Page 84 of Valentine Nook
Oh fuck no. I’m not going through this for a second time. Miles snorts, but his smile dies when he takes one look at my face.
“Enough,” I shout, loud enough for all five of them to raise their eyebrows. I try again, softer this time but no less firm as I pin them all with a glare. “Enough. This goes for all of you.”
“What’ve I done?” Miles grumbles.
“I do not want to hear one more word about Caroline.” I hold my finger up as my mother opens her mouth. “Nope. I’m still speaking. Today, we draw a line under the whole situation. And I need you all—Mother—to back the fuck off. Caroline getting married does not give you the green light to start banging on about setting me up again.” I stare at my mother, who looks on the verge of bursting if she doesn’t get to speak. “If you think I’m happier, it’s because you haven’t been watching every move I make.”
Miles coughs out a word that sounds suspiciously likeHoliday,which has Alex smirking.
My head falls back against the wall, and I scrub a hand through my hair. Glancing at James, I remember the reason I came to see him in the first place.
“As you’re all here, I should tell you that a couple of months ago, I asked Arthur to draw up papers to begin the process of changing primogeniture. My current plan is to leave everything to Max.”
I’m not sure who’s louder in their outburst—my mother or Hendricks.
“What the fuck, Lando?”
My mother doesn’t swear, but her explosion is no less angry. “Absolutely not.”
“This is Max’s future. Were you going to talk to me about it?”
I turn to Hendricks. “Yes, of course. Once it had all been settled.”
“Did you sign these papers?”
“I did,” I reply and look at James, “but it appears Arthur never received them.”
To his credit, James doesn’t even bother to deny it. He just reaches into his desk drawer and pulls out a brown envelope.
“I didn’t want you to do something you regretted.”
“Why would I regret leaving all this to Max? Everything we’ve built, everything Dad built. Max is the next generation. Besides, it’s a backup measure in case I never meet anyone.”
“Don’t be so ridiculous, Lando.”
My head snaps around. “Mother, I don’t know if I’m going to get married and have children, but I’m not going to fucking do it with you breathing down my neck only to land with someone else like Caroline.”
Her lips purse again. “What about Holiday?”
“WhataboutHoliday?”
“You’ve been spending time together?—”
“I gave her a ride home from London. That’s all.”
I dare not look at any of my brothers. I haven’t said one word to them about Holiday since Miles announced my crush at family supper. But it’s widely agreed among our family that, of everyone, I’m the worst at lying.
They’ll take one look at my face and know the ride home from London is not, in fact, all.
“Serious question here. Are you going to be my second brother to fall in love with an American?”
When Alex and I splutter at the same time, it’s almost like we rehearsed it. Leave it to Miles to break the tension by adding more tension.
“I’m not in love,” Alex snaps.
This time, all eyes land on him. Miles’s, Hendricks’s, and mine anyway. My mother rolls hers, though I’m not sure if that’s at Miles or Alex or me. Likely all of us.
“What? I’m not. I hooked up with a girl last Christmas, and that’s all it was. Nothing more. A hookup. Afling.”
