‘You stay quiet,’ Dax said, walking just ahead of her. ‘Stay behind me.’

‘I don’t care what you do to Trystan,’ she whispered. ‘Just don’t let him upset you.’

‘I know how to deal with Trystan.’

The suite had double doors and was right at the end of the corridor. When they got there, Dax handed her the car key. ‘Why are you giving me this?’ she asked, tucking it into the pocket of her dress.

‘Because I want you to get Rosie and get out. Don’t wait for me. Just go.’

‘But how will you—?’

‘I don’t need you to look after me,’ Dax said.

‘We can go back to Saul’s and meet you there after—‘

‘No, go back to the beach house. You’ll be safe there. All of your things are in the car downstairs.’

‘I’m not leaving you here with him,’ Ivy said.

‘I’ll be right behind you,’ Dax said. ‘If it goes smoothly we’ll all be riding back together. But I’ll give you cover if you need to—‘

‘You didn’t bring this up until now, because…?

‘Because now there’s no time to argue about it,’ he said. Turning to face the door, he knocked, then pushed her behind his back again.

The GoldSpring-provided private attendant opened the door. She was blonde and in the same black and white uniform that Ivy had worn when she worked here.

‘Mr Stark is expecting you,’ the blonde said.

Ivy was pleased that the attendant didn’t appear any worse for wear, but the night was young, and the more Trystan indulged, the more unbearable he became. Her experience with Trystan Stark obviously hadn’t prompted management to make any changes – like to ensure that when Trystan was here only males were allowed to act as private attendant.

Though Trystan would probably request a female attendant, and when a guest was willing to pay the kind of money that Trystan did, management would cater to their every whim. Trystan knew it too, which was how he got away with his abominable behaviour so often.

The rounded window of this suite living room provided a space for couches, which were arranged to face each other. The private attendant pointed to the furthest couch. ‘If you’d like to take a seat, I’ll tell him that you’re here.’

The attendant left by way of a side door, behind the bar area of the suite, which Ivy knew led to a bedroom. Dax threw an arm around her and took her to the couch, seating himself in the corner and keeping her pressed to his side.

Scrutinising every detail of the room, Ivy’s attention eventually came to land back on him. ‘What?’ he asked.

‘You’re sitting exactly where you were the night I first saw you.’

‘Don’t think about that night,’ he said, yanking her closer so that he could kiss her head.

‘Trystan might have been a jerk that night, but I am sort of pleased things played out like they did. Being with you is the greatest thing that ever happened to me, I had to go through all the crap that I did in life so that when I found you, I would truly appreciate you.’

Bringing her hand to his face, Dax lowered his lips to hers. While this wasn’t the time or place for fervent romance, she wouldn’t shy from loving her husband just because Trystan might take exception to it.

It took a lot for Dax to be open with her, and Ivy savoured each time he trusted her and showed her affection, as he was doing now. Spoiling her with gifts and soppy words wasn’t where Dax excelled, he excelled in these moments where with the slightest touch he conveyed to her just how much he valued her.

A door opened, signalling that someone had come in. The private attendant appeared first, she nodded and then disappeared out of the suite giving Trystan the time to make his entrance. Trystan came in wearing a hotel-monogrammed bathrobe, strutting and displaying a smile that conveyed his pride in his actions.

He was a handsome guy with sand coloured hair and a square jaw. His cheekbones were sharp and still graced with the scar of where she had taken a bite out of him to free herself from his assault. But that mark, and the bruise he’d received at Dax’s hand, didn’t dull his striking looks.

Trystan was taking his time to observe her and Dax, maybe he was trying to intimidate them into speaking first, but he’d never out intimidate Dax.  Now that she had the time, Ivy tried to pick out any of their host’s features that might match Dax’s. Carina’s story had opened so many possibilities, but Ivy didn’t want to raise them with Dax until she could reach a decision on the veracity of Carina’s claims herself.

Hearing that he might be blood-related to Trystan would devastate Dax, and he was still dealing with the idea that Bruno was his father. Adding anything new to the mix would send him into turmoil, and there wasn’t the time for him to fight his way out of that now.

Finding out if the men were related was irrelevant because Dax would still despise Trystan just as much if it were a proven fact. But Ivy didn’t like to withhold information from Dax so she would have to tell him that the possibility existed. She’d have to pick an appropriate moment to discuss it with him, and this sure wasn’t the environment to be thinking about it.

‘Well Mr and Mrs Harrow, what a surprise,’ Trystan said as he strolled the width of the room.

‘You called us,’ Ivy said, not missing the chance to show him up.

‘I heard you were in town, and we are all family, aren’t we?’

Trystan settled his focus on Dax, Ivy glanced around to observe the frost Dax returned to his surrogate brother. They would try to stare each other to death all night if Ivy let them. It was about as violent as Trystan would get with Dax, he wasn’t quite crazy enough to believe that he could conquer Dax in a fight.

‘Where’s Rosie?’ Ivy asked.

‘Still asleep,’ Trystan said. ‘We had quite an eventful night.’

When Trystan had emerged from the bedroom in his robe, Ivy had feared what that meant, but the glint in his eyes confirmed her suspicions.

‘You had sex with her?’ Ivy asked.

Dax’s hand closed around hers, he must have sensed her desire to leap across the room and throttle the smug bastard.

‘What can I say?’ he grinned. ‘She wouldn’t take no for an answer.’

On coming here Ivy had worried that Trystan would irritate Dax, but she hadn’t given full merit to how much he’d grate on her. Getting any kind of rise from another person as a result of his behaviour was what thrilled Trystan and Ivy was his chosen target tonight.

Dax body blocked her when they both rose at the same time. Breaking her view of Trystan was a relief but that didn’t quench her need to see him exposed for the cruel coward that he was. Ivy looked forward to the day that would happen, and she hoped to have a front row seat.

‘Since we’re all here,’ Trystan said. ‘What do you say to a swop? Hmm? Yours for mine, Dax?’

Grabbing for Dax’s waist, it was Ivy’s turn to hold him in place, silently reminding him not to rise to Trystan’s bait. ‘Not a chance,’ Dax said.

‘You were happy to do it before, when dad suggested it. You were happy to give up your wife to me then, just so you could stay in the family.’

Dax started to move forward, but Ivy wrapped her arms around his torso and pressed her breasts into Dax’s spine. ‘He wants to upset you,’ she murmured into him.

‘You didn’t tell her that?’ Trystan asked. The smile in his voice was the sugar meant to make the poison slither down their gullets. ‘Yeah, Ivy, it’s just one of those things, you know, Stark men share women all the time.’

So she had recently heard, if Carina was right, then Mauri shared his wife, though he might not have known it at the time. ‘It’s a good thing that Dax isn’t a Stark then, isn’t it?’ she said, loosening her grip on Dax to slink around his body and into Trystan’s view. ‘He’s nothing like you. He’s a better man than all of you.’

‘No way for you to know that unless you agree to the swop,’ Trystan said. ‘Rosie’s in the bedroom, all warmed up for you, Dax. Don’t you worry about the wife, I know just how to get her going.’