can be wearying as an individual, let alone in a relationship where one party brings incomparable baggage.”

She was right, but sadness trickled through me. One day, I wanted to be married. Not in the way my cousin had been with aroyal procession, crowds lining the streets, and a huge cathedral. But in a private ceremony like Daisy and Mia had described. Something personal and binding, with a moment where I got to tell the people who mattered about the man I loved and make promises and get them back in return.

I picked at my food until Perkins appeared beside me.

“The police are here, ma’am.”

“I’ll talk to them, and they can take the photographer away. I’d like a minute alone with Sir Reginald.”

Perkins raised a white eyebrow. “Someone else does, too.”

I cocked my head at him. “Why are you being so mysterious today?”

He didn’t answer but instead led me back into the wood-panelled hall.

In a side room, Ben was already deep in the debrief with the attending officers, sticking with me while I gave them my statement. The rest of the bodyguard team were absent, but I soon worked out why when they reappeared with Riss, Johnnie, and Will.

I didn’t even acknowledge them.

The photographer was escorted away, and in the midst of the fuss, I snuck down to the cellar and prowled on to the second cell.

Sir Reginald perched on a stone seat, his chin still held high.

I watched him through the bars. “Why did you do it? What was in it for you?”

“Any action I took was signed off by His Majesty King Philip. Is that what you want to hear? Whatever you think you’re doing now, it doesn’t change the fact that you cannot run from your responsibilities.”

“But if I return, you’ll step back those threats?”

His beady eyes trained on me. “Get back to work, and I’ll forget everything I discovered about Mr West. Likewise, your father can continue his indolent isolation here.”

“Raphael’s surname is Gordonson.”

“If you say so. The media might disagree when I talk to them. Make your choice, Alexandra.”

He’d print Raphael’s old name? To this point, my boyfriend still hadn’t been named in the press. Now I knew why. Sir Reginald was holding that string. I swallowed, hating the man beyond words.

A strident voice filled the narrow corridor. “You forget yourself, sir. Do not command my cousin in that way.”

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