“What is it you do, Ryan?” Annabel asked after a few moments of chatting about how they’d met. El had asked Ryan not to mention Pride in Love because her family would denigrate the site and it would just piss her the hell off.
“The restaurant where we met was actually one of my own.”
Annabel cocked a brow, her surprise evident. “You own restaurants?”
He nodded, reached over to grab a hold of El’s hand. He tightened his fingers about her, and murmured, “Do you know Feral?”
This time, the fact Annabel was beyond impressed shone through. “Feral belongs to you?”
“Yes,” Ryan said with a smile.
“You’ve just opened another branch in LA, haven’t you?”
“We have. That’s where I met El. She was with friends and we got chatting at the bar.”
Annabel coughed. “That’s very unlike you, El.”
“Could you blame me, Mother? When Ryan’s so handsome? Although, I never expected he’d own the restaurant,” she teased, turning to Ryan with a smile.
“No, why would you?” Annabel said softly, then jolted a little when a knock sounded at the door—just a tap—and Anita entered with a tea tray.
As she set out the coffee and tea pots, Anita murmured, “Mr. Forsythe-Drew will be down momentarily, ma’am.”
“That was very prompt of you, dear,” Annabel replied as she reached forward to play mum.
“I asked her to make sure he knew to come down,” El informed her mother, well aware that ‘dear’ was not a compliment in Annabel’s vocabulary. It meant that Anita had acted without direction, which was never good.
Though she might have looked flighty, her mother ruled the roost with an iron fist. Mixed metaphors, but the truth nonetheless. If a staff member ever got on the wrong side of Annabel, then woe betide that poor, innocent fool.
They never lasted long after that.
“Why did you, dear?” Annabel asked, pinning her with a narrowed gaze.
“Because I knew why Ryan wanted to come here, of course,” she retorted simply. It was relatively easy to lie to her mother. She’d done it so often over the years to save herself hassle that it was second nature now.
It saddened her, of course. The last thing she wanted to do was lie to either of her parents, but they were both so intense and invasive, arrogant too, that if she didn’t, she found that her life belonged to them.
When her father asked if her lawyers had found a loophole for her to delve into one of her trust funds to pay for her brother Michael’s campaign tour, she shook her head sadly and told him the trust was sealed tight. Lie. She hadn’t even asked her lawyers to look into it.
Her father couldn’t seem to understand that his father, her grandfather, had locked them all up with so many loopholes, it made a helter skelter look like a regular slide.
Her grandfather, whether he was looking down from above or up from below, was probably having a hell of a laugh at their expense.
Annabel murmured to Anita, “Okay, Anita. Be sure to chivvy Mr. Forsythe-Drew along, won’t you? You know how long he can take getting ready.” She shot Ryan a smile that had El wanting to puke. “He takes longer than I do.”
Ryan just cleared his throat, and was, for a moment, lost for words at the definitely flirtatious cast to the glance her mother shot his way, as well as the tone.
Anita, catching El’s attention, rolled her eyes, then with a commiserative smile, headed back out of the room.
This was yet another reason why she’d never brought anyone around. Why would she?
Did she have masochist scrawled on her forehead?
Annabel, in an attempt to hide from the fact she was no longer El’s age, seemed to flirt with everything that moved. El had always known her mother would target any guy she brought around, and considering how rich she was, had no doubt that she’d manage to persuade a ‘friend’ of El’s into sleeping with her.
Sad thing was, El had learned a long time ago that everyone had a price.
Her father had been exactly the same with her brothers’ girlfriends. It was why El had always avoided the ‘let’s introduce you to my parents’ phase of any relationship.
Of course, with Ryan, she knew she was safe.
And didn’t that just make her feel warm and cozy inside. He was hers. Nothing her mother could do, no amount of money she offered or influence she promised to share, would ever sway him to Annabel’s side.
El settled back into the armchair when she knew her mother preferred her to sit straight-backed. With Ryan at her side, she’d admit to feeling untouchable, and she wasn’t entirely sure why.
Though, to her parents, El had been in a position of power since her grandfather had locked her into the trust fund situation, she’d never seen it that way. They hated that she held the purse strings, but El had as little control as they did on the situation.
Of course, that didn’t alter the quarterly returns she received from the fund. Returns that were ten times the amounts her parents received and coveted.
“So, tell me more about Feral,” Annabel prompted with a wide smile.
“Have you eaten there, Mother?” El asked with interest.
“Yes. Frequently.” She smiled. “Your maître d’ is a lovely woman. She always manages to get me the table I want.”
“My cousin,” Ryan told Annabel. “She’s very good at her job. Most of the people who work there are family, in fact.”
“That’s the best way,” Annabel murmured softly, and as the door opened and her husband appeared, she called out, “Isn’t it, Joseph? Keeping business all in the family?”
Her father, still handsome as he approached sixty, walked toward the seating area with a loose gait. He avoided Annabel, but headed for El. She tilted her cheek for him to kiss, which he did, then he approached Ryan who stood, hand held out.
“Ryan DeSoto,” he informed Joseph. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
El’s lips twitched as she wondered how weird it was for Ryan to tag on ‘sir’ when he was probably older than her dad.
Something he was probably accustomed to doing, but still, it would undoubtedly amuse her for a long time to come.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ryan. Call me Joseph. We don’t stand on formality with friends of the family.” They shook hands, and Joseph cocked a brow at what El could only assume was Ryan’s strong handshake. Joseph backed off, took the seat beside El, and reached for the coffee pot as he poured himself a cup. “And yes, Annabel’s quite right. Family knows best where business is concerned. Although, which business are we talking about?”
“Ryan here owns Feral.”
Joseph’s brows rose. “Even I’ve heard of Feral. Very nice, very nice.” He cut El a glance. “You’re here with El for… business?”
She frowned. “No, Dad. Jeez. I’m not in business with Ryan.” Because that was the only way she and Ryan could possibly be together?
Joseph held up his hands in surrender. “He’s your boyfriend?”
“Fiancée, actually,” she told him saccharine sweet. “Well, after he asks your permission. Ryan’s old fashioned like that.”
“You want to get married?” Joseph demanded, eyes widening.
“Yes. I do. We do.”
“How long have even known this man?”
She narrowed her eyes, trying to look convincing as she told her father a bald-faced lie because there was no way she was telling him the truth; “Eight months.” More like eight days.
Joseph frowned. “Ryan, it might be wise if you leave us while I discuss this with my daughter.” He placed his coffee cup on the table and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I don’t wish to offend you or insult you with my rudeness, but El knows the implications. She should have come to me alone.”
Though Joseph spoke as though he fully intended to be obeyed, immediately, Ryan shook his head. “No, sir. Respectfully, anything you have to say can be spoken in front of me. If it’s about a pre-nup
tial agreement, then I’ve already agreed to sign one. It can be as iron clad as El’s lawyers can make it. I have no interest in her trust fund. I’m quite wealthy on my own.”
“Your wealth and El’s are in a whole different stratosphere,” Joseph pointed out with a sneer. “Your restaurants are child’s play in comparison to the might of the Forsythe-Drew empire.”
“Dad!” El snapped.
“Joseph, that’s entirely unnecessary,” Annabel retorted coolly. “The boy has agreed to sign a pre-nuptial agreement, as long as that’s in place, El’s free to do whatever she wants with whomever she wants. And I, for one, am relieved about that. We feared she’d forever be on the shelf.”
Could the earth just swallow her up?
Her father cut his wife a glance, but though it was supposed to be withering, Annabel just cocked a brow at him with disinterest. The power dynamic between her parents was one she’d never been able to understand. Though her father was the one with the money, Annabel had never acted beholden to him for it. They often had these little internal battles with one another. Staring contests like two dogs glowering at one another over possession of a fire hydrant they both wished to piss on.
Ryan cleared his throat to break up the battle of wills. “I’m aware that you might think this is hasty, but I love your daughter, and I wish to marry her.”
“Isn’t that sweet?” Annabel cooed, but her gaze was hard as she carried on glowering at her husband. “I’ll assume you’ve been in touch with the lawyers, El?”
“No. But I will. I wanted to wait for today.” What else could she say? Ryan had sprung this news of the pre-nuptial agreement on her.
“What on earth for?” Annabel murmured. “You didn’t think your father would stop you from marrying, did you?”
“Ryan wanted to do things right. Who am I to argue?” She shot her mate a look, and saw his lips were twitching.
“You’ve had Shawn run a background check on him, haven’t you?” her father demanded, seemingly still displeased with the news of El’s impending nuptials—so impending, she hadn’t even known about them.
“Of course. You know what Shawn’s like. I didn’t have to ask before the deed was done.”
Joseph’s lips firmed. “He should have forwarded me a copy of that report.”
“Why? He didn’t know how serious we were. He didn’t know Ryan was going to propose last night.”
“It’s his job to know.” His nostrils flared. “I’ll speak to him before you leave.”
El narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re not going to make a fuss about this, are you, Dad?”
“Fuss? I’m protecting my only daughter’s interests, El. What else matters?”
“Considering he’ll have no access to the fund, I don’t understand why you feel you need to protect my interests at all?”
“Because you’re my only daughter. Naturally.”
She barely refrained from withholding a snort—the only thing her father was concerned about where his only daughter was concerned was her trust fund. “Well, feel free to interrogate Shawn. I read the report on Ryan, and it’s perfectly normal. He’s a successful business owner.”
“How successful?” Joseph demanded.
“Highly successful,” she snapped. “What kind of question is that? He’s expanding through the Continental US! Has Michelin stars and God knows how many awards. What do you want from the man? A bank statement?”
Joseph pursed his lips, then picked up his coffee cup again. “You must have a lot of family to have so many restaurants and to use predominantly kin as staff.”
Ryan smiled, and she could tell he was utterly unphased by her father’s dictatorial stance. A notion that came as a surprise considering Ryan was dominant. The most powerful man in the Pride in California. As well as older than her parents… His patience and ability to hold his tongue was truly appreciated. It made this all flow far smoother than it might have done if he’d been short-tempered and had been offended by her father’s uncharitable remarks.
“I do have a lot of family. My mother came from a family of six, my father from a family of four. Then, my grandparents were equally as prolific.”
“Not Mormons, are they?”
“Dad!” El hissed, utterly mortified by such rudeness, and she was relieved to note even her mother, who usually didn’t bat an eyelid at her husband’s tongue, was looking discomfited.
“No. We’re not Mormons,” Ryan retorted calmly, but she could tell he was starting to get pissed off. Not that it was written anywhere on his face, but she could sense it. The agitation, it was building up inside him.
She had no idea why, just knew that that was the case.
With a sigh, she got to her feet. “This is ridiculous. I won’t have you disrespecting him like this, Dad. We’re going.”
Joseph narrowed his eyes. “Not until after I’ve spoken to Shawn.”
She shrugged. “Fine. Call him and ask him to go to your office. I’m going to show Ryan my rooms.” To her mate, she murmured, “Come on, Ryan.”
He shook his head. “It’s okay, El. I understand your family’s concerns. They don’t know me, don’t trust me. They won’t learn anything about me if I scarper off to your rooms.” He shot her father a look, and El sighed at yet another battle of wills going down not two feet from her.
Clapping her hands together, she made the pair of them jump. Ryan just cast a glance at her, but her father glowered. She ignored the pair of them and headed over to the intercom at the other end of the room. When she depressed the button, she murmured, “Anita, can you please ask Shawn to meet my father in his office?”
“Claro que si,” came Anita’s soft voice.
“Gracias,” she replied, and sighing, returned to her armchair. “He should be there soon,” she informed her father.
He shrugged. “He’ll wait.”
“Yes. He will, but I won’t. We’re leaving shortly, whether you’ve interviewed Shawn or not. There is something called a cell phone, Dad. They’re pretty useful inventions. And Ryan and I have places to be today.”
Joseph’s lips flared in exasperation but he got to his feet. “Ryan. El.” He bowed down and kissed her cheek again, then strode off out of the lounge.
“You’ll have to forgive my husband, Ryan. We’re always so protective of El. She never understands how much we worry about her.”
God, how she longed to tack on ‘worry about her money’ but she didn’t. Instead, she behaved herself and kept silent.
It wasn’t very fair to leave Ryan to her mother’s wiles, but hell, he was the governor equivalent of his Pride. If he could handle tens of thousands of Lions, he sure as shit should be ready for the cat opposite him.
Chapter 12
“What did he want to know?”
Shawn flicked her a glance in the rearview mirror. “Mostly why I hadn’t sent him a report on Ryan.”
“Do you often send reports over on the men I date?” she asked, and El’s tone was so wary, he hated having to tell her the truth.
“Yes.” He sighed when hurt had her bowing her head and casting her gaze down to her lap. “Don’t be silly, El. Of course your father wanted to know if you were dating someone.” Though his tone was chiding, it didn’t stop him from feeling guilty.
Why would it?
He’d always felt guilty for what was effectively spying on her.
As such, it had always been a great relief to him that she hadn’t dated much.
Of course, that relief had been twofold. One, because he hadn’t had to write reports on her lovers. Two, because he’d been jealous as fuck when she’d dated anyone at all.
“They don’t care about me at all. Ryan saw that today. I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life.”
Ryan sighed and squeezed her knee. “There’s never any need to be embarrassed in front of us.”
“You say that like it’s easy to control embarrassment,” she retorted. “My mother was coming on to you, for Christ’s sake.”
“She didn’t,” Trip demanded, looking as aghast as he sounded, but if Shawn wasn’t totally wrong, he could also sense some amusement there.
“Yeah, she did,” came Ryan’s wry retort. “Thankfully, she wasn’t too brazen, but it came close a time or two.” He shot her a rueful smile. “She’s definitely a piece of work.”
“Piece of work?” she snarled. “That in no way encompasses any of my family. Jesus. And when my dad kept going on at you like you were a gold-digger or something? I wanted the floor to open and swallow me up. In fact, that would have been too much of a kindness.”
Shawn grunted. “He wants me to dig deeper into your background, Ryan. Said the rudimentary facts I had on you weren’t enough.”
Ryan cocked a brow. “Interesting.”
“Humiliating, more like,” she snapped, covering her face with her hands. Ryan’s arm came up to slide over her shoulders, and he pulled her closely into him.
“Hey. Calm down.”
“I can’t,” she mumbled, turning her face into his throat. “I’m just… I’m so embarrassed. I-I want to crawl up into a ball and never come out.”
Shawn blinked. El wasn’t prone to melodrama, so for her reaction to be this intense then her parents must have acted like complete jerks.
Which, to be fair, wouldn’t have come as a complete surprise.
“What happened?” Marc asked softly, apparently picking up the same vibe Shawn was.
They were both riding up front so couldn’t touch El, but that didn’t stop them from feeling what she was going through. She was transmitting loud and clear.
“Father was making out like Ryan was in it just for the money, even though he stated point blank that he’d sign a pre-nup.” She whacked Ryan in the side for that. “Thanks for warning me on that front, by the way. I thought we were visiting them, not that you were going to ask for my hand in marriage.”
He snorted, grabbed a hold of the fist that had whacked him in the side and raised it to his mouth. Anointing the knuckles with a kiss, he murmured, “Considering how uncomfortable you were on the way down, and how unhappy you were to be going twice in over a week, I thought it best to kill two birds with one stone.”
Finding Luna: A Lion Shifter Reverse Harem Romance (PRIDE Book 1) Page 16
