Page 1 of Where She Belongs

CHAPTER ONE

“I’m only letting you come because it’s your birthday.” The boy was a head taller than her, brown eyes and a mop of brown hair the sun had lightened, and he stood with his feet apart and his chin up. It didn’t work on her. Before she could say so, his brother beat her to it.

“That’s not what you said last night. You said you liked her.”

Rylee shoved her messy blonde hair off her face. Her father had never figured out how to keep it out of her eyes. “I’m faster than you anyway.”

“No, you’re not! I bet I can get to the treehouse before you.”

She wasn’t about to let him set the rules. If she wanted to play with the boys next door, she had to keep up. Half the time that meant running before he said go.

“Rylee.”

Rylee came back to herself. She hadn’t gone digging in her childhood in years, and most of it had gone soft at the edges. Not that afternoon. That one had kept.

“Rylee Margaret Black. There are dozens of guests in that penthouse suite, all here to see you. What on earth are you doing out here?”

Rylee turned toward her eccentric great aunt. This month her hair color of choice was a vibrant purple. Her makeup was flawless, and her clothes screamed of the wealth she’d attained through her marriage to a millionaire. Or was he a billionaire? It didn’t really matter. It was more than the two of them could have spent if they’d tried, and they never tried. Roxanne Carter spent her money on her own terms and gave a great deal of it away. She had no intention of being told what a woman her age was supposed to do or say. High society had given up trying.

Aunt Roxanne adjusted the silk shawl wrapped around her shoulders then pinned Rylee with a disapproving look. “And why didn’t you invite me?”

That got a laugh out of her, and she turned back to the New York skyline. She’d slipped the crowd downstairs to get some quiet. It hadn’t lasted.

“Do you ever wonder if there’s something else you’re supposed to be doing?” She hadn’t meant to whisper it, and she did.

“That sounds like a doozy of a question, dear.”

“Yeah. It doesn’t make sense, does it?”

“Now, I didn’t say that.”

She cut her aunt a look out of the corner of her eye. Roxanne didn’t elaborate, which was her particular talent. They stood at the edge of the roof, neither of them saying anything. Rylee had everything a person could ask for, and lately she’d been wanting more without being able to name it.

She’d lost her father at ten and she still missed him. She couldn’t remember her mother at all. But it wasn’t houses or money that made a person whole. It was who you had around you.

And she had those in spades, if the crowd downstairs was anything to go by.

“Will you be returning to the party?” Roxanne said, not turning to her. “Or shall I send your suitors away?”

Rylee groaned. “Don’t call them that.”

“What? That’s what they are. There are at least six fine young men in that suite, all vying for your attention. One come-hither look is all it would take to⁠—”

“Roxy!” Rylee laughed. “There’ll be no come-hither looks. I’m not dating anybody right now. You were there for the last one.”

Roxanne might have been scowling, but it was hard to tell. She didn’t do much to alter her appearance, but she did do the occasional injection around her brows. Smile lines were one thing—something to be proud of because they showcased how much joy she experienced in life. But frown lines? Those were not permitted on her face. “Johnathon was a fluke.” She waved her perfectly manicured hand through the air, then tightened her shawl again with a shiver.

“He only wanted to marry me because he’d be associated with you and Uncle Allistair’s money.”

Her aunt huffed. “Which is why I made sure to blacklist him from the country club in the Hamptons.”

Rylee gasped. “You didn’t.”

“I did and it wasn’t even one-tenth of what I’ll do if I find out that another one of those young men is after something other than your heart.”

That made Rylee smile even though she felt like doing anything but. Her aunt might be one of the wealthiest women alive, but she still believed in love. She wasn’t trying to help find a marriage match just for the sake of getting Rylee settled down. She genuinely wanted nothing more than to see her niece happy.

Rylee pushed off the railing and offered her aunt an arm. “Let’s get back in there. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to mingle and see if anything sparks.”