Page 8 of Finding Forever

“Don’t ye fookin’ dare!” The growled asidecame from his father and the fact that his accent had thickened on the warning told Cade he meant business.

He slanted a quick unrepentant grin at the older man before shrugging. “Someone has to stick around to babysit you, old man.” His own low voice was practically identical to his father’s raspy growl.

“On second thought, fuck off, will you?” his father suggested, the corners of his mouth turning up while a glimmer of unholy glee lit his eyes. “I don’t mind spending some quality time with old Burns over there.”

“Fuck’s sake, don’t call him that to his face, okay?” Cade warned, suddenly serious as he pictured his dad doing exactly that. “I’d just as soon get this goddamned deal done and dusted this weekend. Any glimmer of an insult and he’ll drag it out relentlessly.”

“Aye? Then you’d better marry y’self off to one of his daughters, hadn’t you? I get the distinct impression that that’s what he’s been after from the very beginning.”

That comment didn’t deserve a response, and he gave his dad a jaundiced look as they walked into a huge, ostentatious dining room, dominated by a massive banquet table that appeared to be at least twenty-four feet long. A handful of people were already seated on one end of the ridiculous piece of furniture.

The room was decorated with cherubs and statues of Greek gods… everything was gilt and marble, with a massive crystal chandelier suspended above the lavishly decorated table. It was all so tacky and Cade winced, feeling like an outrageous snob for scoffing at the gaudy display of new wealth. Yeah, money couldn’t buy taste, and if this was what Abernathy and his family liked, then live and let live and all that. Cade felt petty for instinctively cringing at the gaudiness of it all.

Cade’s gaze fled—in almost panicked defense—from the overwhelming amount of tawdry flash on display to the peoplesitting at the table. Abernathy naturally took the head—Jesus, was that an actual fuckingthrone?—and sat down in his gold and red velvet seat. While his daughters sat on his left—wearing dresses cut so low their tits threatened to spill out and offer themselves up as the entree dish—with that weedy motherfucker Wilson seated between them. There were three empty place settings on the right of Abernathy and it was to these empty spaces which the smiling maid ushered Cade and his father. An ornately uniformed man—whom Cade could only assume was a footman of sorts—held out a chair for his father and then one for Cade. He sat down and diverted his frowning gaze at the empty place setting between him and his dad.

“Are you expecting another guest?” James Hawthorne boomed and Abernathy laughed dismissively while his daughters tittered and Wilson smirked.

“A guest? Hardly. Just the girl, she’s likely frittering around making certain everything is running smoothly. She lives for shit like that. It’s good she’s found a way to make herself useful, what with everything we all do for her, y’know? She’s useless at just about anything else, to be honest.”

James and Cade exchanged mystified looks. Were they supposed to know who the fuck the man was talking about? As far as he knew the only people in attendance this weekend were Abernathy’s daughters and—later—his legal team.

The only girl he could think of was possibly the stepdaughter, but the last time Cade had checked the teen was at boarding school in Switzerland. As far as he could recall, there’d been some vague inferences about the girl’s mental competency, and even when she came of age, it was likely her stepfather would continue as her proxy in all business matters.

Abernathy clapped—he actuallyclapped—and a procession of uniformed maids entered the dining room with trays of food. Cade was too busy gawking at the tacky display of excess to notice the small, neat figure following the line of servants. The first he knewof her presence was from the movement to his left. He glanced over to see a slender woman in a drab gray skirt and cream blouse slipping into the chair beside his. He half stood, wanting to assist her into her chair, but his father had beaten him to it.

His gaze travelled up to the bent head and he froze in horror, when he instantly recognized that hair. The long silvery mass was braided and twisted into an intricate coronet around her head. It was the kind of otherworldly style into which he imagined an elf from Middle Earth would magic their hair. The delicate length of pale blue ribbon woven through the elaborate crown on her head, appeared to be her only adornment.

She wore no make-up, dressed like the housekeeper—fuckwasshe the housekeeper? Would Abernathy actually invite his housekeeper to dinner?—and wore no jewelry.

“You’re late,” Abernathy snapped, his voice taut with something that resembled dislike.

She hadn’t looked at Cade, not once, instead she kept her gaze downcast. That display of humility was starting to irritate him immensely.

“Yes, I’m sorry, we had a complication with the main course.”

“Resolved, I hope?”

“Of course.” She reached for her napkin, the slightest of tremors in her hands, and smoothed the fabric onto her lap.

“Good. Uh, gentleman, this is my stepdaughter, Fern. I invited her to join us tonight so she’d have an inkling as to where her mother’s company is going. And since the sale is to her benefit, it’s important she bears witness to everything I do to keep her trust healthy.”

Cade’s brain stalled. It literally stuttered to a complete and utter halt at the shocking information. Yes, he’d known that Abernathy was the sole trustee of his late wife’s estate, in absolute control of his stepdaughter’s immense wealth and assetsuntil she came of age, but he’d always believed said daughter wasmuchyounger. Sixteen at the most. Which was why he hadn’t bothered to do any real research on her.

He wasn’t sure what to make of this. Had she known exactly who he was to her and her business at the gala two months ago? If so, had there been an ulterior motive to what had happened between them?

He stared at her profile, willing her to fuckinglookat him, but she didn’t and that infuriated him.

“Fern?” He wasn’t sure why he said her name. He sounded incredulous, questioning, and he couldn’t be certain if the exclamation came from some innate desire to have her confirm that it was indeedheror a prompt to get her to finally meet his eyes.

“A ridiculous name, right?” Abernathy guffawed, mistaking the reason behind his exclamation. “Sounds like something a new age hippy would name their kid. Although, to be fair, Maeve with her bleeding heart and her desire to save the earth was definitely a hippy.” He chuckled heartily and Cade’s contempt of the man increased a thousandfold.

Cade happened to like the name Fern.

“I happen tolikethe name Fern.” He couldn’t believe he’d actually said the words out loud and in such a contemptuous tone of voice. He needed to tread very,verycarefully here.

His ever-perceptive father’s gaze sharpened on his face but Cade ignored the old man, keeping his attention fixed on that neat, unremarkable little profile. Her eyelids flickered, and her head jerked slightly. He watched her slender throat bob as she swallowed.

“Fern won’t interfere with our negotiations, of course. The girl is lucky to have me. She’s not very good with money or responsibility.Areyou, Fern?” He raised his voice on the question, the way an ignorant arsehole would speak to someonewho was mentally challenged and that just raised Cade’s hackles even more.

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