hand anyway, laced his fingers between mine and tugged me after him.
A procession into dinner. How very Van Den Downton Abbey. I half wondered if Her Majesty The Queen would be in attendance.
Chapter 9
Lucas
“Claire is here,” Julia whispered at my shoulder and from the way Kat’s head turned, I could tell she could hear. “I’m sorry. I invited her before Mother informed me this was about your surprise wedding.”
Because of course she did. Damn. My relatives seemed to have a strangely difficult time acknowledging that Claire was no longer a part of the family. For as short a time that she had even been a member of it, it was especially shocking.
Dinner was as formal as Julia had warned us it would be, sit down with courses, place cards and the like. I sat between my mother and Kat, while my father peppered my bride with questions on her other side. He kept a steady stream throughout the dinner—most of which I heard because my mother hardly spoke to me. Maybe she was sulking about being cut out of the wedding and the advance notice and the chance to try to talk me out of it.
Or maybe she was just putting on a brave face, ever the gracious hostess. Her top priority had always been maintaining a perfectly constructed image.
Kat’s table manners were on point, much to my relief, though she didn’t use the continental style of eating that my family preferred. But that didn’t single her out amongst many of our guests.
“You actually work directly with Lucas at that gaming company?” Father asked her.
Kat, who’d just forked in a bite of meat, nodded enthusiastically while she chewed. “We’re in the game testing department.”
“So you sit around and play video games all day? I can see why Lucas loves that job so much,” he said with a soft laugh and that same insulting tone he’d used my entire life. Nice, asshole.
“Actually it’s much more than that,” she responded once she’d swallowed. “It’s not about playing a game. It’s very meticulous work. We have to test every aspect of the game. In reality, it’s our job to break the game any way we can in order to determine durability and clean playability after market. It takes a very good eye, a lot of patience and careful attention to detail. And it has to be done fast, usually on a tight deadline. That’s why Lucas is so good at it. His ability to focus on details is amazing.”
My brow twitched in surprise. I’d never heard her directly compliment my skills before. She’d expressed admiration here and there—mostly in the role of cheerleader. And I didn’t think that was because she was only one of two women who worked in our department, no. Kat’s enthusiasm and higher than average work ethic kept our team fueled and ready for whatever hit us. She was the perfect team player and got us through the rough spots with her ready humor and energy.
All this on top of being my secret weapon.
“He’s always been like that,” Father said, eyes narrowing at Kat. “And he’s put it to good use, I see. Along with his impeccable taste in beautiful ladies.”
Gross. I leaned in to create a distraction so Kat wouldn’t have to listen to any more of that bullshit, but my mother interrupted me.
“You’re bringing Katharina to the family reunion next month, I hope,” she said with a nudge in my side.
I flicked a glance at her. Ah, and here it was, the reason she was likely holding any anger toward me inside. She wanted something. Our attendance at the family reunion? Really?
I’d rather have oral surgery without anesthesia, to be honest.
I barely felt like I belonged in this family anymore and I had severe doubts that they would make Katya feel anything close to welcome. I knew them too well. Fit in to the image of what they wanted to present to the world or dare to face their wrath.
Or do what I did and vanish for over half a year.
“Probably not. We’ve got a lot going on this summer with work. Kat has some summer plans as well. And there’s this new position I’m—”
“It really would be a nice way to welcome her into the family, Lucas. And we’d love to see more of you, of course. Please talk to her about it?” She would not be deterred, apparently.
I gritted my teeth, still managing the irritation at having been cut off. As usual, she wasn’t the