Page 64 of Inconvenient Marriage
The room is crowded, too. Everyone who’s anyone in Harmony Heights is here, carrying their flutes of champagne, mingling with each other based on their status in the Order. I’ve smiled at so many of them, it feels like my face might crack, but just as the waiters started to wind around the tables, serving dinner, I begin to get a little nervous.
Everyone who’s anyone in Harmony Heights is here… but what about Eric? I don’t know why it’s hitting me now that he could have decided to attend the party. Alexandre didn’t do invitations. It was an open guest list, with the expectation that those who should come would.
I was too busy before to wonder about who’s here. Now that we’re halfway through it and everything is going very well, I’m just waiting for something to go wrong.
Suddenly, warm fingers brush the small of my back, heating me up through the silky light blue dress I picked for the occasion. My heart jumps, though it beats triple-time when I glance behind me and see my husband.
Sebastien.
He’s been checking on me all night. I’d bet he knows everyone here, and there are plenty who whisk him away to chat, but he always finds his way back to me. Like now. He’s close enough that I feel the heat of his body through the silky material now as he closes the small gap between us.
“You alright?” he asks.
I nod. “I’m fine. I just… there’s a lot to do.”
Sebastien leans down, lips brushing my cheek. It’s not quite a kiss, but I’m suddenly aware that the gesture was enough to have several heads swiveling our way.
“Relax,” he says softly, ignoring them. “I have full faith in my wife and her binders.”
He’s teasing me.
I can’t help myself. I grin, laying my hand on the front of his leather jacket. So it’s out of place with the men in their suits, the women in their gowns… but, I’ll tell you, he’s the most striking, attractive man at the whole party—and he’s with me.
“Thank you,” I tell him.
“Don’t mention it, love.”
For the next few minutes, Sebastien stays next to me. His pose is casual. Confident. One arm hangs loosely around my waist, the other resting in his front pocket. There’s no denying it’s a possessive hold, or that he’s preening to show me off to anyone looking our way.
And the strangest thing is… just having him near, I finally begin to relax.
Next to Sebastien, I’m happy.Safe. I feel loved—but I shouldn’t.
This is only a marriage of convenience.
Still, that knowledge doesn’t do a damn thing to stop my pulse from jumping every single time he glances at me.
I wish he could stay by my side the whole night. When Sebastien is near… I don’t think about Eric. It’s like Eric doesn’t exist, and that’s foolish of me. I can’t monopolize my husband’s time. There are so many people who come by to talk to him, but when Dallas Collins stalks over to him—dressed in a dark suit that doesn’t make the King any less dangerous than he appears to be—I’m secretly glad that Sebastien follows him away so that they can bow their heads together, having a whispered conversation on the other side of the ballroom.
Sebastien tells me that I shouldn’t be afraid of the King. That’s easier said than done. In Harmony Heights, there is no one else who has the power to ruin my life or my sister’s. Everything we want hangs on one man’s whim, and while Sebastien assures me that Dallas is better than his father was at leading the Order, old habits die hard. I spent years with Eric’s voice in my ear, whispering that he was the only one who could protect me from Jack Collins.
Jack Collins is dead. It doesn’t matter. If Dallas decides to demote Miranda, everything I’ve done since I left Eric would’ve been for nothing.
Well… maybe not for nothing. But still. I’m getting better at not flinching when Dallas comes near, and though I’d rather have Sebastien by my side while I watch over the party, I just put on my ‘business’ face and mentally run through the checklist in my binder while he’s occupied.
And that’s when I hear someone call my name.
“Anna!”
At least, I think it’s my name. No one calls me ‘Anna’. I’m Annaliese, or if you’re my baby sister, ‘Annie’. Sebastien calls me ‘love’, and though I keep thinking he’ll stop, he hasn’t yet. But ‘Anna’? I’m not sure if that’s me.
It is.
I turn to see Alexandre heading my way, a drink in hand, plus two stunning women in matching satin dresses trailing at his heels. A quick peek at their necks reveal that they’re both wearing the Order’s brand, marking them as Used. His dates, I’m assuming.
Alexandre’s grin is bright and wicked as he bears down on me, kissing my cheek as though we’ve known each other all our lives instead of the both of us having met… three times? “This is perfect. You outdid yourself.”
I smile politely. “Happy birthday. Belated, but still.”
