by Alexia Praks
“You’re going to be my bestseller this week,” she said, tapping her finger on the petal. “And I thank you for that.” Then she imagined the digits increasing in her bank account—and yes, that also meant her plan to go overseas was getting closer to reality too.
She turned to pick up her bag, tossed it over her shoulder, and headed back toward the road as she hummed to herself.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Sakura felt something soft grazing against her legs. She glanced down and saw a cute dog with fluffy white fur and large black eyes watching her, begging for her attention. The West Highland white terrier barked her a happy greeting.
“Where have you been, Toby?” she greeted back. “I told you not to go too far. You might get lost. What if I couldn’t find you? What would you do then? You’d become an orphan.”
Sakura knew exactly what it was like to be an orphan. It was a most terrible feeling to have no one to share your love, your fear, your happiness, or your experiences. It was a lonely existence, and no one deserved that.
“You wouldn’t want that now, would you?” she queried Toby as she bent down to pick him up. The dog stuck out his tongue and licked her cheek. She couldn’t help herself and giggled.
The fact was Sakura really loved Toby since it was she who had found him half-buried in the snow in the depths of the woods three winters ago. The pup was lost and very sick, having been abandoned by his owner who had left St. Joseph Island and never returned. If it hadn’t been for her, Toby could’ve died from starvation and hypothermia.
The pup, later named Toby by Sakura herself, had known it had been Sakura who saved him and had taken a liking to her immediately, doting on her and following her wherever she went.
“Don’t!” She told him off. The dog looked somewhat disappointed as he tried to lick her again. “It’s your fault for not listening to me, Toby.” She returned him to the ground. “Now then, I think it’s time to head back. I do have many more things to do before dinner.” She paused, looking up at the beautiful spring sky; her eyes narrowed against the bright sunlight. “And then there’s Saturday.” She frowned, and her heart skipped a beat.
Saturday would come all too soon, the day when everyone would be arriving for the wedding and the holiday. There’d be so many people Sakura didn’t know. But of course that didn’t matter. What really mattered—and what really worried her—was the fact that her adopted brothers—all seven of them—would be coming as well since it was their cousin Mary’s wedding.
Sakura cocked her head to one side as she thought about the brothers. There were the very responsible, father-like figure Nicolas; the very popular, mischievous triplets Tristan, Logan, and Sebastian; the disobedient, bad-boy Hayden; the smart, arrogant Darcy, who disliked her most since those unfortunate incidents thirteen years ago; and lastly nice, sincere Conrad.
Of course she couldn’t really forget about Tara, Alaina, and their big-city friends. They’d no doubt only be too happy to be back and make Sakura’s life as miserable as possible. But Sakura too had grown up into a fine woman with strong will. Or so Daddy James told her many times. Hence, come hell or high water, Sakura wasn’t going to put up with their nastiness this time. After all, she had her own life and her own plans for the future to worry about and therefore had no time for their bull.
As she breathed in the fresh spring air and strolled along the woodland, a thought suddenly struck her. She nibbled her lower lip, her eyes gazing off into the far distance to the sea beyond.
Would they still remember her, though?
She scoffed at the thought immediately. Of course not! If they remembered anything about her at all, it was probably the pranks they had played on her and the many scoldings they had received from Daddy James and Mom Brenda because of her. Not that she’d ever been the one who told on them. It had always been pretty Tara, who was also adopted by the Princetons, and Alaina who had been the masterminds behind everything. Then they’d all gone off to boarding school—the boys to St. Michael’s Boarding School for Boys, one of the most prestigious schools in America, and Tara and Alaina to Princess Margaret’s Boarding School for Girls, also one of the most prestigious schools in America.
Not very long after, Sakura too had gone off to St. Helensburgh Boarding School for Girls where she met her friends Mary Collins, who also turned out to be the boys’ cousin from their mother’s side, and Katherine Hodge, a girl from a good family who also lived on St. Joseph Island. She, Mary, and Katherine had many lovely times together, helping each other with schoolwork and enjoying each other’s company, both in and out of school.
Back then, during the holidays, Sakura would stay with the Collinses at their farm in California, enjoying her times there with Mary, Katherine, and Mary’s brother, Richard. Then every so often Daddy James and Mom Brenda would come and stay with them for a couple of days along with Dale and Molly, her adopted grandparents from Daddy James’s side of the family. During those times, Sakura had never felt more warm, happy, and complete to have such a wonderful circle of family and friends. Hence she never really saw the boys—nor Alaina and Tara for that matter—ever since she left thirteen years ago. By the time she completed her science degree at UCLA and had returned to St. Joseph Island to work in the local hospital, they all had left home completely to live wherever their hearts had taken them. Of course, she had no idea where they were living now, and to be frankly honest, neither did she care.
“So what do you think they’re like now?” she asked Toby, who was busy sticking his tongue out and sniffing the air with interest. Sakura cocked her head to one side, wondering.
“Nicolas would be twenty-eight by now,” she murmured to herself, picturing the young Nicolas when she last saw him when he was fifteen years old. “The triplets?” She cocked her head to the other side, watching Toby wagging his tail as he was sniffing something of interest to him in the bush not too far away. “They’d be what? Twenty-six?” The picture of the three when they were thirteen flashed in her mind. “What about Hayden and the twins?” Yes, Hayden would be twenty-four by now, and the twins, Alaina and Darcy, would be twenty-two.
The name Darcy caused her heart to skip a beat, and that odd, dull pain was still there, lingering within her being, reminding her of what had happened that summer thirteen years ago.
Then there was Conrad, the baby of the house. “Yes,” she murmured to herself, gently touching the overgrown tall grasses, “he’d be twenty by now.”
“And me,” she said under her breath, her heart pounding within her chest. “I’ll be twenty-four in a couple of weeks.” But then again, she thought, April the 8th wasn’t her actual birthdate. It was the date she was found on the doorstep of the orphanage, and she’d already been more than a couple of days old.
Looking back, she thought how Tara had fit right in with the family as if she were born into it. Sakura, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to make even one sibling like her at all. It had hurt because she badly wanted them to accept her. She wanted them to love and care for her as their sister. That, however, was not to be.
It didn’t matter now, though, because there were Daddy James, Mom Brenda, Dale, and Molly who loved her. There was also Beth Faber, the housekeeper, who always doted on her in her own weird way. And of course Ned Faber, Beth’s young brother, who treated her like his own child since he had none and longed for one. Not to mention her real mother, the woman she’d never met.
Deep down, Sakura knew her mother loved her because otherwise the woman wouldn’t have given her a name—a very beautiful Japanese name—that meant cherry blossom and left her a cherry blossom pendant necklace. She found out not too long ago that the pendant stone was a rare pink diamond which was of the finest quality and very expensive. She knew without a doubt there had to be a reason her mother had abandoned her, and Sakura was determined to find the woman and then…
Then what?
Unconsciously, she touched the pink diamond about her neck.
When the weddin
g was over, she’d be going out there into the world—she didn’t care where—to find her mother.
With that thought in mind, she smiled up at the sky and closed her eyes, savoring this very moment, cherishing it in her memory, and praying very hard that soon she’d find the woman who had given her life.
* * * * *
CHAPTER 2
Sebastian Princeton, Prince of Hearts
Sebastian Princeton wanted to kill his triplet siblings—Tristan and Logan—for making his life a living hell. First they invited themselves into his luxurious apartment in Manhattan. Though there were five large bedrooms, a fitness room, a modern kitchen, a cinema room, and a comfy lounge, he still thought it was a bit crowded, having gotten so used to living alone for the past five years with only the occasional visits from his parents and grandparents.
The first night, they brought in their friends and had a blast partying in the house, emptying his beloved cellar and fridge and destroying some of his precious paintings and photographs he’d bought from an unknown, talented artist he greatly admired. The second night, they refused to let him stay home to finish his work and dragged him out drinking until the early hours of the morning. Their argument was, “It’s Saturday!” The third night, they told him to get packing because they were leaving for St. Joseph Island three days early for their cousin Mary’s wedding to surprise the bride-to-be—and their mom and dad, of course.
Sebastian knew instantly it was that damn Tristan’s idea, who only wanted to annoy the hell out of him, and naturally Logan went along. Then Hayden arrived on his motorbike, crashing on Sebastian’s king-size bed without an invitation, informing them he was now homeless and girlfriendless. His super-hot girlfriend had kicked him out after she’d seen him hugging another gorgeous guy and had wrongly assumed him to be gay and cheating on her. The guy, of course, turned out to be Darcy.
Tristan burst out laughing until his stomach hurt when Hayden explained that he’d been comforting Darcy by patting Darcy’s shoulder—not hugging him—who’d had a really bad breakdown because his girlfriend dumped him for another guy. Then Darcy arrived—all wounded and heartbroken like a little pup—as Tristan kept telling everyone, including Darcy himself, who in fact didn’t give a shit whether this new ex-girlfriend of his dumped him or not and was indeed very glad the stagnated relationship was over.
Tristan insisted they had no choice but to comfort Darcy by taking him out drinking until early dawn, which in due course led to a house full of men with hangovers the next morning accompanied by lots of moaning, groaning, and of course very colorful cursing from Darcy, who naturally wanted to also murder Tristan for his distasteful tricks. They all knew Darcy couldn’t handle much alcohol, and they forced him to have shots after shots after shots.
By that evening, they were completely sober except for Darcy, who was still nursing his headache. Sebastian, on the other hand, had had enough and swore if this ever happened again, he’d murder his brothers for sure.
The next day, Sebastian was on a warpath once again. It was entirely their fault that he was now as wet and cold as a drowned kitten and his laptop stuffed up. If Tristan and Logan hadn’t been fooling around near the railing on the lower deck of their two-million dollar, brand-spanking-new luxury yacht, trying to kill each other to get a peek at his new apartment plan, then he and his laptop wouldn’t have gotten thrown off board into the ocean. Furthermore, if he wasn’t such an excellent swimmer, since he’d been one of the best professional athlete swimmers during his late teens, he could have buried himself and his laptop deep under the ocean.
“I’m sure Hayden can fix it,” Tristan said coolly, throwing him a dry towel.
Sebastian glared at his brother as the towel landed on his head, partially covering his handsome face and azure-blue eyes that were glinting with fire.
“Nope. Can’t fix it,” Hayden said matter-of-factly. “It’s totally stuffed, bro. Better get a new one.”
“Jesus! My work!” Sebastian muttered, looking heavenward as he pulled down the towel. “It’s not the laptop! It’s my work!” he growled.
“Surely you have a backup, right?” Conrad, the youngest of the brothers, put in calmly from the other side of the pool.
“Of course, but—”
“Ah.” Logan butted in, putting down his martini. “Girlfriends.”
“What?” Sebastian snapped. He was at his limit and was ready to throw at least one of them into the ocean, and that person was preferably Tristan who was smiling cheekily on the other side of the pool a good distance away.
Tristan knew he was in trouble, and it was best for him to keep out of reach since Sebastian had very powerful fists. After all, Tristan had seen too many times to count when perfectly good-looking faces got restructured into very distorted ones with a few of Sebastian’s mighty punches. Of course, Tristan didn’t want his gorgeous face to be ruined, and what would he do without his handsome face and flirty smile? The girls wouldn’t bed him, that was for sure, and Tristan would be very devastated indeed.
“He’s pissed because all his girlfriends’ photos are ruined,” Logan said matter-of-factly, emphasizing the word girlfriends as plural.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Sebastian replied. Though he had to admit it was losing the photos that really pissed him off since he hadn’t backed up some of the most recent ones on his hard drive.
“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend, Sebastian,” Tara said, sitting across from him, her long, slender body posing elegantly on the poolside lounge. She knew she looked enticing wearing a two-piece bikini that barely covered her hot body, and she knew the brothers liked looking at her. Oh hell! Who didn’t want a body like hers? Even women envied her for her figure.
She tossed her long hair, dyed platinum blond ever since it turned brown years ago, over her shoulder and leaned toward Sebastian—the brother she’d always wanted. Only, so far, she’d never been able to grab his attention let alone his interest in her as a woman. In fact, all the brothers had always treated her like a sister, like they treated Alaina, which annoyed the hell out of her.
“He doesn’t,” Alaina butted in, pulling her slender body out of the water. She grabbed a towel resting on the side of the pool, wrapped it around her, and sat down beside Tara.
“My poor brothers,” she said. “When will you all get a nice girl and settle down? Aside from you, of course, Conrad, since you’re still too young.”
Conrad snorted at his sister to show her his annoyance and returned his attention to his tablet, playing the new, not-yet-released zombie game Hayden and Darcy had given him as a trial from their video game company, HD Game, Inc., which they had built themselves from scratch a year ago.
“Don’t feel sorry for me, Alaina. I’m not ready to get tied down yet.” Nicolas chuckled. “I like my freedom.” He took a sip of his cocktail and then relaxed back on the poolside divan, gazing up at the sky above. “Twenty-eight is still too young to settle down,” he murmured to himself.
“What about Dad’s offer?” Darcy asked.
Nicolas raised his brows.
“Didn’t he want you to take over Princeton Group?” Sebastian queried. “He’s ready to retire.”
Nicolas sighed. Of course, all the brothers knew their dad had been asking him to take over the business, but Nicolas didn’t feel he was ready to take on such a big job as CEO of their family empire, the Princeton Group—aside from the fact that he had three of his own businesses to take care of, even though they were mostly online and his employees were outsourced.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now,” he said. “I’ll take a look at it this spring and decide then.”
“Aside from that,” Alaina said, “none of you are bringing any girls home to meet Mom and Dad?” She turned to Hayden. “Where’s your girlfriend? What’s her name? Judith or Julie or something?”
“We broke up,” Hayden snapped.
“He got dumped.” Tristan gladly offered. This of course welcomed a death-ra
y glare from Hayden.
“And you, Darcy?” Tara asked. “What about Kate?”
Darcy frowned at Tara, telling her to piss off and mind her own business.
Tara thought Darcy’s dislike of her had grown even more in these past few years. This frustrated and pissed her off because she couldn’t understand why he was like that toward her. These feelings multiplied since she had a big crush on him. Well, she couldn’t help herself, and what woman could? Especially with him looking like that… with raven-black hair that he always wore tied back into a ponytail. Then there were those mauve-gray eyes of his, the type of color she’d never seen before on any person. Not to mention his tall, lean body—toned and well maintained via years of training and hard work. Any woman would want that particular body in her bed—Tara included.
“He got dumped.” Tristan supplied.
Darcy grabbed a towel and threw it at Tristan. The force of the throw caused the towel to smack right on the side of Tristan’s face. Instead of cursing, the older brother laughed and said, as he watched Darcy walking past him toward the stairs that’d lead him up to the high-diving platform above, “Get over it, Darcy boy. She’ll come begging for you again like all of your other ex-girlfriends did.”
Darcy was over it. He was simply sick of women smothering him with what they thought was love but was in fact lust, clinginess, and jealousy. When he’d started dating this last one, Kate Anderson, he hadn’t known it was one of Alaina’s friends. If he had known, he wouldn’t have gone out with the damn woman in the first place. As a matter of fact, he hadn’t had a choice since the beginning. Alaina had cunningly gotten him drunk, and the next thing he knew, he was in bed with Kate. The next day, she practically moved in with him.
