Adapting Desires (Endangered Heart Series Book 3) (13 page)

Chapter 11

She was still asleep when she heard them arguing, the soft sounds of male voices becoming gradually louder as she tossed and turned. For a few minutes Emilia tried to sleep, to submit herself back to the pleasant, full sleep that the indulgent holiday had given her. She smiled and buried her face in a pillow, hating that she couldn’t enjoy the memory for a little longer.

“Outrageous!” Emilia looked up from the pillow and pulled herself out of bed. Sure enough, Kasper’s expletive was followed by more insults and the sound of things clattering to the ground. By the time she stretched and put on a shirt, the mumbled voices of Aasif, Mrs. Levkin, and Frankford were also ringing in loud and clear. Hopefully, Emilia thought, they could calm Kasper down, convince him that the private security company taking off the week between Christmas and the New Year was not the greatest display of incompetence in the world.

Looking for more clothes, Emilia was about to intervene when her cell phone beeped with the harmony she had specifically assigned to Claudette. Grateful for a genuine excuse to avoid the argument going on down the hall, Emilia reached for the phone and unplugged it from the charger.

“Hey, hey,” she said.

“Ugh,” Claudette responded. “What are the symptoms of a tryptophan overdose?”

Laughing, Emilia laid back on the bed, stretching to get comfortable again. “Too much turkey?”

“I kept telling myself
just one more bite
,
just one more bite.
’”

“I know how you feel,” Emilia replied. “Over the last two days I’ve practically eaten a loaf of cranberry soda bread all by myself.”

“I take it you had a good holiday then?”

“The best.” Emilia smiled and glanced in the corner where the remains of the torn babydoll remained. “You?”

“Nice,” Claudette replied. “Quiet with a minimal amount of drama. Matt loved the comic books I got him. Your other half?”

“He was…” Emilia paused, deciding her words carefully, “very grateful. What did Matt end up getting you?”

“This
gorgeous
bar table.”

“Oh?” Emilia responded with enthusiasm before rolling to the other side of the bed. As much as she enjoyed chatting with Claudette, the arguing down the hall was getting louder by the minute, making it extremely difficult to concentrate.

“Yeah, he stained it himself and—well, anyway, that’s sort of why I called.”

“Yeah?” Emilia switched her phone to her other ear and put a pillow over her head. “What’s up?”

Claudette sighed. “I hate to be one of those last minute jerk-offs who does this sort of stuff, but now that our house is almost livable, Matt and I were going to have a housewarming thing—”

Emilia cut her off at the pass. “That,” Emilia emphasized, “is a fantastic idea.”

“Good, because we’re keeping it small and doing it on New Year’s.”

“As in at the end of this week?” Emilia asked. “That is last minute.”

“Yeah,” Claudette said with a sigh. “But like I said, it’s going to be small, mostly his family and some of my closer friends.”

As a door slammed just down the hallway, Emilia heard Kasper call someone the Farsi equivalent of worthless. She rolled her eyes and threw the pillow across the room.

“No,” Emilia said. “I think the timing is pretty perfect. In a couple of days, Kasper and I will
need
to get out of this house.”

After a quick shower and putting on something far more appropriate than what she was wearing the night before, Emilia joined the arguing group in the living room, not surprised but disappointed to see how the disagreement had migrated downstairs. Smiling, Emilia sat on the sofa next to Mrs. Levkin and sighed. Apparently the continued debate over their safety would not wait until the New Year.

“The security company can be here the morning of the second,” Aasif said. “The system is already state of the art, but they’ll make sure everything is wired properly and change the security codes if you’d like.”

Barely acknowledging Emilia’s appearance, Kasper just nodded coolly to everything Aasif said. It remained obvious to her that he had not slept through the night.

“Is all of that really necessary?” She did her best to make her voice sound as light and playful as possible but suspected she had failed. “With school restarting in a couple of weeks, I doubt I’ll be able to remember everything I need to remember
and
new security codes.”

Kasper looked at her sharply. “They
will
be changed. Your birthday is much too obvious.”

Emilia rolled her eyes and leaned her head back on the sofa. Since it was such a silly little thing, she resigned to let Kasper have it. “The financial checks have already begun on Mr. Rivas and that young man who looks after the horses. If either of them have made large deposits lately then we will know about it within 48 hours.”

Kasper just continued to nod excessively.

Leaning forward, Mrs. Levkin cleared her throat before speaking up. “Mr. Rivas has been working for you for years, and the stable boy is a teenager. I seriously doubt either of them would sell information about you—”

“It’s an invasion of privacy,” Emilia added. “You should trust the people who work for you.”

Kasper eyed everyone from Aasif to Mrs. Levkin. Before he even said anything, Emilia could see the wheels turning, his paranoia turning itself on two people he considered friends.

Emilia crossed her arms defiantly. “Don’t even think about it.”

He cut her off by abruptly standing up and turning his back to the group. “Will you leave my wife and me alone for a moment?”

Emilia watched while Frankford rolled his eyes at Aasif as he stood to leave. Mrs. Levkin’s body remained rigid as she opened the door, but she otherwise said nothing. It seemed Emilia would have to be the voice of reason.

“Kasper, you’re officially being ridiculous,” Aasif said with laughter in his voice. “Everyone in this room is your friend and cares about you. You’re just feeling paranoid because you’re tired and swollen—”

“Are you all still here?” Kasper yelled. “Why am I required to constantly repeat myself? Get out! Get out! Get out!”

Emilia sent Aasif a look of apology as he headed for the door. Kasper’s temper was getting the better of him.

“Ah ha!” he said triumphantly. “At last they listen!”

Turning his back once again while he waited for Aasif to exit, Emilia was patient with Kasper even then. With his body rigid and his shoulders back, she knew she needed to wait for a moment before approaching him herself.

“Kasper?”

“The most important thing…” He paused, wringing his hands together nervously. “The
only
important thing in my life is you. If that means creating some disillusionment between those worthless—”

Emilia laughed, the sound finally enough to get him to face her. “I know you don’t mean that. You’re lucky we all love you so much or we wouldn’t bother to humor you at all.”

“Yes,” he sighed. “I do know that.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed as tightly as she could. Kasper interlaced his fingers with hers as best he could and sighed.

“I apologize for leaving you alone in bed last night.”

After a moment, she responded, “It’s all right. I just wish you would relax.” She rested her head against his back. “Maybe you just need to get out of this house for a while.”

Clearly curious, Emilia saw him glance at her from over his shoulder. “Is that not what I’ve been saying to you? Our passports are valid, and the house will be looked after, we can go anywhere we want.”

“No,” she said sternly. “I won’t put off finishing school. I won’t compromise that.” While she said the last part more for herself than Kasper, she felt him nod gently. At the very least, he seemed to understand this. “I was thinking about something less drastic.”

“Oh?” The sound of his voice revealed just how piqued his interest was.

Before she started, Emilia swallowed hard. Why was she so nervous? It seemed ridiculous to ask her own husband out on a date and worry about the results, yet the truth of the matter was that she was completely and utterly nervous. Emilia was truly terrified that Kasper would reject not only her but her idea, and she knew her feelings would be hurt in the process. “Claudette and her boyfriend are having a housewarming combination New Year’s party.”

She felt him tense in her arms. “And?”

Emilia laughed, her anxiety revealing itself. “And it’s customary to bring kitchenware and plants as gifts.”

“I don’t think that is a very good idea.”

Once again she made an attempt at humor. “The kitchenware or the plant?”

“You know perfectly well what I mean,” he said.

“It’s New Year’s.” Going with a different approach, she untangled her hands from his and ran her fingers over his stomach. “It’s an excuse to be happy. What’s wrong with celebrating it?”

“It is entirely last minute for one.”

“As if that makes any difference.” She smiled and rolled her eyes. “Last time I checked we didn’t have any plans anyway.”

“I—I do not feel comfortable,” he said hurriedly. “Especially with the current circumstances.”

“We’ll go together. Claudette and her boyfriend will be there, and you’ve met them a few times now.”

“That’s not the point.” He inhaled sharply. “I am sure it is at a venue we are both unfamiliar with, and certainly there will be people there you do not know. Almost anything could go wrong under those circumstances.”

“I understand that you’re worried, but I seriously doubt anything will happen. What is Cyrus going to do? Pose as Baby New Year? As long as you go with me I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

He ignored her sarcasm and offered something practical. “We could have our own celebration here,” Kasper offered. “We can watch that monstrosity of a ball drop, drink champagne, and eat oysters—”

“We did that last year.” She tugged on the loop of his belt and tried not to sound desperate. But why was she feeling so desperate? Was it just the feeling of being cooped up in the manor or something more? “And while it was wonderful, I don’t want to do the same thing every year. I know that probably makes me sound spoiled—”

“No,” he said sadly. “You
should
have everything you want.”

“We don’t have to go for long,” she said, not bothering to cover the urgency in her voice. “Just an hour or two to say hello to everyone—”

He shook his head intently. “Once they catch him I’ll make it up to you. We can have a party in the spring if you’d like, or another masquerade for Mardi Gras…”

Emilia dug the tip of her toe into the ground. “What if they never catch him?”

This was something Kasper had not considered. Even if they were lucky and Cyrus was already dead somewhere, it was entirely possible that he was buried six feet under, rotting in the ground or under an icy body of water somewhere where he would never be found.

“I’ll double my efforts. Whatever it takes for you to have peace of mind.”

“I’m not the one who needs peace of mind,” she replied. “And you should know by now that you can’t throw money at all your problems, Kasper.”

“That’s what money is for,” he scoffed as he reached out for her, the look of hurt on his face when she pulled away difficult to ignore.

“I’m serious, Kasper. What if you hire all the world’s bounty hunters, assassins, and investigators and they still never find him?”

Kasper went back to wringing his hands. “We’ll think of something.”

“Are we going to stay cooped up for the rest of our lives?” she asked, obviously frustrated. “How long are we supposed to look over our shoulders?”

“No.” He shook his head disdainfully. “You won’t have to worry about any of that. Let me bear the burden of the anxiety for both of us. With school and the jumpstart of your career, you have enough pressing matters to concern yourself with.”

“Kasper,” she sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. “This is something we’re both going through. I won’t try and pretend like I can ignore it while you struggle alone. We’ve talked about this. Marriage is a partnership. You and I need to stick together.”

“I would follow you anywhere, Emilia Ward,” he said softly. “You know that.”

“Then you can follow me to this party.”

He smiled wryly. “Anywhere but there.”

“Okay.” Emilia sighed and pinched the side of her forehead. “I guess I could just go by myself—”

“What? Certainly not!”

Emilia rolled her eyes in an attempt to imitate his drama. “I’ll go over there for an hour, say hello to everyone, and be home before midnight. For a housewarming present I’ll, ah, I’ll buy them a nice set of knives, so if anything does happen at least I’ll have a variety of weapons on me.”