“What did you need to see me about, Father?” Danny asked as he tried to get
his father’s mind on something else. “It seemed rather important.”
“Do you really believe I would call you here if it wasn’t?”
“No, of course not.” Danny could see the fire raging in his father’s eyes and
knew he probably wasn’t going to come out of this confrontation unscathed. “I
saw the cars in the drive. Are the others here?”
Mentioning his siblings seemed to have the desired effect. Charles turned and
started to leave, glancing back over his shoulder. “Thomas, bring refreshments
to the study.”
“Very good, sir,” Thomas replied, although Danny saw the former butler roll
his eyes and doubted the man would be following through with his father’s
order.
Daniel cast one last look over his shoulder and then followed his father out
of the servants’ lounge. He was kind of surprised that Charles even knew the
small room existed. He had certainly never seen his father in there. He had
never even seen him in the kitchen. Charles O’Shay did not do manual labor. He
might sweat and that would mar his perfectly pressed suit.
He hired people to sweat for him.
The silence that followed him as he walked toward his father’s study was
ominous. Danny was still confused about why he had been called home. Whatever
his father had to say to him obviously involved the entire family.
Danny couldn’t rightly say what scared him more, the fact that his father had
called him home or the fact that all of his siblings seemed to be there as
well. If he had a choice, he would turn and hightail it out of the family home
just as fast as his feet would carry him.
Danny’s jaw dropped when they reached the foyer. He wasn’t standing in the
middle of the foyer he remembered from his childhood. He wasn’t even sure he
was in the same house. The old wooden stairs that went to the second and third
floors had been replaced with white marble, the railings glittering with gold
filigree. A huge crystal chandelier now hung from the middle of the ceiling.
Was that a Ming vase?
“You redecorated.”
“My wife didn’t like the décor.”
Danny almost tripped over his feet as he skidded to a stop. “Your wife?”
“Mariana.”
Danny’s jaw dropped. “You remarried?”
Charles turned and stared at Danny. “Did you expect me to mourn your mother
for the rest of my life?”
Danny quickly lowered his eyes, his father’s gaze too intent. “No.” Danny just
wondered why he was only learning of his father’s new wife now. “How long have
you been married?”
“Two years, give or take a month.”
Two years. He had had a stepmother for two years.
“Did you elope?” he asked.
“No.”
Danny started to get a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Maybe his
invitation had gotten lost in the mail. “Did you have a big wedding?”
“Yes, I’d say it was fairly big. I believe Mariana said the guest list was
over two hundred.” Charles seemed very proud of that fact. “It was the social
event of the season.”
And that right there was why Danny never received an invitation to the
wedding. His father wouldn’t allow him to attend the social event of the year.
He might bring shame to the family name.
“Well, congratulations.”
Charles stared down at him, blinking slowly before turning away without
another word. Danny sighed and followed after his father. Even if he wanted to
meet this new stepmother—which he didn’t—he doubted the mysterious woman
wanted to meet him. Who knew what she had been told about him.
He was, after all, the family shame.
When they reached the study, Charles walked right on in. Danny paused just
outside the door, knowing deep down inside that once he crossed the threshold,
his life wouldn’t be the same. Something was going on here that made the hairs
on the nape of his neck stand on end.
And what was that delicious smell?
“Daniel, I’m waiting.”
“Sorry, sir.” Danny hurried into the room, his heart sinking when he realized
that every member of his family was inside, including a blond-haired woman
sitting by his father. He assumed it was his stepmother considering the way
she sat on the arm of his father’s chair.
Two of Danny’s brothers stood behind his father, the other one sitting on a
couch by the window with his sister. Danny was a little surprised to see his
father’s lawyer in the room. He had seen Darren Sanders from time to time
growing up, but he had never actually spoken to the man.
It was the others in the room that Danny didn’t recognize. Two strangers stood
near the fireplace, both with a glass of amber liquid in their hand. And geez,
they were big burly men, standing inches taller than everyone else in the
room.
Danny suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe. Every eye in the room was on
him. This must be what goldfish felt like inside their glass bowls. Danny
rubbed the back of his neck, his nerves rattled by the intense attention aimed
in his direction.
Was he supposed to say something?
“As you can see, he is fine.”
One of the men by the fireplace walked over and grabbed Danny’s neon green
cast, gently lifting it into the air. “You consider this fine?” The man’s
voice was deep and rough and almost made Danny swoon as it rumbled through his
body like an electrical shock.
Danny’s chin was grabbed, his face tilted back into the light. “And what about
this?” the man asked as he pointed to the stitches on Danny’s forehead. The
man had deep-amber eyes that glowed with some internal light. They blazed with
fire but softened when they looked down at Danny.
“I fell,” Danny murmured.
What was probably the largest, strongest hand in the history of hands, gentled
as it stroked down the side of Danny’s face. “That will no longer be allowed.”
“Okay.”
Wait.
What?
Had he just agreed to not fall down anymore?
Feeling more uncertain and bewildered with each passing second, Danny pulled
back out of the man’s alluring touch. As he did, he realized that the second
stranger had moved up to stand on the other side of him. He was surrounded.
“I need air,” Danny wheezed as his chest tightened in a fraction of a second.
“Please, I need air.”
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