Page 1 of Share with Me

Chapter One

“Brin! There you are. I thought you weren’t going to make it to my birthday party.”

Brinley Brooks watched her sister strut toward her in a shimmering purple-and-black Valentino topped off with a choker of diamonds around her neck. Zoe looked rested and perky and full of life.

As for Brinley—

Never mind.

She shut the French door to the loggia behind her, closing out the sounds of the Atlantic Ocean that she had enjoyed in the few minutes it’d taken her to walk from their parents’ seaside cottage to this guesthouse. She had arrived on Sea Island no more than half an hour before, jumped into her evening gown, and headed here.

Alone.

The ballroom that had turned into a dining room tonight was loud and permeated with laughter that Brinley was too jet-lagged to share. In the backdrop was what sounded like the last measures of Felix Mendelssohn’s orchestralOctet. Live orchestral suites were some of her favorite music.

Brinley stepped toward her sister and hugged her tightly.

“I can’t believe you made it.” Zoe sniffed. “Dad said you had unfinished business in Zurich.”

“All done.” Brinley had pulled an all-nighter, but the merger was complete, and Brooks Investments, Inc., had added another subsidiary in Ireland. Zoe didn’t need to know the details. She also didn’t need to know that it was the last business deal Brinley would do for Dad’s company.

And the last time she’d live in Zurich.

Too close to the mess, the hurt, the pain. Well, the pain was easing off; it had been three months and a few days since her break-up with her ex-fiancé.

“It’s good to be home,” Brinley declared.

“I’m happy for you. You’ve always been a homebody. In fact, I was surprised when you agreed to head up sales for Dad in Zurich.”

It wasn’t for Dad.

Brinley drew in a deep breath. “It was only for a year.”

“It feels like forever not having you around.” Zoe lifted her skirt to expose a pair of glittery five-inch Jimmy Choo platform sandals. She shook a foot so the diamonds on the straps could sparkle under the chandeliers twenty feet above them. “Thank you for my birthday gift, Brin.”

To Brinley, it looked like the same pair Zoe had bought last year. And the year before. Only this time it was in another shade of purple.

“Love it, Zoe,” she said, anyway. It made her sister happy.

“I do have great taste, don’t I?” Zoe pirouetted around Brinley. “And you? What’s this?”

Brinley felt self-conscious as Zoe tugged at her midnight blue silk patchwork gown. She hoped none of its many seams ripped.

“Azaria? Marc Jacobs? Dolce? Vera Wang?”

“Peterson.”

“Peter who?” Zoe tsk-tsked the same way Mom did when she didn’t approve. Zoe had taken after Mom in every way from her lithe beauty to her ability to spend out of a bottomless purse. Must be nice to live rent-free in their parents’ guesthouse and eat out of the Brooks family kitchen without touching a dime of her trust fund.

“He’s a new designer out of London.” Brinley knew she didn’t have to explain.

“Never heard of him.”

“I told him I’d wear it. It’s quite comfortable.”

“Quite?Quitedoesn’t cut it. He’s still a nameless nobody.” Zoe smiled as if with pity. “It’s so you, Brin. Always saving homeless cats.”

Brinley bristled. “He’s up-and-coming. He just needs a chance.”

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