enough.
Lacey walked out onto the back patio as Victor shoved his chair back and stalked away from his brother.
“Uh, oh. What did Peter say now?” The words were murmured from behind her, and Lacey turned to see Maggie holding a plate of cookies. The hand holding the plate trembled a little, one of the few signs of her multiple sclerosis. Though, according to Emelia, this was a good week.
“What makes you think Peter said something?”
“True. It could have been Victor. But it was probably Peter. He’s not very good with change. Once he has people in a box, he prefers that they stay that way. Especially Victor. It’s easier than trying to reconcile years of hurt.”
“I see.”
Emelia must have noticed Victor’s abrupt departure as well, because she was making her way across the grass toward her husband, Charlotte on her hip.
Lacey could no longer see Victor, who had disappeared around the side of the house. She steeled herself against the desire to go and find him.
She didn’t have time to get involved in trying to smooth over whatever had gone wrong between Peter and Victor this time. She needed to go and pack. Her train to London was in less than two hours. This time tomorrow, she’d be home. And she needed to have her A game on for whatever Meredith had coming next. She couldn’t afford to be distracted. Especially not by a man who knew nothing about having to fight just for survival.
Even if he wasn’t who he used to be in his old life of partying, drugs, money, and women, he still had the luxury of unearned and undeserved privilege.
“He was watching you, you know.”
“I’m sorry.” Lacey turned back to Peter’s mom.
“In the ceremony yesterday. Victor couldn’t keep his eyes off you.”
Lacey did her best to ignore the quake that traveled through her at the words. “He was probably surprised. Our companies are getting merged. It must be disconcerting when one of the people you’re competing against for a job turns out to be your new sister-in-law’s cousin.”
Maggie just smiled as she held up the tremoring plate. “Do you mind taking him a couple of biscuits? They’re his favorite, and this lot will probably demolish them by the time he’s cooled down.”
“I wouldn’t know where to look for him.”
The plate was pushed closer. “Well, there hasn’t been the sound of a car flying up the driveway, so he can’t have gone far. I’d go myself, but my legs are a bit tired.”
What was she going to do? Say no to the request of a woman with a terminal degenerative illness? Lacey grabbed a couple of cookies and placed them on top of the paper she’d been intending to show Emelia. Added one for herself. She really needed to leave this place before Victor had her stress eating herself up a size. “I’ll take a quick look, but I do need to finish packing.”
“Thanks, dear.” Maggie patted her hand as she moved past.
Cookies balanced on paper, Lacey walked around the side of the house. She’d do one round of the building’s perimeter. That was all. The estate was huge, and if Maggie thought Lacey was going to go gallivanting through fields and lanes like she was an Austen heroine, she would be sorely disappointed.
“Lace!” Her cousin’s voice came from behind her, and she turned. Emelia hurried down the pathway, sans Charlotte, the skirt of her summer dress flapping behind her.
Lacey stopped and waited for her to catch up. “You okay?” Between her last-minute arrival and the wedding, they hadn’t had a proper conversation all weekend. Their plan to at least catch up while getting ready together scuttled by Carolina insisting on role-playing mother of the bride.
“Are you going to find Victor?” Emelia chewed her bottom lip. A sure sign she was anxious about something.
“Yeah, his mom asked me to take him some cookies.” Lacey held the paper up as if offering proof.
“I think I may have contributed to what just happened. The whole storming off thing.”
“Why?”
“We talked last night at the reception, and I kind of…” She trailed off.
Lacey tilted her head and waited.
Emelia rocked on her feet. “Fine. I may have warned him off you. Told him that you weren’t just another conquest.”
“Another conquest! Nice, Meels.” She was going to give her cousin some kind of bridal brain pass for even thinking it, let alone saying it to Victor.
Emelia at least had the grace to look ashamed. “I know, but I saw him watching you, and it’s