Page 11 of Navy

“Hello, young man. Thank you for looking out for my granddaughter. I appreciate it greatly. Now don’t take this the wrong way but I wouldn’t be doing my duty if I didn’t ask who exactly you were and what you do. My girl is worth a considerable amount, and I don’t want her to be taken advantage of.”

“No offense taken, Mrs. Wallingsworth. My name is Alan Goode, my cousin and family own property not far from where you are at the moment. The name is Bancroft, and they own Bancroft Estates. Our other cousin Derek will be with you shortly to take you and your cook back to our estate. I don’t think your grandson knows where you are, and he certainly doesn’t know who I am, so you’ll be safe there. I’ll bring Gia down tomorrow and we can make a plan from there to get all this sorted.”

There’s silence from the other side of the phone, but I have a feeling she’s busy processing everything that I’ve just laid out for her.

“Bancroft you say?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you Eileen’s grandson, the one who gave up his right to the estate to his cousin?”

“Yes, ma’am, that’s me.”

“Right then, I have no more worries. Now Gia, tells me you told Julian you were married. How is that going to work?”

“Well, now ma’am, I’m not sure you want to know that.”

“Mmh, okay, so that means you have someone doing stuff on the internet. I don’t need to know the ins and outs of how you are going to do it, just know that if you need help, I still have connections that I can call on. Thank you for helping. I wasn’t sure what to do and she wouldn’t leave me to find help. Hetty and I’ll wait for your man. Tell my granddaughter we’ll see her tomorrow and we’ll call Tristan then.”

“I will,” I promise, ending the call. Turning to look at the bed, I see Gia’s eyes drooping, but they shoot open as I end the call.

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, sweets, she’s fine. I’m sending my other cousin to go and pick her and Hetty up. He’ll take them back to my cousin’s estate; I’ll take you there tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” she whispers softly.

Lowering my hand to hers, I squeeze it gently where it’s lying against the covers. Going to the wardrobe, I take down the extra pillows and the blanket, throwing them on the floor next to the bed. It’s been a while since I’ve had to sleep on the floor and my body is going to hate me in the morning, but I wasn’t going to make Gia feel uncomfortable by expecting to share the bed.

Laying down, I pull the blanket over me, closing my eyes, very aware of every move the gorgeous woman in my bed makes. We’re going to have a full day tomorrow. Make that a full couple of weeks because I had a feeling that Julian Wallingsworth wasn’t going to go quietly. Made no difference to me. I’d make him go quietly if I had to.

I’m just drifting off, when Gia whispers softly, “You can sleep in the bed.”

Opening my eyes, I look up into her warm brown eyes as she peered down at me.

“I’m okay down here, sweets, it’s not the worst place I’ve ever slept.”

She wrinkled her nose before imploring quietly, “Please come sleep in the bed. I feel guilty enough for ruining everyone’s evening, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. I trust you; I know you won’t do anything. Rea vouched for you too, but even without her vouching for you, my gut told me I could trust you. And my gut has never been wrong.”

Our eyes meet and hold. I’m trying to figure out if she means it or if she was just being polite. It’s her small, “Please,” that decided it for me.

Getting up from the floor, I picked up the pillow and blanket, intending to sleep above the covers.

Gia shifts to the other side of the bed, making room for me. Settling myself on the bed, I let out a deep sigh; this was much better.

Gia gave a small giggle at my sigh. “What?” I grinned at her. “This is much nicer on my old bones.”

“You’re not old.”

I turned on my side so that I could see her better. Her brown eyes are tired. Some of that was because she was coming down from an adrenaline crash and the rest was probably because, for the first time in months, she didn’t have to worry about anything. It took a little while for her brain to settle and switch off. I was happy to keep her company until she got tired enough to fall asleep.

“Older than you, sweets.”

“Not by much though,” she argues softly.

I chuckled, “I’m at least fifteen, maybe sixteen, years older than you.”

Her eyes widened, “No way, you don’t look like you’re nearly forty.”