What the hell he thought a maid would want with his boxers, I didn’t know.
“Do you need anything, sir?”
Torn from the past, I turned to Dubrovnik’s version of Mr. Carson and requested, “More coffee if possible.”
“Of course, sir. Mr. Kuznetsov had to leave unexpectedly but he asked me to extend the invitation to treat this house as your own.” Then, his attention aimed at Star, he stated, “In his words, this is a family retreat.”
Star snorted but didn’t reply.
When Edgar’s shoulders hunched at the non-verbal rebuke, I slapped him on the back. “Don’t take it personally. She’s just grouchy.”
Though he nodded, his gaze was plaintive as he continued gazing at Star. “What time will you be requiring dinner, sir?”
I shrugged. “If Kuznetsov’s not here, then we’re not tied down to formal dining hours?”
“That is correct, sir.”
“We’ll ring if we’re hungry. That okay?”
“Of course, sir. If not I, then Grimaud, the footman, will gladly attend to you.”
“Great.”
Once he’d left, Star peered at me. “You’re totally getting a boner for all this servant shit, aren’t you?”
“You can’t deny that it’s cool.”
“It’s cool if you’re not a servant.”
“You’re used to it.”
“I’m Gerry Sullivan’s daughter,” she said with a laugh. “Do you think he picked his dirty towels off the floor or cleaned his own toilet?”
My nose crinkled at the imagery.Never meet your heroes,I thought before tacking on,Or their daughters.
With the last of the staff having disappeared, I asked, “Do you think they were trained by British royals?”
“Yeah. I can just imagine the royal family getting down and dirty with the staff and teaching them how to deal with guests who beat the shit out of security guards.”
“You know I meant the royalhousehold.” My lips quirked up. “But that would totally be worthy of a Netflix show.”
“If they wanted an audience of one.You.”
Delighted with her argumentativeness, I sighed.
“What?” she demanded, mid-click of her mouse, clearly seeing that I was studying her and unafraid to call me out on it.
“Nothing. Just…” I smirked. “You haven’t changed.”
“I’ll get dressed after I set my computer up. Fuck knows what he did to it to track my—”
“I wasn’t talking about clothes, Lodestar,” I grouched. “I meantyou. You haven’t changed.”
She frowned. “Why would I have?”
“People change when you meet them in real life. Plus, there’s some stuff you just can’t predict.”
“Like the fact you smell of oranges?”