Page 46 of Master of Pleasure (Lessons From the Rack 3)

“Andie?” Fulton asked, as if there was someone else it could possibly be. “Ouch,” he added when the woman in question slapped his arm.

“Yes,” Terrence answered but didn’t elaborate further until they had made their way outside and were headed toward the villa where the couple in question stayed. “How many times over the past few summers have we been asked to dinner at their villa at the same time? Maybe twice?” He answered his own question.

“Exactly,” Andie said. “And why ask us to the villa in the first place? There’s only one reason I can think of, and that’s because they want to tell us something but don’t want anyone else on the staff to know yet.”

Veronica was still caught up in the infrequent nature of the invitation. “This isn’t something you do every summer?”

“No,” Andie replied. “Like Terrence said, maybe twice before.”

“Before the two of you succeed in convincing poor Veronica we’re about to have a bomb dropped on us for dinner, I feel the need to bring up that both times we were previously asked over for dinner occurred right before summer break ended and the fall session was about to start. They wanted to discuss academy business and did so at the villa because there were more staff on site.”

“All you’re doing is adding to my argument that somethingisgoing on,” Andie said. “Because there’s only a skeleton staff on the island now.”

“You know what that means, don’t you?” Terrence asked.

Though it might have been a rhetorical question, Veronica couldn’t help replying, “They’re going to spill major secrets tonight.”

Fulton sighed. “Not you too?”

But she was too busy laughing with both Terrence and Andie to reply.

“Fine,” Fulton said in playful disgust. “We’ll see who’s right by the end of the night.”

“You know what I think?” Terrence asked when the laughter died away and as they walked up the short path leading to the MacLure villa. “I think maybe hearing whatever Lennox and Marie have been keeping secret will inspire the two of you to drop whatever it is you’ve been whispering about with each other for the past week.”

All traces of amusement left Andie’s voice and expression. Fulton looked guilty.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Andie said.

“Me either,” Fulton added, but he didn’t sound convincing at all.

Obviously thinking the same thing, Terrence snorted. Then, catching Veronica’s gaze, he rolled his eyes and mouthedthey’re lying. She hadn’t picked up on any clues from either Fulton or Andie hinting there was something they were keeping to themselves. Of course Terrence knew them much better than she did, especially Andie.

“Hey, guys.” Marie greeted them, opening the door. “Come on in.”

Veronica couldn’t help but study everything Marie and Lennox did or said, even with the conversation flowing easily during dinner. The evening had held the potential to be awkward considering the discussion on the walk over, but by the time everyone had finished eating, Veronica had almost forgotten about the big secret Andie expected to be dropped.

Almost.

But as soon as the dishes were put into the kitchen sink to be cleaned later and Marie and Lennox sat down, each looking at the other with curious expressions, the other four people at the table went on high alert.

Fulton muttered something under his breath Veronica couldn’t make out. Sitting beside him, Andie didn’t appear tohear it either. But that was likely due to the look of shock she wore, as if she hadn’t believed her own prediction.

If either Lennox or Marie found the behavior of their dinner guests odd, they didn’t address it.

Lennox cleared his throat. “Marie and I didn’t just invite you guys over for dinner. We actually have some news to share with you.” He looked at his wife with a happy smile and picked up her hand from where it rested on the table. “We’ve decided to sell the academy.”

Glancing around the table, it became clear to Veronica that the news wasn’t anything expected. And while she was surprised at the announcement, her reaction was nowhere near as shocked as everyone else.

Fulton was the first to speak. “What brought this on?” he asked. “Is everything okay? Are either of you sick?”

“No,” Lennox assured him. “Nothing’s wrong and no one is sick. We just don’t feel as if the academy is us anymore.”

No one else looked as if they were going to say anything. Veronica assumed they were still in shock and processing the news. Across the table, Lennox and Marie appeared to be a bit at a loss. It seemed the two of them were happy with their decision. Had they expected their employees to be happy as well?

Since no one else was saying anything, Veronica decided to break the silence. “What does that mean for the future of the academy? What are the two of you going to do?” Surely they weren’t planning to retire.

“I forget you don’t know our story,” Lennox said. “This academy was never my life’s dream or something I aspired to do. I built it out of guilt, and I let go of that guilt years ago. Both of us did.” He lifted Marie’s hand to his lips and placed a kiss on top. “Now we feel it’s time for us to move on and leave the past behind us for good. We’re not exactly sure what we’re going todo next. We’ve both received some offers, but the first order of business is to sell the academy.”

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