Chapter 2
1362 Words
The chatter of my family from the two-story dining room echoed in the gallery as I stared out. Small twinkling lights could be seen on the lake as fireworks boomed, sprinkling colorful bright spots against the dark sky.
The setting was familiar. I grew up in Stronghold, and now I was the lord of all I surveyed.
As long as I married.
As long as I had a child.
I knew there was no way the old man would cross over without flipping me off as he went.
The house was mine. The house of the de Loughrey family.
Now to find a family of my own to fill it.
That thought filled me with dread. I’d spent my life striving to be the best, to excel the business, to expand our horizons, and I was on the verge of losing it all over a f*****g woman.
Lavender and linen filled my senses, and the whispered moans in the back of my mind invaded my ears. They weren’t memories from either woman in whose beds I’d spent many hours. No, Bridget and Antonia were far from my thoughts. The ghostly reminder was of a woman I’d spent only one night with. A woman who tortured me weekly, and I paid her to do so.
Ophelia.
The errant thought was as mad as my behavior that evening. No, it was quite insane. The mere flash of an idea had me tilted enough I pondered if I needed to be checked out by the family physician.
Taking her home that night was one of those maneuvers I hadn’t expected. Something about her beauty, the aching loneliness that almost called out to me. A siren in a sea of gyrating bodies and loud beats. Adrift with no one to save her.
Was that why I couldn’t resist her? Why I continued to think of her?
“Had enough?” a familiar voice asked.
I didn’t even need to look to know who it was that now leaned against the banister next to me, though I was happy to have his distraction.
“Am I that obvious?”
Rhys chuckled. “For as much as you are like Aunt Vera, you are equally like Uncle Charles.”
“Except I’m not off hiding in a spare bedroom with the maid. I’m simply tired of the inane babbling.”
“Are you hiding with the butler?”
I turned and narrowed my gaze on my cousin. We were the oldest of the generation, born from the oldest of the previous generation, and saddled with responsibilities that position of birth hoisted upon us.
“Simply because I’m not out f*****g every slut at whatever high-end club you are currently playing at does not mean anything. My s*x life is none of your concern.”
“Well, it should be yours.”
“Why?”
He arched a dark brow at me. “You don’t have a girlfriend.”
“When the f**k do I have time for something like that?”
He held up a hand. It was a conversation we’d both had, and been given, multiple times. I was tired of the constant barrage about my love life, and more than once, about the threat of an arranged marriage.
Unfortunately, all that had come to a head.
“You heard the will, same as me. The family demands an heir.”
“And where is your contribution?” I asked. Rhys gave me one of his sly smirks that only devils wore. “Besides, my father seems happy to continue supplying heirs.”
“They are not legitimate.”
“You should know,” I scoffed. Being the lethal lawyer of the company, Rhys was the one who drew up all the contracts and non-disclosure agreements for my father’s philandering. Those types were not entrusted to Alexander, the family lawyer. He made certain they were ironclad and that there was no way the mother or child could ever try to extort or expose the dirty laundry.
The consequences for even the slightest infraction were dealt with swiftly.
“At this rate, our mess of siblings will have families before us, and therefore, the company.”
I let out a dark chuckle. “Elizabeth has already beaten us there, and the rest of my siblings? It’ll be a cold day in hell before any of them settle down. I honestly think next up will be Georgiana.”
“My debutante little sister?” he asked, then seemed to ponder. “She is the second youngest of our two families, but also the purest.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she was a virgin.”
He shook his head. “She lost that long ago, but I will say I don’t think there have been very many suitors in her bed.”
“Unlike Genevieve.” The youngest of our two families was also the most unruly. She failed to fall into line and proved to be difficult to rein in.
“Genevieve is just lashing out, and you know this.”
“Perhaps, but she is the biggest thorn in my side. Now this? Grandfather sure got the last laugh in.”
“You expected anything less?”
“The fireworks are an odd touch.”
A harsh laugh left him before he took a sip. “It’s him spitting from the depths of hell.”
I scoffed at that as the red sparkles glittered against the dark sky.
“Why not ask one of your playthings to fill the role?” he asked.
“Are you actually pushing marriage on me?”
“If not, you know it will move to me, and I won’t be able to fulfill the requirements. It will then move to Hamilton, and if he fails, down to Silas and Atlas. I don’t want the family legacy falling to ruin.”
“Such faith you have in your brothers.”
A sigh left him. “It’s not that, and you know it. Silas…I do hate seeing him when he’s…off.”
“He needs to f*****g find a way to keep himself calm.”
“Atlas is trying. He’s the only one who can get through to Silas.”
The twins were brilliant when they worked together. However, in recent years Silas had been exhibiting the darker side of being a de Loughrey.
“Elizabeth would make a fine CEO.”
“A woman as CEO?” Rhys’s eyes widened as he looked out the window. “Look, see? There is Grandfather spewing his displeasure.”
Another round of fireworks boomed.
“He’s gone. We can surely change things.”
“Elizabeth is the only one fit to be an executive.”
“What about your sister?”
He paused and I realized I’d unwittingly hit Rhys’s landmine. He quickly downed the rest of his drink and shook his head. “Georgiana is too sweet. Some days I wonder if she’s a de Loughrey at all.”
Crisis averted. “She’s just found her niche. A way to stand out.”
“Much like Genevieve, and how could we forget the Tainted Princess?”
A groan left me. “This is a problem. What am I going to do?”
He sighed. “I don’t know, but whatever it is, you need to figure it out soon, or you will have no choice but to go with an arranged marriage.”
My jaw clenched. “Never. If I am forced to spend my life with a woman, it will be one of my choosing, not an obligation.”
He clapped his hand on my shoulder. “Start hunting.”
Memories of that night flooded in again. The way she moved beneath me. The need that kept me going longer and harder than ever before.
Look at me.
Look at me… What the f**k was I thinking?
Sex was a vehicle to blow off steam, but that night I needed more. Three words that had me pleading for something I had never desired. A look into her soul as I made her come undone.
An act that had me unable to forget her.
- Writer
