Belle reached for him. "You want to know your brother."
His brother. Harrison Kent was a toddling ball of energy being raised by nannies and housekeepers. He would be sent to boarding school in a few years, poor guy. His brother was innocent, and he needed to know that he always had a place with someone who would care no matter what. Kellan intended to give his brother what he'd never had-someone who understood him, someone who loved him for who he was, not what he could accomplish or who he could crush on his rise to the top.
"I do. I don't know how much contact Dad and Lila will let me have, but I'll take whatever I can get."
He'd finally figured something out. He didn't have to be perfect for the people he loved. He just had to be there. With them. Through everything.
"I'm so glad," Belle said. She kissed him on the cheek. "Kellan, I'm truly happy for you."
"How long is this party going to take?" He was anxious to get to the good part.
"It's winding down now," Belle explained. "Kinley's getting tired. The pregnancy is rough on her, but she's so happy I don't think she cares."
Tate leaned over and kissed her. "I'll have the caterers start wrapping up."
Eric shook his hand. "Good to have you back. I'll start gently moving people toward the exits. We have a lot to talk about."
They did.
And Belle had to answer a question before she spent the night serving her Masters.
All three of them.
* * * *
Belle tried to calm her shaky nerves as she let Sir back inside. The house was quiet, the guests and caterers gone. The place was back into shape for the next day. She was going to start meeting with clients tomorrow and her first ones would likely prove to be fairly easy, since Eric and Tate wanted her to decorate their brand new offices here in New Orleans.
She would miss having them with her all day, but she wouldn't miss the masses of paperwork and computers underfoot and on her grandmother's antique surfaces. They were all starting fresh.
How long would Kellan stay with them?
She patted her puppy's head and settled him into his little dog bed they kept in the kitchen. She would have let him sleep in her room, but Eric had nearly killed the little thing by rolling on top of him because Sir wouldn't stay off the bed. Despite the fact that their new bed was built big enough for four, Sir always tried to sleep right against someone.
Was Kellan going to take her up on her offer? Was he going to visit her for sex, then go back to his life in Chicago? It had seemed all right when she'd made the offer weeks ago, but now she wasn't sure she could surrender herself to him all night, then watch him leave the next morning.
After discovering that none of the men were in the living room or the library, Belle started up the stairs. She'd watched them talking together through the end of the party. They'd had their heads together, and their conspiratorial air had given her pause. What were they up to? They'd given every appearance of plotting and planning together. Had they been deciding how to tell her she'd have two husbands, not three?
Belle stopped just short of the third floor. When she closed her eyes, she could still see Kellan lying on her bedroom floor, wounded. Bleeding. That night, she'd been so scared he would die. She'd pressed her hands to his body, as if trying to push her life force into him. She'd refused to let him go then. She wasn't sure she could do it now.
No matter what he told her tonight, she couldn't give up on him. He had a second chance. So did she. Belle intended to fight harder than ever.
Resolve settled over her like a warm blanket. Kell was evolving. He'd gone to DC and confronted his father. He'd reached out to start a relationship with his brother. Those two things had been inconceivable a few weeks before. But now, Kellan was accepting his past in a way he never had. She had to believe he'd come around in time. She would wear him down, give him so much love he wouldn't be able to say no to her in the end.
She opened the door, ready to don something sexy and fight for her reluctant man as she seduced the other two.
But Kellan stood in the middle of the room, looking absolutely perfect in his suit and tie. Eric and Tate flanked him. Someone had transformed the place.
Belle looked around in complete wonder. "How did you do this?"
Everywhere she looked, the room seemed soft and romantic. At least a hundred candles lit the room with gauzy splendor. And dozens of bouquets of her favorite flowers, calla lilies, lay all around the room.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Kellan asked, his voice tight with some unnamed emotion. "This place is magical."
Tears filled her eyes. "I thought it was haunted."
"Not anymore," Eric said with a gentle smile. "Not since we found a real medium to cleanse the place."