Page 45 of Covert

“Get to the point, Mother.”

She reached for a handkerchief and dabbed at her nose. “I don’t think Sam was after the Harmon fortune. She wouldn’t need it, being a princess and all.”

“What?”

He never thought dementia with increasing age would be a problem for his mother, but maybe senility had crept up on her overnight?

“Samantha is the only daughter of the Popov family. And a rich princess in her own right.”

Liz had the grace to look away, not quite able to meet his eye, but she couldn’t hide a growing grin.

Feeling like an idiot—and the only person in the room who didn’t have a clue—he said, “I don’t understand. Why the ruse? Why change her surname, why work for me, why mention marriage?”

He shook his head, trying to make sense of the barrage of questions that swirled around his brain.

“Why don’t you ask her?”

His mother stood and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It’s the only way.”

Reeling from his mother’s revelations and more confused than ever, he waited until she left the room before reaching for the phone.

33

Sam’s reunion with her parents hadn’t gone quite as expected.

She’d anticipated an interrogation of mammoth proportions, mainly revolving around her absent fiancé.

Instead, they welcomed her with open arms, lavishing her with more love than they had in her twenty-five years to date. Rather than plying her with questions, they smothered her, reinforcing how much they’d missed her.

She couldn’t handle this drastic change in her strict, orthodox parents, and the truth had spilled out before she could stop it.

Well, most of the truth.

She told them about working for Dylan Harmon to prove her independence, about being liberated living away from her family, about how Max made her skin crawl, and the thought of marrying him would sever her relationship with them permanently.

She’d cried tears of relief when they embraced her and apologised for driving her to such lengths, admitting they hadn’t realised the pressure they’d been placing on her and the rest of their children.

The experience had been a catalyst in changing her relationship with her parents and if she’d known what her harebrained scheme would do, she might’ve done it a long time ago.

She’ told them everything, almost, leaving out the part where she’d lost her heart to a man who now despised her.

But she hadn’t had time to dwell. Once Pete had seen his parents change of attitude, he’d told them about marrying Ebony, and the entire family had been coerced into making the wedding happen as soon as possible.

It had barely been a week since she returned from Melbourne, and today, her best friend would become her sister-in-law.

Putting the finishing touches on her makeup, she knocked on the interconnecting door of the hotel rooms the girls had used to get ready for the big day.

“Are you finished, Eb? It’s almost time to go.”

The door swung open and in typical flamboyant style, her friend struck a pose.

“What do you think? Do I look like a bride?”

Sam smiled and brushed away the tears that sprung to her eyes at the sight of her friend clad in an ivory sheath dotted with crystals, her usual flyaway hair smoothed into a sleek chignon and adorned with a sparkling tiara, and sheer veil that dropped to the floor.

“You look incredible. Pete’s going to pass out when he sees you.”

Ebony rolled her eyes. “Let’s hope not. It’s taken too much effort to get him this far and I’ll be damned if he backs out now.”

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