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“Erm, yes. I told you that, didn’t I?”

“You sure did.” He looks across the room again. His mother is on her feet now, and is walking toward us. The women she’s been entertaining stay put over by the bay windows. More than a few eye West speculatively.

“Practice it with me,” he says. “Now.”

“Be your… you mean, pretend that we’re together?”

“Yes,” he says tightly. “You want to date more. I want to date less. Let’s help each other out tonight.”

I blink up at him. Whiskey eyes look back down at me, and that left eyebrow with the scar through it, and it’s suddenly hard to breathe. Pretend to date… West.

The guy I once had a stupid, silly little teenage infatuation with, until he crushed it beneath his boot.Too boring, he said.The last person I’d ever date.

“Say please,” I tell him.

West’s eyes flash with amusement, and he leans in another inch. “Please, Nora.”

“Thought you’d never ask.” I slip my arm through his and turn to face his mother.

CHAPTER7

WEST

Cordelia Calloway is on a mission. It’s clear in her measured steps, her calculating eyes. She looks between Nora and me in a low, assessing sweep.

Her smile is sharp. “West. You made it.”

“Of course. Mom, this is Eléanore Montclair. You know her brother, Raphaël. Nora, this is my mother, Cordelia.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Nora shakes my mother’s hand. “This is such a beautiful house.”

“It’s a pleasure.” Mom’s voice is warmer than it was only a moment ago. “I’ve met Raphaël many times over the years. It’s lovely to meet his family.”

“Nora just moved to New York.” I put my arm around her waist, and she doesn’t move away. Doesn’t flinch either. Thank god. “She’s my date.”

“I didn’t know you were seeing someone, West.”

I look down at Nora and make my voice teasing. “It took her a while to agree to go out with me.”

“You wore me down,” she says with a pretty, fake smile.

“This is wonderful news,” my mother says, as if we’ve announced a pregnancy. There’s genuineness in her voice, and god knows she’s probably analyzing how great a Montclair-Calloway union would be.

The estate safe, and a wedding to rival the royals.

“I hope you’ll enjoy yourself here tonight. And West, darling, when you have a moment, there are a few people I’d like to introduce you to.”

My hand is pressed flat against the velvet of Nora’s dress. “Later, perhaps,” I say. “I’m going to show Nora off first.”

Her eyes narrow. It’s tiny, but she heard mynofor what it was. “Of course. Enjoy yourself, darling. Both of you.”

She walks off, disappearing into the throng of people she’s all personally picked. It doesn’t take long before someone pulls her into a new conversation.

Of course she still wants me to chat with the eligible young women she’s invited, just in case Nora and I don’t work out. Doesn’t matter that I’ve told her over and over again that I don’t welcome, want or favor her interference.

That the more she pushes, the more I’ll resist.

But Cordelia Calloway has never said no to a little manipulation. I’m sure at least six women here were specifically invited for me to meet.