Sweet Sinclair (Masters of the Castle) Read Free Page A

been expecting. Everyone in Granger knew about the Castle. It had been the focus of intense gossip and speculation for years and yet there was surprisingly little actual information to be had beyond the commonly known fact that this place was a bordello that catered specifically to the very rich. They came from all over the country. Indeed, all over the world. They parked in the oversized Starbuck’s parking lot on the outskirts of town and periodically throughout the day, unmarked buses came and went with a steady stream of people being picked up or dropped off. It was all very mysterious and, apart from the employees of the coffee shop, no one in Granger would have admitted to doing business with “Castle people.” Knowing that she was the first to break this unspoken taboo sat in the pit of Sinclair’s stomach like an electric wire. It made her whole body hum. Just what was she getting herself into?
    “Why couldn’t I drive myself again?” Sinclair asked the van’s driver, Jackson she thought he’d said his name was back when he’d first picked her up. But that had been almost twenty minutes ago and she’d been so rattled at the time she could barely remember her own name, much less someone else’s.
    Looking back at her through the rearview mirror, he smiled. “Nervous?”
    “A little,” she admitted and then, for reasons she couldn’t quite identify, confessed, “I’ve never done something like this before.”
    “You’ll be fine,” Jackson said. “The Castle specializes in fantasy atmosphere. No sign of modern times are allowed anywhere on the grounds. We have one parking lot located at the very back of the property where it’s hidden from the guests. Only employees who live on the grounds are allowed to keep a car there; everyone else takes the buses. Since, obviously, you won’t be expected to cart all your food and equipment on the bus, I’ll be happy to make as many runs as necessary to bring in whatever you need.”
    “Who did your catering last year?” she asked.
    Jackson glanced back through the rearview again, his dark eyes assessing her. “Truth be told, this is the first time we’ve brought outsiders in to do anything for our guests. You must have made one hell of an impression on Sam.”
    Sinclair drew a complete blank. She couldn’t think of anyone named Sam, so either he hadn’t introduced himself or she knew him by another name entirely. That puzzled her though. Most of her clients were kids or teens. She tried to think back through the week, but she couldn’t place a single customer or order capable of spawning this kind of job opportunity.
    “I have no idea what to make of this,” she said, more to herself than to him.
    Jackson only flashed her another of his soothing smiles. “That’s okay, honey. You haven’t seen anything yet.”
    He turned off the main road onto a narrow, unpaved drive that was sandwiched between two neatly-planted corn fields. They paused at a gatehouse long enough for the guard to verify the identity of the driver. He gave her only the most precursory glance before opening the gate to allow the van through.
    They drove past the Castle, leaving the trees to swallow it up again, and a large gravel lot, completely surrounded by careful landscaping and high shrubs, came into view. The walk to the Castle was nearly half a mile down a well-lit gravel path. The sun was lower than the horizon now, painting everything in shades of shadow and grey, but with the garden lamps now winking on above them, it was easy enough to see where they were going.
    “This is the service entrance,” Jackson said, walking ahead of her to punch a code into the lock of a high privacy gate. “We’ll come and go through here. You’re less likely to run into guests this way.”
    The gate fed directly into a small herbal garden and concrete patio. Two picnic tables and a smattering of benches provided a kind of break-room atmosphere under a poor-weather canopy. There was even