Page 10 of Riding High

‘RM is amazing, too.’

Later that afternoon, after a long sleep, Eden couldn’t believe that she was sitting cross-legged in the middle of what she was sure was a seventeenth-century bed, discussing K-pop with Mick.They’d been chatting about being fully fledged members of ARMY and the band’s performances for the last twenty minutes while Eden drank two cups of tea and scoffed four scones topped high with home-made strawberry jam and yellow clotted cream.

She was still covered in hives, but she felt a lot better than when Jed had deposited her on this bed several hours ago.Mick had also jabbed her with another antihistamine dose ten minutes ago, so she was expecting to feel sleepy again soon.

Mick sighed.‘They are so incredibly talented.But sometimes I think of the sacrifices they made to get to where they are today and how difficult it must be to live a vaguely normal life.’

Eden nodded.She had no concept of what it would feel like to be that visible, to live your life in a fishbowl.

Frankly, she couldn’t think of anything worse.Just going to the police, being questioned by them, had been bad enough– terrible, actually– and she couldn’t imagine having reporters and fans in your face all the time.

While her uncle wasn’t K-pop, BTS famous, he was well known, and his liaisons with much younger women often made the online, and print, gossip columns.From what she’d seen, he didn’t seem to mind the attention.

Eden placed her teacup on the tray.‘Are you sure MrCastle doesn’t mind me staying here?’she asked, once again looking for reassurance.

‘He loves having people to stay.Did I tell you that this room is called the Tatooine Suite?There are five other empty guest rooms on this floor.Alderaan is opposite, with the Yavin, Hoth and Dagobah further down the long passage.Troyden’s obsession with Stars Wars knows no bounds.’

So she wasn’t putting anyone out.Good to know.‘And you live on the grounds?’

Mick nodded.‘With my demon spawn.Gemma is six, Liam is four.’

Should she ask?Would she be overstepping the mark?‘Where’s their dad?’she asked.‘You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.’

‘Why wouldn’t I want to?’Mick asked, reaching across the bed to snag the last scone, popping it into her mouth and closing her eyes.‘Yum.Xavier is an Argentinian polo player, one of a handful of ten-handicap players in the world.’

Eden blinked, trying to keep up.‘That’s good, right?’

‘Very.He’s not a bad father; he’s affectionate when he remembers they exist.Xavier is’—she hesitated—‘loud and brash and sucks the marrow out of life.He’s made to keep moving through life at speed, and children slow him down.Naturally, I blame the kids’ wild streak on him.’Mick wrinkled her nose.‘Though, to be fair, I used to be that way too.’

She was so open, so very honest, and in her company, Eden felt herself relaxing.She’d never met anyone who made her feel so quickly accepted and more at ease than Mick.Is this what it felt like to have a friend?It was a silly thought, because she’d be leaving Elmsleigh House in the morning and she wasn’t sure she’d ever return.Eden slid down the bed, tucked a pillow behind her head and yawned.

‘How long have you been living on the estate?’Eden asked, feeling satiated.And sleepy.

‘I moved in shortly after Liam was born,’ Mick said, stretching like a cat.‘Alistair had been living here for a few years already and I moved in with him?—’

‘Who?’

Mick rolled onto her stomach and placed her pointed chin in the palm of her hand.‘Alistair, one of my three stepbrothers.’

‘You havethreestepbrothers?’

Mick grinned.‘Growing up with them was why I mistakenly thought I could handle Xavier.’

Eden loved hearing stories about other people’s families.‘How did you come to have three stepbrothers?’

Oh, she knew that Troyden had been married and divorced, that he had stepchildren, but Eden suspected Mick’s version of the story would be a lot more interesting, and vivid, than what the press reported.

This felt like a girly heart-to-heart, a combination of a sleepover and gossip-sesh.And she was here for it.Because it might, realistically, be her first and last.

‘Okay, so Troyden is very bad at keeping wives, but he excels at keeping his stepkids around.Alistair is his oldest step and he occupies the first cottage.He’s crazy about Justin, his saint-like husband, gym and boring spreadsheets, for the love of God.’

‘Spreadsheets are incredible,’ Eden protested, because she was partial to a good spreadsheet.

‘What’s wrong with a Post-it?’Mick waved a hand in the air and lifted her nose.‘If you defend Al and his love of spreadsheets, we can’t possibly be friends.’

Seriously?Oh, wait, the smile lifting Mick’s lips suggested she was teasing.Right.‘Tell me about your other siblings,’ she murmured.

‘Anyway, Al and Justin, first cottage, no kids.I have the second cottage and share it with the demon spawn.Kael uses the next cottage along when he’s at home.He’s a war correspondent and photographer, very intense, seldom around, and the youngest of my sibs.I miss him.’Mick pulled out her phone and scrolled through her photos, stopping on an image of a dusty, stubbled blonde staring into the camera.Eden noticed the streak of soot across his cheekbone, and his intense, flinty green eyes.He was hot, in a touch-me-and-get-singed way.