Page 90 of Sinfully His

“Dinner is ready in five,” a pretty girl with soft brown hair said, sticking her face into the room.

“Stella, dear,” Father said, and his entire demeanor changed. He seemed to shrink, but not in a bad way. In a way that he suddenly wasn’t overbearing or intimidating. His face lit up with a gentle smile that looked foreign. “Come meet my other son, Thomas.”

I looked over at Luc, utterly confused.

Luc shot me a look back that said, “yeah, that happened.”

“Oh, it’s so nice to meet you. Your father speaks highly of you,” she said with a bright smile, and I couldn’t bring myself to doubt her. Though my father didn’t speak highly of anyone. Ever.

“It’s very nice to meet you, too. I’ve been meaning to come by for a while,” I said. I had planned to be a complete ass to this poor girl, but I just didn’t want to anymore.

We all went to follow Stella into the dining room, but Father put his hand on my shoulder and held me back for a moment.

“I wanted to let you know that arrangements have been made, and no one is talking about excommunication anymore. The entire deal has been handled and swept under the rug. If you would like, you can go back to your life in Rome. Or you can stay here in New York. The choice is yours.”

He said nothing else, just pushed me toward the dining room.

It was a big decision. Going back to Rome, to my life of hedonism and parties, should have been a no-brainer. After all, it was what I had intended to do as soon as I got my revenge. Technically, I should have been on a plane before Mary Quinn’s body was even cold.

Something was holding me back. Or, more accurately, someone was holding me back.

What would Rose think of my staying? Would she want me to stay? If I could get her to admit that she was mine, that she would love me, I would absolutely give up my unencumbered life in Rome.

Though the idea of keeping her as a pet, a dirty little secret, was no longer nearly as appealing as it had been. For some reason, I wanted more. I just didn’t know what that meant.

Still, at the dinner table surrounded by the siblings that I had grown apart from, their spouses who I didn’t know, and my father, a man I should have hated with everything I am, I still just looked for Rose. There were a few sets of empty seats, one between Luc and Stella. I assumed one was for Amelia and the other for her sister. Amelia wasn’t here yet, so maybe she and Rose were just finishing something up at the school.

So I relaxed, I drank, I ate, and I enjoyed the company of people that I didn’t realize how badly I missed. People who had changed so much I hardly recognized them. Father was laughing, laughing like with genuine, light-hearted laughter.

“I didn’t think it was possible,” I leaned over and whispered to Charlotte.

“No, he’s been like this for weeks, months now. Being with Stella has really brought something out in him. I don’t think any of us knew it was possible. He’s like a completely different man,” Charlotte whispered back.

“It’s true,” Luc said, leaning over to me. “At first, I thought it was some kind of switch, like Brown-Forman sent in some kind of body double to learn the secrets of our whisky?—”

“Like Jack Daniels could ever measure up to Manwarring,” I snorted.

“Facts,” Luc said, clinking his glass with mine. “Even so, he’s been a completely different person. Now, my money’s on alien abduction.”

“I’m sorry, did you just say ‘facts’?” I asked, dumbfounded. Luc didn’t use teenage slang when he was a teen.

He hung his head, and Charlotte started giggling.

“Amelia is picking up a few things from the kids she works with, and certain words have just worked their way into his daily vernacular. It’s hilarious.”

“My point,” Luc interjected. “Is that clearly Father has been replaced by a pod person.” As Luc said that, a roll flew across the table and hit him in the head.

The entire table sat in stunned silence trying to figure out where it came from when my father stood, straightened his tie, and looked at Luc. “I would like to remind you that you were a power-mad asshole before you met Amelia, and she straightened you out.”

“He’s got a point,” Marksen said.

“And you were a petulant child who kidnapped a girl because Mary Quinn was so easily able to manipulate you,” Father shot at him, making Marksen duck his head a little. “If it wasn’t for my Olivia straightening you out, who knows where you would be, probably in some Middle Eastern prison hoping your daddy comes to rescue you.”

The entire table broke out in laughter.

“This one”—he pointed to Reid—“was flat out ignoring his responsibilities and inheritance to go play soldier in a foreign war just so he had something more interesting to do, until my Charlotte reined in his wild ways.”

“I don’t know if—” Reid defended himself when Father threw another roll, this time at Reid’s face.

---