Cursed: Gowns & Crowns, Book 5 Page 4

  “You’re with me for the time being,” Vince said, not looking at Edeena as he made a quick scan of the pool area, noting anyone paying particular attention to the youngest Saleri sister, though she was merely one of many options for roving eyes. Nevertheless, he noticed a familiar face eyeing Marguerite with interest. Figured. Vince had been in the Charleston area security business long enough that he’d brushed up against Wyndham Masters more than a few times. The guy was a billionaire hotelier and all around pain in the ass, though he was rumored to be engaged, if Vince’s mother’s sources held any water.

  Then again, Vince expected those “sources” were quite probably Us Magazine and TMZ, so he wasn’t holding his breath on that.

  He realized Edeena hadn’t said anything for a while, and he looked her way. She was staring at him, irritation writ large on her face. He tried to remember what he’d said to piss her off, but couldn’t. “What?”

  “I thought I was assigned a female guard,” she said, her cheeks once again tinged pink. “Meredith or something.”

  “Yeah, well, I unassigned her. This business with your father changes things.”

  “Then give me Caro’s guard,” Edeena suggested, a touch too quickly. “You guard her.”

  “Caroline looks like she’s smart enough to stay out of trouble,” Vince said, realizing that it wasn’t his imagination—he was making Edeena uncomfortable. That didn’t bode well for their business relationship, but he hadn’t been kidding before. Now that he understood a little bit more of the unfortunate relationship the Saleri children had with their father, he didn’t think any of his basic security measures were going to be enough. If this Silas character decided to swoop in and gather up Edeena after she turned twenty-seven to be auctioned off to the highest royal bidder . . .

  He focused on her more intently. “Look, I’ll change the rotation after a couple of days, but until I get a full handle on the threat you all are facing, I’d feel more comfortable being on site and in the loop. Rob is the best I have, and Caroline is safe with Cindy, so that leaves you. I figure if I’m assigned to you directly, I keep you secure and stay informed. It simply makes sense.”

  He could tell Edeena was thinking about it, despite whatever misgivings she had, and he gave her a winning grin. “C’mon. Janet Mulready already has no idea whether or not we’re a couple or you’re my client, but either way she’s taken note. If you show up with another tagalong, she’ll know for sure you’ve got increased protection. From there, it won’t be a leap to figure out the tails on your sisters, and the woman’s an incurable gossip.”

  “Said incurable gossip is coming our way again,” Edeena said. “So what are we, client and strong man, couple of the year, or what?”

  “Whatever you prefer, as long as we stick to it.” He glanced up and confirmed that Edeena was right. Janet Mulready was heading back toward them, her smile wide and calculating, a cell phone to her ear. There was no question she’d informed management that the Cypress Resort could now add a legitimately royal connection to its clientele. “What’s better for you?”

  “Would you mind…couple of the year?”

  The question was so soft that Vince though he’d misheard it, but there was no questioning the hard thump of his heart against his ribcage or the immediate intensity of his body as every one of his nerve endings flared with interest.

  “Not at all,” he drawled, equally quietly.

  “Oh, thank heavens,” Edeena said, sounding genuinely relieved. “That woman is truly insufferable, and I’ve known her all of three minutes.” She paused another beat, then her words tumbled out in a rushed, nervous heap. “Please act like you like me, okay? I’m not very good at this.”

  Before Vince could process that comment, Edeena turned to him excitedly, her eyes wide and dancing, her grin huge.

  “Vince!” she exclaimed, as with one elegant hand she reached for him and encircled his neck, pulling him toward her. “That sounds absolutely perfect!”

  And then she kissed him soundly on the lips.

  This wasn’t the first time Vince had been kissed out of the blue by a woman, but it was the first time he remembered liking it so much. He pulled back enough for Edeena to murmur urgently against his mouth. “Has she stopped? I think she’s stopped.”

  Vince didn’t care what Janet Mulready was doing. He was too busy following Edeena’s lead, wrapping his arms around her then sliding his hands down her back. She pressed up against his body willingly, and whether it was for Janet’s or his benefit, he still came out ahead in this game.

  He deepened the kiss as Edeena sighed beneath him. She was sweet and soft and tasted like honey, he thought distantly, and he’d never more intensely enjoyed his job more than he did right now.

  He should probably give himself a raise.

  “Vince,” Edeena murmured urgently against his lips. “Is she gone?”

  Pulling back, he glanced across the commons area, then met Edeena’s gaze.

  “She got distracted, but she’s coming again. You going to take the lead here?”

  The word that Edeena breathed was definitely not English, but had the peculiar salty intonation of a curse. She edged back a little further as well, then beamed up at him, leaning up to brush his lips once more before favoring him with a dazzling smile. “You think she bought the girlfriend schtick?”

  Vince didn’t have to glance over Edeena’s shoulder to confirm that. He could feel the steadiness of Janet’s glare at twenty paces. “Yep.”

  “Good,” Edeena said summarily. Then she turned in his arms to regard the woman bearing down on them.

  Vince had to hand it to Janet; she didn’t miss a beat. Instead, she waved two envelopes at them. “I’m so glad you’re both still here. It seems our Southern hospitality has rubbed off already on you, Countess,” she said breezily. “Here, you simply must come to the party we’re hosting in the Sea Witch Club tonight.” She gestured to one of the looming nightclubs surrounding the pool area. “It’s going to be one of the highlights of the season, and you don’t want to miss it.”

  “Oh, . . . well, thank you,” Edeena said, automatically taking the envelopes. “I’m sure it will be quite enjoyable.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ve invited your sisters as well,” Janet said, and Vince could track the triumph in her expression as Edeena turned quickly. Sure enough, the over-pumped pretty boy was even now bearing down on Marguerite as she tossed back what looked like a margarita, Marks hovering close, while Caroline looked on pensively as her bodyguard intercepted another Cypress staffer bearing a similar envelope. “You’ll be our honored guests tonight! You have to come.”

  “Thank you so much,” Edeena said again, and Vince suspected her good manners prevented her from saying anything further. He watched as Marguerite opened the envelope and squealed in delight, immediately looking around for Caroline. Instead she spotted Edeena, and her entire face brightened.

  Vince glanced back and saw the truth in Edeena’s eyes. They’d be coming to the party tonight, because Marguerite wanted it. If Caroline wanted to go harvest organic mushrooms the following morning, he suspected Edeena would do that, too.

  He kept his arm around her, surprising himself with how natural it felt. “Miss Mulready,” he said, nodding to Janet, whose gaze had turned shrewd as she took in his proprietary hold on Edeena. “We’ll see you tonight, it would seem.”

  “Oh, I’m planning on it,” she said, her own southern drawl firmly back in place, as she lifted her gaze to him. “If everything goes the way it should, it’ll be a night to remember.”

  Chapter Four

  Edeena stood in front of the gracious, free-standing mirror in her bedroom, scowling at herself. She looked ridiculous.

  “This is such a bad idea,” she muttered.

  “It’s not a bad idea, it’s an amazing idea, and I don’t feel even the slightest bit badly that I badgered you into it.” Marguerite sailed into the room, looking effortlessly perfect in a skin hugging black mini-dres
s and sky high platform heels. Silver hoops hung in her ears and jangled on her wrist, and she looked far more suited to a big-city nightclub than a low-country resort buried in the middle of nowhere.

  Caroline followed behind her, and Edeena’s brows lifted. Caro was dressed with an equal flare, but in a flaming pink dress that set off her beautiful coloring and her softer-toned, honey-brown hair. But she was smiling, even laughing, as she fixed a glittering rhinestone earring to her ear, and Edeena couldn’t help but stare.

  “You’re good with going tonight, Caro?” she asked, wishing despite herself that at least one of her sisters would say no.

  “Are you kidding? It couldn’t be better,” Caro said with a happy smile. “We’ll be as safe as can be with our bodyguards there, and they get a night out, away from the kids.”

  Edeena frowned at her. “Away from the . . .?”

  “They have kids!” Marguerite said triumphantly, as if Edeena was the last to know—which she was. “Rob told me all about it. He and Cindy have been friends with Vince since they were all grade schoolers, and after the two of them grew up, got buff, and got hitched they both worked on Vince to hire them until they wore him down. And they are the cutest, don’t you think?”

  “They are, and you both you look great,” Edeena said, trying to shake away her negative thoughts. Why was she so nervous? Tonight wasn’t an actual date with an actual man. Vince was her security detail, the height of professionalism. He hadn’t even referenced her impromptu embrace in the middle of the Cypress pool area in broad daylight again after they’d left the resort. He’d taken it solely for a ruse to distract Janet—not as Edeena simply angling for a way to kiss him.

  And thank heavens for that. She needed to stay professional with him from now on. This wasn’t her vacation, after all—she was here for her sisters. Not to ogle the security guy, no matter how ogle-worthy he was.

  “I’m so glad you think so, because you need some work, girl.” Marguerite interrupted her reverie, and Edeena blinked as her younger sister called to someone standing outside the door. Then a member of Prudence’s housekeeping staff entered, carrying a half-dozen outfits.

  “What’s this?” Edeena asked.

  “An intervention,” Marguerite said succinctly. “You look like you’re our mom, not our not-so-older sister, and you need to relax.”

  “I am relaxed.” Edeena looked down at her loose, filmy shift, a knee length black chiffon overlay that drifted around a tight black sheath. “What’s wrong with this dress?”

  “Nothing, if you were three months’ pregnant. Wait, are you?” Marguerite stopped pawing through the dresses to turn and stare at her, and Caro burst into giggles as Edeena lofted a pillow at her youngest sister.

  “I didn’t think so,” Marguerite grinned. “But seriously, that dress doesn’t do anything for your figure, and you work out too much to hide it.”

  “I don’t—”

  “You do,” her sisters said in tandem. They draped three other options over her—an electric blue sheath, a mini tank dress in aquamarine, and a deep crimson above-the-knee number in a fabric that seemed to cling and gather everywhere.

  “That one,” Marguerite said.

  Edeena frowned. “I don’t know. It feels like it’s hugging me a little too snugly, and I haven’t even put it on yet.”

  “Trust me, that’s not going to be a problem. Nothing’s going to crowd you any closer than Prince Vince.”

  Even hearing the nickname made Edeena stiffen, but Caro immediately jumped in.

  “I think he’s doing a wonderful job. Having Rob and Cindy as escorts is perfect, because they’re a couple. It doesn’t feel like we’ve got the palace guards with us, yet it’s perfectly appropriate. Even Father couldn’t fault us, with chaperones who know self-defense.”

  “I don’t think Silas would be a fan of the Cypress Resort.”

  “I know, isn’t it perfect?” Marguerite said, throwing her arms out as if she was preparing to hug the whole of Sea Haven Island to her. “Everyone was having so much fun, totally without a care in the world, because they were on vacation! Not only vacation, but vacation in an adults-only hideaway where they have absolutely no worries except what their next drink is going to be. I’m so glad I chose the Cypress, I had no idea of the special section of the resort.”

  She said this last so quickly that Edeena misdirected the earring she was trying to hook in place and ended up jabbing herself in the head. “Ow! So that’s official then? Count Matretti’s intercession was for the Cypress?”

  “They were the first to respond, and I jumped on it.” Marguerite said. “I’m supposed to meet with HR tomorrow, but I already told them via email that no job was beneath me, as long as it interacted directly with the public.” She grinned. “Think about it. I could be a bartender!”

  Caro coughed out a short laugh. “Drinking a wide variety of beverages doesn’t exactly equip you to make those beverages, sweetheart,” she said wryly, and Edeena blinked. Since when was Caroline so at ease ribbing her sister?

  “Okay, then I could clean—”

  “No,” Edeena and Caro both chimed at once, Caroline bursting into a wide grin.

  “You don’t clean your own room, Marguerite. Do not for a second imagine you’d be willing to clean someone else’s.”

  “Then waitress. I could be a waitress. Lord knows I’ve served enough dinner parties for Father when I was younger—we all did.”

  “You could easily be a waitress,” Edeena said gently. “But honey, are you sure your internship will allow that kind of service work?”

  “Not at all, but I’ll cover all that with HR,” Marguerite said loftily, waving her hand. “But no matter what, it’s international experience, and if I want to get work in the hospitality industry, I need that. Plus I’ll get to meet so many people. It’s a total win-win.”

  “She does have a point,” Caroline said. “The work I did for the tourist service was the absolute best way I found to meet new people and work on my languages.”

  “Done deal,” Marguerite said. “I should be a bartender to start, I’m almost certain.”

  Edeena shook her head, but she couldn’t come up with a good reason to say no to her baby sister. Which was Marguerite’s super power.

  There was a soft knock at the open door, then Prudence stepped in. “The Markses are here to drive you—oh, my,” she said abruptly, taking in the three women. Surprisingly, she began blinking rapidly, and Edeena’s heart twisted a little in her chest. She suspected the older woman was perhaps a bit lonelier than she let on. She lived out here at Heron’s Point as caretaker, but how long had it been since she’d had any family visit?

  “Prudence?” Caro said instantly, going to the older woman. “Are you okay?”

  “It’s. . . it’s just . . . well, goodness me, I’m becoming a watering pot,” Prudence said, lifting to her eyes a kerchief she’d managed to ferret out of some hidden pocket. “You’re all so lovely. Your mother would have been so . . . so very proud to see you like this.”

  “She’d be grateful you were here to watch over us, you mean,” Caro said cheerfully, hugging Prudence as Edeena shared a look with Marguerite. In truth, if their mother knew they would be heading for a nightclub in the heart of the “consenting adults” section of the Cypress Resort, she would probably faint. But what Prudence didn’t know definitely would not hurt her. Not hurt them, either.

  The ride to the Cypress was, of course, brief, but Edeena watched with interest as they joined a long queue line of cars. “Where are they all coming from?” she asked.

  “The city, mostly,” Rob said from the driver’s seat. His wife sat beside him, but Edeena hadn’t gotten a good look at her dress yet. She tugged her own crimson glove a little further toward her knees.

  Cindy chimed in. “A lot come from the other villa estates as well. The island residents don’t have much use for the Cypress, but they’re heavily outnumbered by the island’s guest villa vacationers. And the club draw
s guests from Charleston and the other islands as well. There’s no hotel at the Cypress, but they have special three-day villa packages through the week, that oh-so-conveniently fall on these party days. It’s proven to be a good strategy for them.”

  Cindy’s phone crackled, and she pulled it from her purse, checking the display. “Pri—Vince is inside already, and he’s secured a table for us in the Sea Witch. We can stay as long as you’d like, he said.”

  “How long does the party go?” Marguerite asked instantly, and Edeena did her best to hide her wince. She was nearly twenty-seven, but she suddenly felt forty, wanting nothing more than to wander the quiet halls of Heron’s Point instead of drawing ever nearer to the booming music and glittering light show shooting up into the sky above the Cypress Resort.

  Cindy glanced into the rearview mirror and met Edeena’s gaze. “It’ll be hopping until after midnight, but there’s an unofficial curfew on the island at two. If you’re out, you’ll get hassled by local law enforcement, who’ll be waiting at the end of the lane.”

  The woman was lying, Edeena realized, but Marguerite seemed to accept her words. Garronia was no stranger to curfews of late, and they’d all led an almost pathologically protected existence under their father’s watch. They’d get home before two, she thought. How much of a nightmare could one little party be?

  This place was an absolute fucking nightmare.

  Vince scowled around the room, making eye contact with two of his additional guards he’d brought in for the night, having no problem getting them entrance passes from the giddy Janet Mulready. If he didn’t know the woman, he’d have pegged her for doped on drugs, but he suspected her good mood had everything to do with the resort’s most popular party to date. The Cypress adults-only grounds had been closed from four p.m. to nine, and had opened up moments before he’d arrived. The place was now drenched in a million spotlights of every color of the rainbow, some pointed straight up, drawing the attention to the resort from all over the island. Hell, you could probably see it from the moon.