Page 9 of Peyton's Price

Peyton stopped packing. She hurried over to embrace Maggie, squeezing her tight. “You can’t blame her. She was excited, the way any newly engaged person would be.”

In fact, it was the most amount of emotion she’d ever seen Caroline display. It made Peyton realize she didn’t know the other woman at all. She hadn’t wanted to. Caroline Wentworth was reserved, but perhaps if Peyton had made an effort to get to know the other woman, Peyton would have been able to accept Liam was never going to be hers long before this. Instead, she’d buried her head in the sand and had subsequently been surprised when she’d been run over by a truck.

“It wasn’t her fault or his,” Peyton murmured, backing away to study her empty shelves. There was a small jewelry box left on the bureau. She opened it, studying the only item left inside—a silver charm bracelet.

As jewelry went, it wasn’t valuable. Nevertheless, the charm bracelet was one of her most precious possessions. It had been a gift from Liam. He’d given it to her on her seventeenth birthday, back when he still did all his own shopping.

His secretary chose his gifts these days. Last year, she’d been given a thousand-dollar watch. She’d tossed it in a drawer unused, well aware he hadn’t selected it personally.

Peyton reached into the box, running her index finger over the string of charms. There was a book, which she had later learned was passport, as well as world-famous monuments like the Eiffel Tower and a tiny Taj Mahal.

She always wondered if Liam had bought it because he knew she wanted to see the world or if it were a random purchase. “Promise me something.”

Maggie wiped her eye surreptitiously, trying to hide the fact she was near tears. “Anything.”

“Don’t hold any of this against your brother. None of this is his fault. And you should give Caroline a chance, too. She’s going to be your sister-in-law.”

Peyton knew she didn’t have to ask her best friend not to mention her hurt feelings to the man. Maggie still honored the blood oath never to mention Peyton’s unrequited love to another living soul, which she’d taken at fourteen. The fact everyone knew was her own fault. She simply couldn’t hide the way she felt when she was near him.

“Do I have to?” Maggie asked, perilously close to whining. Peyton’s best friend had never liked the cool ice blonde. She enjoyed trashing the other woman with Peyton when they were alone, but now she wondered how much of that was simply her friend being loyal to her.

Maggie grumbled something under her breath.

Peyton turned. “What was that?”

Her friend sighed dramatically. “I’ll try if she tries being human for a change—and if she stops being so damn condescending. She actually lectured me on the best way to flip rooms last week, as if we didn’t have that down. Our hotel is five times bigger than any of theirs.”

Peyton laughed. “How dare she!”

Well, an effort was all Peyton asked. Caroline had never gone out of her way to cozy up to Maggie. Her singular focus had been Liam. Ultimately, it would be up to him to facilitate a relationship between his sister and his future wife. His comfort and well-being was no longer her concern.

She put the jewelry box back on the shelf, the bracelet still inside.

“Aren’t you going to pack that?”

“Later,” Peyton lied.

She couldn’t take any mementos of Liam with her. It was going to be brutal, but a clean break was what she needed.

Chapter 5

“What did you just say?” Liam had just spent eleven hours on a plane, and all he wanted to do was shower and go to bed, but his brother Patrick’s report about the hotel wasn’t making sense.

Trick sat behind his desk, his feet propped up on the edge. His brother’s usual elegance was a bit frayed at the corners. He should have been in bed hours ago, too. Ever since he’d met his wife, Thalia, Patrick had been getting up bright and early every Sunday morning to attend Catholic services with her. At first, Liam had thought it was Thalia’s influence, but he’d been surprised to learn Trick was the one behind the regular church attendance.

Liam wasn’t sure he was comfortable with his brother’s newfound faith. The sudden resurgence of customs abandoned after their parents died struck him as odd. The trappings of the Church felt alien and stifling to Liam now, but he wasn’t going to make a big deal about it to Trick. His brother was a grown man. He was expecting his first child for fuck’s sake. And Liam would rather chew his own leg off than talk about his feelings.

Trick rubbed his face. Sundays were now his longest day. “I said the hotel is at ninety-four percent capacity. The new schedule has improved room-turnover efficiency by an average of two minutes, and I’ve started interviewing candidates to replace Peyton.”

Liam pulled off his tie. Confused, he threw it on his desk. “I don’t understand. Why do you need to replace her?”

Patrick’s mouth was turned down. He tapped the leather blotter with the tip of a ballpoint pen.

“Weneed to replace her. She took another job. She told me and HR last week—the day after you left for Singapore.”

Liam’s stared at his brother incredulously. “What the hell are you talking about? What job?”

Trick leaned back in his chair, meeting Liam’s eyes with a flat expression. “You didn’t seriously think she was still going to work here after getting her degree, did you?”

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