“You idiot.” Arabella’s voice cuts into a rather satisfying dream in which I’ve just saved Tessa from a hippo (considered the most dangerous animal in all of Africa, you know) and she’s about to thank me.

“Wake up!”

I open my eyes. “Nice to see you, too.”

“If you cost me the chance at having Tessa as my sister-in-law, I will never forgive you.” Arabella whips the curtains open and a blinding light causes me to wince.

“Wow, when you change your mind about someone, you really change your mind.”

“Don’t think you can distract me, you arse.”

“Arse? That’s hardly fair.”

“It’s more than fair. Now get up, get dressed, and go fix what you broke before it’s too late.”

“We had a little disagreement. It’s hardly a deal-breaker, so leave me alone.” I roll over and pull the covers over my head. “I’ve had almost no sleep over the past two days.”

“How can you think of sleep at a time like this? You’re about to lose the love of your life.”

“Wait. How did you know about any of this? Did Tessa call you?”

“No. I heard from one of the staff this morning.”

I raise one eyebrow. Arabella lifts her chin. “I’ll never tell so don’t bother. Did you really sleep with Brooke?”

“No. Of course not,” I snap. “She got caught here during the ice storm. She was here examining Grandmum. I made her some dinner. We had a few laughs. I walked her to one of the guest rooms. End of story.”

“You cooked for her?”

“Why is that such a big deal to you women? I had let the staff go already, so someone needed to make dinner.”

“I don’t like it. It’s too cozy.”

“What was I supposed to do? Turn her out onto the street?” Giving up on sleep I start to get up, but Arabella covers her eyes with her hands and shrieks.

“Don’t get up!”

“Right.” I’m naked. Almost forgot. “Please wait in the living room until I’ve had a chance to put on some clothes.”

“Fine.” She nods then leaves, with Dexter trailing behind her.

I lay back, staring at the ceiling and wishing I could just go back to sleep. Instead, I grumble as I force myself out of bed and throw on some sweatpants and a T-shirt. By the time I walk out into the living room she and Dex are in a full-on love-fest, with him licking her cheek while she rubs behind his ears. When she sees me, she glares.

“I know I should have told her at the time, but she wasn’t exactly in the best mood the next day, so I put it off.”

“For three months?”

Sighing, I grab a bottle of water from the mini-fridge. “This really is none of your business. You do realize that?”

“It bloody well is. Tessa’s the best thing that’s happened to this family in a long time and I’m not going to just sit back and watch you mess it up.”

“I tried to apologize. She wasn’t ready to hear it, but I’m sure if I give her a day to cool off she’ll come around.”

“So, you just left it like that? ‘Sorry, babe, come on by when you’re ready to forgive me?’”

“First of all, I never call her ‘babe.’ Second, she wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise, then she stormed off. In case you didn’t notice she was a bit out of sorts yesterday, so the smart move was to just let her go. Third, this truly is None. Of. Your. Business. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go in search of a coffee.”

“No, what you need to do is go in search of your fiancée.”

“Relax. She’ll probably wake up this morning, realize she overreacted, and it’ll all be sorted out by lunch.”

“Doubt it. I think you really stepped in it this time.”

“Thanks, Dr. Phil, but I don’t require your advice on women.”

* * *

Apparently, I do need advice on women because it’s been two days and I haven’t heard a word from Tessa. I’ve texted, called, and emailed, but I’m getting nothing. Now, I’m starting to get a little mad. The media is having a field day with the scandal, with the Amnesia security footage playing around the clock. The Spanish Trade Agreement is also setting off waves in the financial district and I’m thanking my lucky stars that the referendum about whether to oust the Royal Family isn’t happening now, because I’m certain we’d lose. I’ve never had so many angry phone calls in my life.

The top trending topic on Twitter since Sunday is #BrookeIsBetter, which shows no signs of slowing down. Things are getting really vicious now. Whoever he is has created meme with a photo of Brooke and me on top and a picture of Tessa kicking that chap onto the floor on the bottom. The caption is “Why go for the sublime when you can choose the ridiculous?”

It’s been retweeted eight thousand times now.

My phone rings and I see that it’s Chaz. “Hello, Chaz, how’s the world treating you?”

“For once, better than you.”

“You’ve been watching the news.”

“I’ve been watching the Twitter feed. You figure out who it is yet?”

“No. I haven’t had a chance to even think about it with the whole Spain scandal debacle.”

“I suppose not. You and Tessa all right?”

“Not exactly.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I hope things will clear up.”

“At this point, I wouldn’t bet my crown jewels on it. Can I call you later? I’m just heading into a meeting.”

“Keep your eyes open. Whoever it is, is probably right under your nose.”