Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 94585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“You look amazing!” Hope circled me, checking out my dress and hair before drawing me into a tight hug. From behind her, I heard Griffen say to Royal, “You brought her to family dinner on your first date? Brave man.”
“Crazy man,” Hope corrected.
“Same difference,” Royal said, tugging me back from Hope and winding his arm around my waist. With the heat of his body at my side, I wasn't nervous anymore. “Anyway, if a family dinner doesn't scare her away, nothing will.”
“I don't scare that easily.” I didn't, usually.
I accepted a glass of wine from Hope and had barely taken a sip before a gong sounded from somewhere in the house. Everyone turned and started for the massive dining room table.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Daisy
Royal held out his arm and I took it, following him to our place at the table, surprised to see a beautifully drawn note card in my spot, right beside Royal's. Savannah was good.
As if my thought had conjured her out of thin air, she appeared at my right and gracefully set a steaming bowl of soup in front of me, then Royal, before disappearing through a door at the other end of the room. She managed to serve the entire table full of Sawyers while my soup was still hot.
I dipped in a spoon to taste. Rich, salty, beef broth. Onions—a little overcooked—and too much cheese melted on top. I snuck a glance across the table at Finn Sawyer, not surprised to see his eyes roll to the ceiling above, and not in ecstasy.
The soup was decent, don't get me wrong. I'm the last person to complain, particularly when I'm a guest. I also make it a policy not to complain about food that I didn't have to cook. If someone else is kind enough to feed me, I eat with a smile on my face. A lesson Finn Sawyer apparently hadn't learned.
Royal leaned into my side. “If Finn doesn't eat that soup, Savannah might dump it over his head.”
Watching Royal's brother across the table, I whispered back, “No way he eats all of it.”
“Is it that bad?” Royal ate another spoonful slowly, maybe trying to taste what Finn found so unsatisfactory.
“It's not bad,” I assured him. “But if Finn went to CIA he has a more refined palate than the rest of you, and while the soup is okay, it isn't great. “
Across the table, Finn set his soup spoon down with a clatter and leaned back in his chair. Savannah was at his left almost immediately, clearing his soup with a scowl.
“I guess he ate just enough to save himself from a soup bath,” Royal said.
I laughed, and looking across the table, I caught the eye of Royal's youngest sister, Sterling. To my surprise, she winked at me, and I found myself winking back. Then she tilted her head at Parker's husband beside her and rolled her eyes. He was going on and on about a polo team he played for up in New York, giving us a play-by-play of an entire match.
To everyone's dismay, someone else picked up the conversational baton and started arguing with Parker's husband about polo. Royal leaned in to whisper, “I should have introduced you to everyone before dinner, but we ran out of time. The one sitting next to Sterling is Tyler, Parker's husband. My cousin Bryce is the one talking right now. His mother Ophelia is sitting next to him.”
We listened for another minute as Bryce droned on about his own successes on the polo field. Royal sat back and rolled his eyes, suddenly looking so much like Sterling it was uncanny. Under his breath, he murmured, “Christ, it's like Lifestyles of the Rich and Boring.”
This time I laughed out loud. I couldn't help it. Royal had nailed the two of them so perfectly. Rich, good-looking, and god-awful boring. Tyler and Bryce played a game of who's more privileged through the rest of the soup course and the boring-but-edible salad.
I pretended to concentrate on my food but instead studied the table. Griffen was wrapped up in Hope, neither of them paying any attention to Bryce and Tyler. Hope looked like her appetite was giving her trouble and Griffen was trying to find the choicest bites that might tempt her to eat. I liked watching them together. Hope had spent most of her life taking care of other people. It was nice to see someone taking care of her.
Parker was nodding now and then, a vague smile on her face. She looked like a woman who had a lot of practice pretending she was paying attention when she was actually doing anything but.
Royal's Aunt Ophelia beamed at her son as if she couldn't imagine a child more brilliant and wonderful than this one. So far, he didn't seem particularly obnoxious, just full of himself and annoying.