Love is in the Heir

by Jenny Gardiner

  But the talking part? That’s where Pippa just couldn’t handle it. She knew that having her name attached romantically to Topher’s could only mean trouble, and the last thing she wanted to do to the poor guy was resurrect all that old nonsense. She decided to just look at this experience as a lovely way to close some old wounds while also finally getting laid—and enjoying it!

  She had no idea what time it was, but judging by the bright sunlight coming through that crack in the curtain, morning had broken long ago. Which meant she was going to have a hell of a time slipping out of a palace in an evening gown.

  Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit.

  Pippa closed her eyes for a minute. Breathe, she told herself. Just breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Don’t start thinking about the what-ifs and repercussions of what you’ve done. Just think about how to sneak out discreetly.

  With that, she ever so slowly rolled away from Topher, barely missing falling to the floor. She backed carefully and quietly out of his bedroom, through the open living room, hoping he didn’t have some butler who was going to jump out and find her stark naked trying to escape.

  She finally got to the door where her ball gown had fallen unceremoniously into a pile and pulled the thing over her head, tugging the side zipper up. A cursory glance around yielded her elegant Swarovski crystal heels and matching purse, which held her car keys, essential in this getaway plan. She scanned the room in search of her thong, but the thing was nowhere to be found. Finally, she decided to not worry about that and skedaddle.

  As she turned the handle on the large front door, she hoped like hell he hadn’t set an alarm when he closed it last night; she couldn’t imagine the embarrassment that would come from that. She knew in a house with three young men there had been plenty of walks of shame out of this place in the morning. But usually women were probably smart enough to slip out under cover of darkness in the predawn hours. She could only hope people were nursing hangovers from the wedding and rolling over in bed, their pillows shading their eyes.

  She tiptoed backward as she drew the door shut and turned around just in time to run up against Luca, the youngest of the brothers.

  “Oof!” Pippa said as she bumped into him, trying to remain as quiet as possible.

  “Pippa?” Luca said, looking her up and down, with her melon gown a wrinkled mess.

  She was sure her mascara had smeared all over her face, and her helter-skelter hair must’ve looked like she’d stuck a finger in an electrical socket.

  “Luca! You scared the crap out of me!”

  “Me? How about you?” he said. “Here I am getting ready to go out for a run, and instead I run into you. Did you shut down the wedding or something?” He pointed at her formal wear.

  Pippa stalled for time. What excuse could she have for leaving the palace at this hour in her night-before clothes?

  “I had way too much to drink,” she said, dope slapping her forehead with the heel of her hand. “I just crashed on Zander’s sofa.”

  Luca looked puzzled. “Oh really?”

  “Yeah, it was so easy to do that.”

  “I’m just surprised,” Luca said.

  “Why?”

  “Well, with Andi here, I wouldn’t have thought Zander would want anyone else in his apartment, what with making up for lost time and all.”

  Andi. Dammit. She’d forgotten all about that.

  “Did I say Zander? I meant Topher,” she said. “See, I must still be drunk. What a stupid mistake!”

  Luca knit his brow. “You stayed in Topher’s place?”

  “So?”

  “It’s just that, well, you know.”

  “Oh, come off it, Luca. That was a long time ago. You boys need to stop teasing him about that. It’s nothing the rest of you haven’t done a million times around here.”

  Luca rolled his eyes. “I just mean I thought Topher wouldn’t even look at you most of the time.”

  “Well, I guess he’s grown up enough to let bygones be bygones and keep a family friend from driving when she was in no condition to get behind the wheel. But I must be going now. Have a great run!”

  With that she scurried off like a mouse trying to avoid detection by the house feline. She only ran into two security guards and three maids as she slipped out the servant’s entrance. All in all, it could have been worse. Way worse.

  Chapter Five

  TOPHER awoke with a smile on his lips, memories of the past several hours swirling through his brain. He reached down to scratch himself and maybe tamp down that ubiquitous morning boner that really shouldn’t have needed tending to after the workout that thing had been through.

  He rolled over and opened his eyes, fully expecting to find a sleep-tousled Pippa naked and waiting beside him. But there was no Pippa in his bed. He got up, rubbed his belly, pulled on a pair of boxers, and wandered toward the front of the apartment, hoping he’d find her enjoying an espresso in the kitchen. But not only was there no smell of espresso, there was no Pippa, no evening gown in a heap by the front door, nothing.

  Goddammit. It really ticked him off she’d pulled a runner. He’d thought better of her, never expecting her to be a coward and bail. They’d had an amazing night together; he never knew he could fit so many challenging positions into a few short hours, but they’d managed it.

  Now what?

  He walked over to a remote control and pushed a button that opened the curtains, letting a flood of sunlight into the room. He stood with his hands on his hips, surveying the damage. Before they had made it to his bedroom, they’d managed to do it on the cold Carrera marble in the foyer, atop the antique Turkish rug in front of the fireplace (which he’d apparently turned on and forgotten to turn off last night), on the custom-made Holstein hair-on-hide leather sofa (that ended up being a little scratchy against his naked behind), and on the dining room table that could accommodate a dinner party of twenty. Topher had enjoyed his own little feast there, and his mouth watered at the memory.

  He moved through the apartment, straightening out the various pieces of furniture and artwork that might have been shifted in their zeal last night. It was only then that he found an electric blue thong dangling from an orchid plant. He plucked the panties off the flower, brought them up to his face, and inhaled. Damn. So close, yet so far. He had no idea how he was going to persuade Pippa that a command performance would be in order before he returned to his studies abroad.

  He plunked himself onto the black-and-white sofa, his legs spread wide as he twirled the lacy undies around on the tip of his finger, trying to contemplate his options. But none came to mind. Seemed his mind was freeze-framed on the many things he either hadn’t gotten around to with Pippa or wanted to do yet again, none of which would be possible if she retreated like a scared cat.

  He gave up trying to figure out the mysteries of women and decided to grab a quick shower before departing for the wedding brunch. If you asked him, this wedding thing had overstayed its welcome.

  ~*~

  He should’ve known better than to show up at the brunch after disappearing early from the wedding the night before. As he entered the ballroom, guests milled about in business attire, the women in those silly hats and the men in crisp bespoke suits. Waitstaff passed around flutes of champagne, naturally, but Topher needed something a little more gut busting.

  “I’ll take a bloody, extra hot sauce,” he told a nearby bartender.

  Topher stirred the cocktail with a celery stick and took two large swigs of his spicy drink, bracing himself for whatever curveballs his brothers might want to throw his way.

  “Well, good morning, sunshine,” Zander said as his brother approached the group of them, all gathered in a corner, rehashing the night’s events.

  Topher gave him a cursory nod and kept himself busy with that bloody.

  “You disappeared early last night,” Zander continued. “I saw you out on the dance floor, and next thing I knew, you were gone.”

 
“I didn’t know you were my keeper,” Topher said.

  “Whoa, a little sensitive this morning, bro?” Zander said, holding his hands up in surrender.

  Squinting his eyes, Topher threw him an annoyed look. “No. Just didn’t know I had to answer to you about my whereabouts is all.”

  “What was most interesting,” Zander said to his audience, which included Andi, Darcy, Caroline, Clementine, and Luca, “was who you were cheek to cheek with last night.”

  Topher glared. “Don’t go there, Zander.”

  “So sensitive,” his brother said. “Can’t take a little poking some fun at you?”

  “Z—”

  “I mean if my eyes didn’t deceive me, I could swear you were mighty close to the divine Miss P,” Zander said with a wink.

  “Look, I felt sorry for her,” Topher said. “She was alone in a corner and everyone was off dancing, so I offered to dance. Nothing more.”

  “That’s funny,” Luca said. “Because I saw her leaving your apartment this morning, Toph. She was still in her ball gown, which looked pretty wrinkled.”

  “Womp,” Zander said, clapping his hands. “Don’t tell me Pips finally got a good hard look at that good hard—”

  Andi elbowed Zander in the gut. “Zander, I don’t think your brother wants to discuss this.”

  Topher decided right there and then he really liked Andi, even though he’d never understand why she was going to settle for his brother.

  “I’m just yanking him around,” Zander said. “Sort of like what Pippa caught Topher doing to himself that time—”

  “Come to think of it, Pips told me she’d stayed at your place, Zander,” Luca said. “But then I suggested that would be odd, figuring you’d be all about banging a certain someone.”

  Andi blushed. She had no experience hanging around a bunch of guys who loved to dick on each other.

  “There was no banging going on,” Zander said, correcting his brother. “We were making love.” He fluttered his eyelashes jokingly. Andi ribbed him again with the elbow.

  “Zander, you are being so obnoxious!” she said.

  “Just a little brotherly love,” he said. “But seriously, Pippa said she was in my place? I can promise you that didn’t happen last night.”

  “No. You see, then she changed her story and said that she stayed in Toph’s apartment.”

  Topher hemmed and hawed. “She wasn’t feeling well, so I offered for her to come to my place and lie down.”

  “Oh, so you shared a bed then?” Luca asked.

  “No!” Topher said. “I let her sleep in my bed, and I took the sofa.”

  Luca crossed his arms, scratching his chin with his hand.

  “Interesting...,” he said, his gaze traveling between Zander and Topher.

  “What?” Topher said.

  “Pippa told me she slept on your sofa. And she said it was because she was drunk.”

  D’oh. Topher mentally kicked himself for that simple gaff. Although technically she was on his sofa for a while.

  “So let me get this straight,” Zander said, drumming his fingers against his biceps. “Luca here finds Pippa in a walk of shame this morning, coming from our boy Toph’s apartment. Pips says she slept on the couch because she was drunk. But then Topher claims he generously gave up his bed for Pippa, who wasn’t feeling well, and he slept on the sofa.”

  Topher gritted his teeth while Zander and Luca sized up the situation, walking around their brother as if he were Exhibit A in a murder trial.

  Zander pulled out his phone. “That’s it. I’m calling Pippa,” he said, scratching his chin. “But wait a minute. Shouldn’t she be here?”

  Topher tried to grab Zander’s phone. “Leave her out of this, Z.”

  Zander called but got no answer, so he left an annoying message, then resorted to texting her, reading aloud just to dig the knife deeper for his poor brother.

  All right, Pips. We’re besties, he typed. Time to fess up. Tell Zander what happened last night. If you own up to it, the punishment will be less severe.

  His brother rolled his eyes. “I swear to God you haven’t gotten past grade school in emotional maturity.”

  “Aww, come on, Toph. Just having a little fun with you.” Zander punched him in the arm.

  “Z, maybe it’s time to let up on your brother,” Darcy said.

  “This is history in the making, Darce,” he said. “The Wank has come full circle. Inquiring minds want to know details.”

  Topher walked right up to his brother and rested a hand on each of his shoulders. “Zander, I’m not going to say this again. Shut the ever-loving fuck up. You got it? This is none of your business. And I’m sick and tired of your dicking on me about something I did with my dick practically half my life ago. Something you’ve done three times a day and then some with your own. Basta! Enough!” he said, waving his hand in the air with a flourish.

  With that, he turned and walked out of the brunch, returned to his apartment, packed up his things, and got the first flight bound for the Caribbean.

  Chapter Six

  PIPPA played back Zander’s voice mail again, steaming mad. She’d listened to it far too many times, and each time it just infuriated her more. Even though he was one of her best friends, sometimes he really pissed her off when he decided he wanted to push someone’s buttons. And he’d pushed them for her, no doubt about it, and she was certain he’d messed with Topher’s buttons even more so.

  It had been a week since that fateful night, and she had no idea where Topher had gone, nor did she dare pursue this matter with anyone in the royal family. The last thing she wanted was to be grilled about what had happened between her and Topher. She’d rather just replay it in the privacy of her own head, all the while wondering if she’d made a huge mistake by slipping away like a coward. Never in her life had she felt the way she had during those few short hours she’d spent with Topher. But she sure didn’t want to open the man up to a lifetime of merciless taunts just because she’d had a quick fling with him.

  Since then, Pippa had maintained a low profile, really not wanting to be pulled into the drama she knew was lurking just on the horizon. Until she got sick of being holed up in her house and reached out to her good friend Clementine Squires-Thornton, who agreed to meet up for drinks.

  The weather had turned decidedly autumnal, with a slight chill in the air, but nevertheless they opted to savor one of the few remaining days left in the season on an outside terrace overlooking the ocean.

  “Before you know it, we’ll be cozying up in front of fireplaces and planning our ski holidays,” Clementine said, rubbing her goose-bumped arms before finally relenting and putting on a bright blue cashmere sweater she’d brought with her.

  “I know, right? I’m not ready for this glorious weather to end,” Pippa said. “Though I’m a complete sucker for autumn, with changing leaves and the grape and olive harvests.”

  I’m a sucker for the wine that comes from the grape harvest.”

  Pippa nodded. “Amen to that.”

  Their server brought them their much-awaited bottle of red and poured two glasses.

  “To the power of the grape,” Pippa said, tipping her glass to her friend’s.

  “Speaking of powerful grapes, were you so drunk at Adrian’s wedding that you had to crash on Topher’s sofa, or were you so horny you had to share his bed?”

  Pippa sputtered out her wine. “You know you’re turning this into the grapes of my wrath?” she said, wiping her mouth and the tabletop with a napkin. “Nothing like setting aside propriety and getting down to business!”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. But truly, Pips, it’s time to fess up. I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that rumors have been swirling about what went on that night. And it didn’t help matters that you failed to show up at the wedding brunch the next day. Man, you should have seen those brothers go at it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Topher stand up to Zander like that before.”

  She wanted to f
eign indifference, but she could no sooner do that than stop herself from sleeping with the man in the first place. “Like what kind of rumors?”

  Clementine started enumerating on her hand, thumb first. “Oh, that you walked in on Topher again in midwank.”

  Pippa rolled her eyes. “Are people really that idiotic?”

  Clementine shrugged. “I’m not saying I believe them, I’m just telling you what I’ve heard. Consider me the vox populi.”

  “Ugh. The vox populi is pissing me off,” Pippa said with a grumble. “Besides, you are not the voice of the people. So what else are they gossiping about?”

  Clem started again with the finger count. “Well, so we have the ‘you bust him masturbating’ rumor. Then there is the ‘Zander caught the two of you going at it’ rumor,” she said, straightening her pointer finger.

  “Oh my God, people! There was a wedding reception going on. Does everyone think the thing devolved into a weird orgy?”

  “I think it’s so romantic,” Clementine said.

  “What’s so romantic?”

  “Whatever happened!”

  “Well, what if nothing happened? Or what if what happened was Topher pushed me out of a window? Would you find that romantic?”

  “Oh stop, Pips! You know that didn’t happen!”

  “I’m just saying all this speculation is making me nuts!”

  “Okay, so other rumors,” she said as she pulled her middle finger straight to continue counting. “That you and Topher made mad, passionate love, and then you got in a huge fight and he hopped the palace jet and fled the country, enraged.”

  “Have people lost every last cell in their brains over the past few days? Or were they always this completely daft?”

  “Don’t shoot the messenger, Pippa. I’m just recounting the gossip I’ve been privy to.”

  “Where do you hang out—at the psych ward? All right. What else are these nosy people saying about me that isn’t true?”

  “That you’re pregnant with Topher’s baby.” She extended her pinky finger for emphasis.