Page 103 of Boyfriend of the Hour

“Top shelf,” Nathan said to the server, who left before I could protest that the house vodka was just fine for me.

But maybe that wasn’t just fine forGiovanna. She would have been used to the finer things in life.

“Doesn’t it look good?” said the woman whose name was…Reagan. Yes, that was it. “I’ve been dying to come here ever since this one told me about it.”

“I don’t know,” said the woman named Charlotte, who was looking kind of bored as she peered around the restaurant. “I was kind of disappointed we couldn’t find a table at Chez Miso.”

“It’s been booked solid since it opened,” said Jordan. Yes, that was his name. “I’ve been having Brenda call weekly.”

“I could probably get you a table there,” I put in. “I’ll just call the owner. The food is super good—totally worth trying.”

The entire table swung toward me, more than one mouth agape.

“Youknow Xavier Parker?” asked the one I thought was named Boon.

I nodded as the server set down my drink. “He’s married to my sister.”

The rest of the jaws dropped. Besides Nathan’s, that is, though the fingers at my nape had stilled.

“The Duke of Kendal is your brother-in-law?” asked Reagan.

I nodded again. “You know who he is?”

“Honey, everyone knows who Xavier Parker is,” Charlotte put in like I was an idiot. “He was the toast of the city last year.”

I didn’t like her tone.

The divot between Nathan’s brows appeared.

Charlotte continued. “My mother couldn’t stop talking about him for months after he ran off with—I mean, reconnected with your sister. A teacher, isn’t she?”

I flushed. This was kind of odd. Frankie had told me that she and Xavier were a hot topic of conversation and that more than one stuffy uppercruster had hated on her and Sofia, my little niece, since she and Xavier got back together. I’d just assumed it was happening on the other side of the pond and New York was safe for them.

Apparently not.

“Our parents know his stepmother, Georgina,” Charlotte informed Nathan. “Huntwell Farms provided a stud for her horses a few years ago, remember?”

Nathan shook his head. “Spencer manages the breeding operation. I wouldn’t have met her.”

Races? Breeding? Mothers?

What in the crazy horse farm was Nathan’s life?

And why hadn’t he told me about Annie-Get-Your-Man in his office?

“It’s crazy, I know,” I said. “He and my sister had a fling years ago. Then he went back to England, she had his baby, they ran into each other at a party five years later, and abra-ca-damily, there’s your new family. They got married last year, and I’d be stupid jealous if I didn’t love my sister so much. But Xavier is crazy about her. They are legit fire together.”

I turned to find Nathan watching me closely and mouthing “legit fire” to himself with an adorable smile.

“Right?” I said with a knowing glance.

After all, if we were in a relationship, he would know these things.

That seemed to pull him out of whatever trance he was in. “Oh, right, yes. They are very happy.”

Charlotte looked between us. “I’m surprised you never mentioned you have a new connection there, Nate. Your parents must be thrilled.”

She did not sound like she enjoyed that particular possibility.