Page 16 of Protecting his Secrets

Don’s mouth twitched as he went back to his game, but he kept the conversation going. “How are you both?”

They spoke for a few minutes before Eliza joined them, and then the front door slammed again.

“Mum! Dad—”

“We know, sweetheart!” Rebecca shouted back, interrupting Rye’s greeting.

Nick snorted. It was always the last child who got interrupted because his mother got fed up with the greeting by that point.

Rye didn’t appear before their mother shouted them for dinner, but he was sitting at the dining table when they entered. Nick cupped his nape, squeezing gently, before sitting opposite him and next to Eliza. Jonah took the chair beside Rye, and their father and mother at either end.

“Thank you for dinner, Mum,” Nick said before tucking into the cheesy, meaty, vegetable wonder that was his mum’s lasagne tower. With four kids to feed, she made a lasagne big enough to feed six of them with meat and lots of vegetables, too. And because it tasted so damn good, not one of them had complained about the vegetables when they were younger, even though they hated them—the complete dish, all mixed together, was delicious.

The conversation, filled with innuendos, teasing and laughter, settled something inside Nick. It always did. Whenever he felt upset or uneasy, a trip to his parents’ house or a visit with a sibling was all he needed to reset himself. He loved them all so damn much, and sometimes, it was overwhelming.

“Not long now until the wedding, is it?” Eliza asked. Her curly black hair settled around her shoulders, bouncing whenever she moved, a lot like her personality.

Nick shook his head. “A month to go. With four weddings in a year, they’ve got it down to a fine art now.”

“I can imagine it’s a huge undertaking,” Rebecca said.

“It is, but Randall is amazing. He worked the first two himself, and then he brought other people in but gave them his task lists, his contacts and everything they needed. All they had to do was follow his instructions and timescale, and it was done. I hope he never leaves because I’m not sure what we’d do without him.”

“How are the princes feeling?” Rebecca asked. Her concern was always palpable when she spoke about the royal family.

“They don’t seem at all nervous, which is good. Both Patrick and Kieren are used to the limelight, and although Kieren was usually behind Patrick in the spotlight, he’s doing okay with his additional responsibilities.”

Nick gave them as much as he could without crossing the edges of his NDA. He clung to his contracts, even knowing his family wouldn’t betray any confidences.

“What happened last week?” Eliza asked. “I read somewhere that something happened at the event.”

Nick clenched his jaw, not wanting to bring back bad memories, so he simplified his answer. “Someone attempted to hurt a guest, but it was stopped.”

“Who?”

Nick shook his head. “I can’t say.” How they’d kept Malachi’s name out of the media, he didn’t know, but Mav must’ve done his magic to keep his identity a secret, being a social media wizard as he was. He’d lost count of the times Prince Douglas’s husband had stopped news from getting out. Nick was all for the freedom of information and all that, but sometimes, someone just needed to be protected, and that was that.

“Fair enough. Are they okay, though?” Eliza asked.

Nick nodded. “They are.” He hadn’t heard otherwise, so he assumed Malachi was doing okay since his release from the hospital.

The conversation turned to other subjects, and Nick studied his family as they spoke. Despite his and Rye’s discussion a couple of weeks ago, the dark circles beneath Rye’s eyes seemed to have lessened. He wasn’t sure what had caused it, but he was happy all the same. He’d make sure to speak to him at some point. Eliza had steadfastly worked through her feelings and worries over the past ten years and had found a way to dealwith what had happened to her. It had been a long journey for her, but he was so proud of what she’d accomplished. Jonah, on the other hand, had a spark in him that hadn’t been there before. Nick had noticed it when they’d been talking in the living room but couldn’t figure out where it had come from. If he had to guess, he would say Jonah had found someone he liked, but his brother wouldn’t discuss anything until it was a done thing, almost. Not wedded bliss done, but when he was confident in the relationship. Far too many times over the years, Jonah had brought people home to meet everyone, and they’d turned out to be duds. None of them had been lucky in the romance department so far.

He could deal with that for himself, but he truly wanted his siblings to be happy. To find someone or several someones to share their lives with. It was what they all deserved.

By the time they’d cleaned up after dinner, it was getting late and still no accouncement, so Nick said goodnight and hugged each of them before heading home. He hoped he would see them soon, but after spending a weekend babysitting Malachi Sanders, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t be serving life in jail by that time the following week.

Four days later, he still wasn’t sure. As Malachi stood chatting to Andrew as the king welcomed him to his home, Nick’s entire body trembled with the need to stop Malachi from being an asshole. He needed to spend the long weekend figuring out how to “persuade” the reporter to change his stance on the royal family, unable to contemplate having to read another disgusting report from the man.

“Nick, can you show Malachi around, please? And Malachi, please join us for dinner tonight.”

Nick tensed. That hadn’t been on the agenda. He pulled his phone from his pocket and messaged Brett, telling him what Andrew had just offered. Brett acknowledged the newinformation, and Nick took a breath before putting his phone away again.

It was going to be a shitshow.

****

Chapter 6

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