Substitute Seduction (Sweet Tea And Scandal 2)

“He was young once.”

“He’s running a multimillion-dollar racing team,” she countered, her tone tart. “And even if he forgave you, what about your sponsors?”

Harrison let loose an exaggerated sigh. “One of these days you’re going to surprise me by not being so practical.”

“You think so?” A faint smile curved her lips.

“I know so.”

London subsided into reflective silence for several minutes and Harrison gave her room to think. At long last she said, “It’s not part of my nature to be rash and spontaneous. My mother drilled into my head that I should think first and act second. She’s very concerned with appearances, and growing up, I never had an opportunity to spread my wings, so to speak.”

This bit of insight into her past intrigued him. “What would you have done if your choices hadn’t been so restricted?”

“Run off and join the circus?” Her weak attempt at humor was obviously an attempt to deflect his probing. After a second she gave a half-hearted shrug and said, “I don’t know. Sometimes I resent that my mother was so obsessed with advancing my position in Charleston society.”

“Only sometimes?” he challenged.

London’s fingers briefly tightened over his. “When I let myself think about it.” For a long moment she sat in silence, but soon his patience was rewarded. “It’s hard when your mother thinks your worth is defined by who you marry. That’s something other people judge you by, not your own parent.”

“Why do you care?”

His blunt question apparently surprised her. Despite the shadowy confines of the back seat, he could easily read the sudden tension in her expression.

She reacted as if he’d attacked some core value she lived by. “I want her to be glad I’m her daughter.”

Harrison understood why this was important. Tristan had long sought their father’s approval, especially since taking over Crosby Automotive. Harrison’s brother seemed obsessed with matching the success their father had made of the company, yet profits had been mostly flat in the first few years Tristan had been in charge. Still, that hadn’t seemed to affect his personal spending. Something Harrison had heard his uncle criticize more than once.

“You don’t think she admires all you’ve accomplished?” Harrison asked, returning his thoughts to London’s situation.

“I think my dad does.” Pride glowed in her voice. “My company is very successful and that makes him proud.”

“But not your mother?”

“She might’ve been happy if I’d married Linc and had several boys and one girl.”

“Why only one girl?” Harrison suspected he knew the answer before she spoke.

“Obviously my mother’s opinion is that women are worth less than men.” London’s tone was more matter-of-fact than bitter. “Still, she’d like to have a granddaughter who could do what I couldn’t. Become a debutante.”

Harrison knew his mother had gone through the classes and been presented at nineteen. But in this day and age, did that stuff even matter?

“Why is it so important to her?” he asked.

“My mother grew up in New York City and was never selected for the International Debutante Ball there, despite her family’s connections and wealth. She took the rejection hard.” London shifted in her seat, turning to face him. “And then she gets to Charleston and finds all the doors are closed to her. No one cared about her money. All that mattered was she was from off.” London freed her hand briefly so she could form air quotes around the last word.

“You should talk to my mother,” Harrison said. “She rejected becoming a debutante and married my dad, who was not only an outsider but poor by her family standards.”

“I’m going to guess she’d tell me to follow my heart?”

“That was the advice she gave me when my dad hassled me about choosing racing over working for Crosby Automotive. If I hadn’t, I’d be working for the family business and completely miserable.”

“You don’t see yourself as a businessman?”

“Honestly, not the sort who sits in an office and stares at reports all day. My plan is to take over for my uncle one day and run Crosby Motorsports.”

“And in the meantime you’re just going to race and have fun.”

“Nothing wrong with having fun. I’d like to demonstrate that to you.”