Page 31 of Forbidden Lord
Perhaps his lack of smile gave him away. He tried to correct that as he nodded at his friend and redirected the conversation. “Stefano, how was dinner?”
Stefano laughed and shook his head. “Don’t change the topic. What’s going on?”
Matteo couldn’t hide much from Stefano, who knew him well, so he glanced quickly at the ballroom dance floor and said, “The man over there…”
“The tall one?” Stefano peeked so fast it was hard to tell that he’d looked at all.
They’d each had less than an ideal upbringing. Matteo nodded at Chelsea and Cassidy in the distance as he confided in his best friend. “Sheena’s ex. His name is Charles.”
Chelsea spoke to her family and then broke away, coming their direction across the crowded dance floor. Stefano’s back was to her as he asked, “Charles what?”
“I have no idea.” Matteo’s ears buzzed. The man irked him and Matteo knew nothing about him at all.
A moment later their friend joined them as Matteo said, “Chelsea.”
She studied them and asked, “What are you two conspiring about?”
Casual as could be, Stefano motioned behind him to the dance floor. “Sheena’s ex, Charles over there. What’s his name?”
Matteo straightened and glanced again. The dance ended, and he wasn’t sure where his non-invited guest had gone.
Chelsea’s eyes widened. “Charles Esposito is here?”
Esposito was the traditional way of not giving a last name to a child, which meant the man was a bastard. Or might be. He motioned with his head toward the dance floor. “Over there. The tall fellow.”
Chelsea didn’t care that she turned and stared. She scanned the ending dance and visibly sucked in her breath. “Sheena wasn’t lying about his height then.”
If anyone would help him past being jealous, it could be Chelsea. Sheena had said that she was over Charles, but the man’s attention toward his wife struck Matteo’s gut like a knife. “What else do you know about Charles Esposito?”
Chelsea’s lips thinned, and she looked away, saying quietly, “He broke her heart.”
A broken heart meant that she’d cared and his skin buzzed that Sheena had ever cared for anyone but him. He didn’t like how hypocritical that made him when he wasn’t exactly a saint. “I know that. I was interested in learning something more tangible about the man.”
Chelsea’s jaw clenched which meant she was thinking. She then snapped her fingers and said, “Sheena never knew what Charles did for a living. She agonized over his lack of profession.”
Stefano took three wines from a passing waiter and handed them out as he asked, “Who are his parents? Esposito can mean he was born a bastard—and if he is wealthy, that suggests his biological parents, at least one of them, are well off.”
Chelsea made a humming sound. “I don’t know. Sheena talked about how he went to her art shows and always seemed to know the lingo of whatever the artist talked about, which made her wonder if his parents might be artists.”
Or, Matteo thought, Charles pretended to know a little about everything—which could be deliberately misleading. Matteo had met people like that in the past.
Stefano held his glass to his lips and said, “And he’s coming over. Should we move, Matteo?”
Matteo held his glass higher as well and looked in the direction Stefano had. Sure enough, Charles was coming toward him. Sheena had worked so hard to make this night a smooth success; causing a scene would ruin it. Matteo straightened his shoulders. “No. As long as he doesn’t talk to Sheena again tonight, it’s fine.”
Chelsea took one side of him, and Stefano the other, flanking him as the man in question joined them. Matteo said to Charles, “I hope you’re having a lovely time at our party.”
Charles lifted a white wine from a passing waiter. “It’s Count Golchin himself.” He sipped his wine and without missing a beat said, “So you’re the lucky man who married Sheena Marceau.”
If he said anything about his wife, he’d have Charles tossed out, or they’d set terms and a date. His father had taught him to brawl—and win. Matteo gritted his teeth and said, “I am. And you’re the guy who lost her, leaving her available for me.”
Charles drank from his glass like this was a normal conversation and they were friends as he said with a smirk, “That wasn’t on purpose. I always intended to come back for her, but it seems she didn’t wait.”
Matteo stood taller as he glanced at the door his wife had gone into with the royal family. The three royal princes exited without their wives. Matteo turned toward Charles. “Women can be funny that way. They like stability and a guy who comes home at the end of the day.”
Charles smiled wide as if Matteo had shared some sort of joke as he said, “What can I say? I’ve never been boring.”
This conversation was going nowhere and Matteo’s stomach churned. “May I help you with anything Charles… forgive the impoliteness as we weren’t introduced formally. Your name?”
