Page 59 of Gold Digger
Lottie forced out a laugh. “It’s fine Vics honestly,” she said, lightening the atmosphere. “Siblings, eh?” she said to the group in general. “Always bickering.” Everyone around us relaxed, the discomfort dissipated. Then Lottie asked one of my cousins about the upcoming polo season, using the knowledge she’dmanaged to extract from Cecelia earlier to segue straight into a very involved conversation about polo ponies and their training. Vicky was still glaring at me, and my mother was still in shock.
When a waiter passed, I stopped him and grabbed an elderflower drink from his tray, to switch with Lottie’s champagne. Why hadn’t I thought of that? But also, why hadn’t Lottie objected to being given champagne? Just like with the name thing. Why would you accept being called something that wasn’t your name? And now she was talking about polo like it was the most interesting conversation she’d ever had. I could guarantee she had zero fucking interest inpolo.
“Legolas!” A tiny pony bowled through the group, followed by a rather larger billionaire in the form of Felix. Nobody was particularly surprised. Well, apart from Lottie. Everyone just raised their drinks to protect them from the fat-bodied, furry force of destruction and carried on their conversations.
“What the Fraggle Rock?” I heard Lottie mutter and then, “Oh, Lucy?” Lucy Mayweather stumbled into the group following the path of her runaway pony and Felix, then stopped to lean on Lottie.
“Oh my God,” she gasped. “I am not built for cardiovascular exercise. That bloody pony.” We both looked in the direction of Legolas’s travel to see him upending a table of sandwiches, which he started munching his way through. When Felix tried to grab his halter he snorted and started off at a run again.
“Nice that you guys could make it,” I said dryly to Lucy as her pony continued to destroy most of the catering.
“I’m sorry, Ols,” Lucy said in between her gasping breaths. “But you know what that little shit is like. He behaves for the girls but as soon as he saw Felix he broke free. It’s like a red rag to a bull for some reason.” Since they’d got back together, Felix and Lucy spent far more time in Little Buckingham, following a bleak couple of months apart. Lucy’s mum Hetty lived onthe edge of the Buckingham Estate which bordered Felix’s land as well. She had a whole menagerie of weird and wonderful animals. Felix and Legolas the pony had a strained relationship to say the least.
“Have a drink, darling,” Mum said brightly. “Let Felix chase after Legolas. It does entertain the children so.” Both Florrie and Hayley had joined the chase now, armed with apples and various other pony treats. Felix and Legolas were facing off next to the cake stand.
“Oh bugger,” Claire muttered. “I haven’t had a piece of that Victoria sponge yet.”
Felix growled as he stalked forward towards Legolas, who stood perfectly still. But just as Felix’s fingers were about to close over his halter, the bastard ducked down and charged under Felix’s arm to collide full force with the table of cakes. Luckily the majority of the guests were used to Legolas and his destructive tendencies, so at least half the cakes on the table were already held aloft by those nearest to the destruction zone.
“Mum, can you get that pony under control,” Lucy snapped at Hetty who had appeared and was busy profusely apologising to my mum.
“I’m so sorry, Margot,” Hetty said, ignoring her daughter. “But Legolas has psychological issues, and the kids just don’t quite know how to manage him.”
“Mum,” growled Lucy. “Felix is thirty-four years old and I’m twenty-eight. We’re not exactly kids. And the onlypsychological issuethat pony has is that he’s an absolutearse.”
Felix had Legolas cornered near Mum’s rose bushes now.
“It’s quite alright, Hetty,” Mum said as we watched Legolas easily dart around Felix again. “But I’m not risking my roses.” Mum put her drink down, clapped her hands twice and shouted, “Here, boy!” across the courtyard. Legolas immediately abandoned what he clearly viewed as a game with Felix andtrotted over to Mum, who snapped a lead rein to his halter and passed it to Hetty. Felix stumbled over to us. He was covered in twigs and leaves, his knees were caked in dirt, and his shirt was ripped.
“How did you do that?” he said to Mum as he took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and downed the entire thing.
“You just have to have a commanding tone, dear,” Mum told Felix, the CEO of a multinational company.
When I felt Lottie shaking next to me and looked down at her dancing eyes, she let out a snort. I raised an eyebrow, and that set her off. Once Lottie started laughing, everyone joined in. It was the most relaxed I’d seen her at this bloody party. And for once, I was grateful that our neighbours couldn’t control their livestock.
Chapter 29
Unless we’re agreeable
Ollie
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked, not for the first time. But I thought I might finally get an answer out of her now. Hayley was in bed. She’d fallen asleep in the car on the way home, clutching Keith the pony with the horseshoe that Florrie had given her, and I’d carried her upstairs and tucked her in under the covers. Now Lottie and I were both downstairs, and I wanted answers.
She sighed. “What does it matter what your mother introduces me as? Honestly, I don’t care.”
“But that’s not your name.”
She shrugged as if people calling her by her actual name was neither here nor there.
“And why accept the champagne?”
She rolled her eyes. “I said I didn’t drinktwice. Nobody listened. It was easier to hold a glass of champagne than be a pushy dingus.”
“You don’t like the smell, Lottie.” I remembered how she reacted in the bar when that wine had been spilt on her. She’d thrown up, for God’s sake.
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not fucking fine,” I snapped. I was still supremely pissed off that my sister had called me out for how Lottie was being treated. “You need to stop being so goddamn agreeable all the time. Tell my mother to fuck off if she calls you the wrong name. Shove the glass of champagne back at the person that offers it.”
