The Mistress (The Original Sinners 4)

“Are you sure she is?”

Wes grinned. “Not entirely.”

“You know, you have a big smile.” She spread her hands out a foot apart.

“I do?”

“I think they can see it on the space station.”

“Why are those astronauts so freaking obsessed with us? It’s creepy.”

“They get bored up there, maybe,” Laila suggested.

“Then they should watch  p**n .”

“Space  p**n ?”

“What other kind is there?”

They laughed together and Laila felt human for the first time since arriving at her uncle’s house two days ago. Had it only been two days? It felt like two years. Even Wes, this complete stranger...she felt like she’d known him all her life.

The tail end of Wes’s laugh turned into a yawn.

“Sorry,” he said. “You didn’t need to see my molars.”

“It’s fine. Here’s mine.” She opened her mouth wide and Wes peered at her teeth.

“Good molars.”

“They work out.” She smiled at him once more before sitting up.

“Where are you going?” Wes sounded almost distressed.

“You’re yawning. I’ll let you go to sleep.”

“You don’t have to go,” Wes said as Laila crawled off the bed and started folding the blanket. “It was just a yawn. You can stay if you want.”

“It’s not a good idea.” She put the blanket in the top of the closet.

“Let me guess, you grope in your sleep. Should have known.”

“Not that I know of.” Although if she slept with Wes, she probably would grope him in her sleep. And she’d grope him while awake, too. She’d grope him every chance she got. “No, it’s just that if you and I slept in the same room...”

“What?”

Laila opened the door and cast one last longing look at Wes. She wanted to go back to the bed, kiss him, stretch out on top of him and sleep on his chest all night long. A nice dream. But only a dream.

“My uncle would kill you.”

28

THE QUEEN

Nora’s eyes fluttered open and in an effort to stave off the panic she knew would descend on her like a ravenous vulture, she started an inventory of her body. She knew she’d been tased as soon as she came to. But not just tased—drugged, as well. Tased and drugged—she was almost flattered. Now she made them nervous. Everything still seemed to be in place—all the body parts, anyway. Although they weren’t feeling all that fabulous at the moment. Everything hurt from her head to her heels.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m in agony,” she said simply as she opened her eyes and looked up at Marie-Laure. She must have hit the ground hard when she blacked out. Her entire body felt like one solid bruise. “Typical morning after for me. It is morning, right?”

“Dawn.”

“Dawn and I have never gotten along. We try to avoid each other.”

“Try to enjoy it. This will be your last one unless someone shows up.”

“Might help if you told them where I was.”

“Oh, they know,” Marie-Laure said, kneeling down at Nora’s side. Nora wriggled in the ropes but this was some hard-core bondage going on here. Handcuffs, rope and duct tape. No way could she cut or squirm her way out of this mess. “They’ve known from the beginning. I made sure they knew.”

“Then they’re coming.”

“I don’t see anyone yet....”

“Don’t try to mindfuck a mindfucker. Either they don’t know where I am and you’re lying, or they do and they’re coming. Two and two is four. I know Søren.”

“You’re so certain of his love?”

“Two and two is four.”

“Harder question,” Marie-Laure said. Nora glanced around. She still lay on the floor of Marie-Laure’s room. Damon watched her from the bed, a gun in his hand, no emotion in his eyes. “Is he certain of your love?”

“Do I have to do the math again? Yes, I love him. Yes, he knows I do.”

“You love him, you say. Strange answer for a woman wearing another man’s engagement ring.”

“I love Wesley, too. You can love more than one person.”

“You’re not supposed to. That’s not how it works.”

“Maybe your heart’s just a few sizes too small, Mrs. Grinch. Some of us are capable of loving more than one person.”

“Who do you love more?”

“That is a stupid question.”

“That is deflection. Don’t want to answer? I would guess you love your fiancé more. You turned my husband down when he proposed. You said yes when your Wesley asked.”

“I don’t want to get married to anybody. I love Wes, but I said yes to get him out of the stables. I saw the writing on the wall, someone in the shadows. I couldn’t get him to shut up and move any other way.”

“Still...you have the ring on.”

“What was I going to do—swallow it?”

“You could have tried to bargain with it. I know diamonds. That one is easily worth seven figures.”

“It’s not mine to bargain with. It belongs to the Raileys.”

“It belongs to you if you’re his fiancée.”

Nora winced. Wesley’s fiancée? Next, someone would be calling her the Queen of England.