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The noise gradually died down as he gained their attention.
“Is this necessary?” Rachel sounded bored as she toyed with the locket she always wore.
“Yes, it’s necessary,” Marcus said before raising his voice. “It turns out that it’s a double celebration tonight.”
There was a gasp, and every eye shot to Rachel’s mother. She had her hands on her cheeks, her eyes wide, just like the poster image for Home Alone. “You’re pregnant?”
“What? No!” Rachel snapped. “Honestly, Mother. That’s the first place your mind goes?”
“A woman can hope.” She shrugged.
“Anyway,” Marcus slurred loudly. “The news is that Rachel is coming back to work at TayFor. From Monday morning, we’ll have another Talbot in the building. Where she belongs.”
There was a cheer.
“About time,” her Uncle Theo called.
“Welcome home, Rachel,” her father shouted.
She shook her head at them in disgust before turning to Harvard. “Well, that was unnecessary. Come on, Grandmother insists on meeting you. Once she’s done embarrassing me, I’m going home. I’ve had enough for one night.”
He was kind of impressed she’d told him her plans rather than skipping out on him. “Lead the way,” he said as he nodded his goodbyes to her cousins.
Chapter Five
“I like your family,” Harvard said during their drive back to London. For some reason, his voice sounded deeper and more sensual in the dark intimacy of the car. “Your immediate family, that is.”
“You seem surprised. Is it because they’re nothing like me?”
Rachel was very much aware that she was the black sheep of the family. She always had been, even before she’d decided on a career outside of TayFor. She’d been born with a cold edge and a knack for biting sarcasm that her parents and brothers didn’t have. Although she suspected her grandmother’s nature was quite similar to her own. The main difference between them was that Gran knew how to play nice in public, and Rachel couldn’t be bothered.
“Rachel,” he purred her name, making her insides melt. “There’s no one like you.”
“True.”
“They care about you deeply.”
Was he bewildered? That was just insulting. “Of course they do.”
“No, I don’t mean because they’re your family and they have no choice. I mean, they genuinely adore you for being you.”
“And you can’t understand that.” She wasn’t offended; most people couldn’t.
“No,” he said softly. “I understand it all too well.”
She wasn’t going to touch that statement with a ten-foot pole. Or wonder why his words caused a strange warmth to surge through her.
Driving onto Albert Bridge, they passed Battersea Park, its vast expanse a dark void in an otherwise glimmering city. Beneath them, the city lights bounced off the choppy waters of the Thames, and she caught a glimpse of a party on the deck of a houseboat.
“Did your super-spy senses tell you who’s stealing from TayFor?” Rachel asked as they waited for the lights to turn green on the Chelsea side of the bridge.
“It doesn’t quite work like that, but I did pick up a few interesting things. Your cousin Marcus likes his booze, which makes me wonder what kind of control he has in other areas of his life. Meanwhile, Preston’s chomping at the bit to helm TayFor. And I suspect Samantha would have tried to get me into bed if she’d had the opportunity.”
“Sounds about right.”
They drove through Chelsea, past the townhouse her parents used when they were in the city, and into Westminster, where Rachel turned into the street that housed Benson Security. The converted Victorian terrace house had a couple of apartments above the offices that staff used when needed. Harvard was currently housed in one of them, as he hadn’t found his own place yet. It seemed to Rachel that he hadn’t made much effort to either.
“You aren’t bothered that your cousin trie
