“What?” Thorin and I cried in unison.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“Security said they could only hold him a couple hours unless they found something incriminating.” Skyla tilted her head toward me, smirked, and waggled an eyebrow. Trust me, she had said. Trust her to get Val in trouble and get me out of a dinner commitment. “I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding, but I think he’s going to be more than a little late for your dinner.”
“Dinner?” Thorin asked.
“She bought a new dress and everything,” Skyla said. “Too bad she doesn’t get to wear it.”
“Are there reservations?” Thorin scratched at the blond stubble on his jaw.
“Probably,” I said.
He nodded as if making up his mind. “Get dressed. I’ll meet you there.”
“You will?” I said, aghast. “That can’t be good for my digestion.”
Thorin turned on his heel and ambled toward the villa. “Be on time,” he called over his shoulder.
“I should kill you,” I said to Skyla, “but Val will likely beat me to it.”
“You should thank me,” Skyla said, wearing a devious smile. “And Val never has to know.”
“You get a kick out of pulling everyone’s strings, don’t you?”
Skyla skipped away, yodeling a song that sounded vaguely familiar.
After she disappeared inside, I realized the tune had come from the marionette scene in the Sound of Music.
Chapter Twenty-seven
I disregarded Thorin’s instructions to be on time. I had no intentions of standing around in a lobby looking like an expensive hooker waiting for propositions from high rollers. If anyone was going to wait, it would be Thorin. And he was, glancing impatiently at the clock on his phone as I rounded the corner from the casino into the lobby of the hotel’s fanciest restaurant.
Thorin wore a dark suit, and his hair fell loose, pale and glossy, past his shoulders. How could a man look so fine in a suit and tie and ancient armor? It was a conundrum, and a disturbing one. I didn’t want to find Thorin attractive. Things were complicated enough already.
Thorin looked up, and his breath caught. “Sunshine,” he said, holding his hand out for me. For once he said the nickname in a way that sounded like a compliment rather than criticism. When I took his hand, he slipped my fingers into the bend in his arm. “You are… sublime.”
“Thank you.” I waited for something harsh to follow the praise, but his reproach never came. Perhaps Thorin suffered a bit of the same weaknesses as Val when it came to revealing red dresses.
The restaurant’s host gathered menus from his stand and led us to our seats. A waiter arrived and poured wine. “I took the liberty,” Thorin explained. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“At least it isn’t club soda,” I said, smiling.
Thorin smiled back. “You proved you could hold your alcohol.”
“Ah, you were there in the bathroom the next morning with me, or did you forget?”
“I think that was more of a side effect from your pyrotechnics.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged and sipped from the red he’d selected. I stopped myself from draining the glass in one gulp, though my nerves demanded alcoholic relief.
To accompany his dark suit, Thorin had chosen a pale cream shirt that softened his eyes into pools of warm chocolate. Don’t think flattering things about him. You’ll regret it later.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“I’m sorry?”
“That was a terribly forlorn sigh.”
“I wasn’t aware I had sighed.”
“I hope you aren’t entertaining fantasies of defeat. It’s too early to give up.”
Oh, I was entertaining fantasies all right, but they had nothing to do with Helen Locke. “I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”
“Actually, I have some thoughts,” Thorin said. “You won’t like them, but I want you to listen before you get upset.”
“Can we at least get through the first course before you start pissing me off?”
A slim smile tugged at Thorin’s lips. “I can try.”
Accordingly, Thorin and I shared a plate of buttered mussels and talked about French cuisine. I explained what I knew from a baking standpoint, and Thorin’s interest seemed real. The waiter brought my crab cakes and Thorin’s steak, but neither of us picked up a fork. “I’m not as hungry as I thought I would be,” I said.
Thorin shook his head. “Neither am I.” We lingered a few more minutes before he pulled his wallet from his pocket and slipped out a single bill. “What do you say we get out of here?”
“What about our food?” I hated to think of all that lovely crab meat going to waste.
“We’ll have them send it to the room. I’m sure Skyla and Baldur will know what to do with it.” Thorin motioned to the waiter, and he trotted over. They muttered to each other, arranging delivery of the food, and then Thorin slipped him the cash. Thorin stood and drew out my chair for me. He took my hand, and I didn’t protest.
