“Are you all right?” Terry lowered the phone and crossed to her as she rubbed her head.
“I’m fine.”
“What’s wrong?” Sebastian’s voice echoed from the cell phone and Meredith’s heart dropped.
“Let me see,” Terry instructed before he ran his fingers over her scalp. She winced as he found the tender spot. “Go sit down, I’ll get some ice.”
“O’Connor.” Clipped demand rang in Sebastian’s tone, but it was a lower, more urgent note underneath it that compelled her.
“Don’t yell at him, Sebastian. I banged my head. Give him a moment.”
Terry pointed her toward a chair then he went to her freezer and pulled out ice. After filling a bag, he carried it over and pressed it to the side of her head before putting his phone back to his ear. “Miss Blake is fine, sir. She struck her head on the door and we’re icing it.” He went silent for a long moment and glanced down at her. She read the question in his eyes and shook her head. No, she did not want to talk to Sebastian. How many ways could she say it? “No, sir. I’m afraid I can’t.”
After another long pause, she could hear Sebastian’s accent grow more pronounced even if she couldn’t make out the content of his statements. English was a second or maybe a thirdlanguage for him, and he slipped when he was well and truly angry.
“I understand, sir. But in this instance, my first and only goal is to see to Miss Blake’s safety. I cannot and will not force her.” Meredith blinked at the steel lacing Terry’s words. “You are certainly welcome to do so, sir. I can provide you with several excellent recommendations.”
No longer content to sit by while Bastian took his temper out on Terry, Meredith straightened. Her head pounded, but she didn’t know how much was due to striking it on the door or Bastian’s anger on the phone. “For what?”
“His Highness wants recommendations for personal security, Meredith. If you’ll give me a few moments, I can help you with dinner.” His expression softened, and his smile turned amused. For the barest moment, she glimpsed mischief in his normally serious eyes and Meredith’s jaw dropped.
Terry was tweaking Sebastian quite squarely on the nose.
Oh dear God.She stood and set the ice down. “Terry…”
“It’s quite all right. I have the numbers here, Your Highness.” Amusement continued to widen his mouth, and Meredith scrubbed a palm against her face. Terry seemed to be enjoying the situation, but the plummeting sensation in her stomach worsened. Ending things with Sebastian shouldn’t include hurting him. She wanted a clean break, not a painful one.
“I’ll speak to him, Terry.” The words slipped out before she could stop them and he paused.
“A moment, Your Highness.” He depressed a button on the screen and she realized he’d muted the call. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“He’s firing you.”
“He’s entitled to do what he wants. It’s not about you, it’s about him asking me to perform tasks not outlined by myposition. If you want to talk to him, I’ll hand you the phone, but I don’t want you to feel like you’re being forced to speak to him.”
Beyond the oddness of discussing her romantic contretemps with the man, it took it too far to put him in the midst of it. “I’m sorry,” she murmured to him. “You shouldn’t have to choose a side or be put in the middle.”
“I don’t mind,” he told her with a level, serious look. “You tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen.”
She wanted to have never felt like she and Bastian couldn’t work. She wanted for Bastian to have never been stabbed. Sometimes, she even wanted to have never met him. Unfortunately, time travel and magic were theories even mathematics couldn’t turn into reality.
Yet.
“I’ll talk to him.” She held out her hand.
He passed the phone to her and then touched gentle fingers to the lump on the side of her head. It was still tender. “Put the ice back on this. I’m going to go down and move my car to give you your privacy. Do you still want to have dinner?”
She hesitated. Her impulsive request wasn’t terrifically fair to him.
“It’s just food, Meredith.” He smiled, but the lightness in his tone did nothing to alleviate her guilt. “We can eat then I’ll make sure you’re secure before I head out.”
Grasping his gracious offer, she found the wherewithal to smile. “Thank you, Terry.”
“Of course, I’d do anything for you. Give him hell.” With those bolstering words, he descended the steps and she unmuted the phone.
“Bastian, don’t take your temper out on Terry…”
“I will do as I please with a man in my employ.”And wasn’t that a high-handed statement? “Why is he having dinner with you?”
