Looking at him in this light, it’s so easy see a man who has everything. Who can handle anything.
But I know better. Even before he told me so just now. I know how badly he needs a soft place to land—and how few people he trusts to say that to.
So I held out that olive branch. Because I need that, too.
The limo pulls off the road into a side street and rolls to a stop in front of a huge townhouse.
“Wow, this is incredible,” I marvel as we make our way to the double-wide dark blue lacquered front door.
“Ty!” We turn in the direction of the male voice calling Tyson’s name.
“That’s George,” he whispers of the dark-haired man climbing out of the driver’s seat of a white Aston Martin. For a family in the midst of a financial crisis, they sure don’t live like it.
We walk toward the curb, where the man is leaning back into his car.
“Here we go,” he whispers and links our fingers again.
“Tyson Wilde, my man,” George calls as he pulls shopping bags out of the car and straightens. “Kate realized we didn’t have any bubbly in stock, and I ran out, hoping I’d get back before anyone arrived. I forgot you’re never fashionably late.” He grins.
“Or any other kind of late,” Tyson adds in a good-natured but not lighthearted way. Instantly, I understand that even though Tyson referred to George as a friend, he’s not someone who’d be invited to Friday night dinner.
George makes a show of stopping short when his gaze lands on me and flashes an appreciative grin to Tyson. “And who is this ravishing beauty you’ve brought to delight us all?”
Tyson wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me into his side. “Donna, this walking cliché of British public school corruption is George Dupont.”
George lifts my hand to his lips for a kiss.
I resist the urge to tug it away.
“The third. Not to be mistaken for the much older, much less handsome George Dupont the second, my father. And Donna, I’m enchanted.”
“The pleasure is mine. Thank you for inviting us to dinner.”
He grimaces. “Yes, dinner. Let’s get inside before Kate starts to worry that I’m not coming back.”
He jogs up the wide, slate gray steps and pushes doors open.
A petite blonde woman dressed in a black sequined mini dress that barely covers her ass is standing on the checkerboard tiled floor of a massive, ornately decorated entryway. Everything is covered in gold leaf. It’s hideous.
Wow, I mouth to Tyson.
“Welcome to our little pied a terre,” the woman sings as she trots over on heels so high her feet look like they might break with every step she takes.
“Kate, lovely to see you.” Tyson bends over to kiss each of her cheeks.
She pushes herself between us and bumps him away with her hip. “Nice to see you, too, but I’m much more interested in her.” She turns her Cheshire cat-like grin my direction. “I can’t wait to hear how you managed to reel him in.”
“She didn’t have to. I fell hook, line and sinker,” Tyson answers before I can think of a witty comeback.
I look up at him, ready to laugh off his exaggeration. But the smile on his face nearly brings my heart to a screeching halt at the real affection in his gaze when our eyes meet.
I’m emboldened by the ability to speak the truth I’d never otherwise utter. “It was the same for me.” Heat rushes up my neck and floods my cheeks, but I can’t take my eyes off his.
Kate cackles and nudges my shoulder. “Well, well, well. I’m glad I begged George to bring me along. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”
Me neither, sister.
She loops her arm through mine. “Tonight is going to be a blast. It’s been too long since we’ve had the pleasure of Tyson’s company.”
There’s a suggestive note in her voice that gives me pause. What does that mean?
“Let’s keep each other company tonight. When these two get together there’s no telling where the evening will end up.” Another innuendo. I glance at Tyson and give him a you’ve got some explaining to do look.
He widens his eyes as if he’s just as confused as I am.
Kate follows my gaze and grins. “Don’t worry, Tyson, I won’t try to take her from you,” she calls over her shoulder. “At least, not yet,” she purrs in my ear as she leads me away.
10
Unexpected
Tyson
The expression on Dina’s face as she left with Kate made me want to grab her hand and leave. Kate is always flirtatious and bawdy. But I didn’t like the suggestive way she referred to our past interactions. We follow the women up a spiraling staircase with rails that are inlaid with what looks like ivory and down a narrow hallway toward the rear of the house. Dina’s ass in that dress is distracting as hell.
“Earth to Tyson.” George snaps his fingers in my ear.
I drag my eyes away and look at him. “Sorry, what’d you say?”
He raises his eyebrows and grins knowingly. “You know, I almost believed you when you said you’d be a bachelor forever. Should have known a man like you was just waiting for someone with the perfect ass…”
“Careful where your eyes go, man.” I narrow my gaze at him.
“I was going to say assets… to come along.” He laughs at my disbelieving frown. “Wow, you really like her, huh? You’re only this way about your sister.”
I shrug. “Yeah, well, she’s…rare. No one ever made me even think about another night, much less a weekend.” As I say the words, I realize that they’re true. Dina makes me think all sorts of things I don’t want to.
“Now I’m almost sorry I won’t be at the chateau tomorrow,” George says wistfully.
I stop walking and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, too. “You’re not?”
“No, the old man likes to hold court. You know how it is when your parent is your boss, too.”
“Yeah, tell me about it,” I commiserate, even though I don’t think our circumstances are anything alike.
“I don’t know why you’ve stayed all this time,” he remarks.
I glance at him in surprise. “Where else was I going to go?” It’s never crossed my mind to leave.
“Start your own thing. Making moves that matter instead of being a paper pusher.”
We approach the set of French doors that Kate and Dina disappeared through a few seconds ago, and they swing open, two men dressed in French period costumes bow in greeting.
It’s like entering an entirely different world from the rest of the baroque-style house. The room is huge and was most likely designed to be used as a ballroom. Tonight, it’s been transformed into a dining room and lounge area. There’s a live band, also dressed in blue livery, at the front of the room playing the most benign background music I’ve ever heard.
Half a dozen round dining tables are scattered on the right side of the room, and an array of sofas, chaises, and pillow-lined seats occupy the left half. The entire room is cast in low light with red glass sconces hanging from the ceiling glowing with what looks like candlelight.