Cherise Sinclair - My Liege of Dark Haven

Lindsey trotted out the door and stopped short with a startled huff of air. “Oh.”

“Tell me where Abby is.” He put an edge of command into the order.

“She’s—” Her mouth closed, and her expression matched Rona’s. “Sorry, sir. I’m just a moving girl and sure not going to poke my nose into something that’s none of my business.” From the hostility in her face, she’d definitely taken sides.

Xavier tamped down his anger. He’d hurt Abby badly, and she had a right to protect herself. He shouldn’t be surprised she’d found some staunch defenders. His little fluff had the knack of winning hearts, even if she didn’t realize it.

Lindsey made a wide detour around him and put the suitcase in the car. With a dismissive look, Rona followed.

He had half a mind to tell them never to set foot in Dark Haven again, but they hadn’t broken club rules. Rona hadn’t even disobeyed Simon, since their D/s relationship didn’t extend to certain areas—like who Rona had for friends.

Xavier wanted the same kind of flexible arrangement with Abby—if he could ever figure out how to find her.

After opening her car door, Rona glared at him. “Xavier, please move your car.”

“In a minute.” From the unfriendly stares bouncing off his hide, he’d have no success pleading his case with them. And that discussion should happen between him and Abby. “Will you ask her to call me?”

Rona shook her head. “She doesn’t want to hear about you or from you.”

Then she’d probably never listened to the voice mails he’d left. “You will take two messages to her from me.” His voice came out hard, and they both took a step back. “Her research project is due tomorrow, but the deal was that I’d read the final draft.”

Lindsey looked at him in dismay. “But—”

“The first message is—I’ll accept Simon’s judgment as an adequate substitute.”

Relief crossed Rona’s face. “That’s kind of you. She’s been worried.”

The little fluff wouldn’t believe any admission of love. Not at this point. What would work to lure her to him? “The second message is simply this: I was wrong.”

Both women looked startled.

He attempted to smile. “I won’t try to track her, if you promise you’ll convey just that.”

Lindsey still looked more ready to spit in his face than take the message, but the streaky-haired Texan had fled a brutal divorce.

He looked at Rona instead.

She finally nodded. “Okay. You’ve got your two messages.”

* * *

Abby took her suitcase and swung it onto the bed in Lindsey’s guest room. “Thanks, Rona.”

“You’re welcome. However, the price is that you join us for some wine, Ms. Hermit.” Rona gave her a mother’s formidable frown.

I don’t want to leave this room. But she needed to. She’d hidden like a wounded lion in a cave. “I haven’t been very sociable, have I?”

“Quite understandable, but it’s time to rejoin the world. Now.”

“Are you sure that Simon is the dominant one in your marriage?”

“Most definitely.” Rona smiled smugly from the doorway. “But everywhere else? I rule.”

As the door closed, Abby laughed, probably her first one in days.

She washed her face in cool water, then followed the sound of voices down the narrow hallway, through the almost bare living room, and onto the balcony. Lindsey’s new apartment was on the eighth floor with a pretty view of the city. The two women sat at a tiny café table. Lindsey had propped her bare feet on the wrought iron railing. Her deep-red toenails shimmered with glittering stars.

Not having toenails that could compete, Abby chose a chair behind the table and poured herself a glass of wine. “Mmmm.” The merlot was smooth and fruity. “Very nice.”

“It’s one of my favorites. When I took a group tour of the Napa Valley, I fetched back a few bottles for my wine cellar.” Lindsey grinned. “Poor me. My cellar is only a wooden rack in the hall closet, but it’s a start.”

“I’ve visited wineries, but since I drove, I had to stop after a drink or two,” Abby said, making an effort to share in the conversation. “A tour would be smart.”

Rona nodded. “That’s true. Maybe we should book a weekend and go enjoy ourselves.”

“I—” Abby started to refuse and stopped at the sight of Lindsey’s hopeful eyes. The streaky-haired brunette had moved from Dallas to escape a horrible marriage, but she’d grown up in Texas, and her family and friends were all there. How sad to go from an abundance of relatives and friends to none. “I’d love to try a tour.” Especially since she didn’t have the heart to go on her usual vacation abroad. “I’ve got almost a month before school starts. Sign me up.”

Much like Grace, Lindsey showed every emotion—and now she glowed. “Shoot, the three of us? Those wineries won’t know what hit them.”

Odd how making someone else happy could lift a person’s spirits. Abby’s smile seemed to fit on her face again. She raised her glass to toast, and there was nothing there. “How did I drink that so fast?”

Rona filled the glass. “You’re not driving, so who cares?” She poured some into Lindsey’s glass. “Neither are you.” After opening a new bottle of wine, she filled her own. “And you two are going to steer me into a taxi. Simon wanted to pick me up, but he might well share the address with Xavier. Men are totally untrustworthy that way.”

“I appreciate it.” Abby said. No, the mention of Xavier’s name had not sent tremors through her body. It hadn’t.

“To friends.” Rona raised her glass and clinked it against the other two. “It’s nice to have more women in the lifestyle, and even nicer that you’re a few years past drinking age.”

Abby winced, remembering Nathan’s young “slut.” She should have punched him. Making a hard fist, she nodded. She really should have, even if she’d have hidden under a table when he yelled.

She gulped more wine. As it started to buzz in her head, she remembered she’d skipped lunch. Actually she’d missed quite a few meals, enough that her jeans were loose. Excellent diet—the Xavier Plan.

“So.” Rona’s blue-green eyes turned serious. “Xavier showed up at the house.”

“What?”

“I saw him and almost had a conniption fit.” Lindsey wiped mock sweat away. “If the invincible Rona hadn’t been there, I might have buckled. He’s scarier than a pissed-off wolverine.”

Despite the pain of thinking of him, Abby snorted. “More like Count Dracula.”

“True.” Lindsey tilted her head. “Did you ever listen to those messages he’s left you?”

“Uh-uh. I delete them right away.” Because I’d cave in and listen otherwise.

“Impressive willpower,” Rona said. “Well, I’ll blurt this out quick. He said he’ll accept Simon as his proxy for reading your research article.”

Abby’s mouth dropped open. “Really?” As her spine turned to jelly, she sagged. “That’s…that’s nice of him. I’ll give you the papers before you leave.”

“His second message was to say ‘I was wrong.’”

“Rona!” Abby shoved away from the table, making it rock, and put her hands over her ears. “I won’t hear this.”

Rona caught her wine glass before it hit the floor. And just looked at Abby. Patiently.

“I can’t believe I worked so hard not to…” She lowered her hands. “What does that mean—he was wrong?”

Rona winked at Lindsey. “I don’t know. He knew I wouldn’t bring you a big explanation or apology.”

“I was wrong.” Xavier had actually said that. He was so rarely wrong.

But he had been once. At the club. He’d cuddled her and apologized. “I’m sorry, Abby. The remote wasn’t a good choice for you. I thought it would teach you to listen to your body without putting you on display. I never intended that you should feel abandoned.”

When he was wrong, he admitted it. And if he said something, he meant it.

“We weren’t exclusive, you know.” Abby swirled the wine in her glass.

“You agreed to that?” Lindsey sounded shocked. “I know some of the subs do, but you?”

“After Nathan, I wasn’t interested in getting involved with anyone. And Xavier and I both agreed. Only, then, when I was living with him…I didn’t think he’d still go out with someone else.”

Rona squeezed the bridge of her nose. “I’m surprised, actually. He’s very up-front about having more than one woman. I think if he’d continued to date other people, he would have told you.”

“Blind, deaf, and dumb—that’s me.” Abby stared at the skyline. The setting sun turned the Bay Bridge to a fantasy and sparkled on the water. “We talked about his wife once. He said she was his whole world.”

Rona nodded. “Simon said while Xavier was turning Leduc Industries into the powerhouse it is, Catherine was beside him all the way. His admin, his submissive, and his wife. He hasn’t taken anyone seriously since.”

“Yeah. So it seems.”

Rona’s hand closed over Abby’s. “Until now, Abby. Until you.”

Tears swam in her eyes. “Sure. That’s why he went out with my stepsister.”

“‘I was wrong,’ remember?” Lindsey leaned back in her chair. “Now I only started going to the club a month before you, but he…” She paused. “He looked more alive after you came. Like you woke him up or something.”

“You need to think about this,” Rona said.

“Sure.” Not gonna happen.

“Dropping the subject of idiot males, what about your stepsister?”

Abby gave Rona a frown. “What about her?”

“Are you going to let her continue to step on you?” Rona took a meditative sip of wine. “You said she’s done this to you before?”

Abby snorted. “Every single boyfriend I ever had.”

“Exactly. But Abby, what did you do to deter her?” Rona tilted her head. “Do you enjoy pain that much? If you’re a masochist, I know some sadists at the club who—”

“No, I’m not a masochist! Just how was I supposed to stop her?”

“Oh please,” Lindsey said. “If one of my sisters had shown up with my guy, there’d have been hair-pulling, name-calling, and serious screaming.”

Abby managed to close her mouth. Screaming?

“Now, that said, we battled out the no-poaching-on-a-sister rules when we first got tits,” Lindsey continued. “But if you always let her shove your face in the mud without a good catfight, then…”

“I…” Abby stared at the table. Keep your voice down. Never start a fight. Don’t argue; just agree. All those behaviors she’d learned because of her father. She couldn’t upset him, so she’d retreated. But Daddy was gone, and living a life without altercation wasn’t natural. It hadn’t been his fault, but… He’s dead, and I haven’t moved on.

“Does it seem like you can hear her thinking?” Lindsey whispered.

So when Xavier had shown up with Janae, she’d run. Not knocked Janae on her ass or grabbed Xavier’s lapels and asked him why he’d do such a thing to her.

Because… Her mouth dropped open. Because he wouldn’t. She stared as the lights of the city flickered on in the evening dusk. Xavier would never deliberately hurt her like that—not anyone, but certainly not her. And his face had held sheer shock and then anger, but not at her.

Janae had conned him somehow.

“Abby?”

Abby held up her hand. “Wait. I’m having an epiphany here.”

“Sounds mighty painful,” Lindsey muttered, getting a snort from Rona.

“My assertive skills are screwed up,” Abby stated.

“That’s an epiphany?” Lindsey scowled. “No, sister, an epiphany is when God hauls his big ass out of the clouds and smacks you over the head.”

Abby giggled and drained her glass. “Today you and Rona did the thumping.”

“Oh Crom.” Rona made a grab for Abby’s glass and failed. “Have you had anything to eat today?”

“Nope.” Abby poured herself more. “And my head’s going to hurt tomorrow. But—trust me—Janae’s head will blow off her shoulders by the time I get through with her.” She held her glass up. “But first I have to deal with Mr. I-Was-Wrong Leduc.”

Two glasses clinked against hers in a unanimous toast.

Abby almost cried when she walked into Dark Haven and the familiar scents and sounds surrounded her. She’d missed this place.

“Abby?” Dixon stood behind the reception desk…which was covered in papers again. “Abby!” He scurried around the desk and dropped to his knees, hands clenched in front of his chest. “Tell me you’re coming back. Puh-leeeze.” The puppy-dog eyes he gave her would have melted the hardest resolve.