Page 70 of Royally Bad

What I was after was the wall of CDs. Walking toward it, I ran my fingers down the spines until I found a suitable choice for tonight.Perfect!Grabbing one that contained instrumentals, I grinned in delight. The CD player sitting on the nearby desk was the last thing I needed to make sure we’d have music tonight.

“And where are you going with all of that?”

The voice cut through to my core. No one should have a sword for a tongue, especially not one that could also make your heart sizzle. It was barely a relief that the source wasn’t Maverick.

Hawthorne was sitting at the piano. I hadn’t noticed him—had he stalked inside while I was looking away, had he been following me and Kain since the start?

Hugging the CD player tightly, I searched for where my voice had buried itself. “You scared me,” I finally managed to say. Fuck, it had come out like a ragged squeak. “Why aren’t you standing guard outside my room?”

Narrowing his liquid-coal eyes, the man rose gracefully. He had on dark jeans and a braided belt and a long-sleeved red shirt rolled up to his elbows. His patterns of ink cut off in a perfect line at his wrist; for a second, I’d thought he’d had on a second shirt.

He moved as lightly as fingers playing over a flute, approaching until he stood before me with his arms linking at the small of his back. “I asked you a question.”

Flicking my stare down to the equipment in my grip, I said, “I need it for something important.”

“Oh, well, then you can tell me what that is.”

Hesitating, I considered my position. I didn’t know Hawthorne well, but hewasFran’s brother. It didn’t make sense to cut him out of my surprise ... and at the same time, he made me realize how he could help.

Gesturing with the CD player, I smiled. “Okay. But don’t tell her. Tonight I want to surprise Francesca by finishing her wedding ceremony.”

His eyebrows crinkled deeply. “Excuse me?”

“It’s not fair that she didn’t get to finish out her wedding. I want to fix that.”

He stared at the items I was hugging. It was a long moment, so I was disarmed when he stabbed that fierce set of eyes back at me. I couldn’t break away from them—did all these damn brothers have such haunting stares? “Are you sure she’ll like being surprised?”

“I’ve got a hunch.” My smile struggled to grow. “Now, I need to ask you a favor.”

He straight-up laughed.“Me?”

I leaned toward him. “Tell your mom and dad to come to the gazebo around eight. They should be there when this goes down.”

“What, don’t want to waltz up and ask them yourself?”

“You know I’m not supposed to leave that room. I’m trying to mend things, not make them worse.”

He considered me with his head angling to one side. “Fair enough.”

“So ... you’ll ask them?”

Breathing in deeply, the dark-haired man looked at the ceiling. “My father will be furious ... and there’s a chance he’ll know I let you out.” His palm rubbed down his face. “Whydid I agree to let you out again?”

“Something about wanting a favor from Kain.”

“Right. Maybe he’ll agree to take the beating good ol’ Dad will want to give me, instead.”

I ignored his sarcasm. “Just tell them. She’d like it better if they were there. Let Costello know, too.”

“That definitely won’t happen.”

I’d started to walk away. Now I turned back. “Do you just like being difficult?”

“Yes.” His grin split his handsome face. For a second, it was easy to see that he and Kain were brothers. “But I’m not being a dick. Costello and Fran ... they don’t get along. Didn’t you realize?”

“Sheisweird with him, but ...”

“Fran didn’t invite him to herfirstwedding. Why would she want him at this half-cocked version?”

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