by Laura Gray
Ellie nodded in silent understanding. She knew that Archer and she had come up with that impromptu plan of proposing in front of the family but she had no idea how they were going to go about it.
“I hate that guy,” Arjun said in a low voice.
“I can take him,” Ellie said confidently.
“After years and years of dealing with Bennet, I know what his buttons are,” Archer said. “I also know that he’s smart and cunning as a fox, so we need to be careful about what we say around him. If he gets any hint of the fact that Ellie and I aren’t a real couple, he’s going to throw a fit until he finds out the truth. And that won’t be pretty.”
The three of them nodded at him obediently. Over the hour, Archer gave them a lecture about Bennet’s common tactics of humiliation—asking about the setbacks in your field of work loudly, putting people on the spot by asking them uncomfortable questions and getting his beautiful wife to flirt with his friends and colleagues right in front of their wives.
“That last one works?” Ellie asked with a raised brow.
“Yes,” Archer answered gravely. “Most of my cousin’s friends are old married couples trying to stave off divorce. Hannah isn’t as mute as she appears—she revolves around her husband, subtly undermining and creating issues amongst couples that might distract them. Bennet uses that chance to swoop in and negotiate deals they’d never agree to in another setting.”
“You make him sound like a mastermind of some kind,” Connie mumbled distastefully.
“He could be, were he not so utterly devoid of depth,” Archer said flatly. “Bennet’s tricks only work with other insecure, shallow people. Luckily for him, there are loads of those in our circles.”
“When he meets a secure person, however—someone who’s not going to get swept into his web of subtle manipulations easily—it throws off his game. Completely. Jealous of that person’s free spirit, frustrated at his inability to try and replicate it, he will leave the party in an angry huff, stomping the whole way out.”
“That’s really specific,” Arjun noted.
“He’s been acting the same way since we were ten and the babysitter said she liked me better,” Archer replied.
From there they moved on to the exact plan that they would execute tomorrow. Ellie felt a twinge of excitement—she felt as though she were in a movie, planning a heist of some kind.
“Hannah and Bennet together make a good team—they’re both equally unpleasant and deceptive people,” Archer explained, pacing back and forth before them. “Hannah pulls the strings in the conversations silently, drifting into the discussions where Bennet sounds like he might be losing it and then breaking the building tension.”
“If we want Bennet to get flustered, we need to keep him away from Hannah.”
“I can do that,” Connie raised her hand.
“Awesome,” Archer replied. “While Constance keeps Hannah occupied, I’m going to coordinate with Niles and change the way the events are organized so my proposal to Ellie comes before all the other highlights of the night. Then, no matter what Bennet does, the celebration will be about us.”
“What kinds of...highlights has he got lined up?” Ellie asked Archer, wondering exactly how extravagant a party this was going to be.
Archer sighed. “About midway through every party Bennet has ever thrown, a gaggle of models will just walk in, one by one and distribute themselves across the room. They completely take up all the attention in the party and try to make people drink more so they’ll get hammered and enjoy themselves.”
“Okay, that is just excessive,” Ellie said.
“It’s not all,” Archer added with a raised finger. “There’s also fireworks, second-dessert and this thing he does where he keeps one really ancient bottle of champagne with him and he brings it out when the moment is right at the party. Then he makes a dumb speech about how he was saving this bottle for a special occasion and how that special occasion was this day.”
“Barf,” Connie commented.
“Seriously,” Arjun said. “We should totally do this before he gets to do it in his own party.”
“I like where your head's at!” Archer said, pointing at Arjun. “I’ll tell Niles to fetch the oldest champagne he can find in the cellar and pack it along with our stuff.”
“Last, but not least,” Archer continued, “the proposal.”
From the corner of her eyes, Ellie saw both Arjun and Connie straighten up in their seats.
“So, El, I’m planning on popping the question sometime pre-dinner but not so early that everyone thinks we came to make this party about us.”
“Got it,” Ellie replied. “And I will look appropriately delighted and emotional about it.”
“You might have to do more than that,” Archer warned her. “Once everyone realizes that you’re going to be the future Mrs. Bradford, they’re going to want to ask you a lot of questions about you.”
“I can handle it,” Ellie assured him with a kind smile. Slowly, he smiled back at her. Turning his vivid eyes back to his phone, Archer listed the rest of the things they needed to keep in mind during tomorrow’s party. Ellie watched him detailing his plan, silently comparing the mischievous, intelligent man before her to the neglected, rejected boy that the twins spoke about.
Chapter 8
The Proposal
The Bradfords chose to travel in a private jet to Paris, owing to Mr. Louis Bradford’s intense reaction to the idea of taking a public train. Archer had dutifully booked tickets for them all, earning withering glances from Bennet as he handed the family the tickets in the morning. They reached Paris in less than two hours. Ellie was energized from a long night of rest and a really short travel time—she felt incredibly good as she stepped out into the Parisian airport.
The minute they reached their hotel, the twins took charge of getting people to get ready. They had no time to rest — they needed to be dressed and ready to go within the hour. Ellie wore a long, shimmery black formal gown she'd purchased yesterday while Connie dressed in a long red gown with tiny sparkles that glimmered in the light.
Bennet and Hannah left for the yacht before any of them—they wanted to be there early to set things up.
Jupiter’s Fancy was parked in a cozy spot in the marina, with bright lights along the deck guiding the guests’ path. When Ellie and Archer reached the yacht, they stared at it for one silent moment.
“Ready?” Archer asked her from the corner of his eye.
“Ready,” Ellie said firmly.
The minute they entered the deck, several eyes turned towards them to size up the newcomer—Ellie. She held her head up high and refused to do any of them the courtesy of making eye-contact with her. A few short days with the Bradfords had already taught Ellie that what people called ‘class’ was actually just a particular sort of attitude that made one think the other was ‘better’ than them. Ellie floated alongside Archer, her eyes eagerly searching the deck for a sign of her friends.
She spotted Connie’s glittering red gown across the deck, near the railings. Connie was already deep in conversation with Hannah, who tapped her foot impatiently, her beady little grey eyes flitting back and forth between Connie and her husband.
“I see Hannah is engaged with Connie,” Ellie said to Archer.
“Great,” Archer said. “Then this is a good moment to go and say hello to my cousin.”
“Agreed,” Ellie said as she watched Connie clasp Hannah’s palm in hers and flipped it around.
Is she...reading her future? Ellie wondered with mild confusion as Connie drew lines on Hannah’s palm with her fingers.
“Bennet!” Archer called as they neared him. Bennet had dressed up in black from head to toe, which made him look even skinnier than before. His platinum blonde hair was parted to one side carefully, his grey eyes flitting towards his wife as Archer came closer.
“Archer!” he cried with a fake, wide grin. “You made it!”
“Of course, I made it, brothe
r,” Archer said, slapping Bennet on the back. Bennet flinched at the strike—the expression only lasted half a second, and then it was gone. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“You didn’t seem to think so about my last few events,” Bennet said half-jokingly, glancing between the men that surrounded him as though they were his cronies. “I kid, of course. Archer, this is Maxwell and Faye Merryweather. Old friends, very old friends—”
From that moment on, the party turned into a game of complex introductions. After half an hour of going back and forth down the yacht, Ellie had come to the conclusion that there were at least three US ambassadors, one famous French actress and six moderately famous french actors on the ship. The rest of the guests were from other money minting families that Bennet had pulled closer to himself over the last decade of his life.
What was curious though, was that even though these people came to Bennet’s party and were invited by him, they showed an inordinate amount of interest in Gordon Bradley’s only legitimate son.
“How are you doing?” Around twenty people asked Archer in the first half hour of the party. “You know, since they found your dad.”
“It’s been rough-going,” Archer explained for the fifteenth time to the ambassador of Zaire and two other dignitaries that stood with him. “But luckily, I have plenty of amazing people around me to help me keep my strength,” he finished, squeezing Ellie’s shoulder with his arm and giving her a kiss on her forehead. Ellie blushed and giggled, almost reflexively.
“Archer,” Ellie heard a voice coo and felt her stomach drop a bit. Hannah had floated over to them, with Bennet holding her firmly by his side.
“Hannah,” Archer replied with narrowed eyes.
“It was too bad you couldn’t make it to the funeral,” she said in a smooth monotone. “It really would have been so touching to say goodbye to Gordon one last time.”
Ellie felt Archer’s arm flex as he clenched his fist. “Yeah, it was too bad I couldn’t make it.”
“What were you busy doing?” Bennet asked Archer, as though he’d just thought of the question now. The ambassador of Zaire looked uncomfortable with being a part of this personal discourse. “Must be something important for you to miss your own father’s funeral?”
Ellie reached over and took Archer’s fingers into hers. “He was with me at that time, Bennet. I came down with a grievous fever—almost a 104 degrees—and Archer rushed me to the hospital in his funeral suit. I don't know what I would have done without him there.”
“That’s really nice of you, Archer,” the ambassador commented.
“Oh, he’s the perfect gentlemen,” Ellie threaded her arm through Archer’s. “I told him to go home so many times but he insisted that he wouldn’t leave me alone.”
“That’s what my dad would tell me to do, if he could,” Archer said, his brilliant eyes trained on her. Ellie’s heart thudded loudly as she looked deep into his gaze. She felt a heat rise up her cheeks, but she made herself maintain eye contact.
You wanted us to be convincing as a couple, Ellie thought wickedly as she leaned in to press the length of her body against Archer’s side so she could kiss his cheek. He looked surprised when she pulled back. His creamy complexion easily revealed the slight color his cheeks retained as Ellie pulled away.
“Whoa,” Ellie heard someone say behind them. She glanced towards the source of the sound and instantly caught the source of the disruption.
Seven incredibly tall and beautiful women strode along the length of the boat, saying polite, fluttering hellos as they passed by. They turned heads with their impossibly toned and bronzed legs and their long, silky hair that danced behind them in the ocean wind.
“Weren’t you supposed to propose before the models arrived?” Ellie leaned in to whisper to Archer.
“Oh those aren’t the models—those are the Wanchowski sisters,” Archer replied. “Their dad was a client of my father’s. We kind of grew up together.”
“Wow,” Ellie breathed, eyeing the seven stunning, leggy blondes. “If those aren’t models then what are they?”
“Archer!” One of the sisters cried as she turned to face them. Her plump, pink lips split open into a wide smile as she approached them.
“Katrina!” Archer greeted her as she came over. He let go of Ellie’s hand to give Katrin a proper hug.
“How are you, Archie?” The gorgeous woman asked him, placing her hands on either side of his shoulders.
“I’m doing great. You look beautiful as ever, Kat,” Archer replied, looking her up and down jokingly. “Did you row another foot taller since I last saw you?”
Katrina let out a twinkling laugh in response to Archer’s question. Ellie felt a stab of a strange emotion as she watched Archer and Katrina catching up and laughing. It had been so long since Ellie had felt this emotion that she’d forgotten what it was. She spent several moments puzzling over it, watching Archer with a frown on her face before it hit her.
Jealous, Ellie realized with horror. I’m jealous!
Ellie took a deep draught of the wine in her glass. I need Connie and I need her now.
Archer and Katrina were still talking—it seemed as though Archer had forgotten that she was there. Ellie quickly spun around on the spot, trying to spot Connie’s glittering red gown. She saw her standing behind the liquor station, pouring a generous amount of wine into her glass. Ellie waded through the crowd towards her.
“Connie!” Ellie called as she reached near her. Connie waved her over to where she was, continuing to chug the remains in her glass. Ellie approached her slowly, with a wary look on her face.
“Whatcha drinking, Con?” Ellie asked her.
“Wine,” Connie said simply, setting an empty glass down on the table, only to fill it up again.
“Do you want to maybe go easy on the booze?” Ellie asked her gently. “We are kind of on a mission, you know—”
Connie grabbed Ellie’s elbow and twisted her so she face the other side of the boat. “Do you see Arjun there, El? By the salad table?”
“Uh, yeah,” Ellie said, watching Arjun deep in conversation with one of the Wanchowski sisters. The woman laughed uproariously at something Arjun said, pressing his arm with her palm.
“There, did you see that?” Connie asked in Ellie’s ear. “She’s totally flirting with him!”
“You’re telling me about them?” Ellie snorted. “Look at Archer.”
“Oh god,” Connie grunted as she watched Katrina converse with Archer, laughing and touching his arm in repetitive but small motions.
“Who are these women?” Connie asked. “I thought the models weren’t supposed to leave the lower deck until a bit later.”
“Those aren’t models, apparently,” Ellie said dully. “They’re the Wanchowski sisters, whatever that means.”
“Geesh,” Connie exclaimed, watching the party with pursed lips. “Wait!” she suddenly turned to Ellie. “El? Are you feeling jealous over Archer?”
Ellie didn’t want to face her, she knew the answer was visible all too clearly in her eyes. She didn’t want to admit that she might be breaking, that her feelings were getting the better of her. When she’d worked out the agreement with Archer, she’d been sure that no one could make her feel like this, at least in the foreseeable future.But there she was, standing at the edge of a yacht party, feeling her chest burn and tingle at the mere sight of him flirting with another woman.
Connie gasped as she watched Ellie’s changing expressions. “Oh my god!”
“Shut up,” Ellie said sourly.
“You like Archer!” Connie hissed excitedly. Ellie shut her eyes. This can’t be happening!
“I can’t believe this—you were so sure you weren’t going to—”
“Yeah, I know what I wasn’t going to do,” Ellie said quickly, sipping on more wine. “But here I am, doing that same shit, all over again. I’ll tell you, Con, I have not missed jealousy in my life.”
“You’re telling me,” she
replied darkly, her eyes drifting towards Arjun.
“Wait, so…” Ellie began, turning to face Connie, “you’re getting jealous over Arjun?”
“Maybe?” Connie looked confused. “No, I’m not.”
The Wanchowski sister laughed so hard at one of Arjun’s jokes that she placed a palm on his chest to steady herself.
“Okay, I hate that bitch,” Connie amended. Ellie burst out laughing.
“It’s so like you to sound like a psycho when you’re in love.”
“I’m not in love!” Connie said indignantly. “I just...ugh. Can we just get drunk please?”
Ellie nodded, filling up her glass once more. “Cheers,” she said to Connie as they clinked their glasses.
“You won’t tell Arjun, right?” Connie asked Ellie meekly. Ellie gave her a wide grin.
“As long as you don't tell Archer,” she replied.
“Deal,” Connie said as she took a large sip of wine. From across the deck, Ellie could see Archer extricating himself from the conversation with Katrina, his head swiveling around, searching for something. Ellie felt a strange pleasure in watching him look for her.
“Hey?” Archer asked as he finally found her near the bar. “Where did you go? I was searching for you.”
“Were you, really?” Ellie asked him. “Because I just walked up a few paces to the bar, that’s it.”
Archer cast a wary glance around himself. “I thought we were supposed to be sticking together.”
“Yeah, I did too,” Ellie retorted, taking another sip of wine.
“Did I do something wrong?” Archer asked her suspiciously.
“Yeah, I’m going to go over there,” Connie said, pointing at a random spot away from them, “so that I’m not—uh—here.”
Archer turned back to Ellie with a frown as Connie walked away from them. “What’s going on? And why are you drinking so much?” He reached out to grab her glass and Ellie tightened her grip on it.