by Lee, Nadia
“Hey, glad you made it.” She gave Ethan a hug, then glanced at Kerri while tucking her long brown hair behind her ears. “Who’s this?”
“Meredith, this is Kerri. Kerri, my sister Meredith.”
The other woman’s dark gaze sharpened, then her mouth eased into a relaxed smile. “Welcome.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Meredith was polite, but warm. Still Kerri couldn’t help but sense an underlying tension in the younger woman. Something in her gaze reminded Kerri of a vaguely dissatisfied cat. Kerri recalled how some of the Lloyds needed their share of the profits from the company to maintain the lifestyle they were accustomed to. They couldn’t be happy with the way the things at the company had turned out, especially since the financial problems had come to light on the heels of Jacob’s bigamy. The double whammy had to hurt. If it had happened in her family… Kerri shuddered. Barron would’ve had every executive at the company drawn and quartered.
Ethan gently took Kerri’s elbow and escorted her inside. The interior of the house was homey and inviting, the kind of place a person could return to for comfort, with overstuffed couches, rocking chairs and an ornate fireplace. A soft tune from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons floated from speakers embedded in the high ceiling, and people were gathered in clusters, their conversations and laughter providing a constant background. A group of four or five crouching and roasting s’mores at the fireplace made Kerri smile wistfully. She missed sugar, but more than that, she wished she had a good excuse to join them. A couple of kids were seated side-by-side at a baby grand piano in the corner, picking their way through a duet.
Kerri’s chest ached at the obvious affection and love among the Lloyds. Her family had been always so quiet, so grim. People rarely laughed, much less smiled. People sat and muttered a word or two, their lips thin. The gatherings usually ended when an hour or so of funereal somberness became too unbearable for Barron.
Ethan steered Kerri toward a stately woman whose dark eyes glittered with an inner fire. Confidence radiated from her erect posture. She hadn’t bothered with a dye job to hide the gray in her black hair. A burgundy silk dress looked royal on her petite frame, and she appeared timeless with her luminous skin.
“Mom, you look fantastic.” He kissed her cheeks.
“Thank you, dear. So do you.” She then looked at Kerri. “And who is this?”
“My date.” He made the introductions.
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” Kerri said.
“Call me Stella,” Ethan’s mother said. “‘Ma’am’ makes me look around for my own mother.”
Kerri smiled. “What a beautiful name.”
“Thanks, dear.”
A young boy grabbed Ethan’s attention, and the two went off to the living room. Stella watched them then lowered her voice, so only Kerri could hear. “So how long have you been with my son?”
“A few weeks.” Then with a start, she realized it was more than that. “A little over two months, actually.”
“He must like you quite a bit to bring you here. I don’t allow casual dates at my party. It’s a family event.”
Kerri’s skin prickled. “I’m sorry if I’m intruding.”
“Oh, don’t misunderstand. I’m glad he brought you.”
It was probably the kind of thing a girl would want to hear from the mother of the man she was sleeping with. But it only served to make Kerri’s shoulders tense. She didn’t want Stella to get the wrong impression about her relationship with Ethan, that there was any chance of permanency between them.
Good lord, she should’ve asked Ethan to drop her off at a theater or something instead of coming to the party, if it was going to make everyone think they were dating seriously. She felt like a fraud.
She took a deep breath as another arrival and greeting cut her conversation with Ethan’s mother short. Stella was like a queen, holding court, and every Lloyd seemed to adore and respect her. And why not? The woman was so gracious, it was difficult not to like her. But she wasn’t all moneyed and perfumed softness either. There was an edge to her gaze that said she could and would do what was necessary to protect those who mattered to her.
Would she feel that need if she found out about Kerri’s family?
“Relax,” Ethan whispered from behind Kerri, startling her. “She likes you.”
She lowered her voice. “Does she know I shouldn’t even be here?”
“What are you talking about?”
“She said she doesn’t allow casual dates at her parties.”
Ethan took a beat too long to respond. “She doesn’t need to know every detail of my personal relationships.”
“Still. I like your mother, and I don’t like deceiving her. Does she know about my job at TLD?”
“In fact, she does,” he said. “She probably heard within an hour of the Houston meeting. There’s nothing she doesn’t know about in the family. Makes the CIA look like amateurs.”
Kerri shuddered. His mother would figure out exactly what kind of relationship she and Ethan had, and it would most likely irritate her, especially given the fact that Kerri hadn’t corrected her assumptions. But what could she have said?
Sorry, Stella, but I’m planning to dump your son as soon as I find somebody I’d rather be with. Oh, please don’t misunderstand. It’s a completely mutual decision—we decided to be frank about what we want. Well, at the moment it’s mostly about boffing each other silly. Oh no, no need to worry. I’m very discreet.
That would’ve gone over real well.
More guests arrived, all family. The atmosphere remained casual with people calling to each other, laughing and talking. Kerri watched it all, not exactly sure what to do in this happy bunch. This wasn’t something she was familiar with, and none of her fancy education prepared her for it either.
A heavy older gentleman took a healthy gulp of brandy and said rather loudly, “God, I’m going to have to sell my Betsy Doll.”
“You haven’t had enough time to get attached,” someone called out from the back of the room. Others laughed.
“Don’t you mock me. You’ll understand how I feel once you find a yacht you can’t live without.”
Kerri raised an eyebrow. The man didn’t sound all that heartbroken.
“Learn to downsize, old man. It won’t kill you,” the young man said.
“Don’t be so sure. My heart just might give out.”
“Tell you what, Uncle Tony. I’ll buy it from you, then you can sail on it whenever you want,” Gavin offered. “There’s no reason to give up the Betsy Doll.”
Her gaze zeroed in on him. He was in a dark polo shirt and even darker slacks. His tone was light and warm, in complete contrast to how he’d sounded in Houston.
“Bah! Then she’d be yours, not mine.”
“Who cares, if you’re the only one onboard?” Gavin said. “You can sail around the world enjoying your steamed broccoli and poached egg whites.”
The older man raised his glass amid general laughter. The offer was a generous one, Kerri thought, though to somebody like Gavin the cost of a yacht was pocket change.
The way he’d done it was very different from the way Barron would have. In her family, someone would have had to ask, and they’d be made to feel that if it weren’t for Barron’s good grace, they’d lose whatever standard of living they enjoyed. Everyone did whatever Barron wanted. It was a miracle Justin was defying him, even by omission, by pretending not to know where she was.
If Barron ever found out… Kerri winced. Thank heavens Justin had his own money. Barron would cut him off without a second thought for such “disloyalty,” and to hell with whatever effect such action might have on Justin’s life.
A couple of young men stole Ethan away to ask his opinion on something, and she stayed behind, standing alone and sipping a ginger ale.
“Enjoying the party?”
She turned and saw Gavin leaning against the wall and watching her. “Yes. It’s lovely.”
“We did
n’t really get to talk in Houston. Where are you from, Kerri?” he asked.
“The States—”
“Whereabouts?”
She pretended not to hear the question. “—but I spent a lot of time in Hong Kong.”
“Do you plan to go back?”
“No.”
“Ah.” A small muscle in his jaw ticked. “I understand you’re working for us temporarily. Or is it more permanent now?”
“I don’t know yet. I was thinking about getting a job on the west coast when Ethan offered the TLD position. I may yet do that.”
“West coast, huh?” His gaze was steady. “If you’d like, I can put in a word for you there with some of the people I know. They’re always looking for good help.”
“Appreciate the offer. I’ll keep that in mind when the time comes,” she said with a polite smile, though her instincts beeped danger.
He was proper, but not so much that she didn’t catch the fact that he didn’t trust her and wanted to get rid of her. Not just from Stella’s home but from Ethan’s life.
She studied Gavin, wondering about the animosity. He seemed like a logical type—in fact, that sort of temperament was more or less a requirement in order to be successful in investment and trading. She hadn’t had any contact with him outside the meeting in Houston. And she hadn’t been in the States for years, so she couldn’t have done anything to offend him or his friends and family…
Then again, there was her discovery of how poorly Jacob had run the family company. She hadn’t said it quite that way, but he’d been the one in charge for years. Gavin could have found her memo offensive. Not to mention, if Ethan had told Gavin her suspicions about somebody very close to the company embezzling funds, he might have considered it an attack against the family, since three Lloyds sat on the board, including Gavin himself.
“I hope it’s sooner rather than later,” Gavin said, his voice pitched low.
“Excuse me?”
He leaned in. “I don’t like having Ethan involved with someone who isn’t fully honest.”
Kerri arched an eyebrow. What was he getting at?
“And I especially don’t like such people looking at confidential information about our company.”
Did he think she was doing something illicit at The Lloyds Development? Or was he just blaming her for Jacob’s mismanagement?
“Gavin.” Ethan’s icy voice cut through her confusion. “A minute of your time.”
* * *
Ethan took Gavin’s arm and, as casually as possible, steered him away from the main room. If they hadn’t been gathered for the party he would’ve chewed Gavin out on the spot, but he didn’t want to ruin the festivities.
They went out to the back yard. Ethan looked around, then glared at his younger brother. “Cut it out.”
“What?”
“You’re making Kerri uncomfortable. She’s my guest.”
“Viper is more like it. I don’t trust her.”
“Why? Because her grandfather’s Barron Sterling?”
“So you admit I was right about that.”
“You were. But that doesn’t change things between Kerri and I.”
“Did she tell you about the family connection herself?” When Ethan didn’t answer, Gavin snorted. “Of course not. Why would she?”
Ethan suppressed an urge to grab his brother by the shoulders and shake him. “Gavin, listen to me. She’s not involved with Sterling & Wilson. Period.”
“She’s going to inherit the damned company. Of course she’s involved! Who the hell can ignore billions of dollars falling from the sky? Her?”
Ethan recalled the broken expression on Kerri’s face when she’d spoken of her family. “Yes.”
“You’re such a putz. A pretty woman, a pair of sad eyes, and you go all gooey. And don’t look at me like that. We all have our weaknesses.” Gavin’s lips twisted. “Myself included.”
Ethan stepped in close. “Listen to me carefully. Kerri is not Lisa. She’s nothing like Lisa. Lisa was weak. Kerri’s strong. A fighter. Understand? And she has nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with Sterling & Wilson at this point in her life.”
“Don’t let your little head do the thinking here, big brother. She’s not staying because she cares about you. She was talking about getting a job on the west coast back in the house. Doesn’t sound like she’s thinking long-term, does it? Even though you brought her here.”
Don’t let him piss you off. He’s just trying to do what he thinks is right.
Gavin always knew how to analyze everything, breaking large chunks of information into little pieces and compartmentalizing them, which was what made him good at his job. However, that same talent also occasionally made him callous. Not because he didn’t care about others, but because he didn’t take the time or effort to soften the message.
“You deserve someone better than her. Someone who’ll commit to you instead of thinking of getting a job as far away from you as possible and won’t misrepresent herself.”
“It’s my life, Gavin, and I know what I’m doing,” Ethan said between clenched teeth. His molars ached from the pressure.
“If the only damage she could inflict was breaking your heart, I could look the other way. Like you said, it’s your life. But she could hurt all of us. Jacob’s already screwed up pretty badly. Mom’s holding the party to reassure everyone that things are going to be okay. And they will. There’s plenty of money to go around with the funds I’ve set up for the family so nobody will suffer the indignity of having to downsize while trying to live down Jacob’s bigamy and all the fallout from that.” Gavin shook his head. “Don’t make things worse by mixing Kerri up in all this.”
“She’s trying to help. She has been helping.”
“Don’t let your perception blind you to the reality. Just think about what I said.” Gavin started to turn.
“I will,” Ethan said. “And before you go, I want you to consider who truly deserves your distrust and judgment: a woman who’s just doing her job or our brother who left the company in shambles and ran off.”
Gavin glanced at Ethan over a shoulder. “I don’t trust either of them,” he said, then slipped inside.
Chapter Twenty-One
AFTER ETHAN DRAGGED Gavin away, Kerri stood in a corner and nibbled on a piece of brie. The rich texture melted on her tongue and she almost wept. High cholesterol or not, she deserved this much after what she’d dealt with so far.
Those two better not be fighting. She didn’t want to be responsible for a rift between the two brothers, especially when she was a temporary fixture in Ethan’s life. And it seemed doubly wrong to come to Stella’s party under false pretenses and then cause trouble for two of her sons on top of it.
Kerri looked around and saw a trio of young boys who seemed to be about ten fooling with a golf club in the backyard. They made a big deal of teeing up precisely and taking a wide-footed stance, shifting their hips back and forth like the pros and trying to look cool, but everything about the way they held the club and their swing was wrong, and none of their balls went very far or in the right direction.
“Give me the club, Eric,” one of the boys said. “You’re totally doing everything wrong.”
“Like you know how to do it. My coach said you have to rotate your shoulders like this.” The other boy got into position and swung. The ball careened off to the left, and his friends laughed and pointed.
Kerri winced. Whoever his parents were, they should have demanded a refund. The kid was awful.
Eric turned bright red, and his mouth thinned as he glared at the others. He was dressed just as expensively as the other two, but something seemed a bit off about the way he was interacting with them. The other two were clearly just as ignorant about golf as he was, but they had an abundance of self-confidence while Eric looked uncertain and a little humiliated.
Look away, Kerri. It’s none of your business. Let one of the family deal with it.
Kerri swallowed the last
bit of cheese, pushed away from the wall and went out to join them. The boys looked at her questioningly.
“You guys are all doing it wrong,” she said baldly.
“No way,” the biggest boy said, as full of confidence as he was ignorant of proper technique.
“In fact, way. I’ve studied with the top coaches in the country.” During her childhood, when she’d done her best to be the grandson she’d thought her grandfather wanted. And as an adult her golf skills came in handy here and there. They hadn’t earned her grandfather’s love, but they gave her an opportunity to schmooze with clients who seemed to spend all their free time on the green. They’d admired her long drives and ability to hold her liquor. “Trust me, you’re doing it wrong.” She extended her open hand, palm up. “Lemme see that.” The boy gave her the club.
She got into position. “This”—she swung—“is how you do it.”
The boys just stared with their mouths open as the small white ball made a clean arc.
“See?” She gestured at Eric. “Come here. I’ll correct your form.”
He turned even redder, but he came forward and let her teach him. He was a quick study, even though it was obvious he’d never had any proper instruction. When he finally hit the ball cleanly, she clapped him on the shoulder. “There you go.”
“You should be in there enjoying the party instead of dealing with these troublemakers,” came a low voice.
She turned and saw Meredith with a glass of white wine in her hand. “Actually, I am enjoying myself.” And to her surprise, she really was.
“I’m going to steal her away, boys. You all behave,” she said.
Kerri followed Meredith amid a chorus of “Thanks!” from the kids.
“Thank you for being so nice,” Meredith said. “Especially to Eric. He’s my son.”
Kerri blinked. The other woman seemed too young to have a boy his age unless he was much bigger than his peers.
