Or if he’d ever let me get close to him again.
A few days, it turned out, wasn’t enough time for Luc to get his head together. Neither was a week.
As I sat at the kitchen table with my hands wrapped around a hot mug of tea ten days after we’d arrived in Scotland, I glanced at Felicity at the kitchen counter, loading a few items into a bag for her and Marco’s trip south, not entirely sure this was the best plan. “And what if he takes a turn for the worse?”
Felicity pinned me with a look. “Like... a runny nose?”
I frowned. “You know what I mean. An infection of some kind.”
“He’s past that. I took most of the stitches out yesterday. What’s left, you can manage later today.”
I wasn’t so sure of that. I lifted the tea to my lips and muttered, “You’re assuming I can get near him.”
Felicity sighed and crossed to sit in the chair next to me at the table. Laying a hand over mine she said, “It’s going to be all right.”
“How? Every time I even get near his room, he barks at me. He doesn’t want my help. He only wants you or Marco.”
“Which is why we’re leaving. It’ll force him to deal with you.”
I frowned again. “Force him to yell at me, you mean.”
Felicity smirked. “You married him, honey.”
No, I married a sweet and loving man. Not this bear. Though, thinking back, I couldn’t help but see a similarity between the Luc I’d first encountered in New York at the Covet offices and this Luc. Both seemed to think bullying me was going to get me to back down. It hadn’t worked the first time. He should know better than to ever try that strategy again.
Felicity’s smile widened. “There’s the fire I knew was in you.” She leaned close and squeezed my hand once more. “Don’t let him push you around, Natalie. The time for coddling is over. He needs to get out of that room. He’s staying in there because he thinks he’s safe from you there. Get in there, kick his ass out, and make him start dealing with real life.”
He was hiding. I should have realized that earlier, only I’d been too wrapped up in my own emotions to notice. It was the exact same thing I’d done after he’d abducted me and trapped me on his island in the South Pacific. If I could get past that, he could get past the fact I’d seen him freak out the first night he’d awoken here.
“In all seriousness,” I said, “what if something really does go wrong?”
“Nothing’s going to go wrong. The perimeter of the property is highly protected. So long as you two stay on the estate, you’re perfectly fine.”
There was that feeling of being trapped again. “And if we don’t?”
“My father made an agreement with Luc’s dad. House Salvatici is not going to risk an open war with House Merrick over this. You’re safe here in the Isles. If you want to leave the property, I wouldn’t do it alone, and I also wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. People in this country know who Luc is. If they see him out, word will spread. And if word gets back to the Grand Duke that he’s healed, they might call him back sooner than any of us are ready for. That’s all I’m saying.”
Sickness brewed in my stomach over the thought of Luc ever going back to his House, but I swallowed the words and kept them to myself.
I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do about Luc’s parents, but every night when I went to bed alone, I came up with new and more painful ways to make them suffer. It was becoming an obsession for me. One that, for a few moments, took my mind off Luc.
“We’ll be careful. I have no intention of leaving the property. I just wanted to know in case Luc decides to be uncooperative.”
“He won’t be that uncooperative. As grouchy as he is right now, he wouldn’t dare do anything to put you in jeopardy. And exposing you at all still worries him.”
Felicity pushed away from the table and went back into the kitchen, and I couldn’t help but wonder what she’d meant by that. Neither she nor Marco had told me a single thing Luc had said about me during the last week when they’d been tending his wounds or taking him food or helping him get comfortable. But this made it sound as if he was talking about me. Or, at the very least, thinking of me.
Warmth gathered in my stomach. Thinking about me was good. Anything was better than screaming at me.
Footsteps pounded on the back stairs, then, seconds later, Marco appeared in the kitchen. “Dio,” he breathed, swiping a hand through his hair. “That man can be a royal pain in the ass.”
Felicity pressed a kiss to his cheek as he drew close, then went back to loading her bag. “Well, he does hail from nobility.”
Marco slapped a hand against her ass. “Takes one royal ass to know one, I suppose. Natalie and I don’t have a clue about that.” He winked at me across the table. “Seeing as how we’re lowly commoners and all.”
Felicity laughed and moved away from him. “Getting handsy, huh, Romano? Careful with that, or I’ll have to punish you.”
“Oh vita mia.” He reached for her and dragged her close. “Mi piaci da morire. It’s been way too long since you punished me.”
They kissed, which only made me roll my eyes and push back from the table. “Okay, enough already. If I’m not having sex, you two don’t get to flaunt your love life in my face. Don’t you have a plane to catch or something?”
Marco grinned, kissed Fee on the forehead, then released her. “You’re right, we do.” Coming around the table, he stopped in front of me, his expression growing serious. “I didn’t tell him we’re leaving. Figured that would start a battle none of us needed. When he throws a fit, just tell him either you help him or no one does.”
“That’s going to go over well.”
Marco squeezed my shoulder with his big hand. “Tough-love time. We talked about this.”
Yes, we had. But at the time, I hadn’t realized I’d be doing the tough-loving all on my own.
I walked them toward the kitchen door, where the car was waiting outside with their bags.
“I programmed our numbers into your phone,” Marco said, hefting Fee’s bag from the counter. “I also programmed in important numbers for House Merrick, including Fee’s parents in case you can’t reach us. And the number for the local physician in case something goes wrong—which it won’t. Luc’s off all the heavy painkillers.”
Which was both good and bad. Good because it meant his pain was more manageable, but bad because part of me wanted the drugged Luc back, since he was the only Luc who seemed to want me around. “I hope you left me some sedatives, just in case.”
Marco grinned as he lifted the last few bags into the trunk of their Range Rover. “Just in case you get tired of his grouching?”
I shrugged and leaned against the doorjamb. “He did drug me several times. I figure turnabout is fair play.”
Felicity laughed, rushed back up the few steps where I stood, and hugged me. “Heaven help that man. He has no idea what’s waiting for him.”
I smiled for her benefit, but when she climbed into the car and Marco stood in front of me, I couldn’t seem to muster up the same half-hearted grin.