By Virtue I Fall (Sins of the Fathers 3)

“You got mad because I interrupted your tennis match.”

“Ahh, I’m competitive. Sorry. I loathe losing, so I can get really rude if people disturb my concentration.”

“Good to know.”

“Taking notes for our marriage?”

“Definitely.”

Clifford shook his head. “This is really strange. Nobody from my friends is engaged yet, or even thinking about it.”

“I can’t say the same. It’s common in our world for people to be promised as kids or teens.”

“That’s what I hear.”

I could hear a hint of disapproval in his tone and it made me want to defend our way of living, but I held back. I didn’t want an argument on this day. “But we’re not officially engaged yet. We need to have an engagement party and an official announcement.”

“My father wants to wait until we’re both eighteen.”

Dad had mentioned it. It was uncommon in our world to wait this long, especially if one party was as high profile as me.

“They make it out to be some kind of star-crossed lovers thing. Apparently, that’s what will sell this bond to the doubters,” Clifford continued.

“Who can resist true love against all odds?”

Clifford’s lips curled.

“You don’t believe in true love?”

“I only believe in things I can see.”

“Your parents don’t love each other?”

Clifford smiled in a disarming way. “Do yours?”

I smiled in turn and looked around the room. My parents most definitely loved each other. Sharing family secrets was way too personal for us at this point. Though, I wasn’t sure I’d ever trust Clifford enough to divulge any secrets of importance to him. “I guess this is good for parties and for having girls over without being interrupted.”

Clifford tilted his head, watching me closely. “Jealous?”

I chuckled. “Not one bit.”

It was true. It didn’t feel as if Clifford were mine and I didn’t feel the desire to claim him as mine. That would probably come once we were married. Now the word jealousy only brought up one name: Santino.

He nodded but didn’t stop the staring. He seemed to want to figure me out. It would take him years to do so if I allowed it.

“Are you a virgin?”

I couldn’t believe he asked that. “What?” In our circles, it was offensive to ask a girl something like that and to implicate that she might not be a virgin.

“Just curious. It’s none of my business anyway.”

“No?” I asked curiously, sauntering over to him. “Shouldn’t you guard me until our wedding night so I stay untouched?”

“Hell no,” Clifford exclaimed, looking honestly put off. “Waiting until marriage, where’s the fun?” He scanned me once more, lingering on my long legs. Today I’d picked an outfit I had designed myself and then let one of our maids who was a talented seamstress sew it for me. It was a cutesy blazer with flowy gossamer sleeves and a narrow waist with a silk bow and matching shorts that looked like a skirt. My legs looked particularly long in it and my high white heels only helped.

“Ahh, you want to sample the goods in advance.”

“I want to sample plenty of goods, believe me, not just yours.”

My eyebrows shot up. “So you won’t even pretend to be faithful?”

Clifford got serious. “Listen, Anna, I know you’re from a conservative background, but I have no intention of settling down with one girl right now and I definitely won’t stay celibate until we marry. As far as I’m concerned, we have a pre-contract but the real contract won’t get into effect until our wedding day. From that day on we can be faithful if that’s what you want but until then we’re not a couple and I’ll sleep around.”

I hadn’t expected Clifford to be this direct. I liked it, just not what he proposed. Even if I wasn’t jealous, that didn’t mean I wanted to be insulted by constant sleeping around.

He must have seen my fury because he quickly went on, “You’re free to do the same of course.”

My lips parted in shock. “You want me to sleep with other men?”

He laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t put it like that, but I don’t care what you do until we’re married as long as you are discreet and keep it out of the tabloids. I don’t want to give my mother more reason to eat her pills like skittles.”

I could tell he regretted his words the second they left his lips. Pill abuse was definitely a secret worth filing away for later use.

“You really won’t feel cheated if I’m not a virgin on our first night together?” I asked, suspicious of his motives. Maybe he was trying to lure me into a trap and test my virtue. Maybe his words about his mother taking too many pills was also false and a way to make me lower my guards.

Clifford shook his head, looking mildly nauseated. “I’ll be blunt. I’ll be glad if you aren’t. I’m not in the business of deflowering girls. I’m not into blood play. No sex during periods and no virgins, which is basically the same.”