“Since he was a baby. Herbert hired Arthur and me to look after Kyle and his brother, Nate. I was the nanny and Arthur was the butler until the boys grew up and I became the housekeeper.”
“You never felt the urge to move on and do something else?”
“And trust my boys to a total stranger? Never!”
“Hmm. You think of them as your own.”
“Of course I do. Other than Arthur, I’m the only one Kyle allows in his private residence. There are eight other housekeepers in the west wing, but Kyle’s very private. He rarely allows anyone in here, aside from my husband and me.”
“He’s allowed me to stay here.”
Gerty gave her the side-eye. “And isn’t that saying something?”
Laina polished in silence. Why would Kyle invite her here if he wasn’t Jonah? She wanted to believe he was human and that it was because he was drawn to her in the same way she was drawn to him. But what were the odds? Laina’s attraction to Kyle, though initially driven by her wolf, grew deeper the longer she was in his company. There was no such reason why Kyle would be attracted to her. The whole thing was a headfuck. Was it love or magic?
When they’d finished in the dining room, she followed Gerty upstairs to Kyle’s room. She was surprised to find the couch Milo had destroyed had already been removed and replaced as if Kyle had a room full of identical couches at the ready.
“When Kyle was six, Arthur and I took him and his brother to the beach,” Gerty said as she ran her duster over the antique dresser that perfectly fit the fairy-tale charm of Hunt Club Mansion. “Kyle’s brother, Nate, had no trouble making friends. He spent the rest of the day with a crowd of boys, bodysurfing and playing games along the shore. Kyle was always different. He was obsessed with the tide pools, the starfish, the tiny crabs. All he wanted to do was build sandcastles with Arthur, houses for those tiny ocean dwellers to enjoy. Such a quiet, introspective boy. Never wanted the limelight. Never cared to be part of a crowd. Completely different from his brother.”
“Far off from the media sweetheart he is today.” Laina laughed.
Gerty paused, becoming serious. “You know, an expensive education and high expectations go a long way toward conditioning behavior.” She nodded at Milo, who had followed them into the room and was curled on the floor. “You’ll train this one to sit when you say sit and heel when you say heel, but he’ll always be a dog. He’ll always want to run.”
“Are you saying Kyle is somehow a prisoner to expectations? He hardly seems like he’s suffering here.”
“No. Not suffering. But I sometimes wonder if he’s left behind a piece of himself to live this life.” Her eyes twinkled wistfully. She shook her head and chuckled. “I’m an old woman. Don’t listen to my babbling.”
If there was anything that Gerty could have said to make her desire Kyle more, Laina couldn’t think of it. As the princess of her people, she understood the demands of external expectations and how they could easily extinguish the flicker of light someone carried in their soul.
Laina allowed her eyes to drift around the enormous room, noticing for the first time that there were no pictures or mementos. No family portraits. No snow globes from trips to Lake Tahoe. Kyle’s bedroom might have been staged for a photograph. “This home wasn’t built until recently when they built the club, right? Where was home before this?”
“We’ve followed Kyle and Nate from New York to LA, Wyoming, Minnesota, South Carolina. We move when they move. I think Kyle wants to stay here this time, though.”
“Why do you say that?”
There was a long pause, and Gerty seemed to choose her words carefully. “Just a hunch. I sense he’s tired of being a rolling stone.” Laina helped her make the bed, closing her eyes when Kyle’s deep woods scent wafted up from the billowing sheets. “Plus, this is the first time he’s demanded separate living quarters from his brother.”
“Gerty,” Laina said, desperate to put aside the fear Silas had instilled in her, “have you noticed a change in Kyle the last couple of weeks?”
“What kind of change?”
“You know, not acting himself, wanting to eat things he previously disliked, doing things he normally wouldn’t do.”
“Only when it comes to you.”
Laina dropped her arms to her sides and stared at the old woman.
“I’ve never seen him so smitten.”
As she opened her mouth to protest, her mind went blank, her wolf reveling in the idea that Kyle might be as interested in her as she was in him. She stood, speechless, as Gerty plugged in the vacuum cleaner but hesitated to turn it on.
“You should enjoy the magic of this moment, dear,” Gerty said softly. “Arthur and I had a similar courtship. Not everyone experiences love at first sight. Life is short, passion is fleeting, and love is a risk worth taking.”
Laina snorted. “I think it’s much too early to use the word love in the same sentence with Kyle and me.”
Gerty smiled until her rheumy eyes were lost in the folds of her face. “You’re probably right. Guarding your heart is the sensible thing to do. Like I said, I’m an old woman. Don’t listen to me.” She turned on the vacuum and got to work.
ChapterEighteen
