The Prince's Maid.

Chapter17

Adrian's jaw dropped a little and the smile was wiped off my face. Wow, must be a touchy subject. Either way, I didn't back down; this was something I had to know.

The shock on Adrian's face was soon replaced with a hard look, one that warned me to back away from the matter, but I ignored it and stood my ground.

"There's nothing to tell." He stated.

"There must be. You get all defensive whenever I bring it up." I folded my arms across my chest and straightened my back a little.

"Think what you like, I don't have a brother."

I wanted to come back with something to encourage him to tell me, despite it being blatantly clear that he wasn't about to tell me why he was so protective over this tiny bit of information.

Maybe it's just not as tiny as you think, a voice in the back of my head pointed out. That's a possibility. But if Adrian and Tristan really are brothers, from what I've heard, nothing bad went down between them, so it shouldn't be a terrible thing for him to admit that he has a brother.

Unfolding my arms, I let them drop to my sides and shifted my weight onto one foot and bit my lip, thinking.

"You know, you shouldn't go 'round pokin' in other people's business. Bein' nosy will only get yur nose chopped off." A deep voice from behind me said. Turning around, there was a man who looked an awful lot like Billy, but with an eyepatch over one eye. His face was clear, a little leathery looking, but no deep wrinkles across his face. He was well built and his dark hair was toussled, as though it hadn't been brushed for days, which was most likely true. Actually, he'd probably never owned a brush.

"I'm right though, aren't I?" I asked, frowning a little in curiosity.

The man shrugged. "I dunno. I've never asked."

I pursed my lips before blurting out, "Are you and Billy brothers?"

There was silence for a moment while the man had a look of pure amusement on his face before tipping his head back and laughing so loudly, I felt the need to cover up my ears. It was slightly infectious though, because soon enough, there was a smile tugging at the corners of my lips as an invitation to join in. I resisted though, because I'd been serious.

He stopped laughing abruptly, taking deep breaths to calm himself and scratched his head before answering. "No, I'm Billy's father."

My eyes widened a little. "What? No way!"

He chuckled. "Sure I am. I'm only thirty-nine, Billy's twenty-one now. He's all grown up. How old did yuh think I was?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, just didn't think you looked old enough to be a father."

He smiled gently at me. "It's because I've never had tuh deal with stress of anythin'. Billy was an easy child to take care of up until his teenage years. That's when he star'ed gettin' difficult. Buh by this point, I'd learned he was independent, so I didn't stop 'im. Probably shudda, lookin' back, cause he ain't half got a temper on 'im."

I let out a sharp laugh. "You can say that again. So what's your name, may I ask?"

"I be Edward. An' I'm guessin' you're that Marissa that ev'ryone's been talkin' 'bout?" Even now, his smile hadn't faltered one bit, and I could see myself warming up to him already. I nodded at him, clenching my jaw a little. I hated being the centre of attention, and now everyone on this ship and most likely on the island that I was headed to knew my name. Great.

"I go by the name Andrea now though." I informed him.

"Why's that?"

"When I was first employed, my name got changed to show first ownership." I shrugged; to me, it was no big deal because it happens to everyone.