A Secret Kiss

  Chapter 23

  Memories

  Sakura managed to compose herself by the time they got to the dining room. She was relieved that everyone was too busy chatting to notice her coming in behind Conrad. She tried to free her hand from his grasp, but he wouldn’t let her go. He led her to the far side of the dining table where James and Brenda were.

  The rest of the brothers, who had already found out what had happened, noticed the hand-holding. Darcy tried to keep his face composed, but it was hard. Sebastian scowled.

  Lauren, who was busy chatting away with Richard, Mary, and Peter, rushed over to Conrad the moment she had seen him. She made herself comfortable in the chair next to his.

  “Hey,” she said excitedly. “How’s your day been, Conrad?”

  Conrad managed to give her a smile. “Hey, yeah. Good.”

  Lauren noticed Sakura and poked her head over and said, “Hey, Sakura.”

  Sakura turned to Lauren and managed to give the girl a weak smile. “Hey, I’ll go and get your dress.”

  “Don’t worry just yet, Sakura. We can take care of it after dinner.” That said, Lauren promptly turned back to Conrad and began chatting away animatedly, to which Conrad secretly groaned in despair.

  Mary and Katherine, who were sitting on the other side of the table across from them, noticed the change in Sakura’s mood and appearance. They’d been her friends since they had been young and knew something wasn’t right. Though they didn’t say anything, they knew they had to find out what had happened.

  Young Michael was once again sitting next to Nicolas, asking the man so many questions it caused Peter and Richard to laugh wholeheartedly.

  “You’ve got yourself a dedicated fan, Nicolas,” Peter said.

  “Yes, I think so too,” Nicolas replied, and Michael smiled up at him with delight.

  When the maids brought in dinner, everyone ate and chatted, enjoying themselves. James, however, noticed Sakura was rather quiet. He also noticed Alaina and Tara were behaving oddly. They kept staring at Sakura as though they would like to hurt her. Protectiveness surged in his blood. He knew without a doubt something had happened. Of course he had known something like this would happen when they arrived. He had also thought, however, that they would have changed since they were now grown adults.

  It was halfway through the meal when Sakura just gave in. She was just too tired and couldn’t pretend that nothing had happened earlier. She really needed to lie down. She leaned over to James and told him quietly she wasn’t feeling well. He nodded at her to leave. She smiled at him gratefully and then quietly got out of her chair and left the room. The brothers noticed. Darcy wanted to go after her, but it was Conrad who got there first. He announced that he was full, and after thanking Beth politely for the meal, he left the room, leaving Lauren in midsentence and staring after him in disappointment.

  Conrad caught up with Sakura in the corridor.

  “Sakura!” he called out.

  She turned and gave him a weak smile. “Are you being my bodyguard or something?”

  He chuckled. “Kind of.”

  She cocked her head to one side. “Well, I’m fine. But since you’re here, mind doing me a favor?”

  “Sure, anything,” he replied.

  “Okay,” she said, leading him up the stairs.

  Once they were in her bedroom, she gave him Lauren’s dress. “Can you return this to Lauren for me?”

  Conrad stared at the dress. “Is that all?”

  She laughed weakly. “What else do you expect?”

  “I dunno,” he said. He was hoping she’d ask him to protect her by letting him stay in her room or something so they could spend time together.

  “Thanks a ton,” she said. Conrad looked decidedly wounded.

  “Don’t you look at me like that, young man.” She chuckled. “I promise I’ll be fine. Good night.”

  Conrad nodded, and with the dress in his hands, reluctantly left the room.

  Once she was alone, Sakura sighed. She eyed Toby, who was already sound asleep in his basket. She went to kneel beside him and petted him. “Good night, Toby,” she said and went to brush her teeth and change into her pajamas.

  Tonight she slipped on her Victoria’s Secret cotton Mayfair sleep shirt of gray and white ribbon stripes and a cute pair of boxer shorts. Feeling nice and comfy, she switched off the central light, leaving only her bedside lamp, and then got into bed.

  She lay there fully awake. It was quiet in her room, and in the distance she could hear the noises from downstairs. Lauren was pretty loud, probably talking animatedly to Conrad. Then there was the noise of Katherine, Mary, Peter, and Richard laughing and chatting away enthusiastically. Of course Alaina and Tara joined in the laughter, as if nothing had happened earlier at the pool. It was odd, however, that she didn’t hear any of the brothers joining in the conversations. She was pretty sure Tristan was always loud in this kind of affair. So were Logan and Conrad. This evening, however, they were awfully quiet, as though they were in mourning.

  She didn’t know how long she lay there, listening to the humming of human conversations floating through the ceilings from downstairs. She certainly didn’t know when she had fallen asleep either, and when she did, she had a nightmare.