Page 108 of Ethan & Grace

A moment later, the engine roared to life and the car rolled down the gravel drive towards the road. Neither of us spoke a word, but in the silence of the car, my pulse finally began to calm and my thoughts slowed. My eyes met Ethan’s, and I burst out laughing. Not because the situation was funny, but because it was completely absurd. Those four men, whose combined wealth was about the same as Ireland’s GDP, were probably sitting together right now, talking about how they’d walked in on me giving Ethan a blowjob. Oh my God!

Ethan stared at me as though I’d lost my mind, and perhaps he wasn’t entirely wrong. But after a few seconds, he joined in, both of us laughing as the tension drained away.

“I don’t know whether to be impressed or concerned by how quickly you came up with the trouser idea,” I said, tears of laughter in my eyes. We had come so perilously close to getting caught that it really wasn’t funny. If things had gone even slightly differently, we’d be in the custody of Asterdam’s security team right now. Mrs. Darlington would no doubt have managed to keep Ethan out of trouble, but for me, the situation could have ended pretty badly.

Ethan gave an amused snort. “Both?”

“Let me guess. You’ve been caught doing something like that before?”

“Maybe,” he admitted meekly. I’d never been so grateful for Ethan’s playboy past as I was now. It was the only reason our excuse had sounded plausible. “It was the only thing I could think of in the moment. I’m sorry if it was weird for you.”

I wiped the tears of laughter from my eyes. “Don’t be silly. I don’t care what they think. At least one of them is a serious criminal, and we’ve got the proof. And it’s not like I ever have to see those men again. You do.”

“True. But they wouldn’t bad-mouth me—sad as that is.”

“I love misogyny,” I muttered sarcastically, because of course I was the only one they’d be ripping into. The maid with no manners or decency, so greedy she’d probably drop to her knees for any random millionaire she came across. I could only hope the gossip didn’t spread—not far, at least. Explaining to my parents would be a nightmare. “But on the bright side, we have what we were looking for.”

Ethan pulled out his phone and opened the photos. “This is seriously messed up. I mean, it doesn’t surprise me, but all those transfers . . .” He shook his head. “That’s easily fifty million over four years that Claude’s handed out illegally.”

“So we can get him on more than just murder.” There was something deeply satisfying about the thought. No matter how long his sentence for Amy’s manslaughter ended up being, it would never be enough. But this way, he wouldn’t see daylight for a very long time—provided we handled this properly. “Can Edgar find out where the money went for us?”

“I’m sure he can. I’ll message him first thing tomorrow.”

I put my hand on Ethan’s, feeling tears welling again. This time, they weren’t tears of laughter. They were tears of relief. Of gratitude. Of sheer overwhelm. My only goal in the past few months had been getting justice for Amy. It was what had kept me going, what had driven me on, giving me the courage to return to The Darlington. And now we were almost there. Without Ethan’s help, I never would have made it this far.

“Thank you,” I said, my voice unsteady—and I didn’t just mean for promising to contact Edgar, which he seemed to understand.

“Of course.”

I squeezed his hand. My gold rings and the single silver one on his finger gleamed under the car’s interior light. “None of what you’ve done for me these past months was a given. You didn’t know Amy. You barely even knew me. You had no real reason to help me. But you did, again and again. Without you, I’d probably still be in the dark. I can’t thank you enough.”

My words shifted the atmosphere inside the car, sweeping away the lightness of our laughter and charging the air with a crackling tension that tingled against my skin. Though maybe that was just the way Ethan was looking at me. “I’m just glad I could help you,” he said.

“But why?”

“If you don’t know the answer to that, you really haven’t been paying attention these past few weeks, Dreamgirl.”

I inhaled the electrified air. “Sometimes I’m a bit slow.”

Ethan raised my hand to his lips with a quiet laugh. He kissed my knuckles gently, one after the other, without taking his eyes off me. “I’m falling in love with you, Grace. And there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Breaking and entering. Theft. Treason. I’d do anything for you. Anything.” He pressed our linked hands to his chest, right over his heart. I felt it beating in time with mine.

“I’m falling in love with you too,” I confessed.

The smile my words brought to his lips undid me. He unbuckled his seat belt, and I did the same. Our bodies met in the middle of the car, colliding. And so did our mouths. Ethan pulled me onto his lap, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. A deep sense of belonging washed over me.

Things between us might have started out casually, but we had both become caught up in feelings for each other that weren’t supposed to be there, and now we were stuck in them. Together.

I couldn’t imagine anything more perfect.

42

Henry kissed you? OMG! I’m jealous. I want to be kissed by a hot billionaire too! Tell me everything!

Old message from Grace to Kate after the Halloween masked ball

Grace

Ethan and I spent the entire drive from the villa to the hotel kissing. We both deserved a medal for refraining from tearing each other’s clothes off in the limousine. Every fibre of my being, my heart included, ached to be with him. I just couldn’t get enough of him, and he seemed to feel exactly the same about me. On the way to The Darlington, he kissed every inch of my skin not covered by clothes. We didn’t pull apart until Wallace parked the car in the underground car park. With a knowing smile, he wished us a pleasant evening.