Page 49 of One Hot Moment

Spencer screws up his mouth and rubs his neck. "Well...none, I suppose."

"You should call Kendall and ask him about it."

"Why?"

Sabrina clears her throat deliberately. "Maybe you guys should go to Tabby's house and talk about the wedding stuff in private."

I veer my gaze to her. "What happened to having a snack or something? I might pass out if we don't eat soon."

Yeah, that wasn't the smoothest conversational transition. I can tell Spence is uncomfortable with talking about his brother's apparent preference for Hugh, whoever that is. Maybe it does annoy me a little bit. How could Kendall not want his actual brother to serve as best man? Sounds like they're close.

Luckily, both Mom and Sabrina get the picture. They go into the kitchen to whip up a pre-dinner snack to satisfy my rumbling tummy. Dad turns on the TV and starts watching a home repair show.

I glance at Spencer, about to suggest we go outside to have a talk about his brother. But I don't get the chance.

Spencer whispers into my ear, "Shall we go outside?"

"Yes, please."

We amble out of the house, and I guide Spencer behind it to the little spot where a wooden swing has been set up. We sit down side by side, snuggled up, and for a few minutes we just rock the swing and listen to the birds tweeting in the trees above us. But finally, it's time to have The Talk.

I rest my chin on his shoulder. "Tell me about Hugh and Kendall."

"Not much to say. Kendall considers Lord Sommerleigh to be his brother, and I'm just a bloke who happens to share his DNA."

Chapter Twenty-One

Spencer

I can't fathom why I blurted that out. Tabitha has a way of making me feel so relaxed and comfortable with her that I wind up saying things I shouldn't. But now that I have spoken those words, I owe Tabitha an explanation. It's bloody hard to talk about my brother, though.

Get a grip, man, and tell her everything.

"You know about Kendall's former career as an exotic dancer," I tell her. "When Bindy saw our brother in action at the club, that opened the floodgates. Bindy wouldn't have told anyone else about it, but her mates who were with her that night also saw Kendall, ah, strutting his stuff. One or two of them apparently spread the news."

"And then what happened?"

"Kendall was humiliated. Though he quit his job, the gossip mill had already begun to churn. Soon, everyone in Tottenham knew about Kendall's dancing days, and our family was ostracized for a little while." I rub my eyes while I take a moment to figure out how to explain the rest. "Kenny disappeared."

"What? He was missing? Like on one of those posters?"

"No, no, nothing like that. He vanished from our lives for a few years. Only later did we learn that he'd taken odd jobs for a while, until he saw an advert on a notice board. The Parrish family were looking for a butler."

"Did you try to find Kendall?"

I cover my face with my hands and groan. Then I sit up straighter, looking straight into Tabitha's eyes. "I didn't try to find him because I had no idea how to go about that. I'm not Sherlock Holmes. Eventually, my brother got in touch with Bindy to let her know that he had a job at a country estate and he was doing fine. I only found out about that from my sister. Kendall never rang me."

Tabitha combs her fingers through my hair, and the gesture does make me relax a bit more. "When did you finally speak to your brother again?"

"Bindy called to tell me that Kendall wanted to meet us both for lunch at a pub in Chelsea. That was the first time I'd seen or heard from Kenny in several years."

She goes on combing her fingers through my hair for a moment or two without saying anything. I can't deny that just sitting here with her makes everything else in the world seem unimportant. As long as I have her, what else do I need?

Tabitha murmurs into my ear, "You know what you need to do."

"Yes," I groan. "I need to tell Kendall that I feel as if he cares more about Hugh Parrish than he does me. But it's bloody humiliating to confess to something like that."

"The most important things are always the hardest to say."

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