your face in my crotch. I wasn't going fucking anywhere in a hurry." He shot me a wolfish grin. "Might I also point out the extreme restraint I displayed in not getting a boner under your cheek?"
I grinned. "Oh yeah? Was that... hard for you?"
He rolled his eyes skyward, searching for some divine assistance after my shitty pun, then gave me a flat look. "You have no idea, MK. I had to picture Steele's mom in her underwear at least sixteen times."
I laughed, then yawned heavily. I hadn't been joking when I said I'd slept like the dead on Kody. Sometimes it was hard to understand just how deep exhaustion ran until slapped in the face with the promise of true, restful sleep.
"So, this is D'Ath estate, huh?" I peered out of the window again, and Kody hummed a sound of agreement. Neither of us was in any great hurry to get out of the truck, and I wondered if he was kind of enjoying the companionable peace between us as much as I was. "Not gonna lie, Kodiak Jones, I sort of had you guys all pegged as neglected, delinquent kids from broken, working-class homes. This... this is definitely not where I thought Archer came from."
Kody snickered a light laugh. "Yeah well, you'd be forgiven for thinking that. The only family you know of his are Zane, the gangster, and Cherry, the gold digger. Come on, let's go in before someone comes looking for us.
I shivered when we left the warmth of Archer's truck, remembering I'd tossed my coat into my overnight bag. Kody wrapped his arm around my shoulders, though, sharing his body heat until we made it inside the massive sandstone mansion.
As soon as the door closed behind us—I noted Kody hadn't knocked—a robust woman with a deeply lined face and silver-streaked black hair came to greet us. She was dressed in the classic black-and-white uniform of household staff, but the smile she gave Kody was all familial warmth.
"Kodiak," she crowed, reaching up to grab his face between her palms, "oh boy, you just get more handsome every time I see you. How is everything? You been looking good in those half-naked pictures you post online." She fanned herself dramatically, and Kody laughed. Her voice was heavily accented, but it wasn't one I was familiar with. Maybe from somewhere eastern Europe if I was to guess.
"It's good to see you too, Ana. You look like you're keeping well. Is the lady of the house treating you well?" He gave her a mock serious look, and she tittered a laugh.
"You know she is, Kodiak, my boy." Her dark gaze shifted to me, standing there like an awkward popsicle. "Ah, and you must be the princeza, yes?" I scowled, and she threw her head back laughing. "I'm just teasing, girl," she assured me with a warm smile, "Come along; the other troublemakers are in the sitting room with her ladyship."
Ana led us through the marble-tiled floors, despite Kody clearly already knowing the way, and into an old-fashioned sitting room. It was complete with gold-framed paintings of straight-laced women, stern, moustached men, and their beagles.
"Madam Constance, I located the stragglers." There was an edge of teasing in the housekeeper's tone, and it surprised me. I certainly wasn't one for staff acting deferential because we paid them, but it was what I'd grown up around. Ana's level of familiarity with her employer—who looked very much like a prim and proper high-society woman—gave me pause.
"Thank you, Ana." The immaculately dressed and made-up woman perched on the chaise lounge. Deep lines framed her eyes, and the skin of her hands and neck held a certain delicate frailness of advanced age, yet she was still gorgeous. A shock of white hair was swept up in a perfect french twist, and her designer skirt suit was pressed to perfection. She even wore pantyhose with her sensible, low-heeled pumps. "We will be ready for dinner in around an hour, I think. I'm sure Madison Kate would like to freshen up after the drive here." She cast her ice-blue eyes over me, but it wasn't an unkind gesture.
"Not a problem, madam." Ana gave a genuine smile, one that creased her eyes, before leaving the room again.
Archer cleared his throat, drawing my attention. He was sitting beside the old woman on the chaise lounge, and the resemblance between them was clear. They shared the same eyes and the same perfectly formed lips.