Thadie remained seated as Micah made coffee—he was as at home in her kitchen as she was in the one at Hadleigh House, her childhood home they were currently renovating into two separate houses—which Angus refused. Her brothers sat down opposite her, but Angus remained standing, preferring to loom over them, his big arms crossed and biceps straining the bands of his shirt.
Thadie tried to ignore him, but it was impossible. He was too big, too unapproachable, far too sexy. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her coffee cup to her lips and took what she hoped was a reviving sip. She saw a million questions in her brothers’ eyes and hoped they weren’t going to ask her any—she couldn’t cope with getting a third-degree interrogation.
But she did want to know why they were in her house on a Tuesday afternoon. They were exceptionally busy men.
‘The press attention around you is ridiculous,’ Jago said, placing his ankle on his opposite knee. ‘Not only are they calling us at all hours, but they are also camping outside Hadleigh House and at work.’
Thadie placed her palm on her forehead. Her impulsive press conference was the gift that kept on giving. Nobody else should’ve been affected but her. Not her kids, not her brothersand not her best friends. But she had no idea how to get the reporters to back off. Another press conference would just keep their attention on her and asking for privacy was like asking for a platinum-plated moon. All she could do was apologise, which she did again.
Jago shook his head. ‘We need a solution.’
Angus brushed past her legs to sit down next to her on the couch. Although there was a cushion between them, she could still feel his heat. And, strangely, being with him made her feel safe and protected. It had to be because he was so big, he made a great barrier between her and the world.
‘Part of the reason I’m here is to provide additional security for Thadie,’ Angus said, leaning his forearms on his thighs. ‘According to my people, Thadie originally required a personal protection officer as an attention deterrent, not because she believed she was in danger.’
‘I wasn’t,’ she agreed. Weeks ago, she’d just wanted the press and the public to keep their distance and Greg had done a good job keeping them away.
‘The situation has changed,’ Angus continued, looking at her. ‘I don’t like what happened today. The press mob was out of control and some of the comments on social media go beyond nasty and into scary. And weird. Occasionally, stalkers decide to take their fantasies into the real world. I believe you need additional officers until the worst of this attention blows over. Of course, it doesn’t help that your ex-fiancé keeps giving TV interviews and stoking the fire.’
Thadie had left both voice and text messages begging Clyde to stop giving interviews and posting on social media. But she knew he wouldn’t because Alta was in damage-control mode. When Clyde reminded people to look at her unhinged video, he garnered support. And he needed public support if he was going to salvage his multimillion sponsorship deal.
‘He’s not going to stop,’ Micah said, before she could. ‘Not unless we pay him off and pay him enough to make him go away.’
‘He’s not getting anything from us,’ Thadie insisted. ‘I’ll admit that doing that press conference in my nightgown was stupid, impulsive and that it was good TV. But I would rather live under house arrest for the rest of the year than give him any money.’
‘That’s all very well, Thadie,’ Micah pointed out, ‘but the rest of us can’t live in our houses too. Dodi has to be able to run her business, and Jago and I would like to be able to move freely as well, without having microphones and cameras in our faces.’
Thadie rubbed her arms around her waist, feeling selfish and mortified. She would be able to handle this conversation, and her brothers, a lot better if Angus weren’t sitting on the couch, listening to every word. She lifted her shoulders to her ears.
‘Then I really don’t know what to do,’ she reluctantly admitted.
Angus picked up her coffee cup, handed it to her and told her to drink. While she wasn’t in the habit of blithely obeying anybody’s commands, she did as he asked.
‘The best solution would be to leave,’ Angus suggested. ‘Treat the press as you would a stroppy toddler. Remove the object of their attention.’
Thadie sent him a quick look. His use of the word ‘toddler’ was surely a coincidence. He couldn’t know about the twins, could he? She knew that she had to tell him, but right now wasn’t that time. There were other things to figure out. Including her own feelings about her twins’ father coming back into her life.
She looked for evidence of their presence but, luckily, her cleaning service had been in earlier and had returned all the boys’ toys to the playroom. Ten minutes after they returned tothe house, this room would look as if a bomb had hit it. Gus and Finn had her brothers’ messy genes.
Looking around now, she noticed how cold the house looked, a little denuded. She and Clyde had agreed to keep her furniture but she’d taken her artwork off the walls, thinking that her new husband should have a say in what went up there. She’d wanted him to feel at home in her house.
All her photographs of the twins were being reframed into matching, stylish black and white frames, as per Clyde’s request for uniformity. She must remember to cancel that order and put her mix and match frames back up.
But only when Angus was back on the other side of the world...
‘Thadie should leave the city, preferably the country,’ Angus said. ‘Two weeks should do the trick, but a month away would be a lot better. Go to New York, to the south of France. I hear that London is nice this time of year.’
What was he insinuating? Was she reading too much into that innocuous comment?
‘London with the tw—’
‘I agree that leaving is a good idea,’ Thadie interrupted Micah, desperate to keep the twins a secret. At least a little longer.
Micah caught her eye and she frowned at him, offering him an infinitesimal shake of her head. She only hoped he and Jago picked up on her reluctance to tell Angus about the twins. Micah returned her frown and she realised thankfully he’d received her message. She looked at Jago, who was also regarding her with a piercing stare. She’d have to deal with their questions but, for now, she was safe.
‘I like Docherty’s idea,’ Jago said, nodding.
Thadie admitted that, on the surface, it sounded like a good plan. But Angus had no idea that taking the twins on a vacation required planning and a second set of hands. She was a hands-on mum but trying to hustle two energetic twins through airports was a nightmare. Long car journeys were even worse. She’d do it if she had to, but it wasn’t fun.