Page 47 of Cruel Dynasty

Today was nothing like I expected. After our visit to the parsonage, we had fish and chips in the village. Then, we wandered through, poking our heads into small shops. I’d practically had to drag Holden out of a rare bookshop. As it was, more than a few volumes came with us. By the time, we climbed back inside the Land Rover, I’d completely forgotten that I was here under threat of blackmail. It wasn’t until we reached the highway that he cast a furtive look my way.

“Well?” he prompted.

“Hmm?” I murmured, tearing myself away from the views of the moors to turn to him.

“I promised you could ask me anything you wanted on the way home,” he said. “Did you forget?”

“Actually, I did.” I’d been so caught up in the day’s adventure that I hadn’t thought of a single question. I frowned. Now that I was on the spot, there were too many questions crowding my brain and vying for attention.

“Don’t tell me you don’t have anything you want to know.” Another glance. This one more worried.

“I have too many questions.” I adjusted my seatbelt, which had begun cutting into my neck and shifted so that my body was angled toward his seat. “Tell me about you and Kerrigan.”

“That’s not a question.” He grinned like he knew he was being a total shit.

“What happened between you and Kerrigan?” I asked.

“That’s a big question,” he said.

I answered with a sugary smile, “Good thing that we have a long car ride.”

“Not that long,” he muttered. He switched lanes, his eyes scanning the road as if he might find where to begin on the pavement.

“Where did you meet?” That was a simpler question, but one that might help him get started.

“Year eleven,” he said, surprising me.

“She was at Woldingham,” I said suspiciously.

“One point for Kate,” he muttered. “Yes, she was.”

“Last I checked, Woldingham was a school for girls.”

“Girls are my favorite subject,” he teased.

I stared him down, waiting for a real answer.

“I was at Eton. God love the British for sending their children away to school less than an hour’s train into the city.” he said. “Kerrigan used to ride in for weekends with her girlfriends. Someone’s parents are always out of town, so they would just bounce from house to house doing as they pleased.”

“And you did the same?” I guessed.

“Whenever I could. Eton is practically in London.”

“And your mother didn’t know?” I asked.

His head fell back and he laughed. The car drifted toward the other lane and I shrieked just as Holden casually kept control of the wheel. “As soon as we were old enough for boarding school, she shipped us off. We didn’t go home except for holidays. Spencer went home when grandfather requested it.”

“Some things never change,” I said. “He never asked you.”

“No.” There was a bitter edge to his answer, but he pressed on, “I didn’t mind.”

“Because you always had somewhere to crash?” That didn’t surprise me. Holden could talk his way into Buckingham Palace if he wanted to.

He flashed me a Chesire grin. “Many beds were open to me.”

“Like Kerrigan’s?” I asked slowly.

But he shook his head. “Never.”