“Why?”
“The less you know, the better. Trust me on this one.”
Gage shook his head, visibly annoyed about being kept out of the loop, but left the room. “What made you stay behind on Earth?”
Prudence stared at her folded hands, then picked at the blanket on the bed as if she didn’t want to answer. “I’d rather not say,” she said quietly.
“I need to know.”
Prudence looked at Ria. “Your mother sent me to find you. She thought perhaps you knew I had family here and went to visit them. I didn’t think so, but I didn’t tell her that. When I got to my aunt’s house, she hadn’t seen you, but one of her neighbors happened by, overheard what we were talking about and asked what you looked like. She went to her nephew’s house to get him to help look for you. When she came back to my aunt’s place, she said she saw you, but it didn’t look like you wanted to leave. I’m not sure why she said that. Anyway, she had another idea.”
“I’ll bet she did,” Cam said. This sounded exactly like one of Aunt Dixie’s schemes.
Prudence continued, “She had another older woman with her and told us she wanted to take my place on the cruise liner. It sounded like such a good idea when she explained it. I could spend time with my family, and she and her friend could enjoy a free luxury vacation. She also mentioned something about fixing Alexandria up with one of her nephews.”
“And how did she plan to do all this without being found out?”
Prudence brightened. “Her friend is a shifter. Can you believe it? I wouldn’t have, if her friend didn’t just change right in front of my eyes. I could swear it was you, Alexandria. And then she shifted into me. It was amazing! She said her friend would pretend to be both you and me, and no one would ever find out.”
She looked at Ria with pleading eyes. “I knew you didn’t want to even be on this trip with the FitzOsbern boy. My aunt really wanted me to stay and visit, I wanted to stay and visit, so… I agreed.”
Cam refused to be diverted. “How did my aunt know that Alexandria wasn’t going to go back to the ship?”
“She’syouraunt?”
“Yes. Now answer the question, please.”
“She said she spoke to her and was certain Alexandria planned to stay with her nephew.”
Cam looked at Ria. “You talked to my aunt?”
Ria started to shake her head. Then something she’d almost forgotten popped into her head. “Wait. An older womandidcome by your house. I was half asleep and wasn’t going to answer the door, but whoever was ringing the bell was persistent. I thought someone wanted to borrow a cup of sugar.”
“A cup of sugar? What morning?”
A beautiful blush filled Ria’s cheeks. “The morning after we met at the karaoke bar. You know, when you left to go to work. It turned out to be an older lady. I thought she was your neighbor.”
“What did she say?”
Ria shrugged. “Nothing. She took one look at me, and said never mind.”
“What were you wearing?” Cam wondered if she’d answered the door buck naked.
“Um…your shirt.”
Prudence blushed until her cheeks were beet red. She cleared her throat. “This young man’s aunt was fairly certain you weren’t going to make it to the early call back. And I wanted to see Earth and spend time with my aunt and cousins, so I stayed and agreed not to tell anyone.” She paused. “I’m sorry about everything.”
“What’s the return plan?” Cam asked, ignoring all the blushing between the two women.
Prudence said, “I’m supposed to wear a hat and some Earther clothing to disguise myself for the arrival and wait for the ship to dock. When they release everyone, I’m to just slip back on board as though I never left.”
“What about Ria?”
Prudence shrugged. “Your aunt said that by the time the ship returned, she expected that Alexandria would want to stay on Earth, but that whatever happened, no one would know that she and I were not on the ten-day trip.”
Cam wondered what his aunt was up to. He hated to get her in trouble when basically she’d done him a huge favor by allowing him to spend the last week with Ria. Whatever happened, his time was running out.
Ria said to Prudence, “You know I don’t want to marry Dirt… I mean Douglass, right?”
