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“Tinsley, don’t make a scene. It doesn’t become you. I’ve chosen that gold cocktail dress for you to wear tonight. Take a hot bath and relax. Drinks are at seven, and dinner at eight. Don’t be late, darling.” With that, she withdrew in a cloud of Chanel No. 5.
Tinsley’s eyes fell to the gold dress, and she sighed. Her mother was picking out her clothes like she was five years old. She already missed the freedom she’d had in Paris.
CHAPTER FOUR
Tinsley was thankful for at least one thing: the guest list for the cocktail party was uncharacteristically small. As she came down the curved staircase, she counted only a dozen couples, most of whom were friends of her mother and father. She was grateful for that. Other than Palmer, his father and mother, and one of his brothers, it was either her family or her parents’ friends. Except for Kiley, her bestie since high school, who ran over to hug her.
“Look at you.” She stepped back, still holding Tinsley’s hands, her eyes sweeping over the gold dress. “You look amazing. Did you bring this from Paris?”
“No, but I brought some beautiful scarves. I have one for you.” Kiley was a pale-skinned beauty with a smattering of freckles and long, red hair pulled to one side with a glittering comb. Her dress was a to-die-for white Grecian sheath held up by a gold circlet around her throat. “I love these.” Tinsley tapped a finger on the golden cuffs Kiley wore. “You look beautiful tonight.”
“Thanks. Tell me all about your trip. I would kill to run off to Paris for a month. I wish Ihad an aunt living there.”
“Aunt Jane is amazing. She’s eclectic and fabulous and so full of life. She doesn’t care a hoot what anyone thinks. I wish I had the guts to live life like her, just doing what I wanted, answering to no one.”
“No one? Wouldn’t that be awfully lonely?”
“I don’t think so. I think it would be totally freeing.”
“If you say so. I, on the other hand, intend to land a rich husband and wile away my days lazing by the pool and working on my tan.”
“Gee, you’re sodriven, Kiley,” Tinsley teased with a roll of her eyes. “And who have you set your sights on this season?”
“Randall Davis. He’s new in town. Made a fortune in the tech segment. He’s from Silicon Valley, but he plans to set up an office here. My father introduced us. I’ve been seeing him all summer while you’ve been gallivanting all over the globe.”
“You should have invited him tonight.”
“He had to fly to New York on business. I’m inviting him to your mother’s ball. He’s going to be my plus one.”
“I hope he’s bringing his checkbook. You know Mother. She’ll be hitting everyone up for major donations. The Children’s Hospital is near and dear to her heart. She’s hoping to raise a record amount this year.”
Kiley looped her arm through Tinsley’s. “Let’s find the bar, and I’ll tell you all about him.”
They found the bar set up in the study, where most of the men were gathered.
“What may I get for you ladies?” a uniformed bartender asked.
“Lemon drop martini, please,” Tinsley replied.
“Oh, that sounds delicious. Same,” Kiley added.
Palmer turned to look over his shoulder. “Tins, there you are.” He snagged her free hand and leaned to kiss her cheek. “I need you to settle this for us. Which summer was it that Perry totaled his Porsche 911 Targa? I say it was the summer we all went to Galveston, but he claims it was the year of your sweet sixteen.”
Tinsley’s eyes shifted to Palmer’s younger brother. He gave her no smile; just stared with his gray eyes. “I, ah, don’t recall.”
“Sure, you do, Tinsley,” Perry insisted. “You remember it very well.”
She did remember. She just didn’t want to. It was the summer he’d pushed her against the boathouse wall at her parents’ lake house and kissed her. They were all there for her sixteenth birthday. Perry was nineteen and Palmer was twenty, though he’d been dating Rachel Chu that summer.
Tinsley had struggled to get free, but Perry was strong and had easily held her, smiling like he’d owned her. Until her birthday, he’d never once made a move. She still remembered Kiley whispering later that perhaps Perry was just waiting for her to age out of the jailbait category.
It still gave her shivers to recall how vulnerable she’d felt that hot afternoon. If her oldest brother, Jed, hadn’t come around the corner, she wasn’t sure what would have happened.
“You okay, Tins?” Jed had stood there for a moment, unsure if what he’d interrupted was consensual or not. In his moment’s hesitation, Perry had pushed away, muttered happy birthday, and stalked off.
Jed had twisted his head, watching Perry leave. Then he’d turned to his sister. “Stay away from that one, Tinsley. Okay?”
“Sure,” she’d muttered, embarrassed, and feeling like she’d done something to lead Perry on, though she hadn’t. She’d dashed up to the pool party on the upper level.
