Ash was polite to everyone; he said the right things and danced with Stephanie on the small floor space the pub had cleared. When Stephanie said she wanted to go outside with another of her blue drinks, Ash grabbed a beer and decided to go with her. Of course he lost her to a small group of kids playing running games around the maze of bushes in the garden, but at least he was legitimately outside. Leaning on the fence to one side of the grass, he sipped his beer and tilted his head back to the warm summer sun. Standing here he could spend time considering Connor.
Then he recalled the dislike in Connor’s eyes and his brain switched from all things sex to focusing on the fact that Connor didn’t know what he was like. He was the cool brother. Ben was the married one, Landon the awkward one…
Talking of Landon, he’d spotted Rachel and his brother holding hands and smiling at each other, so he suspected Connor, as Rachel’s friend, might well be a fixture in the Sterling-Haynes’ extended family. Plenty of family events where they could maybe hook up after all. Connor was a good-looking guy, no, a great-looking guy, tall, rangy with blond hair that curled at the ends and hazel eyes that sparked green with temper. He’d been so defensive of Rachel, and that kind of loyalty was something to admire. And there was a story there in the way he’d shown so much animosity towards Ash as he spoke.
Oh and there was interest there too, Ash was sure. It was clearly very well hidden, but the shot of desire when Connor had gotten all big and bolshie on him must have shown on his face, because Connor backed down pretty quickly. In fact, he’d damn well gotten hard with Connor looming over him, all intent and fire. God, that was so freaking hot.
Of course Ash would have to cut through the general resentment that appeared to surround Connor like some kind of protective cloak. Only then would he have any chance at climbing that fine body like one would a tree. But hell, Ash was here all summer so he had time to see what was under the bubbling anger and resentment. See if all the posturing extended beyond just being pissed off with Ash because Ash’s brother had upset Rachel.
Connor had lips that just begged to be kissed, generous and pink, and Ash bet the man looked gorgeous when he smiled. Actually, just the thought of what he’d like to do with Connor was enough to have Ash imagining all kinds of scenarios in which he and Connor were naked. Lost in thought, he hoped to hell he was only imagining his mum’s voice in the middle of a particular interesting fantasy involving the antique bed in the spare room at the Grange.
“Ashby, darling.” Juliana Sterling-Haynes’s classy voice cut through his general feeling of well-being, but he didn’t let it show. Opening his eyes, he watched her cross the lawn with his dad, Sebastian, at her side. They both looked like they were approaching with intent, and that was just fucking great. He’d managed to avoid the two of them together all day because his dad had said he wanted to talk, which meant actually his mum wanted to talk, which in turn meant he was in for the Ash-isn’t-settling-down speech.
His dad had two beers, and Ash took one with a grateful thank-you.
“Something has just happened,” his mum began with no introduction. “Your brother kissed that very pretty girl wearing a bright dress in the middle of the dance floor. A Hollywood kiss if ever I’ve seen one. The girl is Chloe’s friend, Rebecca or something?”
“Rachel,” Ash explained. He was relieved that was the focus; he couldn’t handle the other two topics today, not under the influence of several tongue-loosening beers. “Apparently now his girlfriend.” Way to go, big brother.
Sebastian chuckled. “Finally.”
“Who is her family?” Juliana asked. “Do they live close by? We should invite them for dinner.” Juliana clapped her hands together in glee. “Oh, how did they meet, was it through Chloe?”
Ash swallowed his instinctive reply about shagging in a cupboard. Even though the seventh Lord Haynes and his patron-of-the-arts wife were both very open-minded, they wouldn’t want to know the details of the meet-up in the storeroom. Instead he smiled. “She likes art.” In saying that he assumed that Rachel had attended the art show because she loved French impressionist painting and wasn’t just lusting after Landon and hoping to hook up with him.
“Oh how wonderful.” Juliana leaned in conspiratorially. “And is Landon in love?”
Ash shook his head. “I don’t know, all I know is that Landon is pretty gone on her.”
“Awww,” Juliana said on a sigh.
“Mother, you don’t seem too worried about your son and heir falling in love with a random girl from the village.”
Juliana and Sebastian exchanged looks. Their marriage had been arranged for them, all society approved and socially important. Ben’s first marriage had ended in divorce and acrimony and the only good thing to come from it was little Stephanie. Somehow Juliana and Sebastian had bucked the trend and had fallen in love proper. They were the poster adults for a happy marriage.
“This is 2015,” Juliana said gently. “And we learned our lesson with Ben. We gave in to pressure from your father’s parents and we shouldn’t have. Now we just want all of our children to be happy.” She sounded wistful, and a sudden fear clutched Ash, causing him to stand up and away from the fence.
“Are you okay, Mum? Is Dad?” He didn’t bother asking Sebastian directly; his dad was notorious for letting his wife do all the talking.
“We’re both fine. I just want all my children happy.” She had a glass of wine in her hand and that was never a good sign. Especially when she began on the “Ash doesn’t have a partner that lasts more than a month” situation. She didn’t come out and say it exactly that way, but the wistful look in her eyes meant the conversation was only going to go one direction.
Ash bristled. “Don’t start on me, Mum, I’m happy.” The beer buzz was giving him bravery he didn’t normally have when talking about relationships. He wasn’t entirely happy with his career, but that was secondary to matters of the heart. In those he was doing just fine, thank you very much. He had a friend in London, another friend near the holiday property in Portugal. Everything was fine in Ash’s life.
His dad cleared his throat. “Look, son, how are you?”
Ash stiffened even though his dad didn’t add anything else. He thought maybe, this being a wedding and all, he’d avoid this little chat with his dad. “You heard about the accounts on the Condaline deal.”
Shit. Ash’s stomach sank as the third in the trifecta of awkwardness hit him in the face. He’d been hoping for a little more time. Order confirmations were out soon and that was all he needed, just that bit more time for no one to ask him what the fuck he thought he’d been doing.
“We shouldn’t talk about it today,” his dad said. “Maybe we could chat when I’m back in the office.”
Wait that long? Ash didn’t want the shadow of a confrontation hanging over him.
“No, we can do it now,” Ash offered. He pushed blameless innocence into the words, but all his dad did was shake his head.
“Nothing we need to worry about here,” Sebastian said. “But when the audit team approached me, I signed off on it—”
Ash felt hopeless. He didn’t want his dad running to his rescue. “Dad, that was my exposure, you didn’t have to—”
“Son, stop. Seeing what you had done was enough to show me something.”
“Your dad is just worried, sweetheart,” Juliana pointed out.
“You told Mum?” Ash said. He couldn’t believe his dad had done that. He always thought rule number one with the brothers and dad was never to worry Mum about the business.
“I tell your mother everything.” Sebastian appeared sincerely confused.
“I had my reasons…” Ash began to defend himself. Today was Ben’s wedding day, and he wasn’t going to spend it trying to explain why he did what he had done.
“It’s your money,” Juliana said. “Well, a third of it anyway. Yours and Benedict’s and Landon’s…”
“And if you can tell me your brothers supported what you did, then we have no problem with it,” Sebastian finished.
Ash’s world nosedived. Landon and Ben knew nothing of the Condaline deal or the chance Ash had taken. Yes, to date it had played out okay, but he’d taken a chance on something that wasn’t his to decide alone. And he wouldn’t know until the thirty-first of July whether his gamble had truly paid off. Familiar anxiety filtered through him.
“I backed the whole thing with my own money. I didn’t touch the other two trust funds, I promise.”
Sebastian held up a hand. “But there was exposure on theirs,” his dad said gently. Ash felt sick. Then his dad kept going. “For what it’s worth, son, I think you did the right thing.”
“Ash?” his mum prompted gently. “You don’t have to carry this alone. Tell your brothers what you did. Then you can share the worry.”
His mum had a point. “I will,” he reassured her. “Just not today.” Not at Ben’s wedding, not when Landon had a new girlfriend. Not when everything was peaceful and his brothers were happy. He wouldn’t admit that he’d put three million in trust money on the line, even though he had the resources to cover it if he needed to, or at least the capacity to finance it with selling the apartment in London, his cars, and cashing in his investments.
After his mum and dad both hugged him, then walked back into the pub, Ash’s resolve hardened. He wasn’t going to ruin anything for anyone today. His brothers would know when he handed them a third of the profits. That is when he would tell them.
Not now.
* * * * *
A few beers turned into more beers and a certain level of moroseness that Ash hadn’t indulged in for a very long time. Together with the rest of the party, he’d just waved Ben and Chloe off for their one night alone in a hotel in Aston-Under-Wold, and Stephanie had gone to stay with friends. He had no responsibilities left tonight except for himself. Even Landon and Rachel had disappeared and his mum and dad not long after. Darkness had fallen slowly on Upper Fordham, and here he was in the beer garden blocked from everyone else’s view by a well-placed hedge and comfortable on the garden chair he’d borrowed from the main area.
This place was different from the city, quiet, open, with stars dotted bright in the velvet-black sky. Ash was tired and stared up at the stars with thoughts on a loop in his head.
“…join you?”
Ash opened one eye and looked up, and up, into the expectant face of one Connor Lawson. He looked about as worse the wear for drink as Ash was.
“Why?” Ash had to ask.
“Think I owe you an apology or something.” He held up his left hand with two beers hooked between fingers. In his right hand was hooked a similar garden chair to the one Ash had stolen. The beers were bottled but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Ash closed his eye. “Help yourself,” he said. Apology was not what he wanted at the moment. He needed quiet so he could sort through the thoughts in his head in order to present them in some uniform way to his brothers when the time was right. But he couldn’t exactly say that to Connor, could he?
Connor settled himself next to Ash, and Ash felt a bottle being pressed to his arm. He took it with a soft thanks and took a sip from the already opened beer.
“So I talked to Landon. He explained a lot,” Connor began.
Ash sighed. Landon was effusive at the best of times but didn’t often stay on topic and Ash wondered what his brother had said.
“Like what?”
“That he needed help with Rachel, and that even though you are who you are, he asked you for that help.”
Even though you are who you are? Thanks, Landon. “Nice. Anything else?” Ash couldn’t help the hint of sarcasm in his tone.
“He’s clearly the sensible brother. Every family has a sensible one.”
“So what does that make me?”
“Well Ben seems like a nice guy, so that just leaves you as the odd one out. But I’m drunk,” Connor said. “So I’ve lost perspective.”
Ash actually opened his eyes at that. He could ignore the character assassination, he’d heard it all before, but this was new and Connor’s tone was soft. “Sorry?”
“Hey, at least you’re looking at me now.” Somehow Connor had moved closer and was far too near for comfort.
“Rachel is a friend,” Connor continued. Ash waited for the punchline, about how Connor had just been protecting this friend. But the intriguing blond said nothing. Instead he was staring right at Ash with a blank expression. Ash wished he could see Connor’s hazel eyes to see what the other man was thinking. Clearly this was not a social visit, but maybe Ash would get to the bottom of the other man’s animosity.
Ash finally snapped at the silence. “You clearly have something to say, so say it.”
“I’ll be watching Landon. I’ve seen what people like you do to people like Rachel.”
That had Ash’s full attention. He sat forward in his chair, the beer dangling from his hands. “Wait? People like me?”
Connor shrugged and swallowed some more beer. “Rich, entitled, taking what they want from people who can’t fight back.”
Ash’s beer buzz slipped away as he considered the words. “What the fuck?” Taking from people who couldn’t fight back? Ash wasn’t like that, neither of his brothers were like that. What the hell had happened to Connor to make his point the finger at the brothers?
Connor leaned forward in his chair so they were really close. Suddenly he wasn’t all cosy drunk, but deadly serious. In a low commanding tone, he said very firmly, “Your brother hurts Rachel, he needs to know she has me in her corner. She needs a lawyer and I’ll get one. I won’t let entitled shit happen to someone else.”
Ash blinked as he took in everything Connor had said. “You’ve met Landon, right?” Ash said, aiming for jokey, anything to diffuse the intensity in Connor. “Tall, idiot, floppy hair, belly soft as butter.”
Connor laughed again, but the laugh was forced and more sarcastic than real. “Doesn’t matter what the package is like. Money makes people like you rotten from the inside.”
Temper coiled in Ash. What was Connor saying? And how the hell did he think it was okay to talk about Landon, Ben and him like this? He stood as quickly as the beer would let him and faced up to Connor, who stood as well. Connor had a few inches on him but Ash had the benefit of temper on his side. All Connor had to his credit was the ice of hate and dismissal. Ash liked to think he could knock Connor to the ground but he was probably wrong.
“Fuck you,” Ash said.
Connor leaned in close and spoke low and even. “Not in this lifetime.”
Ash dropped his bottle to the floor and tensed his fists, but the interruption caused by the arrival of a giggling couple, clearly looking for a quiet space, gave Connor enough time to leave without Ash getting the satisfaction of wiping that superior look from Connor’s face.
Next time, Ash promised, next time.
How could someone who seemed as nice as Rachel have a friend as fucked-up as Connor?
And why the hell was Ash hard again. Arsehole, bastard, wanker of a sexy blond with attitude. Making me hard.
Deliberately Ash closed his eyes and sat down, then tilted back in his chair, willing his hard-on to subside and wishing he was anywhere but here. Preferably where there was someone who wanted uncomplicated casual sex with no drama. Maybe a quick hook-up with that waiter from earlier? Or maybe just some more drink.
Drink sounds good. I’ve had enough drama for one day.