Heirly Ever After, Vernon, Magan [best thriller novels to read .txt] 📗

the greatest of opulence. I was sure when this place was built, it probably was. But now the gold and green filigree wallpaper and the canopy bed draped in maroon and gold lace looked more like something out of an Edgar Wallace movie.

“So, this is updated,” I grumbled, rolling our luggage to the small coffee table that sat in front of a maroon chaise.

Madison’s shoes creaked on the wood floor as she surveyed the room. “I bet my sister would love this place. She’s a historian and could probably tell you every little thing about every piece in here.” She glanced through the open bathroom door. “Like how this clawfoot tub has royal origins or something and why it needs to be here instead of the shower I was hoping for.”

I sat down on the chaise, already feeling the springs poke in my bum. Yet there was something else. The overwhelming sense that I’d been here before. The history was all around me. Not just of the place. But of my family.

If Madison’s sister really was a historian, maybe she was the ticket I needed to find out more about my family’s history, the manor, and what we could inherit. Not that I’d let her know my intention, but she could help me find the proof I needed.

I cleared my throat. “Why don’t you draw a bath for yourself and I’ll make up the chaise for me here?”

Madison turned sharply toward me, her wet hair making a thwapping sound as the strands hit her cheeks. “I’m not making you sleep on that thing. You’re like a foot taller than me and you paid for the room. I’ll sleep there.”

I stood up, frowning. Was she really going to argue about this?

“Even though you may not think I’m much of a gentleman, lass, I would never make you sleep anywhere but the bed.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes. “Fine. Then I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“The hell you will.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

Bloody hell, this woman was a pain. I was about to let my anger get the best of me as my heart pounded in my ears, then I remembered something.

I smirked, pulling the coin out of my pocket.

“We’ll flip for it. Heads, you take the bed. Tails, I do. All right?”

She stared at me for a moment before slowly nodding. “Okay. Fine.”

Chapter Three

Madison

After barely getting any sleep on the plane and train, I should have passed out on the glorious, feathery mattress as soon as my head hit the pillow.

But I was in a new country.

Oh, and there was a very attractive man curled up on a flower-print half-couch thing at the foot of the bed.

How the hell did I get myself in this situation? Any sensible girl would have either probably forced him to get a different room or maybe invited him into bed. I settled for a coin toss and prayed I made the right decision to share a room with pretty much a complete stranger.

But he’d been a perfect gentleman so far. And he looked awfully damn cute in his button-down pajamas, curled up on the scratchy piece of furniture that was at least a foot too small for him.

“You know, it’s rude to stare at a man while he’s sleeping.”

I gasped, pushing back against the brass headboard as I looked down at Jacob, with his eyes closed and a sleepy half smile on his face.

“I-I-I wasn’t staring,” I said, covering up my faded pajamas with the fluffy comforter as if I’d been cocooned in the mass of floral bedding and not doing exactly what he accused me of.

How the hell could he even tell if his eyes were closed?

Slowly, Jacob sat up, running his hand through his mess of brown hair then down his face. “There’s a distinct presence you can notice if you’re asleep and being watched. From the heat of their breath to the rapid beating of their heart. Or in your case, the fact you stopped talking in your sleep and the bed creaked as soon as you started moving.”

He opened his eyes, and even full of sleep, in the dim morning light, they were the most magnificent shade of spring green with hints of ocean blue.

I had to look down to the bed so I’d stop staring at the guy. “I do not talk in my sleep.”

He laughed, and the weight of the bed shifted. When I glanced up, I found him perched at the end, that glorious dimpled smile on his face. “Ah, you do, damsel. But don’t worry, wasn’t anything I’ll repeat.”

My stomach sank as the reality of everything came flooding back.

My sister’s wedding.

She was probably waiting for me, worried sick, and I was in this awkward situation in a random hotel in England with a guy I’d just met, swooning over his gorgeous face. What would my sister say? Not just about this, but about everything I had to confess.

“Hey.”

Jacob’s warm hand was on my knee, and I forgot about everything. My body hummed the longer his hand remained, and when he moved it away, my skin grew cold, as if missing his touch.

“Where’d you go there in your own head, damsel?” His words were soft yet commanding. As if he was willing the answer out of me with the tip of his tongue.

“Just wondering how I’m going to be able to show up to this big estate and answer all these questions about Chris and school and…everything,” I whispered.

He swallowed hard. “Is there someone you can bring with you? Maybe break up the tension?”

“I don’t know anyone here. Well, I guess except of course for you now. So…”

“Are you saying I should go with you?”

“What?” I reared back, my knees jumping to my stomach. No, that would be… “Don’t you have your own family to visit?”

He laughed slightly, the smile spreading across his face. “Ah, I do. But I’m sure they won’t miss me for a wee bit while