Love Loyal and True (Must Love Diamonds 2)

“I’ll see you there.”

If he was lucky, talking to potential voters for his dad’s campaign would keep his mind off his simmering resentment about Roxanna using him as a stand-in for the half-brother he hated.

Chapter 10

“Honor and Mae are here,” Tessa called from the register on Thursday afternoon.

Roxanna slammed the file cabinet with a frustrated huff and walked over to her already messy desk to swipe up her new purse. It had been a shitty week, and not just because of the fire. Ever since she’d lied to Loyal about why she’d asked him to kiss her drunk self, she’d felt sick to her stomach. She still couldn’t get her accounts to balance out, and the check she’d found on Sunday night had gone missing.

Karma was seriously pissed off at her, and her gut told her it was all because of her mean-spirited lie. She’d wanted to throw him completely off track, and considering she hadn’t seen him since Monday morning, it appeared to have worked. Too bad she couldn’t enjoy the peace and quiet.

When she turned around, the redheaded cake baker engaged to her best friend stood in the doorway, her blond bestie beside her still wearing her red Lockhart Construction logo shirt, jeans, and tan work boots.

“What’s got you all riled up?” Honor asked.

“I’m missing a check. I think it got mixed in with the mountains of paperwork I filed Sunday night, but I haven’t been able to find it.”

“Need some help?” Mae offered.

“Thanks, but I’ve had enough of the file cabinets today. I’ll look again tomorrow.”

“Any word on your apartment?”

That was another thing. She answered Honor’s question with a shake of her head as they headed out. “They’re still investigating what started the fire. No one’s cleared to enter the building until that’s finalized.”

She switched the subject to Honor and Asher’s trip as they got in the car, and on the way to the costume shop it morphed to their wedding set for May. Loyal would be the best man, and Mae the matron of honor. Roxanna was to be paired with Merit, and Honor’s sister Glory would’ve been with Grayson, but the Diamond’s new sibling had firmly declined the request to be a groomsman, so they were looking for someone else.

“But it’s months away,” Mae said. “Surely he’ll be more comfortable with the family by then?”

“Asher didn’t want to push it.” Honor turned into the store lot and parked her car. “We’re just hoping he comes.”

“You really think he’d skip the wedding?”

“Maybe. There’s still a lot of tension with the way he and Loyal seem hell bent on hating each other.”

And you knew that when you threw Grayson’s name in his face.

Roxanna winced in shame as they started inside.

“Asher said something about seeing if his friend Dev can stand up.”

Dev Torrez. Now there was another guy she could’ve decided to like besides Loyal. Tall, devilishly handsome, muscled, and nice. If only the oldest son of the Diamond’s housekeeper wasn’t gone on classified missions for the military ninety-nine percent of the time. Well, that and the one time she’d met him five years ago, she’d noticed young Shelby mooning over him from the wings.

“I’m really going to need to meet all these guys soon,” Mae said.

“You haven’t met them yet?” Roxanna asked with surprise.

“Only Asher

. Ian had a busy summer with soccer, and everyone and their brother seems to be remodeling these days. I’ve been so busy, it’s crazy. I was supposed to meet Merit at that cookout a couple weeks ago, but Ian was sick.”

And for Mae, her six-year-old son came first—as he should.

“Now that Loyal’s back, we should plan a dinner for the wedding party,” Honor mused. “Sometime after the election is over.”

Mae nodded. “Sounds good.”

A whole evening in the same room as Loyal sounded like hell to Roxanna, but she kept quiet as they paused at the register for Honor to give the sales lady the name for their reserved costumes.