Page 1 of Prince of Tides
Chapter One
Laurie
“Ahh, Miss Laurie, so good to see you!”
I beamed at the greeting and closed the door behind me, the sound echoing throughout the vast building my father called a house.
“Winston!” I exclaimed as a tall, slim man in a perfunctory button-up black suit and white shirt approached, his mostly salt hair pulled neatly to one side. A pair of spectacles (not glasses, according to Winston!) hung from his breast pocket, ready at a moment's notice.
“Here, give me that. Oh, I see you’ve changed your hair again.” He scanned my newly blonde locks with an air of superiority before giving them the approving nod and reaching for my suitcase.
“I can manage,” I tried to say, but Winston justcluckedat me, and I relented, handing my luggage over to the aging butler, the head of my father’s house staff.
“Much better,” he said, pulling something from a pocket with his free hand and passing it over. “Don’t tell your father.”
Laughing, I accepted the piece of chocolate. It was a game we had played since I was a child, and he still insisted on keeping the charade up even now that I was nearly thirty. Every time I came to visit, butespeciallyat Christmas, he snuck me pieces of candy.
“I’ll keep your secrets, then,” I promised, handing over my jacket to Winston’s outstretched hand.
Winston gave it a good shake before draping it over one arm. He paused, then looked out through the window that flanked one side of the door.
“Are there any other … bags to come?” he asked.
“No, Winston,” I said with a sigh. “Eric isn’t here yet. He’s been on a business trip for three and a half weeks now.”
“Oh, wonderful!” he said before recovering with a false cough. “I mean, it must be so difficult for you to go that long without seeing your betrothed.”
I rolled my eyes. “I still can’t believe you took father’s side over mine, Winston. Eric is a good man, and I’m happy to have him as my fiancé.”
Winston gave me a long, serious look. “Who’s to say your father didn’t takemyside?”
I was stymied for words as he turned with ahumphand headed into the house. “Your usual room, I presume?” he called back as I took a second to compose myself before following him in.
“Yes, of course.” He’d already prepared my room, but that was Winston’s way of changing the subject. He didn’t want to argue with me about my choice of men.
Now, if only my father would be the same, I wished uselessly, pushing down the irritation that had become a staple of any family gathering over the past few years. Ever since Eric had proposed, it had only gotten worse. How my fiancé put up with it all, I would never know. The man was incredible in that respect, his patience infinite.
Just another reason for me to love him.
“You’d think a father would be happy for his daughter finding a man who treats her as well as Eric does,” I said, uttering the words just loud enough for Winston to hear.
The butler looked over his shoulder as he started up the stairs to the second floor. “Your father is a smart man and is only looking out for your best interests, Laurie. You should remember that.”
It was my turn to sniff. Well, perhaps snort was more accurate. Either way, I made it very clear I disagreed with the notion that either of them was doing it for me. They just didn’t like Eric and couldn’t accept he was a good man.
We walked into my room, where Winston hung my coat and placed my bag on the bed with its freshly washed and folded linens. Regardless of what they thought of Eric, I knew the staff still liked me.
“Thanks, Winston,” I said, a hair colder than usual. I wouldn’t ream him out for being a butt about my fiancé, but I wanted him to know I was unimpressed with his treatment of him.
Winston, however, had changed my diapers since I was a child and wasn’t about to stand for that. He faced me with a direct stare, his brown eyes full of love but also firm and unyielding.
“Miss Laurie,” he said primly. “Just because you are love-blind doesn’t give you the right to be rude.”
Then he left before I could reply.
“And he saysI’mthe rude one.”
I debated unpacking, but I decided to save that for later. My father was waiting, and returning to the room to unpack would be an excellent excuse to retreat somewhere peaceful.
