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Nodding, I shove my phone back into my pocket and wonder what he’s going to ask me. Tim and I had plenty of opportunities to chat while we were away, and he was very forthcoming and open with me.
I know a lot about his upbringing, and his time in Oxford and at Wharton. But I’m not sure that’s what Bill had in mind when he asked me tospyon his nephews.
“Did you enjoy Oxford?” he asks, sitting back in his chair, looking relaxed. Bill always looks relaxed when he is out of the US. I guess it’s a Westerhaven trait to know how tovacation.
“I did. It was….” I purse my lips and bite the inside of one cheek to stop myself from getting a dopey smile. “Relaxing and fun.”
My stomach clenches as I remember Tim’s lips on me as he made me repeat his words.
“Good,” Bill says briskly, nodding as he taps on his desk. “Let’s get this over and done with before the ramble today.”
Standing, I deftly prepare the needle, injecting Bill and tidying away the evidence. Stretching, Bill strides to the door, holding it open for me, and we join the others in the entrance hall, where Tim appears to be the center of everyone’s jokes. A flush tinges my cheeks, because I’m pretty sure they were teasing him aboutme.
Timothy
Uncle Bill claps me on the shoulder as we all head toward the stables, out onto the track to one of Uncle Bill’s favorite walks. It winds its way through the tree lined paths of his Georgian wilderness walk, and up a nearby hill where there’s an old tower house ruin.
Bill asks me about the trip to Oxford, and Max, Beau and Ryan are smirking as they tramp behind us, trying not to be too obvious about their snooping attempts. David and Angie bring up the rear, clearly in serious conversation.
Eventually, Uncle Bill has heard enough about Oxford, and the pub where we ate and drank, and the café we spent this morning at and he turns to raise his eyebrows at the three eavesdroppers behind us.
They don’t even bother to look shamefaced, so Uncle Bill chuckles and asks Ryan about that pharmaceutical conference. That’s my cue. Ryan steps up while I drop back.
David and Angie are still talking quietly, and even though I’m itching to know what they’re talking about, I fall into step with Max and Beau in the center of the group.
The twins are only a year younger than me, and we were forever running around Chicago together. Honestly, I thought that Uncle Bill would have them at the helms of Haven Financialand Haven Property, since they’re both in New York. But the bastard sent the twins to the opposite sides of the country, New York and Seattle. That’s cold.
I mean, he’s sent me and David even further apart, since I’m based in San Diego and David is in New York, but then again, we’re nottwins.
Max and Beau aren’t identical, but they’re still kind of on the same wavelength. They can share a single look and have an entire conversation within it, and I’ve seen no one, and nothing come between them. While not identical, they definitely look like brothers, both dark, while the rest of us are somewhere between brown and blonde.
“How was Oxford?” Max snickers. I shove his shoulder hard enough to cause him to stumble.
“Fuck off, cunt.”
The twins both laugh at my expense.
“That good, huh?” Beau waggles his eyebrows and I flip him off with a smirk.
“Let’s just say it was the best part of this vacation to date.”
My statement is met with chuckles, and Max sighs. “At least you’ve still got a woman to warm your bed. The rest of us are shit out of luck.”
“Maybe you should have brought someone that Uncle Bill would actually enjoy talking to?”
Beau laughs while Max flips us both off.
“Tiffany did this thing with her tongue….” he trails off, staring dreamily into the middle distance.
“I’m assuming thatthis thing with her tonguedidn’t involve a lot of talking?” Beau laughs, and Max smirks at us.
“I sure as fuck did quite a bit ofprayingwhile she was doing it,” he admits, drawing raucous laughter from us. I’m sure he did.
Chapter Fifteen
Angela
It’s a little awkward that I’m invited to this country ramble with them. I would have been happy to stay at the Manor, but I don’t think Bill would have liked that. As it is, I’ve been thrown to the wolves. I had thought I would walk with Tim – you know, the only one happy to actually hold a conversation with me – but no.
