She gave an appraising look at Lydia’s dance wear and the boom box as she came into the courtyard. “I came looking for Wrench.”
“Oh, Scarlet,” Lydia said too loudly. “I was, ah, teaching Wrench a few salsa steps,” she scrambled to explain.
Scarlet nodded approvingly. “I presume you will be joining us at the next dance night,” she said, to Wrench’s sinking stomach.
“Yes, ma’am,” he growled unhappily, hoping Ally was smart enough to stay in Lydia’s room when she heard that they had visitors.
“You don’t need to call me ma’am,” Scarlet reminded him. “I prefer to be Scarlet.”
“Yes, er, fine.”
“I need your assistance,” Scarlet continued without apparent offense. “We’ve got some unsavory visitors and I’d like to give them an official escort. I’ve got Graham getting changed and I’d like you to join him.” She eyed him critically. “After a shower, if you don’t mind.”
“Yes, ma’am, er, yeah. Scarlet.” Wrench could see Ally appear in the doorway over Scarlet’s shoulder, and just as he was wondering how to keep Scarlet’s attention, the girl sensibly vanished back into the shadows of Lydia’s room.
“Meet me at the office as soon as you can,” Scarlet said, and without so much as a glance towards the open door, vanished back along the outer courtyard entrance where she’d come from.
“Oh,” Lydia said, weakly laughing and leaning into Wrench. “I swear, she never comes here.” She began to laugh in earnest against his chest. “You know what this means, don’t you?” She teased.
Wrench groaned. “I’m actually gonna have to let you teach me how to dance.”
Wrench let himself kiss the top of her dark head, then reluctantly pulled himself away. “I gotta go change.”
Lydia stopped him with a hand at his collar and drew him down for a proper kiss. “Come see me after you’ve chased them off,” she said when she had released him.
Wrench felt like his face was somehow unfamiliar, and it was a moment before he realized he was grinning at her.
Chapter 26
Laura sidled up next to Lydia, who was standing in front of the buffet trying to decide if Ally would prefer a white lasagna or a Spanish rice. “I hear you’ll be teaching Wrench to dance after all,” she said archly.
Lydia smirked. “I’m looking forward to it,” she said archly.
They shared a moment of amusement, then Laura sobered. “How’s Ally doing?” she asked quietly
“We’ve had some close calls with Scarlet,” Lydia admitted, looking around carefully.
Breakfast had been cleared away for some time, and lunch was generally a lazy buffet affair, with people drifting in and out as they grew hungry. This late in the afternoon, most people were saving room for Chef’s culinary dinner masterpiece, and there were only a few people sitting, mostly in pairs, throughout the spacious room. Across the room, Breck was setting the empty tables for dinner, and one of the other waiters was sweeping.
“She’s a dearheart,” Lydia went on. “And she misses her mother awfully, but is being so brave. I’ve started teaching her salsa, and Wrench gave her a space in the mosaic to work on.” She chose the rice as the most likely to make the journey back to her room without incident.
“Mind if I come up and meet her?”
“It’s starting to look suspicious,” Lydia said regretfully. “My room has suddenly been the staff’s social meeting place the last few days.” She slipped a roll into the purse she’d started carrying for the purpose, and followed it with a few pieces of fruit. Then she froze, sensing the unexpected approach of Wrench. Was he still with Scarlet?
Not noticing her sudden discomfort, Laura laughed. “She’s the most interesting thing that’s happened here since Bastian came home with a shot-up mermaid.”
The air in the restaurant grew somehow denser, a neat trick for an open-air building, and both women looked around to find that a contingent of people, each looking more dangerous than the last, had walked in from the back entrance. Scarlet was flanked by Graham and Wrench, who each somehow made the unassuming Shifting Sands polo shirt look military. Neither of them held quite the same menace as Scarlet’s stony face.
The other party, led by Beehag’s pasty heir Benedict, somehow managed to look sleazy and dangerous, with less veneer of civilization than Scarlet’s company. One of them was a fat man in a suit worth more than all of Lydia’s clothing put together, and there were three men who had the courtesy not to carry large automatic weapons, but looked no less warlike for that restraint.
“Oh, sweet daisies,” Laura whispered at her, clearly from Tex’s influence. “They’re like a caricature of bad guys. I honestly am expecting to hear the score to an awful movie right now.”
But Lydia was watching Wrench, observing the tension in his neck and the line of his eyebrows. “Something’s wrong,” Lydia said, hands clenching on her tray.
“I’ll say,” Laura agreed. “Scarlet looks like she’s going to grind her teeth to nothing.”
Benedict was pointing out the spacious area and gesturing to the view. “It’s a state of the art kitchen and service facilities,” he was saying, barely within hearing distance. “Two walk-in fridges and two walk-in freezers.”