Must Love Frosting (Must Love Diamonds 1)

“I was perfectly nice when she was here. She wouldn’t even say hi to me.”

It was like trying to reason with a two year old. He sat at the counter with his plate and finally took his first bite of breakfast. He closed his eyes and telegraphed a silent thank you across the street to Honor. With his second forkful, he asked, “What are you doing back, Loyal? There’s not much we can do until dad’s team sorts things out.”

“I want to go see him.”

His brother’s solemn gaze stilled his hand. “Grayson Cole?”

“No, the Pope.” He shoved up and stood straight. “Of course Grayson Cole.”

Asher was totally on board with that. He’d been contemplating the same move despite the conversation at their parents’ house last night. Speaking around another bite, he advised, “The campaign team said they needed to check into everything before any of us did anything rash. By their definition, contacting Vivian or Grayson Cole would be rash.”

“Fuck the team. What did Dad say to that?”

“He didn’t like it, but he’s going along with it for now. He doesn’t want to give the tabloids more fodder.”

“And Mom?”

Asher rested the tines of his fork on the plate. “Mom wasn’t saying much at all by that point.”

Loyal paced toward the living room, then spun to come back. “None of this has been sitting right with me since the moment I heard it, so—”

“Join the club.”

“—I found a PI willing to work through the night to start digging into these people.”

He raised his eyebrows. “And?”

“It’s all about the campaign.”

“I could’ve told you that for free, Einstein.”

Loyal shot him a shut up glare. “Dad’s had two successful governor’s races and this is when some secret, illegitimate child first comes out? If you look at it from the money angle, this woman had eighteen years to ask for child support. She’d have to be living under a rock not to know who Dad was all this time, what the family’s worth, yet she didn’t even try to blackmail him to keep her silent.”

“You’d have preferred blackmail?”

“No. You’re missing the point.” He thumped his fist on the counter. “These people don’t have money—haven’t had money. So, the only reason this woman would’ve chosen now to ‘reveal’ her little story is because it’s not true. The opposing party found a guy who looks like us and paid these people a shitload of money to fake a scandal so Dad will lose. They’re desperate to win the party majority in this election.”

The last part was one hundred percent true, but the rest had holes. Unfortunately.

“Except Dad admitted to the affair,” he reminded. “And they have a DNA test.”

“Oh, please. You know Dad never gave permission for that test. We can’t trust the results of a test done by the same people who paid for the story. My midnight PI guy proves everyone has a price, so I say before we believe anything, we need to investigate and have our own test done.”

“Dad’s lawyers are putting in a request for a second test today. But, Loyal, come on. You saw the news.”

“Yeah, so?”

“This guy doesn’t just look like us, he could pretty much be your twin.”

Annoyance twisted his features as he shook his head and turned away. Rubbing the back of his neck, he stared out the window for a long moment, and then his shoulders slumped as he blew out a rough breath.

When he faced Asher again, resignation filled his grimace. “I still want to go see him. I don’t give a shit what Dad’s decided to do.”

“I’m totally with you on that part.” Asher stood and deposited his empty plate in the sink. “When were you thinking?”

“Today. Now.”

“Fine by me. What about Celia, Merit, and Shelby?” Like any family, they had their differences, but when it came right down to it, they always had each others’ backs. It only seemed right they include them in this, too.