by Nina Lindsey
“You’re right.” Edward’s jaw tightened. “It’s none of your business. But do you see that woman?”
He nodded toward Joanna, who was conversing with Lucy.
“She and I met when we were undergrads.” Edward’s expression softened a bit. “Twenty years old. She was the only person who didn’t laugh when I told her I wanted to start a computer company. She married me even though I had nothing. For years, I couldn’t even afford to give her a proper wedding ring. But she didn’t waver. Stuck by me through it all…the starts and stops, the failures, the times when I was ready to give up. I wouldn’t be where I am without her. Intellix might not even exist without her. And she has been heartbroken by Grant’s rejection of everything she wanted for him. Everything we’ve worked to provide.”
Edward stabbed his fork into his steak. “I won’t stand for it. I’ll remind him every chance I get that hurting his mother is unacceptable in every way.”
He turned to the person seated on his other side, effectively dismissing her.
Rory caught Grant looking at her. She found it very difficult to believe that he was intentionally hurting his mother. He tapped his watch and mouthed Let’s go.
“We’ll see you all tomorrow.” Pushing back his chair, he stood and turned to say goodbye to his brother and Alice.
As Rory said her goodbyes and thank-yous, Joanna rounded the table to her side.
“Tomorrow morning, we’re taking Alice to the spa for a few hours so she can relax before getting ready for the wedding,” Joanna explained. “Hot stone massage, facial, mud-bath, the works. I insist you join us.”
“Oh.” Rory shot Grant a desperate look, but he was speaking to his aunt. “I’m not really a spa kind of girl.”
“Nonsense. Every woman is a spa kind of girl.” Joanna narrowed her eyes on Rory’s face. “Your skin is lovely, but you might want to get those blackheads taken care of. The aestheticians can also show you how to enhance your features with makeup…red lipstick can be stunning, but with your pale skin, it’s a bit harsh.”
Rory forced a smile. She’d heard close to the same thing from her own mother over the years.
“A car will pick you up at nine.” Joanna patted Rory’s arm. “I’ll arrange a wake-up call just in case. I do apologize for Edward. He promised he wouldn’t cause a scene, but he has a hard time concealing his disappointment.”
Something twisted in Rory’s chest. “He has no reason to be disappointed in Grant. Neither do you.”
“Oh, I know, my dear.” Joanna smiled, though sadness touched her eyes. “Sometimes it’s just hard to let go of expectations. It breaks my heart that Grant’s choices have caused such a rift in our family.”
“Maybe…” Rory swallowed the suggestion that surfaced like a piece of sea glass in her mind. She had no right to interfere in Grant’s relationship with his family.
“See you tomorrow,” she said instead.
After Joanna left, Grant approached. A faint line of concern etched his forehead. “Was she asking about our wedding plans?”
“No, but I have to go for a hot stone massage and facial tomorrow.” Rory shifted on her uncomfortable heels. “I hope she hasn’t scheduled me for a bikini wax.”
He grinned. “Thanks for taking one for the team. And sorry about my father.”
“Tantrum aside, I like him.” She walked beside him to the elevator. “I’m sorry if I made things awkward by what I said.”
“You didn’t.” He glanced at her. “I appreciated what you said.”
“It just doesn’t seem like your dad is being fair. Has he ever tried your food?”
“Once when I was working up in Seattle, my mom dragged him to the restaurant where I was a sous-chef. She hoped it would soften him up.”
“Did it?”
“He ate everything I made, but didn’t actually tell me he liked it.” Grant tossed her a rueful grin. “So, no. It didn’t soften him up.”
“That kind of sucks.”
“Yeah.” He unlocked the hotel room door and stepped aside to let her enter. “I don’t like complaining about it, though. There are far worse things than your parents wanting a certain life for you.”
“But it’s not what you want.” Rory sank into a chair and kicked off her shoes.
“I have what I want now, so it doesn’t matter anymore.” After tossing his suit jacket on the bed, he lifted his arms above his head for a stretch. His shirt tugged over his chest, and his shoulder muscles bunched.
“What about your mother? It sounds like she was supportive.”
He shook his head, his mouth tightening. “I hate that she’s upset by all this, but unfortunately, she was part of the problem. She wanted me to work for Intellix, of course, and she still wants me back in the fold, married to the right girl, attending all her parties and events. Another good son she can show off.”
“Sounds like a lot of pressure.”
“Yeah.” He cracked open a bottle of Jack Daniel’s from the minibar and sloshed the liquor into two glasses. He handed her one, his fingers brushing hers. “It’s one of the reasons I ended up striking out on my own. I’ve been working in kitchens since college, but about eight years ago, I found a job at a restaurant in San Francisco. So I was living close to my parents again, and I figured I’d make my mother happy by going to parties and whatnot. Couldn’t hurt. At a museum benefit dinner, I met Vivian. We dated for a while and eventually I asked her to marry me.”
Rory lifted her eyebrow. “You were engaged?”
He downed a swallow of his drink. “Until I found out that my mother had set us up. She’d known Vivian and her family well and she wanted us to get married. A family connection thing, like joining dynasties. Vivian knew exactly what was going on. I was the idiot who thought we were in love.”
Though his tone was self-deprecating, it contained a hint of embarrassment. Indignation filled her.
“She was using you,” she said flatly.
“Wasn’t the first time.” Grant shrugged. “I’d been dealing with that my whole life. Nathan too, though he handled it better. The thing was…when I came back to work at the Golden Fork and tried to make amends with my parents, I thought I’d figured it out. I was cooking at this great restaurant, my mother was happy because I was socializing the way she wanted me to, I got to hang out with Nathan a lot, and for a while my father didn’t even mention me working for Intellix. Seemed like I’d found a way to fix everything that was wrong.”
A band constricted around Rory’s heart. She swirled the liquor in her glass. “But you didn’t.”
“No.” He pulled at his tie, his mouth compressing. “Vivian, her mother, and my mother had set up our meeting, and she was a great actress. Every time I sensed something was off, I talked myself out of my suspicions. I wanted it to work. I also wanted to be married for love, family, building a life together…all that sappy stuff.”
“When did you realize Vivian didn’t want the same thing?”
“When I found her texts to another man.” He swallowed the last of the whiskey and set the glass back on the table. “She made it abundantly clear why she had to be with me and not him, even though he was the one she loved. Needless to say, that was the end of our engagement. My mother tried to talk me out of the break-up, too. She still wanted her plan to work. She’s a master at interfering in other people’s lives, consequences be damned.”
The tightness around her heart intensified. Rory didn’t want to embarrass him or make him think she was pitying him by saying I’m sorry.
Truth be told, she was sorry he’d been hurt, but she wasn’t sorry that he’d escaped Vivian before they’d actually gotten married. She wasn’t sorry that he’d fought back against his mother’s manipulations.
She rose, rubbing a slight ache in her lower back. “Vivian is going to be at the wedding, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.” He yanked his tie off, the silk rustling against his tailored shirt. “I don’t care about her anymore, obviously, but I’m not
setting myself up for a repeat of the whole disaster either. My mother won’t be over the break-up until I’m married and settled down. Having you here will get her off my case so she can focus on what’s really important, which is Nathan’s wedding.”
“Well, I’m glad I can help.”
“You’re doing more than helping.” He indicated the minibar. “Do you want another drink?”
“No, I should get some sleep.” Rory bent to pick up her shoes. “I need to rest up for a morning of facials and mud baths.”
“I meant what I said.” He walked her to the door adjoining their rooms. “You’re a lifesaver.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “What flavor?”
“Pork rinds.”
She laughed. Grant’s eyes crinkled in responding amusement. He lifted a hand as if he were going to touch her—and her entire body went electric with anticipation—but then he dropped his hand back to his side.
“Get a good night’s sleep,” he said.
“You too.” Her voice came out breathless.
She walked to her room and closed the door behind her. She didn’t know whether to be pleased or worried about the fact that she and Grant appeared to have more in common than she’d ever realized before.
Chapter 6
“Where’d you find her?” Nathan eyed Grant in the reflection of the mirror as he fastened his bow-tie. “Rent-A-Chick?”
“Watch it.” Grant scowled. “She’s a good friend and my legitimate date.”
“I’m not saying I don’t like her.” Nathan stepped back to admire himself in the mirror. “I’m actually impressed that you came up with a plus one who’s both really hot and can talk shop with Dad. That’ll stick in Vivian’s craw.”
“That’s not why I brought Rory.” Grant pushed to his feet. He’d spent the morning with his brother and groomsmen, but this was the first time he and Nathan had been alone all day. “I’m sick of Mom hoping I’ll marry a girl from the right family who will magically get me to move back to the Bay Area.”
“I overheard Rory telling Dad she’ll be starting at Digicore after Thanksgiving.” Nathan picked a piece of lint off the sleeve of his tuxedo. “Does that mean she’s moving to San Jose?”
“Yeah.” An odd tightness spread through Grant’s shoulders.
Though he’d known Rory was back in Bliss Cove “temporarily,” he’d never really considered the fact that she would move away one day. She deserved a great job, and obviously a woman with a brain like hers needed to live in the hub of the tech industry, but…he’d gotten used to having her around.
“So what’s going to happen to your relationship when she moves?” Nathan slanted him a curious glance.
Grant shrugged and pushed to his feet. “Guess we’ll figure it out. Thanks for your concern. Now go get married.”
“Oh, shit.” Nathan’s mouth opened, and shock dawned in his eyes. “I’m getting married.”
Grant grinned and clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Good luck, man.”
He pulled Nathan into an embrace before returning to his own hotel room to get dressed. He and Rory had agreed to meet in the hotel lobby at four, and he didn’t know whether or not to be wary about the recap of her spa day with Alice, his mother, and God knew how many other women. He wasn’t worried about Rory saying anything that might give away their ruse, but he didn’t want her to be uncomfortable or anxious. He’d have serious issues with anyone who made her feel that way.
After knotting his blue-and-gray silk tie, he went to the lobby. Many of the wedding guests were also staying at the Ritz-Carlton, and they teemed around the lobby in suits and evening gowns like a flotilla of ships. People stopped to greet him with the usual comments and questions—hello, congratulations to Nathan, how’ve you been?
He responded politely, but sensed their inevitable judgements simmering under the surface. How could he walk away from his family? So ungrateful. Clearly he doesn’t appreciate everything he had.
Still, none of it mattered anymore. He’d made his choice. Even if he’d wanted to change it, which he didn’t, entering the tech industry at thirty-five when you didn’t even have a cell phone was hardly a bang-up start.
His heart thumped against his ribs. He turned. Rory was coming out of the elevator, stunning in a sequin-and-lace, rose-colored cocktail dress that flowed from a fitted bodice into gentle folds around her knees. Her hair was pulled into a fancy knot with little tendrils framing her face, and she wore a light coating of makeup that enhanced her features.
Beautiful as she was, she didn’t look at all like the T-shirt-wearing Rory who complained about his singing fish and lack of technology.
“Hi.” She stopped, indicating his suit. “Again, you look good.”
“So do you. Very…shiny and sparkly.”
“The shine is because I was exfoliated within an inch of my life.”
He smiled in sympathy. “Was it horrible?”
“Not really.” She extended her bare arm. “My skin is as smooth as a baby’s butt. Feel.”
He skimmed his hand over her arm. His blood heated. As far as he could tell, her skin felt the same as it had when he’d touched her in the Mousehole kitchen. Velvet, silk, and pure warmth.
Rory pulled her arm away from him and stepped back so abruptly that she teetered on her heels.
“Whoa.” He closed his hand around her wrist.
Her pulse raced under his fingertips. She was so damned responsive.
He’d always known she had fire because of the spark in her blue eyes and the way she bitched at him, but he’d also seen her reaction to the men who tried to hit on her at the Mousehole. Her cold look alone gave them frostbite. Grant always greatly enjoyed watching the dickwads stammer and slink away from her.
Which begged the question…when was the last time she had a boyfriend? Or a date? Or sex? She’d needled him about his lack of dating, but what about her?
Though he fully intended to find out, half an hour before his brother’s wedding was bad timing.
Releasing Rory’s wrist, he indicated the town cars and limos clustered outside the hotel’s front doors. “The car will take us to the church first, then the reception.”
“Great. I hope there’ll be cake.”
They were whisked away to the cathedral, where large bouquets and ribbons decorated the pews, and guests lined up to sign a leather guest book. An usher led them to their seats in the front row.
The ceremony was elaborate but heartfelt, with his parents heading the processional of a dozen bridesmaids and groomsmen. Alice was resplendent in a white Cinderella gown, and Grant didn’t even have to look at his little brother to sense Nathan’s joy over marrying her.
While Grant had never been into the show-off nature of weddings, he was very glad he’d come to witness his brother and Alice’s happiness. He might’ve even experienced a tightness in his throat when Nathan choked up while reciting his vows.
After the newlywed couple departed to resounding applause, Grant had to accompany his parents for picture-taking. To avoid Joanna coercing her into the photos, Rory told him she’d meet him at the reception.
During the excessive picture-taking, Grant’s impatience stretched thin. He almost wished he had a cell phone so he could text Rory and make sure she wasn’t bored or feeling out of place among people she didn’t know.
When the photographer was finally done, he hurried to the reception hall, which was housed in a massive classical building with a vast staircase sweeping up to a columned porch. As he’d expected, his parents and Alice’s parents had spared no expense for the wedding reception.
The ballroom was like a palace with flowers everywhere—including vast bouquets suspended from the coffered ceiling—chairs decorated with immense gauzy bows, glittering china place settings, and a head table elevated on a carpeted dais. Guests mingled and wandered to and from the open bar as they waited for the sit-down dinner to be served.
When he saw that he and Rory were seated at a tabl
e of his father’s friends, he sent his brother a silent thank-you for ensuring they weren’t at the single women table. After greeting the other guests and introducing Rory, he went to the bar to get them both drinks.
“Hello, Grant.”
Tension stiffened his spine. Vivian stepped into the space beside him, as lovely and elegant as ever in a blue gown that skimmed her slender figure. Her blond hair was twisted in a French knot, and diamonds glittered at her throat and ears.
“A glass of Merlot and an old-fashioned,” he told the bartender. “Hello, Vivian.”
“Alice told me you’d be here. It’s been a long time.”
“Yes, it has.” He waited to experience some emotion—anger, hurt, regret—but there was nothing. Not even sadness over what he’d thought he’d lost. He’d never even had what he’d thought in the first place.
Vivian stepped forward, extending her arms. He gave her a perfunctory embrace, his nose filling with the smell of expensive perfume before he moved away from her.
“You look fantastic.” She smiled and patted his lapel. “It’s been far too long since you’ve been back. Believe me, I’ve taken notice.”
“It’s been awhile.” He let his gaze slide to the guests milling around the reception hall. “How have you been?”
“Just fine, thanks.” She moved her hand down his chest. “You look wonderful. All that cooking and whatnot clearly agrees with you.”
He backed up another step to try and politely get her to stop touching him. She stepped forward, her hand now inside his jacket.
“Where’s your boyfriend, Vivian?” He pushed her hand away from him.
“You mean Jordy? That didn’t last. I told you I was sorry.”
“Obviously that didn’t make a difference.”
“So when are you moving back to civilization, Grant?” She lifted her eyebrows in inquiry. “I miss seeing you around. Daddy has season tickets to both the opera and the Giants, you know. We could have a lot of fun again.”