Page 55 of The Contract Marriage

I turn my head briefly to meet Liam’s gaze. We must look like a loving couple to everyone present. But inside my head, I wonder if Liam could betray me, too.

Except I just can’t visualize it. Can’t picture him falling for Brielle’s superficial charms and schemes. Can’t imagine him agreeing with Hugh, no matter what sort of pressure is brought to bear. But I also know I’m not strong enough to protect him.

That’s the reason I hesitated to choose him for this charade of a marriage. But regardless of what happens, I will not regret my decision. Even if this whole scheme falls apart, the happiness I’ve had with Liam is real. And I’d give up everything to keep him safe.

Frederich appears again to take the beef consommé nobody has consumed and serve sole meunière. Guilt niggles at me—he must’ve worked hard on the food. I pick up my fork and take a bite of the fish. The rich, buttery flavor with a delicate hint of lemon bursts in my mouth. I almost wish I could ask him to bring back the consommé.

“Your mother was a nice woman,” Sorcha says softly, dragging me back to the conversation. “A bit flighty, but dignified. The poor choice she made in her husband was unfortunate. She should have ensured the trust dictated that the second he betrayed her, he would get nothing. It isn’t as though you need him as your guardian.”

“You’re right,” I say. “He’s as necessary as a rat in the kitchen.”

“Precisely.” Sorcha’s diction grows stiffer. “So why Liam? You have an acceptable background, and you could have married anybody. And why so sudden? You waited twelve—”

“Grandmother,” Liam says.

Sorcha’s eyes narrow.

He doesn’t back down. “That’s enough. Sometimes things don’t work out the first time.”

I squeeze his hand and turn to Sorcha. “He’s right. The timing wasn’t good back then. I was very busy with school and didn’t have the bandwidth for anything except coursework. Then we went our separate ways after graduation. But we reconnected when Tyler and I went to Kingswood Stones & Designs to get our wedding jewelry. It seems almost…fated.”

“I’m sure Liam gave her something amazing to celebrate this ‘fate,’” Elita says to Sorcha, who sets her blazing eyes on the younger woman.

I lift my hand so Elita can see the Rubedo.

She gasps. “I begged him for that stone!” Her gaze sharpens with the sting of betrayal.

“I never said I’d give it to you,” he says flatly.

“Is that any way to speak to your mother?” Auric demands.

“Perhaps she shouldn’t have made it sound like it had her name on it,” Liam shoots back. “It’s my stone. I can give it to whoever I want, and I want to give it to my wife.”

“Thank you,” I say, then put my left hand on his cheek to turn his face toward me and kiss him.

“Oh fine. Wife before mother, what else is new?” Elita whines with an eye-roll. “You’re lucky, Olivia. He has an amazing aesthetic sense. That’s another reason why I’m so glad that he’s with us. He gives me the most beautiful gifts for Mother’s Day.”

I look into the woman’s eyes. She’s completely oblivious. “And I hope you give something equally nice for his birthdays.”

Elita blinks. “I’m sure my assistant sent something suitable.”

Liam presses his lips together, probably debating whether he wants to flee or stay. He hasn’t touched a bite, even though he must be starving.

Time to wind down this farce.

I turn to Sorcha. “I know everything has been sudden, and consequently this dinner was rushed as well.” Translation: That’s the reason your son and his wife don’t know how to behave themselves because they haven’t been properly briefed.

“Yes. Very unfortunate.” Sorcha’s spine grows impossibly erect.

“Therefore, I brought something to liven things up and end the night on a high note.”

I hand her a stunning guilloché imperial-blue leather folio with a gold flat grosgrain ribbon closure and a burgundy Fabergé private client wax seal at the overlap. Sorcha’s eyebrows jump. Inside is the commission documentation on heavy cream-colored stock paper. I researched her and commissioned a bespoke piece the moment Liam said yes to the marriage proposition: a music box that will play the pas de deux from Act II of Giselle, with the heroine performing its famous arabesque. She’ll spin as the melody flows from the piece.

“I watched the video of you performing the pas de deux in Paris fifty years ago. It was one of the most magnificent Giselles I’ve seen, only bested by the one you did in Moscow a year later. I hope this small token of familial affection pleases you.”

Her eyelashes flicker as she reads the documents and studies the design sketches. The ballerina’s created to look exactly like her. “You do your homework.”

“A gift that doesn’t move your heart isn’t a gift worth giving.”