Short Stack - Lily Morton Page 0,98
a questioning voice. The next mumble is much lower and accompanied by a questing hand. I slap it away and leap out of bed.
“No time. No time,” I whisper. “We fell asleep, and there’s someone at the door.”
“Motherfucker,” he mutters, displaying no real concern but seemingly occupied with pulling the covers back over himself. I aid him in the process by throwing the sheet over his head.
“Stay there,” I hiss. “And don’t move.”
“Not going to be a problem,” he says sleepily.
I can’t help the smitten smile on my face as I look down at the mummified lump in my bed. Then the knock comes again, as does my panic attack.
“Coming,” I say in a high, nervous voice. Racing over to the bathroom, I grab my dressing gown from the hook. I take a second to check my appearance in the mirror and give a despairing groan. If whoever is on the other side of that door doesn’t recognise I’ve been shagged senseless last night, they’re blind. My hair is standing up in a wavy mess like a bird’s nest, my face has severe whisker burn, and there’s a hickey visible in all its blush-coloured glory on my neck.
“Motherfucker,” I hiss at him as I pass the bed. “You gave me a bloody hickey.”
“You’re welcome,” he mumbles, pulling the sheet down at the corner and winking at me. I grab a scarf and wind it around my neck, and he snorts. “You look like something from a PG Wodehouse book. All you need is a cigarette holder and a cocktail.”
“Shut up and get under the covers,” I mutter and, after checking to see that he’s done as he’s told, I race over to the door and open it to find the mournful face of Angus.
“Oh, good morning,” I say, my voice high and slightly faltering.
He blinks. “Good morning to you too, Mr Ramsay. I come with his lordship’s compliments and an invitation to a late breakfast.”
“Oh my goodness. How late is it?” I ask, pulling my scarf tighter as he shoots a look at my neck.
He smiles slightly. “It’s eleven o’clock in the morning, sir.”
“Oh dear, I’m so sorry—”
He holds up a hand. “His lordship has also expressed a wish to meet your young man.”
“My… young man?” I falter and bite my lip.
“Yes. Mr Niall Fawcett. It is him we’re talking about. The son of Edward Fawcett.”
“Oh, erm, yes. Niall is my young man.” A snort comes from behind me, and I pull the door shut a little. “But why would Lord Ingram want to meet him?”
Angus smiles knowingly. “Well, he wanted to make sure that after scaling the wall last night, he had suffered no injuries.”
“Oh my God,” I say faintly.
The butler continues, his face wry. “His lordship saw him in the bushes and thought he was a pheasant at first, but luckily he’s watched the four series of Planet Earth, and he was able to dismiss the notion, as there are no six-foot-four pheasants.” I moan slightly in horror, but he continues. “I say lucky because his dismissal happened before he reached for his shotgun. A big relief to his lordship, as he was at school with Mr Fawcett’s grandfather, and it would have made their school reunion rather awkward if he’d shot his grandson in the arse.”
I blink, but footsteps pad behind me and Niall appears, yawning and wearing just his jeans. “Morning, Angus,” he says sleepily.
The butler gives him a warm smile.
“Good morning, Master Niall. Kippers for breakfast as usual?”
“You know each other?” I say open-mouthed.
Niall grins. “Lord Ingram is my godfather.”
“Then why didn’t you come through the bloody door last night?” I snap, asking the question that I’m sure Angus and I are needing the answer to.
He grins at me lazily. “Thought it would be exciting.”
The butler stirs. “Yes. Lord Ingram was saying fondly only this morning, ‘Like grandfather, like son.’ Your grandfather apparently loved a sexual adventure like no one he’s ever met before.”
Niall blinks, and a sick expression crosses his face.
Laughing, I nudge him. “Bet you wish you’d scaled the wall back down again, Prince Charming.”
He gives me a lazy smile. “Only if you’d been with me, Rapunzel. That’s the way we roll in our fairy tale.”
Gideon and Eli
Onboard Antics
This is a deleted scene that was set on the ship at the beginning of the cruise. It disrupted the flow of the story, so I left it out. But it’s a nice little scene that shows the two of them becoming comfortable with each