Upstairs Downstairs Baby (Sweet Tea And Scandal 1)

Knowing his mother would be on edge before the party, Linc made sure he was at her house half an hour early. She received him in her bedroom, where she was having her makeup done. Sawyer had also arrived and was sitting on the chaise in the corner, watching their mother’s transformation. She winked at him as he entered.

Bettina waved her hand. “Come over here so I can get a look at you.”

Linc did as he was asked. Tonight, he’d donned a navy suit with a white shirt and bright blue-striped tie. When he’d chosen the latter, he’d imagined Claire smiling up at him as she commented how the blue matched his eyes.

“Do I meet with your approval?” he teased, seeing his mother’s fond smile.

“You make me proud.” Her gaze flashed toward her daughter, who wore a figure-hugging black dress that bared her toned legs and arms. Bettina frowned. “There’s still time before the party if you want to run home and change,” she told Sawyer. “To put on something with a little more color maybe.”

“I like what I’m wearing.” In one smooth move, Sawyer got to her feet and headed for the door. “Besides, Linc is the one everyone is going to be focused on tonight. No one will even notice I’m here.”

Before their mother could do more than snort her disapproval, Sawyer vanished through the door. Linc stared after her in amusement. At least until her words penetrated.

Everyone would be focused on him tonight. He was the main event.

Normally this would appeal to him, but the idea that most of the women attending the party had their sights set on becoming his wife meant he would be disappointing a lot of people over the course of the evening.

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nbsp; “I’m going to go grab a drink,” he murmured, setting his hands on his mother’s shoulders and meeting her gaze in the mirror. “You look beautiful.”

“Don’t drink too much. Remember, this party is a marathon, not a sprint.”

“But I’m such a happy drunk,” he teased.

In fact, he held his liquor very well and tended to quit earlier than most of his friends. The last thing he needed was to get caught in a compromising situation because he’d drunk to excess and have his exploits splashed all over social media.

His mother regarded him in mock sternness. “We’re trying to make a good impression here.”

“Everyone finds me charming and irresistible. I’ll be fighting them off by the end of the evening.”

“I hope so. Not everyone in this town is convinced you are a good catch.”

Linc could see this bothered his mother and thought he understood why. “I don’t care what people think and you’d be a lot happier if you didn’t, either. There are a lot of small-minded people who believe their social position gives them the right to judge others. The same people who were happy standing on the shoulders of those less fortunate when Daddy roped them into his Ponzi scheme are the ones who think they’re better than him. But they behaved just as badly.”

“Your father made things hard for all of us.”

“Which is why you should be so proud of everything you accomplished.”

His mother’s expression became uncharacteristically bleak. “What did I do besides keep a roof over your heads and put food on the table? Even that was a struggle until you started pitching in.” Bettina shook her head. “And don’t think for one second that I don’t realize my blind desire for social prominence is what prompted me to marry your father. If I hadn’t been so focused on the Thurston name, I might have chosen a man with integrity. Instead, I took someone without a lick of sense and made him think he had to take idiotic risks to further our social standing.”

Linc hated hearing his mother take the blame for his father’s bad judgment. “He chose to rely on shortcuts instead of hard work.”

“He was never all that ambitious.”

Which was why after getting out of prison, he’d divorced Bettina and married an outsider with a lot of money.

“You know, it was your belief in me that made me such a success. And what about Sawyer? She’s a driving force for conservation in this city. Do you think she would have the passion for preserving Charleston’s history if not for the stories you told us growing up?”

“You two are my joy. I want the best for you.”

Linc gave his mother’s shoulders a gentle squeeze. “I know.”

“That’s why I threw this party, so you could meet some suitable women.”

His mother hadn’t yet asked what was going on between him and Claire, but he suspected she would if he didn’t go on a date with one or more of tonight’s guests. “Go check on Claire and see how she’s doing,” his mother said. “I want everything to be perfect tonight.”

“I’m sure she has everything in hand, but I’ll see if she needs anything.”