Page 147

Rafe returns, but Nora stays at the bar. She chats with one of the bartenders. He’s attractive. Smiles at her a bit too widely.

She’s in a short dress that ends only halfway down her thighs, leaving her long legs bare. She crossed and uncrossed them earlier, knowing I was watching.

She’s playing her own kind of game, and I have no doubt it’s payback for what she said on the flight here.Was your first time romantic?

“You listening?” James asks.

I drag my gaze away. “Yeah.”

He looks at me for a second too long. “Then what did I ask you?”

“If I’ll let you win tomorrow. And the answer is no.”

“The day Iaskyou if you’ll let me win is the day I’ve lost my mind,” James says. “Itoldyou that you’re going to lose. It was a statement. Not a question.”

“Right.” I glance back at Nora. She laughs a little and smiles at the bartender. Like she’sflirting.

“Have you solved the estate issue yet?” Rafe asks.

“Let the man relax for one night,” Alex protests, “before you remind him that he’s losing his ancestral home.”

“Easy for you to say when you hate yours,” Rafe tells Alex. He turns to me. “Have you figured it out?”

“No. But I’m not losing it.”

“That,” James drawls, “is not an answer.”

“My lawyers called me early this morning. The last option we’re working on is likely too high risk.”

“Contesting the trust?” Rafe asks.

“Yes. There’s a possibility we could make a stronger case by making it a public lawsuit.”

“Public?” James shakes his head. “Don’t do that.”

“It’s not ideal,” I admit. None of us like our private business aired in front of an audience. “But it might work. There’s a clear argument that the trust violates modern-day principles of equal rights and fairness. Amber can’t even inherit the estate with the trust’s complicated rules, for fuck’s sake.”

“She must be furious,” Alex says.

“She is. As is her right.”

“What happens if you lose a public lawsuit?”

I shrug and take a deep sip of my drink. No one says anything for a few seconds.

“Well. Shit,” Alex says.

“Yeah. That’s about it,” I say. “I have the Maverick to thank for a lot, but I want to punch him for this. The lawsuit might work, yeah, but it’s too risky to do before I’m married. Once that’s settled, we have years to work on a permanent change to the trust.”

James drapes an arm along the back of his chair, his expression sharp. So much of him has always been sharp. A sword ready to stab. “Our ancestors knew how to fuck us over,” he says. “I have one of the oldest remaining estates in England, and I’m requiredto preserve it by historic preservation law, even if costs me a fortune to do so.”

“That’s not a problem,” I tell him. “You have several.”

The look he gives me is withering. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I thought we were complaining about things that have simple solutions. Or are you the only one allowed to do that?”

Alex laughs, and Rafe shakes his head with a smile.

“Having to get married is a simple solution?”