Page 35 of Lipstick Kiss

“Aunt Cynthia,” he said, not moving.

“I’m not going to spend our meeting yelling at you. Come down this end, please,” she clipped out.

He walked thirty feet from the door to where she was standing. Her hands were clasped in front of her. He noticed her sapphire ring, which looked much like an engagement ring but with no wedding band. Had Jonathan given that to her? She had never mentioned a fiancé or a husband in all the time he’d known her. Trying to remember his childhood, he couldn’t recall if she’d always worn the ring. Making a mental note to dig out family photographs, he put his ponderings to the back of his head.

“Why am I here?” Luke said.

“Do I need a reason?”

“You never do anything without reason. You usually can’t wait to explain all your moves. So let’s get this over with.”

“Fine. Come into the conservatory. It’s time for you to choose.”

“Choose what?”

“You need to find a wife.”

“You have a selection waiting for me to pick in the conservatory?”

“Don’t be smart, Luke Turner.”

“I wouldn’t put it past you to have already picked my wife for me. That’s the Turner way, isn’t it?”

His aunt gave him a glare that shrivelled his insides. She didn’t say a word as she moved to a large velvet box. She lifted the lid and placed it to the side.

“Time to pick a ring. When you’ve found the woman who will be a Turner, you are to bring her here to meet me before you propose.”

“No.”

“What?” she shouted.

“No. I am not picking a ring. My wife will not wear a Turner ring. You may have corralled Archer into picking a ring, but Jason didn’t put a Turner ring on Heidi’s finger, and I won’t either.”

“What do you mean? He chose the diamond solitaire. If it’s not on Heidi’s finger, where the hell is it? It needs to be returned.”

All the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Or more or less into place. The ring on Freya’s finger was Jason’s rejected ring. He smiled and gave a soft chuckle.

“You’d better take that up with Jason.”

“You tell him I want to speak with him.”

“Tell him yourself,” Luke replied, making a move to leave.

“You were always the disobedient child. I never understood why your father let you onto the rigs.”

“What do those two things have in common?”

“If you did as you were told, you wouldn’t have let him die.”

“How the hell did you come to that conclusion?”

“If you spent more time studying and getting better grades, you would’ve been a better medic. His death is on your hands.”

“Go to hell,” Luke roared and strode from the room.

Bailey had the door open and stepped to the side before Luke reached for the door handle.

“Never ask me to meet with her again, Bailey,” Luke bit out as he passed the man.

---