Page 94 of Blue Hawaiian
“Victoria?”
“Hey, big brother.” Her voice held a weary tone. “Can you help me with my suitcase? It’s in the trunk.”
Having the universe send his younger sister instead of the woman he loved had to be the ultimate irony. But he wasn’t about to turn Victoria away, even if he’d reserved this weekend at Blackwood Lodge for himself. He bounded down the stairs, grabbed her rolling bag, and carried it up to the porch. “Is Ben joining you later?”
“He’s not coming. Quite honestly, I don’t know when I’ll see him again.” She pointed inside the lodge. “Put my bag anywhere. And I could use a glass of wine. Red, not white. Then I’ll tell you the whole sordid story.”
“No problem.” He set Victoria’s bag in the great room and headed to the kitchen. Clearly, something was wrong since his sister was meant to be marrying Ben in two months.
Though Connor was curious about her situation, he knew better than to rush her. He poured them each a glass of pinot noir and assembled a tray of cheeses and baguette slices. He brought it out and set it on a rustic wooden table resting between two of the Adirondack chairs.
Victoria kicked off her heels and settled into one of the chairs. She flashed him a smile. “Wineandcheese. How civilized.”
“Try the brie,” he said.
She placed a wedge on a baguette slice and swallowed it down with a sip of wine. “Delicious. Where did you get it?”
“Casa de Cabras. It’s a family-owned farm near our winery that makes their own cheese. Everything I’ve bought from them has been incredible. Now try the gruyère.”
She took a piece and popped it in her mouth. “Mmm. That’s sublime. You’ll have to incorporate their cheeses into your tastings.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” He sat on the chair next to hers. For a few minutes, he kept quiet, listening to the wind rustle through the pines.
Finally, Victoria gave a lengthy sigh. “Do you want all the gory details?”
He took a quick peek at his phone to make sure Jess hadn’t texted. Nothing. He put it back in his pocket and focused his attention on Victoria. “Of course.”
“When we were in Maui, did I tell you what happened with Ben?”
He shook his head. If she had, he couldn’t recall their conversation.
“A couple of weeks before Marc’s wedding, I caught Ben cheating,” she said. “He’d reconnected with a woman he dated in college—Missy Cavendish—and they started up again. Their families have known each other forever. Old money, political ties, that kind of thing.”
“That’s terrible. I’m sorry.”
“It gets worse.” Victoria’s hand shook as she sipped her wine. “Dad convinced me to forgive Ben. He’s been hell-bent on this wedding because Ben’s father is a state senator.”
That selfish asshole. Yet another reason Connor was grateful to be out from under the old man’s grasp. “This isn’tGame of Thrones. You don’t have to submit to an arranged marriage just to make Dad happy.”
“I know. But I still owe him for that one summer when he bailed me out of trouble. Besides, Ben was a good match. Together, we made a total power couple.”
Connor couldn’t understand the appeal, but he’d never cared much about money or power. The only person he wanted was a woman who was so broke she’d moved back home.
“Did Ben behave himself after you went back to him?” he asked.
“For a while. Things were fine in Maui. But after we got home, he started working long hours. I thought something might be up, but I was too busy planning our wedding to pay much attention. We were supposed to go out to dinner tonight, but he called me this afternoon and told me he was done. The wedding’s off.”
She tossed back the rest of her wine and reached for the bottle. After she filled her glass, she continued. “He said he’s in love with Missy. Whateverthatmeans. He’s giving me until next weekend to move out of his condo.”
Connor stood and clenched his fists as a pulse of rage surged through him. “You want me to go kick his ass? Because I’ll do it. I never liked him. Stuck-up prick.”
Victoria laughed and wiped her eyes. “You don’t have to beat him up, though I appreciate the offer. I wish Dad had responded the same way. Do you know what he said?”
Connor took a deep, calming breath and returned to his seat. “He must have been pissed. He wanted this wedding more than you did.”
“He said I brought it on myself by getting so upset with Ben when he cheated on me the first time.”
“Let me guess. He thought you should have looked past Ben’s indiscretion? That it’s perfectly all right for men to have something on the side?”
