Ruthless King (New Orleans Malones #4)

Chapter 36

36

S he banged on her laptop keys in frustration. “You pain in the ass! Why? Why do you hate me?”

“Thea? Why is that lady yelling at her laptop?”

Jilly jumped into the air with a small scream. Turning, she saw a beautiful, curvy woman standing by the French doors with two boys flanking her. The boys looked just like her. All three of them had golden brown hair and hazel-colored eyes.

Shit.

She’d come out to the courtyard to work, but things weren’t going well. Her laptop was not only extremely slow, but it kept losing her work.

Technology was really messing with her flow. She might have to go back to pen and paper.

“Hi. Sorry.” She jumped to her feet. “I, um, I’m having technology problems.”

The smaller boy eyed her skeptically. “I don’t think yelling at your laptop is gonna fix it. Carrick says that we need to talk about our feelings rather than yell about them.”

“That’s smart,” she said with a small smile.

“Is it?” the boy asked. “I don’t really get what he means.”

“He means you should talk, not yell,” the other boy said. “It’s not that hard to understand, doofus.”

“Hey! I’m not a doofus! Thea, tell Keir not to call me a doofus.”

Thea stared up at the sky with exasperation. “Why? Why me?”

“It’s all right,” the younger boy said to Jilly. “She’s not losing her mind or seeing ghosts. She’s just praying for patience to deal with Keir.”

“With me? With you!”

“The two of you are giving me a headache,” Thea said tiredly. Then she smiled at Jilly. “Hi, I’m Thea. Jardin, Regent’s brother, is one of my fiancés.”

One of her fiancés? She had more than one?

That was . . . fascinating.

“These are my brothers, Keir and Ace,” Thea added.

“Hi, I’m Jilly.”

“We know,” Ace said. “Jardin said Reggie has never had a girl before. Man, he’s really old. I thought he would have had lots of girlfriends. Although, I get it. Girls are gross.”

Thea shook her head while Jilly bit back a smile. “You might change your mind on that when you’re older.”

“Nuh-uh. What’s wrong with your laptop?” Ace asked, coming closer.

“It’s ancient. And it keeps losing my work. It’s also very slow.”

“You should buy a new one,” Ace stated.

“Ace!” Thea said.

“Maybe she doesn’t have the money for that,” Keir told Ace. “Right?”

“Um, well. Yes, I guess that’s true.” And kind of embarrassing to admit to these strangers.

Thea put her hand over her face. “Give me strength. Why don’t you go see if Gerald has any cookies?”

Ace punched the air and took off, running. Keir followed slowly behind.

“I am so sorry about that, Jilly,” Thea told her.

“Hey, no reason to apologize. They’re cute.”

“They’re crazy, impulsive, energetic, and the work of the devil. But I love them.”

She had to grin. “I can imagine.”

“Do you have any siblings?” Thea asked, coming to sit at the table with her with a sigh. The other woman looked a bit tired and pale.

“No, I don’t. I always wished for some but my mom couldn’t have any more children after me.”

Something that her father had loved to punish her mother for. He’d been fiercely disappointed that Jilly was a girl and that Mama couldn’t give him a boy.

Only a boy was of any use to Orlando Crane.

“I’m sorry,” Thea said.

“It is what it is.” She shrugged and put on a brave face. She’d often wondered if life would have been easier growing up if she’d had someone to share everything with.

“Jardin had to grab some stuff from Regent, so we came with him. We won’t be bothering you for long, though.”

“It’s no bother. Really, I needed a distraction before I threw this laptop across the courtyard.”

Thea smiled. “Glad I could be here to stop you from doing that.”

“Me too, since I can’t afford a new one.”

“What are you writing?” Thea asked.

“Um.” Jilly could feel her cheeks heating.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“No, it’s all right. I’m writing a romance.”

“Ooh, I love romance. What sort?”

“It’s a contemporary, enemies-to-lovers reverse harem.”

“Reverse harems are my favorites,” Thea cried.

“Really? Me too!”

“Oh, I would love to read it.”

Jilly chewed her lip. “I’m not sure it will be any good.”

“It’s okay, get it,” Thea said. “I used to feel the same about my photography. It’s hard to believe in yourself, especially if you’ve never had that before.”

“You’re a photographer?”

“Yes, I even have my own business now. It keeps me really busy.”

“That’s awesome.”

“If you ever want someone to read your stories who will give you the honest truth without being mean, I’m here.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at the other woman.

“Can I be honest now?” Thea asked hesitantly.

“Sure,” Jilly replied.

“I was shocked when Jardin said Regent had moved a woman in with him. I mean, we’d never heard of you, and I’ve never met any woman he’s dated. I’m not even sure he has ever dated.”

“It all happened in a bit of a hurry,” Jilly admitted. “But we’ve actually known each other a long time.”

The boys came racing back out. An attractive-looking, dark-haired man in a suit walked behind them, talking to Regent.

Lord, her man was gorgeous. She sighed dreamily, smiling.

W hat would happen if he just walked over to her, swept her up over his shoulder and carried her inside to . . .

“Thea!” Ace cried. “Gerald sent some cookies for you, but I accidentally dropped them.”

“Yeah, into your mouth,” Keir said.

She startled back into the present. Then she blushed as she realized Thea was staring at her, grinning.

“Um, what is it?” she asked, wondering if she had something on her face.

“Just a bit of drool,” Thea said with a laugh. “Yeah, I was worried for no reason. You’re going to fit right in.”

Huh?

The man with Regent walked toward them, putting his arm around Thea as he smiled at Jilly. There was a guarded look in his eyes, though. A bit like Victor this morning.

She guessed she couldn’t blame them. It must be a bit of a shock to have her suddenly living with their brother. Someone who had apparently never brought a woman home.

“Jardin, this is Jilly,” Regent said. “Jilly, my brother, Jardin.”

“We’ve been talking,” Thea said. “Jilly was about to hurl her laptop across the courtyard. We rescued it from a nasty death.”

Jilly grinned. “That’s right.” She rushed over to Regent, wrapping her arms around him. “I didn’t know you were back.”

“I’ve only been back a short time.” He lightly patted her shoulder and she let go of him, feeling slightly confused.

Did he not want her to touch him?

“Nice to meet you, Jilly,” Jardin said. “We’ll see you at Sunday lunch. Hope you’re ready for the whole family to descend.”

Sunday lunch? Oh, she remembered Regent saying something about that.

“Every Sunday, we have a family lunch here,” Thea explained.

That was so nice.

She wished she had something like that. Of course, you had to have a family in order to have a family lunch.

Kind of helped a lot.

“Actually, we might have to cancel it this weekend,” Regent said. “We have something to do Sunday morning.”

Oh. That was disappointing.

“Sure, we can do it next weekend,” Thea said before calling for the boys. “Nice to meet you, Jilly.”

“You too. Bye.”

“Bye, Regent,” Thea said.

He nodded to her, his face softening slightly. It softened more with the boys.

But no one hugged goodbye. Seemed these people weren’t huggers. That was strange to her.

As they left, she felt a sharp pang of loneliness. Which was silly. She wasn’t alone. She had Regent.

“Why did you want to throw your laptop?” he asked.

“Because it’s an evil device sent to torture me,” she said.

Regent frowned.

“It keeps losing my work or won’t open the right document. It’s so slow. But it’s fine. It’s all I have right now. And maybe I should just use pen and paper for a while. I need to get some, though.”

“Pen and paper?”

“Uh-huh, and some sticky notes. I love sticky notes.”

“I think we can arrange that,” he murmured. “Now I have to go make some calls. I’ll meet you for dinner in an hour? Is that enough time to get ready?”

“Sure!” She only needed five minutes.

Leaning down, he lightly kissed her and all of her worries disappeared. Perhaps he was shy about touching her in front of others. Their relationship was still new, so she got it.

Well, sort of.

Not really, since she wanted to touch him all the time. But not everyone was like her.