Fateful 2-Fractured (24 page)

Anger simmered through her veins. “And where
do you get off taking my phone! I was just going to call
Ethan!”

“No. Phone. Calls. What if his phone has
been tapped? Danielle, you’re supposed to be in London with Ethan!
If you call, or you’re seen here they’ll know Gillian is not you!
Do you not understand how much danger you’re in?”

Oh, she knew. She didn’t want to admit to it
sometimes, but she knew. Even though she’d desperately wanted to
see her parents, she could also see his point. And this harsh
lecture combined with his angry tone cracked her easily fractured
emotions. Tears she couldn’t stop rolled down her cheeks.
Embarrassed, she buried her face in her hands. Of course she hated
how much she was crying lately, but she couldn’t seem to help it.
She didn’t really feel pregnant yet, and she wasn’t showing yet.
She just felt all messed up inside.

“Now look what you’ve done!” Merrick
shouted, addressing Richard.

“You’ve upset her!” Cedric said.
“Again!”

Richard drew in a measured breath and slowly
released it, then shoved Merrick aside and sat down next to her. He
slung one arm over her shoulders and tugged her to his side. “I
must apologize…. My main task is to keep you safe, and I tend to
get a bit—overzealous.”

“A bit?” Danielle asked on a wet sounding
little sob.

He laughed. “Okay, I suppose it is a tad
more than a bit.”

Danielle fanned herself trying to stop the
waterworks. Cedric produced a handkerchief and dabbed at her wet
face. “There now, would you like some tea?”

She nodded like a child. She felt like one
at the moment: in trouble for her actions, being disciplined for
it. All of these men were older than her grandfather. While they
didn’t look it, they could display the stubbornness that is
occasionally witnessed in the elderly, especially the prince.
Hopelessly set in their ways….

Cedric strode to the kitchen to prepare the
tea for her.

“Don’t mind Richard, lass,” Merrick said.
“Underneath that crusty, ogre exterior is a generous and heroic
softy. Else he wouldn’t bother to say he was sorry.”

She had seen hints of that here and there,
and his comment did remind her of her history lessons about The
Black Prince. It was said that he’d been extremely giving with his
money before he died. She would guess that he had remained that
way.

“Silence, Merrick, before you ruin my
reputation.” The prince turned the volume up on the television.
“Let’s watch some football. Now tell me, who are these Dallas
Cowboys?”

Danielle realized he was trying to reduce
the tension and soothe her bruised emotions. But it confused her,
one minute he was shouting in her face, and the next he was almost
jovial, almost flirting. “They’re the team from Texas,” she
answered quietly.

“Ah, I’ve heard of Texas. What does it mean
when they do that little dance in front of the pole there?”

“He just scored…. Richard, shouldn’t you
know about this? I mean, I think you’re plenty old enough.”

“I never ventured from Europe; spent most of
my time in Spain, and I haven’t watched much television.” He turned
his face back toward the television and scowled. “Why do they line
up like that?”

“I don’t really speak football.”

“But you’re a Yank.”

“And a girl. I’m not into it. Sorry.” She
reached for the remote to change the channel.

He resisted by extending his arm out to its
fullest length. Dang, his arms were long. “I’ll change it for you.
What would you like to watch?”

“I don’t know.” Danielle stretched for it
again.

Again he resisted her efforts easily, and
changed the station. “How about this?” he asked. It was some
cooking show.

“No,” she said, and wanted to reach for the
control again, but knew she’d never get it away from this medieval
knight without doing something major like throwing a tantrum, so
she let it slide. “I’d like to watch a movie.”

After flipping through half the
channels he finally found one she deemed satisfactory and she
smirked evilly. It was a chic-flick, a musical in fact. She
relished in the thought that she was going to make these three guys
suffer through it with her. Well,
she
wouldn’t be suffering; she liked this kind
of stuff.

By the time it was over the men were
all snoring loudly.
Hmmm
, she
thought,
vampires really do
sleep.

Richard popped one eye open when she slid
from the sofa. “Hmm?”

Her eyes rounded. This guy was even alert
when he was seemingly unconscious. “I’m going to bed. Goodnight,
cranky prince.”

“Sleep well, spoiled princess.” There was
that almost gentle, teasing side of him again.

She smiled and went to bed.

* * * * *

Again she was awakened by a deep rumbling
voice. “Danielle, get up for breakfast.” It was Merrick.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “You
seriously just woke me up for that?”

“Ethan insists you eat. Regularly.”

She tugged the blankets up to her chin and
looked at the clock. “I never eat breakfast this early.” It was
five am. Was Ethan trying to be Mr. Overprotective from across the
ocean? She did tend to skip breakfast. Had he noticed the habit? Of
course he had, she realized with a frown.

Merrick sighed and worried his chin with two
fingers. “You must for that wee bairn.”

While deciding “wee barin” meant small
child, her attention was drawn to Richard when he said, “Don’t make
us force you,” as he entered, eating up the space between the
doorway and her bed in long strides.

“
You’d force me to eat breakfast?” she
asked, incredulous.

“Um, Richard,” Cedric interjected,
“you can’t
force
her.”

Richards’ fists landed on his hips and his
eyes narrowed. “Sure I can.” That narrowed gaze shifted from Cedric
and landed on her. “You must be fed a well balanced meal three
times a day, plus snacks, plus regular tea,” growled the
prince.

“I’ll eat when I’m hungry
thanks.”
I’m not a toddler
,
she thought with irritation.

“Ethan was very specific. Breakfast at—”

“Give me my phone back. I need to talk to
him,” she demanded feeling stubborn.

Richard cursed and ignored her. “Ethan asked
me to get groceries for her.” He turned abruptly and stalked toward
the door.

“You’re shopping?” Cedric asked, his eyes
rounding with surprise.

“One of you two will make food for her
while I’m gone. And, when she’s up and dressed, she
will
eat it.” The prince then left,
leaving tangible tension in his wake.

“I hope he knows what he’s supposed to be
getting,” Cedric said.

Danielle shifted in the bed, then asked,
“Has he ever been inside a grocery store?”

“I highly doubt it,” the Highlander said,
still showing white teeth from his amused grin. “What would you
like for breakfast, my lady?”

And since they had woken her up, she decided
she was hungry after all. “Pancakes?”

Merrick turned to Cedric. “Do you know how
to make those?”

“I can do eggs and bacon.”

She gagged. “I’ll make it.” Danielle shoved
the covers aside, dropped her legs over the edge of the bed and
then stilled. She was trying to decide if she needed to race for
the bathroom, or if she could make it to the kitchen when her
stomach roiled at the thought of greasy breakfast meats.

“She just lost all color in her face.”
Concern tainted Merrick’s tone.

Cedric forced her to lie back down. “We’ll
make you something.”

“Toast. Can you handle toast?” Danielle
groaned staring blankly up at the ceiling, thinking that bread
might settle her insides.

“Yes. With fruit preserves.” Merrick stepped
away from her bed.

“And juice.” Cedric followed.

They left, discussing how to make toast as
their footsteps trailed away.

* * * * *

Later that day a quick smile curled
Danielle’s lips as she looked at her cards. “Uno!” she shouted.

“All ready? I never win at these things,”
Cedric complained.

Merrick scowled as he was forced to add a
seventh card to his hand because he couldn’t play the one Danielle
had discarded. “This game is more luck than brain or brawn,” he
grumbled.

“Oh, there’s definitely some strategy
involved. You need brains for that, not one of those Highlander
swords. What do you call those things?” said Cedric.

“A Claymore. It is a double-edged blade that
is as long as I am tall, and had to be strapped to my back.”

“So cool. Do you still have it?” Danielle
asked.

“Of course. It is displayed above the
fireplace in my castle.”

After gasping, she asked, “You live in a
castle? Do you still wear one of those skirt things?”

Irritation lined his pursed lips. “A kilt,
lass, it is called a kilt, not some feminine, flowery—”

Cedric chuckled, and then snorted. “A
skirt.”

Merrick growled and rewarded Cedric with an
angry kick to the shins. Cedric simply laughed harder, then looked
down at his hand of Uno cards. “Ha!” Cedric blasted. “Draw four,
Danielle!” Grinning hugely he wagged his eyebrows at her.

She had nothing to counter that, apparently
she wasn’t winning after all. Danielle rolled her eyes and could
feel her bottom lip twisting into a pout as she took the cards.
“What about you, Cedric? What was life like in eighteen…?”

“Nineteen
forty.”

“Oh, right.” She watched as Merrick took his
turn, and was able to play one card.

Cedric played his hand after that, his
number of cards dropping to three as he answered, “That was when
color television was invented, but most people didn’t even own a
black and white set because life was largely influenced by World
War II, and the depression. But we did have scarlet-lipped, pin-up
girls, and Slinkies.”

A smile lifted the corners of her mouth.
She’d had a Slinky too. Danielle took her turn, and then The Black
Prince returned from shopping in a blacker mood than usual,
interrupting their game and conversation. He entered from the
garage, his huge hands burdened with six bags each, as he barked
out an order, “Merrick, Cedric, come help me put this away.”

They obeyed swiftly, both wearing mirth on
their faces. “Hold the game, Danielle. We’ll be back in a
moment.”

Danielle set her hand of cards down onto the
table. With how much the prince was carrying, she figured it would
take them longer than a moment, and decided she needed to witness
this.

Their gruff voices drifted from the kitchen
and grew louder as she neared it.

“No, Richard, that’s perishable, it needs to
go in the ice box,” Cedric lectured.

“I remember not having refrigeration, and
the cheese was left out on the table. Though it wasn’t an orange
brick wrapped in plastic like this,” Richard said with his lip
curling in disgust as he considered the package of aged
cheddar.

“Yes, I remember cheese being left out too.
That and bread, and fruit, and salted meats,” commented the
Highlander.

“You guys are going to make me sick with
your medieval thinking,” she said, stepping from the wood flooring
in the hallway to the tiled kitchen. She took the cheese from
Richard and stuck it in the refrigerator.

“I told you it needs to go in the ice box,”
said Cedric.

“Ethan will murder us all if we poison his
child-laden bride.”

Richard and Cedric seemed to agree with
Merrick as they stared at her.

Then Richard spoke while he rubbed his
whisker-covered chin, causing a sound somewhat like sandpaper
grating against wood. “Danielle, would you please direct us?”

She snickered. “Sure.”

Danielle was slightly shocked with how much
food Ethan had ordered them to purchase. Was he going back to his
old pattern of overfeeding her? It was possible with his concern
for the baby. But she was pleased to see so much fresh fruits and
vegetables, which went into the “ice box.” Richard and Merrick
appeared to be confused by that, but said nothing against it.

Chapter 15

Return of the Frog

The week continued just like that. Well,
Richard only made her cry two more times; otherwise they took very
good care of her. They did the shopping or purchased takeout, never
delivery.

She did notice that when the sun shifted its
position in the sky, the vampires also shifted a bit further away
from her. Of course they were around constantly, but if they were
in the family room with her at night, they never sat on the same
sofa as she did.

To keep herself occupied, in the
mornings she did her usual workouts in the living room, blasting
her hard music through the house. During the day she painted in the
art studio that had been set up for her right next to the office,
and in the afternoon she watched TV with her vampire bodyguards.
She snickered to herself at how many girly movies she’d managed to
make them watch:
Princess
Diaries
,
Ever
After
, and
The Princess
Bride
. She gave in a little by letting them
watch
Tomb Raider
, but that
was still all about girl power. She reveled in her secret torture
of these three tough guys.

While Danielle remained frustrated with the
many restrictions put upon her, she was also grateful for all of
the time and effort they’d put into guarding her, and she made
certain she shared those words of gratitude often. She felt well
protected, and it seemed that nothing had ever happened. And she
hoped that the plan had worked and that the others thought she’d
been turned along with Ethan.