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“I’m not sure that’s appropriate,” Mom says stiffly.
Gulliver laughs, but the sound is cold as his arm becomes a band of steel around my back. “Trudy, she is my fiancée, and she has her own room.”
Mom’s hostile gaze turns to me for the first time. “Izabella, you’d rather come home, wouldn’t you?” She poses it like a question, but it’s clearly not. “And of course, you don’t have any of your things here.”
I open my mouth to speak, but Gulliver replies for me. “Fitzy is sending clothes here for her in the morning. Come now, Trudy, or should I call you mom?” he purrs. “You need to learn to share her. She is mine now, after all.” Lifting my hand, he dangles the huge diamond ring in Mom’s face before lifting my hand to his lips and pressing an ostentatious kiss to my ring finger.
“Let Izzy stay, Mrs. R. We’re excited for a day on the water. I promise we’ll have her home before you know it,” Davis coaxes, flashing her his dimpled smile.
My mom smiles at Davis, then turns her cold, angry gaze on me. “I’ll see you tomorrow night,” she says pointedly.
I nod, not bothering to speak as my mom waves sweetly at the guys, then turns and walks away.
One by one, the rest of the guests leave, until there’s only me, Gulliver, Mr. Winslow, Davis, Thorn, and Kip left. Mr. Winslow fills a glass with whiskey, loosens his tie, and sighs loudly.
“Anyone joining me for a drink?”
“You got any beer, Mr. W?” Davis asks, pulling his tie and jacket off and undoing the top button on his shirt.
“There’s some in the wet bar,” Mr. Winslow calls as he moves onto the terrace and flops down into a chair.
Thorn, Davis, and Gulliver all head for the patio, and I pause, unsure what to do. Should I follow them or leave? My first instinct is to leave, and my feet move before I even fully decide to go.
“Where are you going?” Kip asks, touching my arm lightly.
“Err, I was…” I awkwardly point toward the door to the hallway.
“Come have a drink with us,” he urges, smiling that reassuring smile he’s shown me more than once today.
“I don’t—” I start as Kip reaches out and takes my hand.
“Come on, we need to get to know you better,” he urges again, tipping his head toward the terrace again.
“You making a play for my girl?” Gulliver growls from the shadow of the door, his voice rough.
Kip laughs. “Maybe. She’s too good for your miserable ass,” he barbs straight back, pulling me forward and winking.
I laugh, my first genuine laugh of the day, smiling at Kip and wondering if maybe, just maybe, he could be the good in all this chaos. When he looks at me, I get the feeling that he doesn’t just see a pawn to be moved around to his advantage, and if he doesn’t want or need anything from me, maybe he could just be a friend.
Sighing, I let him pull me onto the terrace and over to the elaborate wet bar that’s set up on the far side. Releasing me, he leans down to open the refrigerator that’s under the counter. “What do you want to drink? There’s soda, wine, champagne, mixers.”
“I’ll have a beer, please.”
Kip straightens quickly and looks at me quizzically. “A beer?”
“Yeah, if you have one, or I’ll just have a soda if you don’t,” I say with a small shrug.
Bending back down, Kip grabs five bottles from the cooler, placing them on the counter as he opens each bottle in turn. Reaching for a glass, he calls. “Anyone need a glass?”
A chorus of no’s sings back, and then he looks to me. “You want a glass, right?”
I shake my head. “The bottle’s fine.”
“Are you sure? Because honestly, I’ve never seen your sister?—”
I cut him off. “I’m not my sister,” I say firmly.
“No, you’re not,” Gulliver says, snaking his arm around my waist and pulling me back against his chest until our bodies are flush.
