Page 57 of Cruel Dynasty

I arched an eyebrow.

“You sounded upset in the message you left me. I tried to reach you but I kept getting a number-not-in-service notification,” she told me.

“That’s weird. It was probably the country. There’s nothing out there but sheep, grass, and homes filled with billions of dollars in artwork,” I said with a shrug. “You didn’t have to come all the way to London.”

“Like hell, I didn’t, and besides, this is worth it!” She fluffed the tulle of her ballgown.

“I don’t know if I’m going to go through with it,” I returned to her earlier question. “I agreed to a year. That was supposed to give Tod time to find Kerrigan and coax her home. Now they want me to get married like yesterday and just use her name—and that feels…”

“Wrong?” Eliza finished for me.

I nodded and lowered my voice. “Not just because it’s her life, but because I’m worried about her.”

“Do you think something happened to her?” Eliza whispered, scooting closer to me on the ground. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine that the walls had ears at Willoughby Place, but I still felt a little silly sitting in another woman’s clothes and whispering in her closet.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “What if Tod is keeping her away? What if his whole plan is for me to marry Spencer and make it official because she refused?”

“Where would he be keeping her?” Eliza asked uneasily, looking around the closet like she might discover a trapdoor or a secret room.

“I don’t know. I found some of her things in his office.”

“Okay.” She held up her hand. “Hear me out. What if you just ask her?”

“Oh that would be lovely,” I said. “Hello, Mr. Belmond, do you have your daughter locked in a dungeon somewhere?”

Eliza stuck out her tongue. “You can be more tactful than that.”

“Or…” My mouth widened into a bright smile.

She grimaced, her eyes closing. “I don’t like the way you’re looking at me.”

“It will be easy,” I promised her. “I just need a distraction, so I can poke around.”

“And I get to be the distraction?” she asked with a sigh. She reached up and took off the diamond necklace. Playtime was officially over.

25

Any guilt I felt about tricking Iris was mitigated when she launched into plans to move the wedding timetable up—over drinks with Eliza. We were seated around a small table in the morning room, Iris’s private office in the house, and enjoying a bottle of Chateau Sainte Claire, when she dropped the news that Caroline had already brought it up.

“Spencer mentioned it,” I said glumly.

“I’m so sorry this is happening to you,” Iris told me, pouring a bit more wine into my glass. “It’s still going to be a dream wedding. I’ll call the shop tomorrow and demand they rush your dress.”

I forced a smile, my fingers clutching my wine glass. I loved Iris for worrying about my happiness. She was possibly the only person in Kerrigan’s life that cared. Nausea twisted my stomach as I considered how betrayed she would feel when I found Kerrigan and convinced her to come home. I’d built a relationship with her stepmother despite all evidence that Kerrigan herself hated the woman.

And how would Iris feel about me when she learned the truth?

I’d probably never see her again.

The sad thought left me lingering at the table despite the plan I’d concocted with Eliza earlier.

“You could wear a burlap bag down the aisle and look gorgeous,” Eliza said reassuringly.

“She’s right.” Iris’s laugh rang out like a bell. “But I promise it won’t come to that.” She lounged back, draping a dark arm elegantly over her chair. “So where did you two meet?”

“Oh.” Eliza looked at me, her eyes wide. “Well, it was…”

“Bandol,” I said quickly, grateful that I’d studied all the maps of Southern France Giles had given me to brush up on. “It’s this little town on the Côte d’Azur. Eliza was backpacking.”