Page 22 of Cruel Dynasty

“You did?” Holden actually looked surprised.

“I did,” I bluffed, there was no point in telling him that I’d left a few things out. “I thought it was him that day, who sent me the note and champagne. He cleared it up for me.”

“Is that all you told him?” Holden pressed.

“Now I am interested,” Spencer said and his shoulders relaxed a little. Maybe he did trust me a bit. “Why did you send her a note?”

I wasn’t sure how long that trust would last.

“Well, I was at an insufferably long luncheon with those investors from Quinn’s group.”

Spencer nodded as if all of this information made sense to him and I braced myself for what came next.

“Rose was working the bar,” he continued, and I stiffened at the mention of the pretty blonde. Rose hadn’t just been some waitress from Hillgrove’s. I’d officially met her at the flat the brothers shared the day after I’d given Spencer my virginity. That morning, she’d informed me that Holden wasn’t the only Byrd she’d slept with. “Anyway, I lured her off to the loo.”

“And what does this have to do with Kerrigan?” Spencer flicked a fly off his plate, already looking bored.

“Rose and I thought we were alone, so naturally we took advantage of the situation.” He winked at me again. “Didn’t we, dirty girl?”

“Stop calling me that.”

Holden pretended to frown. “I thought you liked it. I mean, you certainly earned the nickname.”

“How?” Spencer sat up, looking a bit more interested. “Did she join you two?”

“What? No!” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Holden is telling the story wrong. I was in the loo, minding my own business, when the two of them came in and started shagging. I had nothing to do with it.”

“But you stayed,” Holden pointed out. Our eyes met and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t look away from him.

“I was trapped,” I spat back. “What was I supposed to do?”

“Leave.” Both the men answered at once.

“I didn’t want to interrupt,” I mumbled.

Spencer’s eyebrows furrowed and I braced myself, but instead of getting angry, he only laughed. “How polite of you.”

“Anyway, she was in there listening the whole time, staying quiet as a church mouse.” Holden took a swig of his drink.

“And what does this have to do with her nickname?”

Holden’s mouth curved into a crooked grin. “I thought I heard someone when I was leaving, but she didn’t answer when I called out. I was about to leave when I heard her mobile go off. I had no idea who she was so I told her that she could have joined us, called her a dirty girl, and left. Imagine my surprise when a few minutes later, I spot your arranged fiancée ducking out of the loo with a face the color of a fire engine. So I sent some champagne to the table to cool her down.”

Spencer looked between the two of us. “That’s the whole story?”

“That’s my side of the story.” Holden leaned forward in his seat, planting his elbows on the table. “But I’d love to hear what you were doing in there. Or maybe you could show us, dirty girl.”

“No thanks, I don’t feel like vomiting at the moment,” I said coldly.

“I think I would have heard that.” But he sat back in his seat looking defeated.

Spencer grabbed another grape and popped it into his mouth thoughtfully. “I’m sorry, Kerrigan. That must have been a harrowing thirty, maybe forty seconds you had to experience.”

I choked on the drink I’d just taken, nearly spraying water over the table with laughter at the unexpected dig.

“That hurts.” Holden pressed a hand to his chest. “It was at least ninety seconds, brother.”

I looked from one to the other, feeling for the first time, that maybe we could all get along. Then I delivered one final, good-natured blow. “Sixty seconds at best.”