“We have our work cut out for us,” Zeke said with a heartfelt sigh. “But we’ll get through it. Maybe not exactly unscathed, but hopefully close to it.”
Despite the positivity in his cousin’s words, Miles couldn’t help but feel things were beginning to teeter on the edge of a dangerous precipice. But then he gave himself a mental shake. They were here to keep up appearances and to celebrate Zeke’s engagement to Reagan. He needed to chill out a bit. His eyes tracked across the room, back to Chloe.
Zeke turned to follow Miles’s gaze.
“She’s pretty. Luke and I were surprised you risked bringing her home to meet us.”
“Risked?” Miles asked with a raised brow.
“Well, you know what Aunt Ava’s like. Has she checked Chloe’s pedigree and breeding options yet?”
Miles laughed out loud, earning inquisitive looks from many of the people milling around them. “No, but there’s still time. We’re staying on an extra few days.”
“Well, good luck, cuz. If she’s worth it, look after her.”
“Oh, I plan to, for as long as she’ll let me.”
Across the room, Chloe had begun to work her way over toward him and Zeke. A few people smiled or nodded to her, but there were equally as many who turned their backs. Watching it made Miles’s hackles rise. Chloe was his guest. Under normal circumstances, that meant she should be welcomed with open arms, but with everything that was going on, she was being treated by some as a rank outsider.
She had a smile painted on her face as she drew closer to them, but he could see that it wasn’t reflected in her eyes. In fact, her gaze showed just how angry she was.
“I can’t believe the nerve of some people,” she fumed.
“Oh?”
“Outside of your immediate family everyone here is a stranger to me, and yet several people tonight have warned me not to trust y’all and to run for the hills. And they’re not kidding, either. If it had been said in jest I wouldn’t have minded, but these people, these leeches, are standing here eating and drinking what your family has provided and they still have the audacity to speak to me like that?”
All of a sudden, she realized that Miles wasn’t alone.
“Oh heavens, look I’m sorry. That was very rude of me, and here I am complaining about your guests. Hi, I’m Chloe, and you’re Zeke, right? Congratulations on your engagement.”
“Don’t apologize to me,” Zeke said smoothly. “I’m just as annoyed as you are. But I guess this is high society, right? The loyal and the not-so-loyal rubbing shoulders and all playing as if they’re friends in the same sandpit.”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind kicking a bit of sand in a few eyes tonight,” Chloe growled. “But, enough of that. How exciting to be engaged and how lovely to have something cheerful, like a wedding, to look forward to in amongst all the turmoil. Have you two set a date?”
Miles felt Zeke shift a little, betraying his discomfort with the question. Was Zeke having second thoughts? Last month, Zeke had shared the surprising news with his cousins that his and Reagan’s engagement and their forthcoming marriage were purely born of convenience to help Reagan access her grandmother’s inheritance. But Chloe wasn’t to know that and it wasn’t Miles’s secret to share.
“Reagan’s mother has stipulated a six-month engagement so it gives her sufficient time to organize the wedding on their property. We’re happy to go along with that although we had hoped to marry sooner.”
After a little more small talk, Zeke excused himself to go mingle further with the crowd, and Chloe sneaked in close by Miles’s side. Slipping an arm around her waist, he smiled down at her as she took a small sip of the champagne she held in her hand. But there was a brittle air to her, which he’d noticed since yesterday after she’d talked to her mother. Obviously, something was worrying her, and equally obviously she wasn’t prepared to share that with him just yet.
It frustrated him. He wanted there to be no secrets between them, but he could hardly complain when he hadn’t been fully forthcoming about what his family were dealing with. Chloe had been a breath of fresh air in his life right from the beginning, and he was starting to think that he’d like to keep her there, maybe even forever. He turned the idea around in his head. Yeah, forever had a nice ring to it. Clearly, they still had so much to learn about one another, but if the way he felt about her and the way he believed she felt about him were any indicator, it wasn’t impossible to think that they could have a future together.
He splayed his fingers across her hip and pulled her in even closer.
“You okay?” she asked. “I hope no one’s been rude to you, too.”
“Not to my face but I’ve heard a few things here and there. I guess all of us have. In a place as close-knit as Royal it’s only to be expected. Some have been jealous of the Wingate family’s success and sought to pull us down a peg or two, and something like this is bound to bring out both the best and the worst in people.”
She stiffened at his words. “Jealousy?”
“Sure, a lot of people say my dad built his success on the misery of other people’s failures. I’ll admit, he wasn’t perfect all the time, but he was a darn hard worker, and so is Mom. In fact, the entire family has a strong work ethic no matter what they’re doing.”
“No matter what?”
“Obviously I don’t mean at the expense of anybody else, but business is business. Sometimes you have to be ruthless to get ahead. Anyway, we’re not here to talk business. We’re supposed to be celebrating my cousin and his fiancée’s happy future.”
A small frown furrowed her brow. “Miles, do you think you’ll all have a happy future? I mean, with everything that’s going on and all? I don’t know exactly what’s going on, of course, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that something is really upsetting your family.”