Page 55 of Always Knew It Was You

“You’re lying.”

“Why would I lie about that? Her family is wealthy, yes, but they’re not royalty.”

“And who is this family of hers?”

“That I can’t tell you.”

He huffs his disdain. “Then you leave me no choice but to find out for myself.”

“Grandfather, please.” I try to strike the right balance of annoyance and pleading in my tone. “This is the first woman that I’ve found in a long time that I actually like. We’re taking it slow for now and I don’t want to scare her off by having my grandfather investigate her. Please don’t ruin this for me.”

He grows quiet as he considers my request. I hope the act was enough to sell it.

“Why is she so secretive about her upbringing?” he asks next. “That makes me suspicious of her intentions.”

I hesitate for a few seconds before I answer. “It’s because she’s an illegitimate child. She’s notreallyroyalty, in the sense that she’s distant enough to never have to worry about taking the throne or attending any royal events. But according to what I heard, her father is a noble. So is her mother. They were both married to different people and had an affair with each other. They gave her away pretty quickly to hide the affair but they kept in touch with her and her adoptive parents from when she was quite young. They’ve also given her proper etiquette and training from when she was young and plan to eventually introduce her to their respective families, after all their children are adults.”

I wait for my grandfather to digest that while feeling the first tendril of nerves in my stomach.Was that a good story? Is he going to buy it?

To be very honest, the story itself is kind of a risk. I know my grandfather specifically wanted me to marry a high-class woman from a stable family unit, but there’s no way he was going to accept me keeping Carly’s ancestry a secret without a really good excuse for it. At this point, I’m just hoping that he’ll settle for Carly being blueblooded and well-trained.

“I’ve met her parents,” I continue. “Kind of by coincidence actually. So I know the story is legit. And I really,reallylike her. She’s smart, cultured, funny. She… calms me. I don’t know what it is, but I think this might be the one.”

Okay, dial it back a little. I don’t think the great Mark Landing will believe I’m in love at this point, not when he saw me partying it up in Turks and Caicos only months ago.

Still, I have to convince him that I’m somewhat serious. So I add, “What you said to me at our last meeting... I was thinking about it and I think she might be the one I marry.”

My grandfather scoffs and murmurs something unintelligible. My nerves multiply. Did he catch on? Did I say too much? Not enough?

What’s he going to say next?

“I need to meet her,” he orders. “Invite her over for brunch next weekend at The Vineyard.”

“Um…” Relief mixes with a different type of dread. On one hand, I’m happy that he seems to accept my story at face value. On the other hand, Carly’s nowhere near prepared enough to meet with my grandfather. She needs at least another three weeks of training. I never expected him to want to meet with her this early.

“I don’t know about that,” I say. “She’s still a bit skittish and I don’t want to rush her into something–”

“If she’s not even willing to meet your family, then she’s not ready to marry you.” He cuts me off. “And you’re too old to play around.”

Oh, come on, again? I’m only thirty-five!

“I have to meet this woman, Micah. I’ve grown to have little faith in your taste in women. If you like this girl so much, there’s a chance she might be a complete disaster. I can’t let your relationship continue until I know she’s not.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence,” I say wryly. I quickly scroll through a bunch of excuses in my head, but I know that none of them will be enough to get me out of this mess. And they may raise more alarm bells for gramps.

“Fine,” I answer as I turn into my hotel. “Sunday brunch, it is.”

After I get back to my hotel room, I take a quick shower, make some business calls, and then call Carly to warn her about the recent development.

“Wow,” she says after I explain it to her. “That was fast.”

“Yup. I’m as shocked as you are. I thought I’d have to drag you to at least a few more events before he took notice. But he wants to meet you now and there’s nothing I can do about it.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, sensing her nervous silence at the other end of the line. “Listen, it will be fine. He’s not that bad, truly, it’s just that you need to get some more practice in before we go see him.”

I hear her inhale a nervous breath, but her voice is steady when she says, “Alright. I’m ready. What do I need to do?”

Atta girl.“What days do you have work and school?”

She rattles off her schedule and I note it in my phone. Apart from a few virtual business meetings, I’m not really doing much in town so I have a bunch of free time to work around her schedule.

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