Unlike Peter and William, Britt was short. She had dark blonde hair and blue eyes, and I assumed she looked like her mother. She also talked fast and laughed loudly. A mirror opposite of her younger brother. “You’re going to see two little hooligans around here somewhere, probably trouncing each other on the Xbox. They’re mine.”
“It’s great to meet you all,” I said to the room with false cheer.
Britt was wiping her hands on her apron. She smiled, but her eyes narrowed a fraction. “So you’re the reason Liam’s doubling down on the sword dueling?”
I blinked and my mouth opened, at a loss for how to answer that. “Uh…”
She waved me off. “It’s okay. I’m glad. The fighting has been good for him, actually. All that training has pulled him away from his obsessions. I mean, he’s so damn talented, but other than work, I don’t think he ever has an excuse to leave the house. He’s got his whole studio set up there and his blacksmith forge. Sometimes I go weeks and wonder if I still even have a brother.”
“Well…I’m…glad to help. And that’s all I’m doing, you know. Just helping.” My face started to burn. Oh, goddess.
Three pairs of eyes were now staring at me. Oh shit. Now they were going to think I had no interest in William and get defensive or—oh crap.
This awkward family meet-and-greet seemed to have higher stakes than previous ones. I actually cared about what people thought of me at this one.
“I’m moving soon. Traveling with the Renaissance Faire starting at the end of June. We’re moving up the coast to Northern California for most of the summer then up through the Northwest. The Faire travels all over the western states. I’m really excited about it.” By now, I was getting radiation burns from my blushing.
Britt was nodding her head. “That’s great… So, you don’t go to college?”
Peter darted a sharp look at his daughter, but she ignored him.
“Uh, I did. I studied physics.”
“Ah, so are you going on to grad school?” Britt asked.
“Um, I need to borrow Jenna for a minute,” Mia said with a tug on my elbow.
Awash with relief, I followed her out of the kitchen and down the hall toward one of the bedrooms. “Thank you,” I murmured quietly.
“You needed saving. Britt is awesome, but she can get brutal when she’s in third-degree mode. She works for the Department of Justice.”
“Cripes. It was like being grilled by the CIA.”
“William doesn’t bring a woman here every day. Or any day, for that matter.”
I shook my head. “I don’t get that. There’s half a dozen girls in the clan who are in love with him.”
“A couple in his department at work, too. But he doesn’t date.”
“Ah.”
“Or…does he?” She turned to me with raised eyebrows.
Oh dear, talk about CIA interrogators. Mia was about to turn into one herself.
Not if I could help it. “So what’s all this?” I asked, taking in an art table, paints and shelves. We were in a bedroom with no bed.
“This was William’s bedroom. The three of them, William, Adam and Britt, all grew up in this house. When he’s over here—especially for the bigger family gatherings—he sometimes dips into his old room and tinkers away at stuff to avoid the crowd.”
“I see.” I moved around the table to take a look at what was on it. A massive sketchpad and some watercolor paints. There were doodles and small renderings, but nothing major. What I did see showed the incredible talent that I’d heard so much about and the tiny glimpses that I’d seen for myself.
“Britt said something about William having an art studio?”
“Yeah, at his house. But I don’t suppose you’ll be seeing that anytime soon,” Mia said meaningfully. She was not going to drop the subject about how the world would implode if William and I started dating each other.
I sighed. “I’ve already been to his house to help him with his crowd issues.”
Mia opened her mouth to say more, but Adam appeared in the doorway, shoving his cell phone into his shirt pocket. Like his cousin, Adam was tall, dark and very good looking. The Family Drake had certainly scored big with the genetic lottery. “I’ve been sent as the messenger to let you know that it’s dinnertime.”
“Great,” Mia said. Pressing up against him in the doorway, she snagged the phone out of his pocket. “I’ll be right there after I throw this in the pool.”
He laughed and kissed her on the nose. “Don’t be grumpy. It was important. “
“You promised…”
He let out a long sigh. “Okay. Turn it off, then.”
And he didn’t have to tell her twice. She powered down the phone, then slipped it into her bra with a laugh and trotted down the hallway.
“I’m going to enjoy going after that later,” he said, turning to follow her.
I brought up the rear, still marveling at what I’d seen on William’s sketchpad. We were going over to his house after dinner, and I was going to make it my mission to see inside his art studio.
If I could make it out of family interrogation hell....
***
Hours later, William and I were sitting in the middle of the floor on the mat in his gym-slash-living room, ready to take on the art of meditation.
My plan was to get him so relaxed that he’d agree to go to Disneyland with me. I was convinced that if we could conquer the chaos of Main Street USA and penetrate Sleeping Beauty’s castle without having to surrender, we’d have a very good chance of vanquishing William’s phobia of crowds.
“You’re a Dungeons and Dragons player, right?” I asked. “We’re going to approach this like you would a D&D game.” Again with that skeptical look on his face.
I caught a glimpse into his brown eyes that were the color of dark chocolate. He had amazing eyes fringed with dark lashes. Even if he didn’t gaze deeply into mine, they were still enjoyable to look at. In fact, I never stopped appreciating William’s good looks.
“How is this like D&D?”
I shrugged. “Well, you envision what the Dungeon Master is describing to you, right? ‘You enter a room that is so dark you can only see a few feet around each torch. There’s a musty smell in the air and the echoes of water dripping in the distance.’ Et cetera. It’s all about creating the story in your mind as you experience it in your Dungeon Master’s campaign. What we’re going to do is similar to that.”