Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,27
for you, so we sever you from Maddy and then you never have to deal with her again.”
“Unless there’s something with that trust.” I made a face. “Wittaker left me a message about it, but I just can’t muster up the urge to go in and talk to him about this sudden trust that appears from nowhere. That was what I wanted to ask you about anyway.”
“The trust?”
“Sort of. Honestly, the idea that there’s some big ass money fund out there for me just makes me uncomfortable. Yours has terms and conditions, right? Why else would Maddy keep it a secret?”
“Control.” He shrugged. “If you don’t know you have a lifeline, you’ll never reach for it.” The simple way he phrased it just made me angry at Maddy all over again. “And honestly, you don’t need that trust. You have me. You have you. You’re the most self-reliant person I know. But if there is something there that’s yours, you damn well get to decide whether you get it. Not her.”
That fierceness was such a part of him. Educated, cultured, brilliant, determined, and absolutely ferocious in his dedication to what he cared about. “I’m really glad you love me,” I told him, and his sudden grin lit his whole face up.
“Can’t possibly be more glad than I am that you love me.”
“You might be right, you did shout it out to the whole world.”
His laughter rolled over me and lit his whole face up, and for the first time since I’d had to tell him, the darkness was absent in his eyes. “And I’ll do it again, I can do it right here…”
Oh. Shit.
I clapped a hand over his mouth, and his eyes practically danced. “I will promise you anything, just…let’s not do that right now.”
He kissed my palm and tugged my hand away as he repeated, “Anything?”
Yeah, it was a dangerous promise. I really didn’t care. I meant it. I’d give them anything. Whatever they wanted. “Yes. Anything.”
He closed his eyes as if he had to savor that for a moment. “Deal.” Then after a little satisfied sigh that had me half-amused, half-intrigued by what he had to be thinking, he said, “Was the trust the thing you were worried about, babe?”
“A little bit, but more about the people who set it up. The Graysons.”
The good humor drained away. “Them.”
“You know them,” I said, and it wasn’t a question.
He nodded. “Let’s get out of here and head to a couple of stores, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
I waited until we were in the car and on the road before I said, “You don’t have to, you know…you don’t have to talk about them. I just—are they good people?”
“I don’t know if I’d call them good or bad. They’re…stodgy, old school, real ‘kids are seen and not heard,’ very stiff upper lip, and old money.”
That sounded delightful.
“And they’re Maddy’s parents?”
He gave a little shrug. “Like I said, I don’t know them know them. I have met them a couple of times when I stayed with Grandpa and Nana. Clearly, if Edward and Maddy were engaged for three years, they all knew each other, but…I didn’t sense any kind of bad blood between them over the fact their kids didn’t get married.” His knuckles whited on the wheel for a moment. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t know they had any kids.”
“Well,” I said slowly. “On the upside, that means I don’t have any aunts or uncles I don’t know about. Or cousins.”
When he dropped a hand to my thigh and rubbed it, I leaned my head back against the seat. “I’m sorry, Frankie,” he murmured. “Do you want to meet them?”
“Well I met her once,” I said. “Not that we really spoke and she was very…distant, I suppose is the polite word.” But I was curious now, except… “Archie, I didn’t want to know about my father before because I know who I am now, I didn’t need the past. That kind of applies to them too.”
“Except?”
I grunted, and he squeezed my thigh.
“Babe, I know you. This is a bone you’ll worry at until you have all the information.”
“Do you think I should meet them?”
“Honestly?”
“No,” I retorted. “I want you to lie to me.”
His snort made me grin, and a moment later, we were both chuckling.
“You know what, don’t answer that question. Let’s stick a pin in all of that. We’ve spent more time on discussing the past than I want to. This is about you and me.”