Page 90 of Wicked Queen

“Or maybe Alice’s best friend.” I patted my stomach.

“Or William’s future girlfriend?” she suggested.

I grabbed her hands and pleaded, “You can’t move.”

“It wouldn’t be all the time. Hear me out.”

I listened as she explained that Smith wanted the baby to have plenty of room and less stress for Belle. “The company doesn’t need me in the office every day and we’ll have a nanny to help. I can take meetings online and Lola can run things here.”

“Lola might be busy,” I reminded her.

“Anders won’t need that much help.” Belle dismissed this issue too easily.

“So what went wrong?” I asked.

“Smith went to a meeting with Alexander the other day. He didn’t go into detail but I think it had to do with Jacobson.” She paused, biting her lip. “Did he tell you about it?”

“A little.” Alexander had told me that he was taking Smith to a meeting regarding the Jacobson’s release. Considering the men’s shared interest in bringing him to justice, I hadn’t found it strange. “He seemed shaken when he came home. He didn’t really want to talk about it.”

“I didn’t want to get him in trouble. Of course, he probably doesn’t want to stress you out. I shouldn’t even be talking about it.”

Now I was the one who felt guilty. “I haven’t told him,” I confessed. “I started to the other day and then there was the whole mess with Anders. We were distracted.”

“And you’re avoiding telling him,” she accused.

“Avoiding telling him what?” a sharp voice cut into the conversation. She held out a water bottle and I grimaced.

I’d forgotten to stay put, but Georgia hadn’t missed my exit from the party, even if I hadn’t seen her follow. This was why I hadn’t realized that I was constantly being surrounded. I strained my eyes around the dark courtyard looking for others but all I saw were drunken aristocrats who didn’t look like they’d be much use in a crisis. But Georgia would always be nearby and I should have remembered that.

It helped that she’d worn a jet black evening gown with sleeves that hugged her slender arms to the wrists. It might have been modest camouflage, except for the neckline, which cut so low that it revealed her navel. She blended well into the night while standing out. Much like Georgia, it was the perfect contradiction.

“Eavesdropping?” Belle asked, obviously trying to distract her from what she’d heard.

“Catching up with friends.” Georgia’s crimson smile was wolfish. “And you two are loud, anyone can hear you.”

My eyes flickered around the garden wondering who had heard what. I twisted the cap off the bottle and drank it quickly.

“We’re talking about baby stuff,” Belle said. “No one cares.”

We both gave her an incredulous look and she backtracked immediately. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Okay, I guess they do, but it wasn’t interesting pregnancy stuff.”

The other day, there’d been ten stories about what antacids Georgia had been spotted buying me in a pharmacy. This was much more interesting.

“Are we being watched right now?” I asked Georgia.

She gave me an are-you-stupid look.

“Can we go somewhere that we aren’t being watched?”

“I think that’s the loo and your bedroom,” she said flatly.

I was glad some things were still sacred. If I had to pick, those would be the two exceptions I’d ask for. “The loo, it is.”

Using the loo for a clandestine conversation turned out to involve clearing out the entire bathroom first, which made me feel horrible, and then planting guards in front of the door.

“Happy?” Georgia asked after she’d checked the stalls one final time. “Now out with it.”

“It’s nothing.” I silently begged Belle to save me. She was usually good for a quick lie, but she shook her head.