Page 280 of Night's Fall
“Tim,”Alekseimurmured.
ButIpulled in a sharp breath asTimotheeexecuted a formal bow, arm wrapped around his stomach, the kind that was fit for a queen (MadamGarwahhad demonstrated the male bows in class too).
And he did this to me.
I swallowed down a suddenly tight throat.
AndIhad to do it again whenTimotheerose, and the instant he was straight,Aleksei’shand shot out.
He caught his brother by the back of the neck and yanked him into his body.Herounded him with his other arm, andIfought whimpering asTimotheewrapped his arms aroundAlekseias well.
They pounded backs,Alekseisaid something into his ear,Timotheenodded, he said something, then they let go and stepped away.
“One moment, ladies,”Alekseisaid, and he andTimotheewalked right back out of the room.
The instantIlost sight of them,GayleandMoniquewere there.
“I take it that was big?”Gayleguessed.
“That was big,”Iconfirmed.
“I thought so.QueenCalisais the master of keeping her cards close to her chest, butIthought she was going to bust out crying whenTimotheebowed to you,”Gayleexplained.
I turned to look at the queen.
She was still in conversation with her group, but it now seemed avid, and there was color in her cheeks.
In fact, all threeKnightstarsappeared to be feeling better about things.
Mark one in the good column forPrinceTimothee, andIhoped there would be more.
“You walked in withAlekseilike it’s all good,”Moniqueremarked. “Areyou in the wrong profession and should be in front of a cam, not behind the scenes, or has something changed?”
There was too much to get into there, particularly about my dad (obviously,Iwasn’t going to tell them aboutErrol), soIsaid, “Wehad a huge dustup and then had sex twice, and now it’s all good,”Ishared.
I got three big smiles.
“Are you okay?”Iasked, narrowing my eyes onGayle.
“Later,” she replied right beforeAleecejoined our group.
We chatted, and about ten minutes later,AlekseiandTimotheecame back into the room.
Catching the look my mate aimed at me,Iexcused myself from my company and made my way to him.
He slid his arm around me, tipped his head down and held me whereIwas at his front, our bodies not close, but not far, thoughIknew our position put me as a kind of shield, even if the others could see him because he was so tall.
“All good?”Iasked.
“Tim might have been zoned out on drugs the last four hours, butIbelieve even before that, he’s had a chance to think on things.Hejust admitted that he’ll be attending the ball withAnnaon his arm.”
I wanted to roll my eyes at another indication of how petty his brothers were (and petty was kind when it came to the rotErrolhad gotten up to).
ButIdidn’t
I just nodded.
“He’s into her, of course.Butmostly, it was to be a jackass.Hereports she’s still pissed at me, but he doesn’t care that she’s using him, because she’s going that extra mile, and they’ve been fucking.”
