On the ride down to the lobby, Lily decided to tell Denae who she was. Elizabeth had, after all, already spilled some of it. The doors to the lift opened and Lily walked out. She smiled when a man holding the door for her looked her over with an appreciative eye. It felt amazing to be noticed.
But not nearly as good as it would be if it were Rhys who gave her such a look.
Lily was almost to the restaurant when a hotel employee stopped her. “A phone call?” she repeated in surprise.
“Yes, ma’am,” the older man said, nodding his gray head. “If you’ll follow me.”
There was no one that knew where she was, and no one that wouldn’t try her mobile first before calling the hotel. Curious, she followed the man to the first desk where she was handed a phone.
“Hello?”
“I really hate to be left waiting,” Dennis said.
*
Rhys was driving out of Perth when someone nearly ran into him. He looked over, ready to tell the wanker off when he saw it was Kellan.
“Better see what he wants,” Warrick said.
Rhys followed Kellan as they pulled over and turned off their vehicles. Both Rhys and Warrick got out and met Kellan outside.
“Sorry,” Kellan said before Rhys could talk. “I kept trying to get your attention, but you were rather focused.”
Warrick glanced at Rhys. “I doona blame him. I was the same.”
Kellan’s gaze narrowed as he looked between the two of them. “I had a feeling the two of you would be here. Did you get your answers from Ulrik, Rhys?”
“No’ even close. Is that why you almost hit me? To rub it in?” Rhys asked, his anger spiking again.
Kellan’s lips flattened before he said, “First, I’ve heard from Banan. Henry is at Dreagan.”
“That’s a relief,” Warrick said.
Kellan nodded to Warrick before he looked back at Rhys. “I was going to ask you to join me for dinner, but now that I’ve seen you, I doona want you around Denae. And I doona think Lily would want it either.”
As soon as he said Lily’s name, Rhys’s entire body went taut. Lily. The one person in all the realms who made him catch his breath with desire and yearning. “You’re having dinner with Lily? She’s no’ back at Dreagan already?”
“The girls had a long day. Denae wanted to stay the night, and Lily agreed. I’m supposed to meet them in thirty minutes. I’d have been there sooner if I hadna been looking for you.”
Rhys ran a hand down his face. Then he looked at himself. He was in jeans and a shirt. Not the attire he wanted when meeting Lily. “I’m no’ dressed for dinner.”
“That can be remedied,” Warrick said.
Kellan regarded Rhys with an intense look. “If you want it to be.”
He did. Rhys knew he shouldn’t, but there was no way he was going to pass up a chance to have dinner with Lily and get to know her better. If he got to touch her again, even better. It was too great of a temptation to pass up. They wouldn’t be completely alone, but it was better than every other King watching them.
“It’s obvious you want to, so do it,” Warrick urged. “It might be good for you.”
His unspoken words of “especially after today” hung in the air. Rhys licked his lips and thought of the bruise he had seen on Lily’s cheek that morning. “Aye.”
Warrick slapped him on the back. “Looks like I’m flying home. See you lads later,” he said before he walked into the night.
Kellan looked at his watch. “Warrick is happier alone anyway. Follow me, Rhys. We’ll have to hurry. I doona like to keep my woman waiting.”
Rhys strode back to the Jaguar and pulled in behind Kellan onto the pavement. They drove like the roads were their own personal racetrack, making it into Edinburgh in record time. Ten minutes later, Rhys walked out of the store in his newly bought clothes and jogged to the car. Kellan was already on his way to the hotel, two blocks away.
Rhys sped down the street and pulled up behind Kellan in front of the hotel. Rhys exited the car and tossed the keys to the valet as he buttoned the top of his jacket and fell into step with Kellan.
Rhys’s gaze scanned the lobby looking for any sign of Lily. Then he realized she was most likely in the restaurant with Denae. When he and Kellan reached the restaurant and were then led to the table, the disappointment that flared at not seeing Lily was tremendous.
He needed her as desperately as he needed to shift. Rhys fisted one hand as anguish filled him. If this was how he felt waiting on Lily, how would he ever cope if she was killed? The room spun, causing him to grab hold of the back of a chair to keep himself standing. He managed to stay on his feet and keep following Kellan. Lily couldn’t die. If she did, he would cease to exist.
Rhys knew it with the same certainty that he knew he loved her.
Denae smiled and stood when they walked up. She kissed Kellan and then greeted Rhys. “Lily is here, though she got in just a little while ago.”
“You were no’ with her?” Kellan asked when they were all seated.
Denae sat and took a sip of her wine. “There was somewhere she wanted to go herself.”