Page 10 of King of Wands

Chapter 4

The Man in Black

After the Meeting That Shall Not Be Named I spent the rest of the afternoon locked in Richard’s office while we turned my ideas into plans. Meanwhile King was doing...whatever it is that drivers do when they’re at the factory. In my mind that was sleeping in the corner of a test lab while his pit crew and engineers did things with heavy tools to the skeletons of cars. Who knows? Maybe I was right.

Either way, I didn’t see King again and when I left I was so sick of looking at computer screens my eyes hurt. I didn’t think about dinner until I pulled up at home.

I should explain my living situation because it will probably answer a lot of your questions. The whole crazy journey of getting this job and moving to England started because I couldn’t say no to my mom. Either of them. My mother and her best friend basically raised me. My bio mom invited me over for lunch. I really should have known something was up, but I was hungry and I love food. The next thing I knew I was trapped in my favorite restaurant at a table with Mom and Marcy.

Normally this wouldn’t be a problem. I loved food and both women. But things had changed over the last five years or so. Marcy’s family was in bourbon. As she took over more and more responsibilities at the company I saw her less. She was brilliant and hugely successful so I was happy for her.

Then she got married to this wonderful, successful guy. Honestly I kind of love Luis. He’s one of those very confident guys who is proud of his wife and never feels like his masculinity is in question. They’re basically #relationshipgoals.

The problem you see, is that Luis and Marcy both want the best for me. Anthropology is great and all, but it doesn’t have the highest salary in the world. They came up with a plan. A dastardly plan. One that had me saying yes to working for Luis Evans.

Yep.Evans. As in Braun-Evans. Marcy’s husband is one of the owners of the racing team. In their minds I’d spend the summer living on their gorgeous country estate, fall in love with the job, and agree to make my position permanent.

While I planned to enjoy my summer in England, the slightly better pay, and then to leave them saying I’d given it a fair shake.

I should also mention their dastardly plans seem to keep multiplying because when I got to the estate, the room they’d promised me (because it was just a few miles from the factory, so why wouldn’t I simply stay with them?) was actually an entire guest house, complete with two bedrooms, a working kitchen, magnificent bathroom, sunroom, massive fireplace, television, oh, and access to their swimming pool.

I kind of never wanted to leave.

So as I pulled up outside my gorgeous guesthouse I discovered that I wouldn’t be dining alone tonight. Nope. Marcy sat on the patio at a set table. The minute she saw me she waved a hand, beckoning me over.

“Please come have dinner with us!”

“Us?” I dropped a kiss on her cheek then snagged her glass of wine.

Oops.

“Luis is home for the weekend.” The explanation seemed simple enough but there was some sort of funny look in her eyes I didn’t trust. It reminded me far too much of the aforementioned ill-fated luncheon.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful for everything Marcy has done for me—now and over the course of my entire life—but there’s just something about being pushed and manipulated that brings out the rebellious side of my personality. It makes me want to run in the opposite direction, even if I would have chosen the exact same thing if given an unbiased set of choices.

What can I say? Brains are weird.

“Wonderful. Let me just change into something more comfortable. Oh, and I’m keeping the wine.”

Marcy’s cackle followed me all the way inside.

The guesthouse was adorable, by the way. Exactly what you’d imagine an English country estate would look like, but totally modernized. There were lots of wood and stone accents, floral designs, and beautiful artwork. Oh yeah, and my bed was a behemoth four-poster cloud of comfort. Sometimes I pretended I was Princess Aurora living with my fairy godmother because I swear I walked out of my old basement life and into a fairytale.

I threw off my Braun-Evans uniform and slipped into a comfortable pair of leggings and an enormous College of Calhoun Beach long sleeved tee. I also twisted my hair up into a bun because I was sick of feeling it on my neck. When I returned to the patio I discovered Luis had joined us.

He still wore his full suit but his tie was loosened and his hair was rumpled. He was also still typing furiously on his phone as Marcy refilled my glass.

“He’s here but he’s not here.”

“I’m here!” Luis grumbled, then slammed his phone down on the table and grinned at us both. “So how’s the job Isa? Tell me everything. Are they treating you well? Give me the dirt.”

I took a wild guess and assumed he wanted the nice version of reality. “Everything is great.”

As you might assume with a name like Luis, the man had golden skin, a thick head of dark hair, and a serious brow. A brow that was now drawn down. “No, no, no. Tell me the truth. You’re my secret spy now, right? My ace in the hole. My insider. You can tell me what no one else will.”

Did everyone have me signed up for secret jobs? I really wish they’d put this in the job description so I knew what I was in for. “You really want to know?”

“God, yes.”

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