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I pushed my phone back in my pocket and crossed my arms. I was still working out the proper method of handling this, but obviously the phone was not it. No fairy tales granted there. “What private business?” I demanded.
“Private,” Oliver repeated, already moving toward the door. “If I find out anything, I’ll be in contact.”
Sage chased after him. “I’ll tail you in my car if you don’t tell me where you’re going.”
His laughter drifted down the hall. “Honey, you couldn’t keep up with me if you had a Ferrari. Stay here, pet.”
“Pet?” Sage spun around and propped her hands on her hips. “He’s a complete jerk. How can you even stand him?”
&nbs
p; I jerked a shoulder. “Probably comes from sharing a womb. It creates a bond.”
“Ugh.” Sage flopped in the chair opposite my desk. “He’s going to find her and make everything worse. She needs the womanly touch, not an interfering male.”
“Ally knows her own mind. She can handle Oliver.” I gazed at the folder on my desk. My fingers were itching with the need to trace the words she’d written.
Your Ally Cat.
I pulled out my phone again, ignoring Sage’s curious stare. While Oliver did his reconnaissance, I was going to make some preparations of my own. If she wasn’t mine yet, she would be.
Before I could dial, a knock sounded at my door. The door opened. “Seth, the Parsons are on their way in to sign the papers for the—” My father broke off, his gaze alighting on Sage. “Well, hello there, Sage. What a pleasure. I didn’t expect to see you here.” My father’s smile could have burned a hole through glass.
“Hi Mr. Hamilton. I’m sorry to interrupt business.” Sage was already jumping to her feet.
“No, no, you’re never an interruption. Stay, please.” He glanced between us, a disturbing glint coming into his eyes. “I can talk to Seth later.”
I frowned. What the hell was his deal? He was always sweet as could be to Sage. In fact, he was kind to most everyone in town except Ally, which royally pissed me off. Of course, Sage’s parents had just landed one hell of a nice deal when they recently sold their B&B to a developer who had plans to make sleepy Crescent Cove “more cutting edge” and “more in line with the times.” Whatever that meant.
As much as I hated thinking my father was that shallow, this certainly wasn’t the first time I’d been confronted with the evidence that money was all that mattered to him.
But it would be the first time I called him on it.
“No, we need to talk right now.”
18
Seth
I rose and walked to the door. “Sorry about the timing,” I said to Sage as she sailed out. “It can’t be helped.”
“Par for the course from a Hamilton,” she said under her breath before turning a sunny smile on my father. “Have a nice day, Sir. It was good seeing you again.”
“You too, Sage. Don’t be a stranger. You’re welcome here anytime.”
With a bounce of her blond curls and a flounce of her non-flouncy skirt, she was off.
I closed the door and turned back to my father. He raised an eyebrow and gestured with the Hamilton Realty folder in his hand. “Why do I know this has nothing to do with the Parsons deal?”
“Because unlike you, work isn’t the center of my world.”
“Forget center. Sometimes it’s barely even in your peripheral vision.” Huffing out a breath, he sat in the chair Sage had vacated and crossed his legs. “What is it now, Seth?”
I didn’t sit. I leaned against the desk beside him and crossed my arms. “I’m starting a family with Ally.”
Wow, those words didn’t burn my throat nearly as much as I feared. Not because they weren’t true, but because they were. Saying them to my father was acknowledging their truth. Their power.
And from the expression on my dad’s face, I might as well have thrown down a gauntlet.
