Luke had just made his first cut into his steak when his phone chimed.
Giselle kept eating, but she had a bad feeling about that chime and the future of her amazing meal.
Laying his knife and fork back on the plate, Luke took his phone out and checked the screen. “Text from Cynthia.”
“And?”
“Looks like another damned riddle.” He glanced from his phone to his plate.
“We can eat quickly while we figure it out.” Giselle knew she wouldn’t enjoy the meal as thoroughly because now they’d be focused on Cynthia’s next step, but she was determined to eat it. She took a bite of steak, chewed quickly, and swallowed. It was incredible, as she’d expected it would be. “Lay the riddle on me, Dalton. Let’s see what we’ve got.”
“I’ll read it to you in a minute. First let me look at this other text from Owen.”
“I’m going to keep eating, and it’s just a suggestion, but I would do the same if I were you.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” He scooped up a forkful of mashed root vegetables. “I’ll check his message in a minute. I’m praying he’s located her and we can give up this wild-goose chase.”
“What’s he supposed to do if he finds her? I hope you didn’t tell him to hold her prisoner.”
“No.” He looked up quickly from his plate. “Despite what you think, I realize this should be handled diplomatically. Owen’s not supposed to let her know he’s around. If he sees her, he reports that to me.”
“Good. And then what?”
“I have to hope she’ll stay in one place long enough for me to get there and talk with her.”
She chewed and swallowed. “Do you know what you’re going to say to her?”
“I’m working on it. Do you know what you plan to say to Bryce?” Luke tackled more of his food.
“Pretty much. First I’m going to find out if he truly doesn’t want to take over from our dad. If he doesn’t, then I have to hope he’ll come back anyway. We miss him. That’ll be my main message, that we all love him and miss him.” She hoped Luke would start with telling Cynthia he loved her. But she wouldn’t offer that advice unless he asked.
After swallowing another bite, Luke read Owen’s text and groaned. “He’s lost their trail. He’s beginning to think they might have disguised themselves.”
“I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact Bryce knows I’m with you.”
“How would that change things?”
“I’m not sure. He hasn’t texted me back yet, so I don’t know how he’s reacting.” She took a quick gulp of her wine and went back to cutting into her steak. “At first I was afraid he wouldn’t like that I flew down here without telling him.”
“That would be my guess.”
“But my brother is complicated. If he’s tired of his rebellion routine, he might be grateful that I’ve come for him. That way he can say he came back because I was so pitiful.” She popped a piece of steak into her mouth.
Luke smiled at that. “I’d love a demonstration of you looking pitiful. It’s hard to imagine.”
The steak was so tender that she could chew and swallow it in no time. “Watch this.” She gave him her best sad, soulful look, the one where she looked like the big-eyed characters in a Japanese anime cartoon.
“Hey, that’s pretty good. You should definitely use that on him. In fact, you should probably teach me. It might work on Cynthia.” His grin had a boyish quality to it.
She was charmed by that grin. Too bad. She couldn’t let herself be charmed. “I doubt it. She’s not going to believe you’re pitiful at this stage in the game.”
“Probably not. But maybe if you talk your brother into going back to San Francisco, I’ll have a better chance of convincing Cynthia to finish her degree.”
“Maybe.” She thought it would depend entirely on how much empathy he showed for his sister’s dreams. Giselle also realized the more empathy he showed, the more appealing he would become to her.
She vowed to be on guard for that. “Of course, Bryce might not be getting tired of his Las Vegas adventure. He might be furious that I showed up and even more determined to help Cynthia run us ragged. That’s the other possibility.”
“Well, unless Owen figures out their disguise, I guess we keep solving the riddles and see where it takes us. Maybe if we solve all their riddles, they’ll agree to a meeting.”
She saw the frustration in his eyes. “I can tell you don’t like this.”
“No, but I’m willing to go along with the game. It seems as if she really needs me to do that.”
“I think she does.” Giselle hoped that Cynthia’s campaign worked to change his mind. Maybe becoming a showgirl wasn’t the best choice for his sister or maybe it was the perfect choice. All she knew for sure was that Cynthia should be the one to decide.
Giselle also thought that bringing about a truce between Cynthia and Luke might open the door to a conversation with Bryce. A part of her wanted to twist his ears off for being so contrary, but after seeing the way Cynthia was struggling with Luke’s expectations, she had a lot more sympathy for Bryce’s position.
Maybe he didn’t want to be an alpha. If so, he shouldn’t be forced into the role. She didn’t want it, either, but maybe there was a decent alternative—although she couldn’t think of one right off the bat. None of her cousins were alpha material.
She’d been so engrossed in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed that she’d finished her meal. She glanced over at Luke’s plate, and his was nearly empty, too.
He glanced up. “What do you think about the riddle?”
“You haven’t given it to me yet.”
“I haven’t? Oh, sorry.” He put down his fork and picked up his phone. “I may even know what this one refers to, but let’s see what you say. Water has rhythm and so do I. Watch it dance and watch it fly. Love is reaching for the sky.” His voice roughened on the last sentence. He cleared his throat.
Giselle’s chest tightened. This young woman positively ached with her desire to dance. And Luke knew it, too. Otherwise he wouldn’t have choked up on that last sentence. She gazed at him and wondered if he’d relent, right there at the dinner table.
If he was considering that, he didn’t let on. “It’s the Bellagio, right? The fountains out front?”
“I think so.”
He pushed his plate aside. “We might as well get going, then. There are other fountains in Vegas. Could she mean somewhere else?”
“I doubt it.” She picked up her wineglass and then put it back down. “Guess I’d better not have any more wine if I’m driving.”
“We could walk. It’s not that far.”
“Then let’s walk. The exercise might do us good.” It would do her good, at least. When he’d become emotional while reading the riddle, she’d wanted to put her arms around him, although that would have been dangerous and she wouldn’t have risked it. But now she wanted to shake him until his teeth rattled, and that wouldn’t solve anything, either.
They put on jackets and headed out. Luke wore leather instead of the blue denim, which he’d hung up because it was still damp. They took the private elevator down, but this time they walked out through the lobby. Coming in, they’d gone straight from the parking garage to the elevator, so Giselle had missed seeing how the hotel had changed since her first visit.
Apparently she was getting tired, because she spoke when she should have kept her mouth shut. “It’s changed.”
He glanced at her. “You were here? Oh, wait. Of course you were. Family friends of the Cartwrights would get rooms when no one else could.”
“Yes.” And the less she said about her previous visit, the better.