by Mari Carr
Elyse had cut way back on her social life after Elliot’s death. With Mrs. Wythe’s help, she’d begun to see that there were more important things than so-called celebrity status. She hoped to someday be able to call herself a businesswoman, but her father saw her dyslexia as a weakness. Elias Hunt did not tolerate any weakness, any flaw, any imperfection. Mrs. Wythe was helping Elyse stand up to her father, to force him to accept her as an intelligent woman capable of running a billion-dollar corporation.
Elyse looked over her shoulder anxiously, wondering what the Grand Master thought of Sebastian’s rejection of this union. Given the terrifying rumors about punishments meted out to members who went against the society’s rules, she was concerned Sebastian might be dead.
“Do you think we should wait here or head over to the hotel to wait for Seb there?”
“I think we better wait here. So…Seb? That’s his nickname?”
Elyse nodded. “Yeah. I mean, at least it was when we were in school.” It occurred to her that Grant seemed older than she and Sebastian.
“How old are you?” she asked, suddenly curious.
“Thirty-five. And you?”
She was about to embark on a lifetime of wedded bliss with this man. They obviously both had a lot of questions. “Twenty-five.”
Ten years. She wondered if that sizable gap bothered him.
“You said you grew up on the West Coast. Are you still there?”
“Yes. I have a condo in L.A., though I’m on the road most of the year. My job drags me to too many different cities for long periods of time.”
Elyse tried not to be relieved by that tidbit. She’d become a bit of a homebody and pretty stuck in her ways the past couple of years. She wouldn’t mind absentee husbands. It would allow her to keep her life simple, uncomplicated.
“I assume you live here in Boston?”
Elyse nodded. “I have a condo on Boston Harbor.”
Grant let out a low whistle. “That must have cost you a pretty penny.”
She smiled. There was no judgment or jealousy behind his observation. It almost felt as if he was a friend, teasing her good-naturedly. “I paid three-point-one million for it. But it came with two parking spaces, so it was totally worth it.”
He laughed at her joke, a deep, rich sound that shoved her completely into the Grant camp. She liked him. A lot. And she imagined there were worse things than being united with him for life.
Like being united with Sebastian.
Her stomach lurched. She had spent so much of the past few years trying to forget the night she’d almost given her virginity to him. She’d often wondered what their lives would have been like if they’d made it to bed. If they’d had sex.
Facing him again, she’d felt parts of the old Elyse reemerging, despite her best efforts. What was it about being faced with someone from high school that made all the insecurities and bad habits of the teenage years resurface?
Not that she blamed Sebastian for his reaction. The last time they’d seen each other had been disastrous. So many times, she’d looked back on graduation night and wished she’d done everything differently.
She had traveled with the wrong pack in school, attaching herself to the “mean girls”. The clique had been so snooty and bitchy they would have given Regina George and the “plastics” a run for their money, but they weren’t particularly bright. Elyse had successfully managed to fool every teacher she’d ever had in school, making them think she was capable, but lazy. Every report card said Elyse was well behaved, a nice girl, but uninterested in her studies.
None of them—with the exception of her senior English teacher—ever knew how hard she worked to get the grades associated with what they viewed as mediocre attempts. Mrs. Rayburn had been different. She’d recognized Elyse’s struggles and given them a name—dyslexia. Elyse had always known she saw the words on the page differently, but the pressure from her father to be perfect kept her silent.
Mrs. Rayburn—bless her—understood Elyse’s desire to keep her disability a secret. And she promised not to divulge it…if Elyse agreed to work with a tutor.
Sebastian had been offered community service credit to tutor her, despite the fact he wasn’t exactly crazy about it. Her association with the clique had formed her reputation as that of a snooty airhead. For most of their lives, Sebastian had lumped her in with that crowd, assuming she was just like those girls, and she’d never bothered to correct that misconception—on his part or anyone else’s. It had served her purpose perfectly.
Of course, she’d been guilty of drawing the same assumptions about Sebastian, referring to him as a teacher’s pet and goody two-shoes. Elyse’s father would have adored Sebastian because he was the ideal student, straight A’s, president of all the clubs, valedictorian of the class. Mr. Perfect. Every time Sebastian’s name was brought up in her presence, she and her twin brother, Elliot, would roll their eyes and groan.
As their senior year progressed, Elyse realized Sebastian wasn’t perfect. He was just a really nice, normal guy. Because she’d asked Sebastian not to tell anyone about the tutoring, no one in school knew they were friends, not even Juliette—Seb’s best friend—or Elliot.
And, in typical teenage fashion, whenever a boy is cute and nice to a girl, Elyse fell for him. Hard.
The door opened, jarring her from her memories, and Sebastian walked back into the room. He looked slightly surprised to see them still standing there. He glanced at her briefly, and then turned his attention to Grant.
“I want to apologize for my rudeness during the ceremony.”
Grant accepted Sebastian’s outstretched hand, shaking it. “Okay.”
Apparently Sebastian’s contrition didn’t extend to her. “There’s a car outside, waiting to take us to Boston Park Plaza.”
The car seemed unnecessary, as the hotel was only a few blocks away from the library, but she assumed it was simply part of the tradition. The Plaza was a beautiful hotel. She had attended several functions—wedding receptions, fundraisers, and the like—in its grand ballroom.
It also seemed silly to stay in a hotel when her apartment was so close, but returning home wasn’t an option. Newly formed trinities were expected to stay together in the hotel for one week—a get-to-know-you sort of occasion where they figured out a way to make their lives fit together. She was going to be ensconced in a suite with Sebastian for seven days. There was no question that sex was supposed to be a part of that getting-to-know-you process.
Because members of the Trinity Master knew from the moment they joined that they’d one day have an arranged marriage to not just one, but two people, most members’ attitudes about sex were decidedly liberal. Many used the tradition as an excuse to experiment and play around before they were called to the altar. Elyse was sorry she hadn’t done that herself. Her sexual experience was decidedly limited. And she was probably going to pay for that.
While she’d gotten a very good look at Grant’s body and she was certain sleeping with him would be no hardship, she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have sex with Sebastian. God knew she’d fantasized about it enough over the years, but given his cold expression, she suspected it would be less like the lovemaking of her dreams and more like angry fucking.
“We should get out of these robes.” Grant gestured toward the dressing room doors they’d all emerged from earlier. “I’ll meet you both in the hallway in a few minutes.”
Grant was clearly a man of action. No sooner had he said the words than he’d departed, leaving her alone with Sebastian.
Sebastian hadn’t bothered to remove his clothing prior to the ceremony, so he simply tugged the robe over his head, revealing his street clothes. Like Grant, Elyse had taken everything off, had been fully prepared to bare herself to her new partners.
Sebastian raised his eyebrows, as if to dare her to take the robe off now. She didn’t move. Instead, she said, “You didn’t apologize to me.”
He didn’t miss a beat. “So
rry.” It was the least sincere apology in the history of apologies.
Her anger sparked at his continued condescension. Then she realized she had always been furious with him. Ever since that night…
She’d thought he cared about her. Thought he’d cared enough to overcome all the shit and be with the true Elyse. But he’d been just like everyone else in her life. Happy to walk away when she revealed a flaw, when it became obvious she wasn’t perfect.
For the past twenty-four hours, she’d existed on nothing but nervous anticipation that had kept her up all night. All of that had turned to dread when she’d watched Sebastian walk to the altar. She was in no mood to deal with any of this. She’d go to the hotel, lock herself in one of the bedrooms and shut it all down. Pretend it didn’t exist. She was very good at escaping when life got too hard.
She started to turn and walk back to the dressing room, but Sebastian caught her upper arm and spun her toward him.
“Why didn’t you take your robe off at the altar?”
She tried to shake off his grip. “Why didn’t you?”
“You know why.”
“You’re pissed off. Annoyed about being saddled with me for the rest of your life.”
“Listen, Elle—”
She sucked in a breath at the nickname. No one had called her that in years. It was one of the first things she’d shed after school—at Mrs. Wythe’s suggestion.
“My name is Elyse.”
If he heard her, Sebastian gave no sign. Instead, he forged on. “Do you seriously blame me? God, that night at the hotel…what you asked me to do. And everything that happened after. You have to know how hard that was for me.”
“It wasn’t easy for me either.” Her heart broke as she spoke those words, bringing back the same agonizing pain she’d suffered when he had walked away from her seven years earlier, his face cold and impassive.
“Don’t worry, Seb.” Her tone revealed a confidence she didn’t feel, but after years of wearing a false face, she’d become an expert at playing the roles expected of her. “That’s the beauty of the Trinity Masters, right? There’s always a spare. Grant seems like a decent guy. He and I can wear the public face and you can just check in from time to time. No harm, no foul.”
He scowled. “That’s not how this works and you know it.”
She shrugged, forcing a nonchalance she didn’t feel. “Maybe not, but you and I both know this isn’t going to work. It’s a complete mismatch. The Grand Master made a mistake.”
Sebastian fell silent for a few moments. Part of her hoped he’d refute her comments, tell her she was wrong, tell her they could start over.
Once again, he didn’t say anything at all.
“So,” she continued, “we’ll simply play the game. Put on a good face in public, then stay out of each other’s way the rest of the time.”
He shook his head. “No. We’re not doing it that way.”
She wasn’t sure how to reply to his comment. She was letting him off the hook, giving him an out. And he wasn’t taking it.
Was his refusal to be set free based on that damn by-the-book philosophy he treated like a religion? Or was there some part of him that accepted this? That accepted her?
Elyse hated how happy that thought made her…for one brief second. Then it was dashed against the rocks by a single query.
“How’s your brother?”
The question caught her off guard, knocked her down just as she was starting to feel hopeful that everything would be okay. “Elliot is dead.”
Sebastian’s face softened. “I didn’t know. I hadn’t heard.”
She should be used to the feelings of helplessness and devastation that attacked her every time someone said Elliot’s name by now. “He OD’ed. Guess that doesn’t come as a surprise to you.”
She started to leave, wanting to get out of the room. Tears clogged her throat, but hell would freeze over before she shed them in front of Sebastian.
He moved too quickly for her, his hand capturing her wrist and tugging her toward him. Elyse struggled to breathe when he leaned so close their lips were mere inches apart.
Sebastian was handsome. She had always thought so, but she hadn’t seen him in several years. With his dark hair and crystal-blue eyes, he’d always turned heads, but with time his pretty-boy features had grown more rugged, sexier. His face wasn’t clean-shaven any longer. Instead, he was sporting a five o’clock shadow that looked darker, given his sun-browned skin. He’d been spending a lot of time outdoors and somewhere other than Boston. They were in the midst of a frigid winter. There was no way he’d gotten that tan in New England.
He looked tired. She could appreciate that feeling. She felt the same straight-to-the-bone weariness she saw on his face and in his posture.
As she studied him, his gaze raked her face as well, his blue eyes piercing, assessing.
“I’m sorry,” he said at last. There was no mistaking the sincerity, the genuineness in his apology. She wondered if he was sorry about Elliot or for the way he’d acted at the altar or for that night. Maybe all of them at once.
She nodded slowly then tugged her hand from his. He let her go this time.
Elyse managed to make it to the dressing room. She closed the door, leaning against it as her strength deserted her. She missed Elliot every damn day. With his death, it felt as if she’d lost a huge part of herself. For two years, she’d been struggling to recover. She thought she’d made some progress, but seeing Sebastian brought it all back. Wounds time had healed were fresh, bleeding again.
Unable to hold them back, she let the tears fall, trying desperately to be quiet. She didn’t want Grant or Sebastian to hear her. Didn’t want them to see her like this.
She covered her face with her shaking hands and silently fell apart.
Chapter Three
Grant stood in the entryway of the Presidential suite and soaked up the sheer elegance of the room. Apparently his partners were accustomed to such wealth, as neither batted an eye when they walked in. Elyse had excused herself the instant they’d entered the suite, not bothering to look around as she dragged her suitcase to one of the bedrooms and closed herself in.
He’d noticed in the limo that she had been crying. Grant could only assume those tears had been provoked by Sebastian, who had dropped his duffle bag by the door and immediately headed to the wet bar.
Sebastian looked up after pouring himself a Scotch then lifted the bottle. Grant nodded, silently accepting the offer of a drink. The quiet was starting to get on Grant’s nerves. No one had uttered a peep in the limo, and he’d be damned if he was going to let the silence continue here.
“What do you do for a living, Sebastian?” Grant asked as he walked over and took a seat on the plush white couch.
Grabbing the two drinks, Sebastian joined Grant, handing him the Scotch before claiming the love seat near the baby grand. Grant noticed how tired the other man looked. Sebastian seemed to be the very definition of exhaustion at the moment.
Sebastian took a sip of the whiskey. “Normally I’d say that I’m an aid worker, but the truth is I work for the CIA.”
Grant’s eyebrows rose. “Sounds fascinating.”
Sebastian shrugged, his gaze traveling down the hallway to the closed door of Elyse’s bedroom. “It’s more paperwork than secret agent. How about you?” he asked distractedly.
“I’m a corporate mediator.”
That captured Sebastian’s attention. “Really? What do you study to pursue a career like that?”
“There are a lot of different routes. I received my undergrad degree in business at Stanford, and then I attended law school at Columbia. I’m not going to lie. My connections with the Trinity Masters helped launch my career. I cut my eyeteeth on the Delta/Northwest merger. Spent months bouncing back and forth between Atlanta and Minneapolis, but I learned a lot. Since then, I’ve been working contractually for large corporation buyouts. Most recently, I played an active role in Actavis acquiring Allerga
n. Most U.S. companies are finding it difficult to grow new businesses organically, so instead they seek out acquisitions. It’s a good time to be in my particular line of work.”
“Are you following in your father’s footsteps?”
Grant shook his head. “No. My father is a community college professor and my mom is a paralegal.”
Sebastian paused. “I thought you were a legacy?”
“Who told you that?”
Grant had to hand it to Sebastian, the man had a very good poker face. Smoothly, Sebastian replied, “The Grand Master.”
“Ah, yes. I wasn’t at the Winter Gala, but I heard about what happened. There’s a new Grand Master and it’s a woman. First in history.”
Seb neither confirmed nor denied.
“I assume she supplied this information when you followed her out? I have to admit I was surprised to see you return in one piece. You must know her well.”
“I just got lucky.”
He and his new partner were playing a game of cat and mouse. Grant was used to dealing with distrust and aloofness. Those emotions walked hand in hand in his line of work, but he didn’t like starting out something as important as his marriage that way.
So, he gave in, deciding the best course of action was complete honesty. “My father chose not to join the Trinity Masters when it came time to commit. He’d fallen in love with my mother and decided he preferred to spend his life with her. Just her.”
“But your grandparents were members?”
“My family’s association with the society goes back two generations, beginning with my great-grandparents and grandparents, then skipping my parents. Which I guess makes me the third generation.”
“And you learned about the Trinity Masters through your grandparents?”
Grant nodded. “My grandparents were extremely disappointed when my father chose not to join. My parents would have quite happily kept me in the dark about the entire society, but my grandfather insisted that I be given the choice.”