“But he was, and something happened between you two. Who is he? Tell me what happened, tell me everything.”
I giggled nervously. Living far away from Missy, we always talked, but it was different when we got to be in the same room together. And again, with all the money issues, I didn't really get to have fun like this anymore. Missy was my closest friend, I told her everything. Leaving out the bit about the betting and the watch, I told her about Niall. She squealed, clapping her hands.
“My God, it's about time you got back in the game.”
“Russell has only been dead a couple of months.”
“But he's dead,” she said. “That makes you single.”
“That makes me his grieving widow.”
“Oh please. You may be a widow, but you're hardly grieving.”
“Hey, I take offense to that.”
“Why? It wasn't like you actually loved him. It wasn't like he was being faithful to you anyway. Who cares if you’re getting some now that he's dead? In fact, you deserve it. I said it once before and I'll say it again, marrying Russell wasn't right for you. It was a mistake, and staying married to him for as long as you did was an even bigger mistake.”
Missy could be blunt, almost to the point of cruelty, but what were friends for if they couldn't tell you the cold, sometimes difficult truth? I agreed with her. I had been under pressure to get married to Russell, but once the marriage was done, I could have gotten out. I could have gathered my things and plucked up the bravery to leave, but I never did. I always knew that he was unfaithful, but not even that was a good enough reason for me to get out of it. I didn't want to talk about it now. It was all in the past. He was dead now and I had to deal with his mess, but I wasn't dead. I was still alive, I still had a future, and I had to make sure I was going to be secure.
“Well, I'm not married anymore and I don't miss him. It was a mistake, you're right, but I'm not getting those years back. I am choosing to focus on the future and what's to come.”
“Bravo. That's the way to do it. In fact, you and that friend of yours should arrange another date.”
I shook my head. “I'm heading back to Belshire today. Last night was the full extent of our reunion.”
“What? Already”
“Missy, I told you I was only staying one night. Don't act shocked.”
“But it's not fair. We were supposed to spend last night together, but you ended up leaving and coming back at God knows what time. We’ve hardly spent any time together.”
“You know I have responsibilities back home.”
“Surely, they can wait just one more night.” I cringed. “Please, just one, just one more night.”
“No, Missy.”
“Come on. What do you even do out there all on your own? You need some excitement before you go back to that stodgy, old place.”
“I said no.”
“There's a party tonight,” she said, not missing a beat. “We can even leave early if you want to, but you have to come. Just spend some time around people your own age and have some semblance of a social life for one night of your life before going back to the estate. Come on, it'll be fun. You need it.”
I sighed. Missy had both determination and time on her side. She would wear me down, whether it took ten minutes or an hour. I gave in telling her I would go.
“One night,” I said. Missy smiled and clapped.
“You're going to love it.” That was probably true. Once I got over the fact that I was supposed to be at home and finally loosened up a bit, I probably would manage to have a good time. I barely knew what that was anymore, which was probably a sign that I needed more of it. It was just difficult to let go these days. I guess that was what Missy was for.
One night. I’d forget about everything for one night and then tomorrow when I went back to the country, back to the estate, everything would be back to normal.
That evening, after spending the day together shopping, seeing a matinee and going out to eat, we got ready for the party. Missy’s closet was completely out of this world. The items inside it must have been valued in the hundreds of thousands of pounds. Dresses, bags, shoes, any beautiful luxury items you could think of was beautifully stored and displayed in her opulent walk-in wardrobe. I knew that there were flats in the city that were smaller than her wardrobe. She insisted on styling me for the party. She worked in fashion, so I trusted her instincts but I needed more information. She had insisted so hard on my attendance at this party, so I wanted to know why.
“What kind of party is this by the way?” I asked.
She handed me a dress, red with a low top, knee-length, and no sleeves. I tossed it onto the ottoman, a little too cocktail hour, not really party appropriate.
“It's a birthday party.”
“A birthday party? Whose? Do I know them?” As much as I had agreed to go, I was less keen on going to a party for someone that I didn't know.
“Oh yeah, you do. It's Dirk. Dirk Baker. Do you remember him?”
I started laughing immediately. Dirk, Missy and I had all gone to the same boarding school. She had had an enormous crush on him.
“I didn't realize the two of you were still in contact. Wait, do you still... no, you couldn't possibly.”
“It was Missy's turn to blush. Well, why do you think we have to look phenomenal tonight?”
I laughed again. “Missy, you look amazing in everything, it's going to be fine.”
“It's been years, do you realize how important it is to look good? I don't want to look like I let myself go.”
“You couldn't look like that if you tried,” I said, trying to calm her down. She was pulling dress after dress out of the rack and tossing each one down frustratedly. “Slow down. How do you think you're going to get a dress if you're not even looking properly?”
“Are you here to help me or just make me more stressed?” she asked. She stalked over to the still unpacked shopping bags that we had brought in with us after today’s spree and started pulling the clothes from them. It was so rare to see the posed, sophisticated Missy in this state that I couldn’t help but rub her nose in it.
“Oh, I am definitely telling Dirk about this.”
Her mouth fell open. “You wouldn't.”
“If you don't calm down, I will.”
She pursed her lips and walked back to the rack of clothes she had been savaging previously.
“Well? What did I ask you to come here for? Help me,” she said. I laughed silently and looked over her rejected picks, glad that I was no longer the target of her teasing. Maybe tonight would be fun after all.
7
Niall
“Niall, how are you, man?”
I looked at the man who had just addressed me. His hand was held out for me to shake so I did. This was his house after all and being here I was technically representing the Bridges family. Didn’t want to embarrass the clan more than I already did. The bare minimum, Niall, I thought. It’s the least you can do, literally. It wasn’t his fault you’re here.
“Dirk. You look terrible,” I said over the live music playing. Dirk laughed.
“Another year under the belt, what can I say?” he said. I nodded, forming my mouth into my best estimation of a smile. He was a grown man. We were the same age, him maybe a little older and here he was having a birthday party like a seven-year-old. That was what it was though, wasn’t it, with this crowd? Any excuse to celebrate. Any excuse to get all their rich friends in one place to blow their money and rub shoulders. We were in Dirk’s modern townhouse, the entire lower floor filled with people milling about, socializing, snacking on the food that uniformed waiters were handing around. Getting steadily drunker courtesy of the open bar. I knew a number of the people in attendance but few had come to say hi, not that I had offered the same courtesy. I could think of one hundred places off the top of my head where I would rather be.
“Well watch out, they're catching up to you,” I said.
“I could say the same
about you. New York putting you through the wringer?” he asked. If I was looking a little worse for wear, it was because I was here. In New York, I was a veritable beacon of good health and vitality. My spirits were perennially high when I was Stateside. Here, my mood matched the weather. It was never anything particularly good that brought me home so my mood matched.
One night, man. Turn the fake charm on for one night. It’s almost over.
“I don’t know why I ever come back, to be honest,” I said.
“I was shocked when your father told me to expect you here,” he said. I was too. It wasn’t my idea. Coming to London hadn’t been my idea. I had tried to think what the family obligation my father wanted me for actually was, but hadn’t been able to come up with anything. I had seen my father earlier that day which was partly why my mood was so dark. Taking a cab to the family mansion was something I hadn’t done in so long, it made me physically sick. He was waiting for me in his grand old study when I showed up.
He pretended to care about what I was doing over in New York and didn’t bother to hide his disappointment when I told him that it was nothing but my usual. Then the lecture began. He started with his grandfather, my great grandfather and all the sacrifices that he had made for the family, and then went to his father, then himself, and then he started on me.
“I figured if you wanted to talk about that we could have done it over the phone,” I said.
“How long will it take you to learn? This is a matter of legacy, Niall.”
“Oh, here we go.” I got myself ready for the usual the usual lecture. The one I had been hearing since I was a child about how my life was not mine to live. It belonged to an old, outdated tradition that I wanted no part of.
“It’s past time that you were married,” he said. That was a new one. The marriage question had come up in passing in the past, but this was the first time it had come up as the express reason we were meeting.
“I can't believe you called me across the Atlantic Ocean to tell me that. This could have easily been an email.”
“Marriage for someone like you is not simply a partnership. It's strategic. It is done with family and reputation in mind.”
“Yeah, Charlie's mother just put him through this whole song and dance and he didn’t marry her pick. If you think you’re getting me.”
“I don’t think anything, Niall. You don’t have a choice. The arrangements are already made. I called you here to meet Lisbeth Lane. She’s been selected to become your wife. You’re meeting her tonight at a party.”
“I’ll do fuck all,” I said. My father just looked at me, his expression cool as ever. He was ever the gentleman, skewering with his words and power because they were so great that he never really had to raise his voice. Patrick Bridges used to scare the life out of me when I was a kid. Nothing about him was paternal. We had maintained a business relationship since I was a child. He wasn’t sixty yet, so he was still in good health and great shape. His blond hair was only just starting to grey and his stature was ramrod straight, showcasing every one of his six feet and four inches of height.
“We owe the Lane family a debt.”
“No, you owe them a debt.”
“The debt is as much yours as it is mine. You belong to this family, no matter how much you try and defy that.”
“So what? You put me up to get married to their daughter?”
“The marriage has been agreed since you were a child.”
“Then why is this the first I’m hearing of it?”
“You were impossible,” he said. “You raised hell; you ran around; you shirked your duty. We were waiting for you to get it out of your system, to finally come to your senses at some point and settle to your duty.” There was that fucking word again. Duty. To hell with duty. I didn’t do anything that I didn’t want to do. There was no reason to lift a finger in the name of my family when the only use they saw for me was a vector for their name and money. Why did I owe them anything? Why would I give up my choice and life so that their old debts could be paid? What about me? When did what I want start to matter finally?
“I’m not marrying her.”
He completely ignored the statement. “You're meeting her tonight. Don’t be late.”
“I said I’m not marrying her.” He heard me but it didn’t matter. Nothing I wanted ever mattered to him. Trying to argue wasn’t worth it. He gave me the address and told me that she was going to be expecting me. I showed up because I wasn’t rude enough to stand the woman up with no explanation. She and I were in the same boat. I didn’t know the specifics but both of us were being forced into this marriage situation without having even met each other. I wasn’t unreasonable. I would meet the woman, discuss what was going on, apologize if her expectations had not been met and wish her luck finding someone else to marry because it was not going to be me.
It wasn’t. That was the long and short of it. I didn’t care who she was or what prestigious family she came from. I didn’t want to be with her. I didn’t particularly want to be with anyone.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. My memory flashed back to that morning. I did want to be with someone but that someone was acting strangely. It was bad enough that I had had to meet my father that day. Waking up alone and then finding out that Eddy had basically lied to me about being single again had put me in a foul mood already. If I was going to pick anyone it was going to be her, but clearly, she had other intentions. She would have stayed if she felt the same way as I did. Clearly, she didn’t. That was fine. I wouldn’t forget but at least I could leave. The next thing that brought me back to London was going to have to be a funeral. I was ready to leave and never look back. This trip had been a failure in every way.
“Well then, soak it in. It only happens once in a blue moon,” I told Dirk.
“I’m glad you could make it. It’s been a while.”
“Right, right. Happy birthday,” I told him before he wandered away to talk to the rest of the people in attendance. I threw back my drink and made my way back to the bar for another. I was ready to leave. All I needed to do here in the first place was talk to the woman, Lisbeth. I walked away from the bar through the living room looking for her. I had been given some photos to be able to identify her.
A tall, thin blonde with brown eyes. Pretty, to be sure but not my type. I liked a woman with a more generous figure. I sighed thinking about it. My father; arranging a marriage for me without even taking into account what I liked in my partners. The woman who was talking to Dirk matched her description. I wasn’t close enough to hear their conversation but heard her laugh. It was like nails on a chalkboard. I cringed at the thought of talking to her. She was wearing a slinky red dress, pawing at Dirk as they talked. Was she drunk? Great. I walked over. Dirk was reinforcement. It would be a smoother introduction with him there. I went over to them and Dirk spotted me walking over.
“Well, well, speak of the devil,” he said. Lisbeth turned her large eyes to face me and smiled in a way she probably thought was alluring but did nothing for me.
“Is this him?” she asked.
“Depends on who you’re looking for,” I said.
“Niall Bridges. We were just talking about you,” he said. I was sure that they were. How random was it that I was supposed to meet my supposed new wife at the birthday party of a random childhood acquaintance? Not random at all. I felt my stomach turn. Just how much of this arrangement had taken place without even a word in my direction?
“Niall, pleasure to meet you,” Lisbeth said. I offered a hand for her to shake but she leaned in and kissed both my cheeks instead.
“I’ll leave the two of you to get better acquainted,” Dirk said. He slid away. Planned, it was all planned. If I hadn’t walked over, they would have found a way to lure me in. It didn’t matter. We were here now; I could say my piece and leave. At this point, I could be back in New York by tomorrow.
“Lisbeth, it’s a pleasure. I have to talk to you. I’m sure you know…”
my eyes wandered and landed on a head of auburn hair in the crowd. I completely lost my train of thought. I stared at the redhead in the crowd, watching her walking the floor with a brunette. It was Eddy. She was here. What the hell were the chances? Twice in a row, I ran into her in London in places I didn’t want to be. She and the woman were talking to Dirk, handing him a wrapped birthday gift.
“Yes?” Lisbeth said, in front of me. I belatedly remembered she was still there. I grasped for the words, but they wouldn’t come. Seeing Eddy again was too much of a shock. I felt a hand on my arm, Lisbeth’s.
“You were saying something? That our fathers know each other?” she asked. That wasn’t exactly where I was going but I would have gotten there eventually. I was going to tell her that we were told to be in the same place under false pretenses. I just nodded, distracted by Eddy. She was in a red dress too. The front of it gathered around her chest, beautifully framing her gorgeous breasts and skimmed over her hips and thighs, hitting just below the knee. I was hard just looking at her. I didn’t even have to remember our night together.
“Don’t you think so?” I heard Lisbeth say suddenly.
“What?” I asked. I worried whether she heard the annoyed edge in my voice. She was officially in the way. Between her and Eddy, I would have much rather been talking to Eddy.
“Come on,” she said, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the open French doors that led out to the garden. I let her pull me with her. I still had to talk to her. Once I got that out of the way, I could go and talk to Eddy. We walked out onto the garden following a stone path. I pulled my arm away from her grasp. She stopped.
“Lisbeth, I’m sorry we’ve met under these circumstances. My father alerted me that there have been arrangements made concerning the two of us.”
“My father warned me that you might not show up to the party.”
“Well, I’m here. We have something very important to discuss.”
Admit You Love Me: A Secret Baby Romance (Irresistible Billionaires Book 2) Page 5