Page 77 of Loyally, Luke
“My little sister, Penelope, the romance-y, royal-loving one I’ve told you about?”
“Yes?” Her shoulders shook with her chuckle.
“Well, she’s been sending me little reminders of the Hallmark Christmas chime in hopes of inspiring my faith in magical romance.” He gave his head another shake, though the idea of magic and romance did go together when he thought of Ellie. And holding her. And feeling her hair through his fingers. “It’s annoying.”
“It’s a good thing we’re not close to Christmas or we’d have no chance at keeping our bargain at all, would we?”
“Oh no, you’ve been watching more of them, haven’t you?” He narrowed his eyes, watching her wrestle with her smile. “You’re just going to cause more trouble than is necessary thinking romance can happen like that.”
“It’s true. Hallmark Christmas involves magic at a whole new level. I doubt we’d stand a chance against Kriss Kringle and all his little elves.”
“The last thing either one of us needs is anything nudging us in the romantic direction any more than we’ve already gone.” He looked back at the screen to avoid making eye contact. Those eyes were magical too. “You should stop watching those, if for no other reason than to savemysanity.”
Sounds of work resuming in the kitchen traveled down the hallway, and Ellie pushed up from the chair and moved back to the doorway. “I don’t need a chime to know my feelings, Luke, andthereis the difficulty.” Her smile took a dive into a frown. “If only real-life troubles could find such charming resolutions as in the Hallmark world.”
Exactly. Fictional. Impossible. Pixie dust fluff and nonsense.
Chimes or not, Luke refused to think about any future with Ellie,other than finishing the remodel for Cambric Hall. With a deal between them and an impossible romance to boot, dwelling any longer than his errant brain already did would only lead to a greater disappointment when he broke down the facts.
Distance. Families. And the biggest of them all, he could never be royal material.
So he closed off that side of his thinking.
Which was much easier to do when Ellie wasn’t within seeing or smelling distance.
However, hecoulddo his best work and maybe even offer ideas for helping these kids have better futures, which would at least provide two good outcomes from this Skymarian adventure.
Besides, just because Izzy and Penelope found perfect romances halfway around the world didn’t mean he would too. He usually ended up being the odd one out anyway. Being the only boy in a houseful of girls certainly proved that point more than once growing up.
The day ended with the team finishing up the cabinet install and completing most of the trim work around the cabinets, with a good plan for finishing it up the next day. Pete and Gordon helped straighten up the workspace for the next day so Luke could change into the only “nice” outfit he’d brought with him: khaki pants, a light blue button-down, and a navy sport jacket.
It was a miracle he’d even packed that outfit, and he wouldn’t have if Penelope hadn’t presented him with at least a dozen scenarios for which he might need it—a dinner with the king of Skymar, however, was not on that list.
As Luke loaded his tool belt into the back of Pete’s car, a large black SUV pulled up alongside them. A man stepped from the driver’s side of the car in a black suit with matching shades, something about his walk seeming familiar. Was that Cameron, the royal guard? The one he’d punched?
Luke held in a wince.
“Luke Edgewood?”
Luke stepped forward. “Yes?”
Cameron nodded, his expression unreadable. “I will take you to your appointment with the king.” And the man proceeded to open the back door of the SUV.
Now, Luke had seen this scenario play out enough times in movies to get the slightest tension in his stomach. Usually, once the folks got into the vehicle, they didn’t come back without a fight... and possibly Bruce Willis.
But that was just in the movies, right?
Luke looked from Cameron and then back at Pete, whose brows rose.
“Mr.Edgewood?” Cameron asked, hand still on the open door.
With a deep breath and a nod to Cameron, Luke slid into the vehicle. Cameron took his place in the driver’s seat and started the SUV forward.
“I thought you were Ellie’s bodyguard.”
Cameron looked up in the rearview mirror. “I am.”
“Well, shouldn’t you be with her instead of coming to get me?”
