Free Neil, Louisa - One Queen with Two Kings (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) by Louisa Neil Page A

the breath he’d been holding. He continued to listen to her side of the conversation, moving to the glass wall that overlooked the lake. Long minutes later , he turned back to her, after she’d said good-bye.
    “Everything okay?” he managed, but he had to clear his throat to speak.
    He was afraid the call would somehow break the magic they were rebuilding. It was a taste of reality intruding, but at least she’d spoken with Russell. On a strange level, he wanted Thea to understand the bond they’d formed beyond the friendship they’d shared before the crash.
    “Want the good news or the bad?”
    He didn’t turn back to her . Instead, he whispered she should tell him the good first for a change.
    Thea went on to tell him, “Russ seemed okay but he sounded, I don’t know, stilted somehow. I guess just being back and having to deal with all this is weighing on him. At least we’ve had a few days away. He was with Alex.”
    Dex was relieved. Russ had been with Alex. At least he wasn’t alone. “Now the bad part,” Dex teased.
    “We all have to meet tomorrow afternoon. The lawyers and accountants had been working nonstop to check the company records and some discrepancies were found.” He watched Thea pause and take a cleansing breath. “Until the audit is complete, they can only speculat e . By tomorrow, we’ll have a clearer idea of the problems.”
    The second thing she told him was that, yes, they , too , had to head back for the meeting. Their presence there was mandatory. De x understood reality would intrude in less than a day. Thea went on to tell him the worst news.
    “Lloyd and his attorney have gone public. They arranged a press conference in his apartment this morning and pressed for his being released from the company - enforced secure location. His attorney has apparently given the press their side of the story, of being held captive until charges could be trumped up because the unstable daughter of the CEO had cancelled their wedding.” Thea’s hands fisted at her sides. Dex didn’t think she realized she was doing it. “Apparently, the press had had a field day with that one.”
    “Go on, finish it all,” Dex prompted.
    “According to Alex , the story is all over the news. Bits of the press conference, edited , of course , to be more sensationalistic.” Thea hesitated again. “And the worst part of the conference was Lloyd telling the world that you and Russ had been found and apparently had gone off the deep end while you were stranded.” Thea sat heavily on the closest chair to her.
    “Alex warned me to tell you that the press will be all over us tomorrow. He advised we stay indoors for the rest of the day or we might find intruders.” If her voice hadn’t cracked as she spoke, he might have believed her almost - brave front. Instead, he found himself going to her, his arms open, swallowing her thin form against his . “They’ve met with the d istrict a ttorney and are filing charges against him—assault, attempted rape—and they’re still deciding how to handle the sabotage.”
    “It will be all right, Queenie. In a few days, the fuss will die down. We just need something else to happen in the world and we’ll be old news.” He kissed her deeply, thoroughly , until he felt her relax. Now if he could just relax. He knew Russ wouldn’t talk about their time on the island in detail that would embarrass either of them, but he still carried the angst someone would find out and expose them before he and Russ had time to talk with Thea.
    “Oh, I almost forgot, Russ said to tell you all your blood work and medical tests came back clean.” He tried to hide the profound relief he felt. “What’s wrong ? I knew you guys had a quick checkup before you came up here . Why do you look so relieved ? ”
    “There were a lot of strange bugs on the island. We wanted to make sure we didn’t wind up with some kind of Lyme d isease or something from the sand fleas.”
    “Well, Russ