sparrows and a cheeky squirrel. “Is it haunted?”
“Quite possibly.” He nipped the side of my breast, pressing a kiss over the sting of his teeth. “But don’t worry, I’ll be there to protect you.”
I wrapped my arm around his shoulders. “My hero.”
“Been called many things, but never that.” Sully grinned, showing the fine lines of happiness around his eyes and the etching of handsome weathering that only made him more distinguished. “I’ve been meaning to introduce you two. This way, we go, we play, we stay the night, and then we fly home.”
“Okay.” I nodded.
“You sure?” His blue eyes searched mine.
“Sounds fun.”
“Okay then.” Unwinding his arm from around my hips, he ducked to pluck the letter L from the floor where Pika had torn it off and clipped it back onto the keyboard. With swift, strong fingers, he confirmed our attendance.
We agreed to travel to England for a masquerade, hosted in a stuffy ancient castle in a drizzly cold country that was as far from our open-air island existence as possible.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to dance with my tuxedoed husband and enjoy meeting one of his oldest friends, but...I would miss Goddess Isles. I’d miss Pika and Skittles. I’d miss our utopia.
My gaze fell on the apothecary cabinet, and an idea sprang to mind.
And suddenly, I didn’t feel quite so homesick.
Because I had a plan.
An extra little something that I would pack in my suitcase to ensure we had a way to escape if we needed to.
Chapter Four
“WHAT DO I CALL him?” Eleanor asked, her voice pitched with nerves. “Do I bow? What about his wife? Do I curtsy?”
“They aren’t royalty, Jinx.” I watched the English countryside streak past as we drove from the airport to Buckinghamshire. “At least, I don’t think they are.”
I’d never actually checked.
When I received that first email from a resident psychiatrist at an English hospital we donated to, claiming to have a teenage boy with behavioural issues that were amplified depending on who was in the room with him, I’d agreed to personally find a mix of drugs to help.
Originally, I’d wondered if he was schizophrenic, but after professional curiosity led to me phoning the teenager in question and ending up having a conversation that made my scientific brain race with a quest to understand, I realised Jethro’s condition was far more interesting than schizophrenia.
I hadn’t long been in charge of Sinclair and Sinclair Group—barely out of my teens myself—so I took a personal interest in Jethro’s case, purely because beneath his shields and snarls, I heard what I saw in all trapped animals: the cry for help and the broken faith not to believe in hope.
When we’d spoken, he’d originally been stiff and aristocratically cold, yet the more we talked, the more he relaxed to the point he was analysing himself, just as I was, instead of having his hackles up about his ‘disease’.
It was never a disease.
Not in the physical sense, at least. Jethro Hawk had an affliction that I suffered with to a much lesser degree. The same reason I’d begun my hunt and rampage against all animal testers and abusers.
A reason that I was able to shut off and buy women for my own means. And a reason that drove Jethro into a dark, miserable place where he almost killed the very woman he fell in love with.
“It’s very pretty here,” Eleanor murmured beside me. Her fingers pressed against the window as quaint brick walls, tiny country lanes, and patchwork fields skimmed past.
Not a hint of an ocean.
Not a single palm tree or parrot.
My skin itched beneath my suit, already wanting to turn around and return to Indonesia. But...I’d agreed to attend, and I wanted to see the change in Jethro now he had two kids as well as a wife.
Were they as much a cure as she was?
“Are you tired?” I asked gently, letting the driver navigate the fork up ahead that took us deeper into the English countryside.
“Not really. I slept on the plane. You?”
I’d worked most of the trip, but thanks to the first-class suite we’d shared—complete with a queen-sized bed and private bathroom—I was rested enough to attend a ball tonight.
“I’m good. We have a few hours before the other guests arrive. Jethro said he’s arranged a room for us, and his staff know we’re coming.”
“So...he won’t be there to start with?”
“I’m guessing he’ll be mentally preparing for a night of people.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Not a fan of society either?”
I smirked. “Not