Three Rings (The Fairytail Saga) (39 page)

‘Lies,’ Ivyanne joked. ‘
Everyone’s
into blondes.’

‘Hmm...maybe.
Lux
looked good with blonde hair, though I preferred the red…. It’s a shame she left so quickly. I would have liked to hang out with her at your engagement party this weekend.’

‘Yes well, unfortunately, she would have preferred to hang out with the
groom
-to-be instead, while shooting the
bride-
to-be death stares for not marrying her damn godson.’ Ivyanne descended into the belly of the boat, turning left to the galley, which was almost as nice as her own kitchen albeit smaller. There were two cups sitting in filmy, cold dishwater in the sink, and a tea towel was on the floor, that looked out of place.

‘I heard about that, and it’s a damn shame.’ Dalton said. ‘I mean, did she have to take off like that? Ditching Ardhi the
day
he returned? It’s so contradictory to what I’ve gleaned about their bond.’

‘Yeah well, that’s my doing.’ Ivyanne said. ‘I ordered her out of my house.’

‘That doesn’t mean she had to leave the
region
.’ Dalton muttered. ‘Poor Ardhi.’

That remark gave Ivyanne pause for thought as she knelt to pick up the dish towel. It
was
strange. Lux had cared enough to scream at her for hurting Ardhi, then had just taken off, leaving him behind in the state he’d been in? What had transpired between the two of them, once she’d gone upstairs? How was he feeling about it?

Probably awful.
She thought.
Yeah, I need to see him. Today.
Her hand closed around the rag and she frowned to feel how damp it was.

‘Someone’s used the kitchen.’

Dalton was at her side. ‘Really?’

Ivyanne nodded. ‘Dirty dishes in the sink-Tristan would never leave dirty dishes especially considering he was going for..’ She cringed at the recollection of being dumped. ‘A
while
. And this tea towel is wet.’

‘So?’

‘So it’s
still
wet, or slightly-and Tristan left over two
weeks
ago.’ Ivyanne hung it up to dry. ‘Besides, why would a dish towel be used when the washing up wasn’t finished? Look at the sink-everything clean has been put away. I think that was used to mop up a spill.’

Dalton climbed down after her. ‘Anything else?’

‘I don’t know yet…’ Ivyanne moved to the ajar cupboard door and frowned, opening it. The contents were messy and jumbled. ‘It’s disorganized- that’s not good. Tristan is
pedantic
about neatness….Pintang said that when she cleaned his room, it rarely required anything. Said he lined up all of his things in the kitchenette with the labels facing the same way.’ She motioned to the cupboard. ‘This looks like it’s been ransacked.’ Ivyanne shut the door then opened the one next to it. A small plastic trash can was inside. ‘Oh wow! There’s a Big Mac wrapper in here.’

Dalton leaned against the cupboard. ‘I’d say : ‘So’ but I have a feeling you’ll be able to tell me
why
that’s weird…?’

‘It’s weird all right-Tristan is a
vegetarian
.’

‘Okay yeah...then Big Mac is bad.’ Dalton agreed.

Ivyanne shut the cupboard door and turned to the lounge area on her right, where the gleaming white corner lounge was wedged in behind a large, fixed table. ‘No doubt-someone’s been in here!’

Dalton cleared his throat. ‘Um...Ivyanne? Is it possible that Tristan had a, um...nocturnal visitor? Someone he picked up in River City maybe? Took her to McDonalds, brought her back here...had a cup of tea and then had to split in the morning?’

Ivyanne turned and smirked at him. ‘Very possible-but no.’ She pointed to the couch, where a throw blanket and the cushions from the two armchairs had been left. ‘If Tristan had a guest...they certainly wouldn’t have slept on the
couch
.’

Dalton blushed. ‘Probably not.’

Ivyanne sighed. ‘Sorry Dalton-but someone’s been here and crashed for a night at least. Whoever it was has been careful-I don’t think we’re talking about an average bum here-they’ve been sneaky about it.’ She shrugged. ‘But look...whoever was here is obviously gone and didn’t come here with malicious ideas.’

‘That’s a bloody relief,’ Dalton said. ‘This boat is worth…. a lot more than I think my insurance is going to cover. It’s the fanciest one here!’

‘It is?’ Ivyanne hadn’t noticed.

Dalton bobbed his head. ‘This is a tiny, local Marina. People don’t keep Princess Yachts here-they take them up north, or south to the harbor.’

‘Princess yacht?’ Ivyanne repeated.

‘That’s the brand.’ Dalton slid his hand along the gleaming timber kitchen panelling. ‘V45. Towards the lower end of their scale but still-this baby’s worth millions.’

Ivyanne was gobsmacked that Tristan had spent so much on a boat-just so he had somewhere to live while he pursued her! And one branded after
royalty
. It took her a moment to find her voice. The idea of buying the boat for sentimental sake went flying out the window-no way would she ask her mother for a multi-million dollar yacht when she needed so much already to buy into
LoveSun
.

‘Well... I don’t think there’s anything to worry about anyway.’

Dalton shrugged. ‘Okay. But I dare say I’ll be hiring a night watchmen soon.’

‘That’s probably a good idea. You can go back to work now if you want Dalton-I’ll have one last look around and then lock up.’

‘Cool. Thanks for your time Ivyanne. I guess I’ll see you on Saturday night?’

‘Saturday night?’ Ivyanne repeated. And then she remembered-the party. ‘Oh...right. Sure.’

‘Bye.’ Dalton turned and walked quickly to the small ladder leading up to the deck.

‘Bye.’

Ivyanne waited until his feet had disappeared onto the upper deck before making her way down to the owner’s stateroom, blushing in anticipation of the flashback she was about to submit herself to. She caught her breath when she entered, the memories backwashing through her bloodstream. She crossed to the bed-which was perfectly made as she’d expected, and flung herself facedown on it, burying her head in the pillows which still contained a whiff of Tristan’s unique and utterly heavenly scent.

I miss you,
she told him morosely and hugged the pillow tight. But the back of her hand grazed something hard-something that didn’t belong there. She lifted the pillow, swallowing hard when she saw the small, blue velvet box beneath it.

Ivyanne sat up and held the box in her trembling hand, terrified of opening it but knowing she wouldn’t be able to resist. She popped the lid and gasped out loud when her eyes landed on the brilliant, diamond encrusted ring wedged on the satin pillow.

‘Tristan Tristan…..’ she whispered, holding the box up to the light. ‘What did you
do
?’

The ring was exquisite-Ivyanne had never seen another like it. It was either a platinum band-or white gold-Ivyanne wasn’t a jewelry connoisseur-and it twisted into the perfect shape of a shell. The entire surface, every curve and spiral, was embedded with countless diamonds. It was ostentatious and completely impractical, ‘bling’ in its truest form, and Ivyanne would never have been able to wear it a day in the ocean without fretting. It was a ring made to draw attention-the last thing on earth Ivyanne would ever have dreamed of designing herself!

And Ivyanne loved it. She held it in her hands, gazing at it, itching to try it on but knowing nothing she could ever do would be as cruel to Lincoln then to take off his engagement ring and experiment with another man’s. So Ivyanne shut the box, a tear rolling down her cheek, and replaced it under the pillow. She would come back for it-but at that moment she couldn’t bear to look at it. Because when she tried to envision him getting down on one knee and presenting it to her….Ivyanne couldn’t imagine that she would have had any answer other than
yes
for him.

‘Happy Valentine’s Day, Tristan,’ she said softly and walked out of the room.

Lincoln was staring at the mock up of the finger food menu for his engagement party when he felt two hands slip around his waist. A second later, soft lips pressed a kiss to his cheek.

‘Happy Valentines Day handsome.’ A sultry, female voice whispered in his ear.

Lincoln’s heart skipped a beat. Valentines Day? He’d completely blanked! But his initial panic was wiped by the feeling of joy knowing that Ivyanne had sought him out to bring it to his attention! She wasn’t mad any more! He spun around to plant the biggest kiss on history on her perfect lips and almost jumped out of his skin when he found himself nose-to-nose with Sherri.

‘Whoa!’ Lincoln disentangled her hands from his waist. ‘I thought you were Ivyanne!’

Sherri pouted. ‘Not the response I was hoping for.’

‘Aww come on Sherri.’ Lincoln slid his notebook further down the bar, creating distance between them. ‘Don’t take it personal. You know how it is.’

Sherri sighed, slipping her small leather bag under the bar into one of the cupboards she’d had Ivyanne clean and then adjusted the red bandana tied around her cropped blonde hair. ‘Yeah yeah.’

Lincoln felt exasperated. What kind of reaction could this girl possibly expect from him? When was she going to move beyond her pointless crush? ‘Is it really Valentines Day?’

‘Yep.’ Sherri said flatly, signing in on the hours book in loopy, childlike writing. ‘You forgot? Like you aren’t in enough trouble as it
is
.’

Lincoln rolled his eyes. That was a low blow. Sherri knew damn well that
she’d
been the one to get him in Ivyanne’s dirty books the night before. He reached for the phone on the wall. ‘Well that ends now. I’m sending over flowers and a dinner invitation for tonight. ’

Sherri whirled around, frowning. ‘But Link, you said yesterday that you’d take me on a long swim after work tonight so I could work on my breathing! Now you’re going to ditch?’

‘For my girlfriend? On Valentines Day?
Yes
.’ Lincoln said shortly. ‘In the meantime I have a list there for things we can get done for the party today. The function room is almost up and running so if you want to take the box with the decorations and stuff in there to start, that would be good.’

‘Fine.’ Sherri snapped. ‘Anything else you need me to do? Shall I go hand pick the flowers for her and ask to polish her crown?’

He ignored her snarky questions, surprised at the venom in them, and thinking of how often people had concealed their true natures from him because of his naivety. Well no more. ‘If you want to do something for me Sherri, keeping your hands to yourself is a good start. There is no us, and there’s never going to be. And the next time you wrap your arms around me-I’ll be asking the queen to deal with it instead of handling it myself. And something tells me, that I’m a hell of a lot nicer about it than
she
will be.’

Sherri’s mouth fell open, but she snapped it shut and turned on her heel, fleeing the room. It was hard for Lincoln to go against his instincts to follow her and brush her tears away, but he turned his back to the door, realizing for the first time that he wasn’t the boss who took advantage of his pretty wait staff-but the one taken advantage of.

Well I was,
he thought, fishing into his pocket for his credit card.
But I’m not going to be anymore.

⁓

Ardhi’s mouth went dry when he saw Ivyanne emerge on the shore in front of the house, looking like a water-bound angel as she rolled onto her back and tilted her pelvis to the sky, fastening the triangle of her swimsuit at her hip with a loopy knot-completely unaware that he was watching from the hammock.

Ardhi had spent two days in a bad mood that he’d been trying to pass off as contemplative and serene. It was a necessary maneuver- for as much as he wanted to run off after Ivyanne and get in her face and force her to realize that she missed him there, he knew it would be counterproductive. He needed everyone’s trust, and if he chased the princess like the lovesick boy he was, he’d only serve to convince people that he was still a threat. It was true of course, but they didn’t need to know that.

They needed to look away.

Ardhi couldn’t look away though. Not then. Ivyanne’s bikini had become displaced during her swim, exposing the majority of her left breast to the air. He stared at it, his teeth sinking into his lip as the strongest wave of arousal he’d ever ridden dumped him in the froth, stole his breath. She twisted, working her swimmers into place, flashing a glimpse of the mound between her legs that had been the catalyst for his insanity and he groaned, rubbing himself quickly, trying to quell the ache. In that moment, he couldn’t blame Lincoln or Tristan for having conquered her without regard for their kind-it was something to die for, something to kill for.

Ivyanne sat up and Ardhi closed his eyes, feigning sleep, wondering if she’d see him, or hear his heartbeat?

‘Hey Ardhi,’ Ivyanne’s voice was breathless, no doubt from wrestling her curves into her clothes where they clearly resisted. ‘Are you awake?’