Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
“I don’t . . . I have . . . oh my God, Wolfe is going to freak out!” Vivi said. “I’m going to be in bed for the next nine months. Do you think I can hide it from him?”
“I think that might be kind of impossible,” Maggie replied. “You know . . . because of the baby belly and everything.”
They all stared at her.
Invisible.
She crept back toward the door, leaning against it. “And now . . . I’m just going to go . . .”
She reached for the door handle without looking, turning it. The door swung open quicker than expected, and she stumbled, landing on her back in the passage.
Oh. My. God.
A stern, angry face glared down at her. “What the hell are you doing?”
Dear Lord. What the heck did he think she was doing? Inspecting the floor?
“Hello there.” Jack’s smiling face appeared in front of the dickfly’s. Well, that was better, she guessed. Although, now she had two witnesses to her embarrassment.
Plus all of those beautiful, poised women.
But she was choosing to pretend they weren’t there.
“Are you falling for me?” Jack asked with a cheeky grin. “Next time, give me a heads up and I’ll catch you.”
There was a surprised giggle from one of the women.
No. Nope. They weren’t here. They hadn’t just seen her fall over like a complete idiot.
“What happened? Did you really fall?” Ian asked incredulously. As though he couldn’t believe she’d be so stupid as to fall.
Hadn’t he ever fallen in his life?
Dear. Lord.
Why couldn’t she just disappear? Where was that invisibility superpower when she needed it?
“I’ve heard this happens as you get older,” she managed to say, catching her breath.
You should get up.
She would if she thought her hip could handle it. But the impact of the hard floor hadn’t just stolen her breath. It had sent sharp agony through her body.
“What?” Ian snapped.
Was he capable of talking without snarling?
“Your eyesight goes.”
His eyes widened with shock, before narrowing angrily. “Little girl, are you calling me old?”
A shiver ran through her. She did not like him calling her that.
Nope. No way.
“I mean . . . if the shoe fits . . .” she trailed off as his eyes filled with fire.
Yikes.
This was probably one of those moments when she should shut the heck up. Or get up and run away. But she needed a moment before she could do that.
And she definitely wouldn’t be running, that was for sure.
If she could move without limping, she’d be happy.
“Um, aren’t you going to help her up, Ian? Jack?”
She glanced over and closed her eyes as she saw all four women peering out at them in interest. It was Alina who had spoken and she was staring at Ian in surprise.
Great. Just what she needed to add to her humiliation.
And she knew the reason that Ian wasn’t offering to help her up. Because that would involve actually touching her.
“I’m good. I’m fine.” She sat, trying to hide her wince as her hip ached.
Fuck. It would be fine. It had to be. She just had to rest for a moment.
But to her shock, Ian didn’t let her sit there. Or continue to loom over her angrily.
Instead, he grabbed her under the arms, lifting her to her feet. Almost immediately, though, he let her go.
She tried not to feel insulted by that. It wasn’t like she wanted the big apebutt to touch her.
Nope. He could take his huge paws away and touch someone else.
Although for some reason she didn’t really want to think about him touching anyone else.
Shit. What was wrong with her?
“Whoa. You okay there, Maggie?” Jack asked, reaching for her as she swayed.
She stepped back suddenly, almost stumbling. She caught her breath at the strange look on Jack’s face.
Had she hurt him by pulling back?
Shoot. She hadn’t meant to do that. She’d only just met the guy, but he seemed really sweet. Funny and kind.
It was just that she had gotten so used to rejecting help that it was hard to let anyone do anything for her.
“What’s going on? Is everything all right here?”
She glanced over with relief to see Uncle Willy walking toward her. The queen was beside him, staring at Maggie with confusion. As though she couldn’t understand why anyone was paying attention to her.
Maggie got that. Next to the put-together woman, she looked like a street urchin.
Beck was behind them. Great more witnesses.
“Just me being clumsy as always,” she said cheerfully, carefully walking over to her uncle.
The last thing she wanted to do was show any vulnerability in front of these people.
She’d already made enough of a knob of herself.
“Maggie?” Pippa called out.
Shit.
She couldn’t ignore the soon-to-be-princess, now, could she? Her uncle might be friendly with the queen and doing these people a favor, but Maggie was most definitely disposable.
“Yes, your majesty?” She turned, grateful that she didn’t have to curtsy or anything like that. She didn’t want to fall flat on her face.