“No.” I thought about lying, but I had a feeling Georgina was a few doors down, waiting to be forced on me yet again.
Mother circled her slim arm around my elbow. “Your father and I would very much like for you to make an effort with her. She comes from a strong family that could do wonders.”
“Wonders for what?”
I wasn’t blind or naïve. This world ran on who you knew as much as money. The more of both one had, the more one controlled their outcomes. But where did it end? The Dorsets were insanely wealthy. A wealth we could probably never spend in a lifetime. I didn’t need to add any more zeros to my worth. In fact, wealth was shaping myworthless and less.
Mother waved a hand with a heavy ring of diamonds and emeralds sparkling under the chandeliers. “You know how your father is. He always has one idea brewing. Having the ear of the mayor is no trivial thing.” Mother shrugged. “And the mayor wants his only daughter taken care of. Surely, you understand.”
In that moment, I didn’t know who I was angrier at. My mother for basically studding me out for my father’s gain without any thought to my own wishes, or myself for not saying one word against it.
The salon, as Mother liked to call it—basically asnooty britchesway of differentiating one of the multitudes of sitting rooms in the house—was filled with my siblings and the entire Barnett-Thompson family. The mayor and his sallow wife, along with Georgina and three sons, all younger than their sister. Georgina was dressed in a long brown skirt and a cream blouse, the same as her mother, actually, and they favored severely.
Not that I was even entertaining the idea of marrying this woman, but I couldn’t help but picture myself twenty years fromnow with her beside me. She would never break out of her shell. She’d be as subdued as her mother. Georgina wouldn’t be the type to send sexy pictures or flirt with me about swallowing come. Christ, if she ever called a loverDaddy, I’d pass the fuck out from surprise.
“Hey.” Paul bumped my elbow and handed me a drink. “I’m three in. Catch up. It’s the only way to get through it.”
I snickered and accepted the drink. Mother and Father had waited far too long, in my opinion, to have their second and third child. Eight years separated me from Mary, and ten with Paul. It wasn’t until he was in college that we became closer as siblings.
Mary came to a stop on my other side and took a long pull from her own cocktail in a finely cut crystal lowball. “You’re not keeping her busy enough, big brother.”
Paul and I turned to lift questioning brows at our sister.
“I’m not even married yet, and she’s asking about grandchildren.”
Paul snorted into his glass, and it was Mary’s and my turn to gawk at him. “Just you wait,” I said to him. “Twenty-six is the magic year. Whatever she latches onto about how tofixyour life, she won’t stop until it’s done.”
Paul paled, licked his lips, then said, “Did I tell you both I’ll be moving to Australia soon?”
“Another continent won’t save you.”
“Fuck me.”
Mary snorted, then waved at her fiancé across the room, who was talking to our father and the mayor. Smile plastered in place, she said, “I think I’m making a bad decision.”
“Prenup,” Paul and I said together.
“Pfft. He’s got his own money.”
“Prenup,” we said again, and I added, “Protect yourself, and if you already don’t feel right about it, have an exit plan.”
“Are we all such cynics?”
“No, I’m a realist.”
“Take his advice, Mary. The man has been dodging our parents for far longer. He had to have learned a few lessons along the way.”
The three of us stood shoulder to shoulder at the edge of the room and took a drink from our glasses at the same time. We glanced at each other, then snickered.
“I’m glad you’re both here tonight,” I said, then nodded at Georgina. “Mother has set her sights on that one.”
“She’s done that before,” Mary said.
“It’s different this time.”
“Will you be throwing in the towel and accepting your fate?”
“Like hell he will,” Paul said. “Our dear brother will be a bachelor forever.”
