Her Unexpected Affair. Shea McMaster
and had many times shown Meilin the pictures of her wedding to a handsome young Coast Guard officer. Now faced with what she was sure would be a huge, showy, society wedding, Meilin found herself a tad envious of the simple ceremony pictured in Edna’s album. Few guests in a cozy venue, the young men handsome in their uniforms, the two bridesmaids looking fresh in their dresses fluffed out with crinolines.
Inside her apartment, she flicked the three door locks and turned on only a table lamp in the small living room. She’d lived here six years now and didn’t really relish the idea of moving into Shan’s sleek, modern, high rise condo. On the other hand, his condo building did have an elevator. A couple months after she’d redone the design, he’d hosted a cocktail party there for a small group of his parents’ friends and colleagues. He hadn’t specifically invited her, at least not to show off her work, but she’d attended at her mother’s insistence. Had Mom been matchmaking all those months ago? Probably.
That was most likely when the negotiations had begun.
Funny she should see it now, but hadn’t noticed then. Hadn’t wanted to notice.
In the bathroom she slowly removed her clothes before dropping the dress into the dry cleaning hamper. Shan’s condo didn’t have a bathroom with hand-laid hexagonal tiles that covered the floor and climbed the lower half of the walls, or a claw-footed cast iron tub. Instead of renovating, she’d merely decorated his private bath, a room about the size of her living room, with glass and chrome everywhere. It had already been outfitted with a tub big enough for four, and marble lined the floor and walls. She’d added huge fluffy towels to hang on the towel heater, painted the walls gold and black, and added a few accessories. That part of the job had been very easy. Not much different than other installations she’d sold to other clients. And not once had she been thinking it would be hers someday.
She shouldn’t be complaining. Instead, she should be thinking of all the connections that would open up to her. There wasn’t much she’d have to do to Shan’s condo, but there were things she could still do to put her personal stamp on the spaces. Things that would bring in more new clients for her. The extra business would keep her busy enough not to worry about her lack of independence.
Shan had his business, she had hers. Unless he insisted she become a society wife and leave her work behind. Then things would get sticky. If he were willing to put off children a couple years, enough so that she could bring in other designers to handle most of the work, she could retreat to a hands-off, directorial position, keeping a hand in the jobs but not handling the small details. She could combine motherhood with work then.
The big question for her came down to needing to know how traditional he felt about life in general. Relationship roles. Maybe her mother would have some deeper insight. Something she hadn’t really taken the time to worry about. Now with the engagement imminent, she was forced to think things through. Had she buried her head in the sand on purpose?
Having her parents arrange the marriage had seemed like a short cut since she hadn’t made time to cultivate a romantic relationship. Was it more of a cop-out?
Lord, she was so tired. She didn’t have the energy to contemplate it tonight.
Wiping the cream cleanser and the makeup from her face, she briefly contemplated a bath. Or a faster shower. Tomorrow—or rather today—was tightly booked with a trip to a spa to prepare for the party. She had to look her best, which put sleep at the top of her priorities. So. No bath, no shower. Cold water from the tap filled her plastic cup and she drank it down. Cool and refreshing. Now she just had to face her lonely bed and try to put the memory of one certain, young Englishman and his kiss from her mind.
Yeah, like that could work.
Chapter 5
“Why are we driving across the Bay today?” Birdie groaned from the passenger seat as they crossed the Bay Bridge. “I just have to go back tomorrow.”
“It’s the plan. We have to help get ready for the party next weekend.” He’d packed his suitcase for the coming week and started setting aside what he needed to move into the dorm with the other immersion students.
Only staying overnight before going back for her finals, Birdie would have preferred to stay in their apartment and sleep. Seemed she still suffered from her hangover despite his efforts to help minimize it.
“Why do you have to move out?”
“It’s part of the learning experience. I need to be near the other Mandarin students so as to stay in the language as much as possible.” But he could get away from time to time. Depended on how stagnating the company might be.
“Not that I’ll mind having our apartment to myself. At least then I can do what I want, have friends over or hang out in my pajamas all day without you nagging me.”
Drew laughed to himself. Sure, living alone left one a lot of personal freedom but for all her bluster he knew they both liked having the other around. Raised without siblings all their lives, having one now, sharing an apartment, made up for the loneliness back then. Sort of. It went a long way toward helping him feel more and more comfortable in California. It was a lifestyle he’d quickly grown to like.
“You’ll miss me, brat.”
“Not when you’re being an overprotective, bossy, know-it-all Neanderthal,” she mumbled. “And don’t call me brat.”
“Don’t act like one.”
Birdie sighed as she leaned against the window of the sedan they shared. Because parking was at a premium almost everywhere they went, the two of them had decided to share the vehicle rather than each have their own. Not that Drew had ever enjoyed the luxury when he’d been at school in London, another place where parking came at a cost. For getting around and across the Stanford campus they each had a bicycle.
Still, the sedan was a bit old-fashioned. They could upgrade to something sportier. However, the car had belonged to the man who’d raised Birdie as his own and she wasn’t ready to let go, so no one pushed. Much. Well, he didn’t push much. The parents left it alone entirely.
“Okay, so tonight we spend with the parents, then I hike it back to campus in the morning, and suffer through my finals. On Thursday I return home.”
“Right. We have a day to finalize all the party plans, and then we all go back to Palo Alto for my graduation Saturday.”
“After which we turn right around, back to San Ramon, have a quick renewal of vows, then on with the graduation party and wedding reception. All at the house. How the hell do they think we’re going to fit a hundred people there?”
He had to agree with his sister. The house Birdie had been raised in was a decent size, but not that big. Forty, perhaps fifty people max. Then again, not everyone who’d been invited would show. Randi was probably counting on that. And most of them would be neighbors such as the lawyer who lived across the street on the straight stretch leading into the circle of the cul-de-sac they lived on.
“I’m sure all the details have been planned for. Mum is good at this stuff, and Martin surely has it in hand.” Lord forbid they hold an event without the butler to oversee everything. John Martin, his father’s domestic right hand man, would be a mess of nerves and precise control. If he didn’t fall over his own feet at the sight of Birdie.
A glance sideways showed Birdie smiling for the first time all day. It brightened up her face, and he could see her fighting her way out from under the effects of last night’s binge.
“I like hearing you call her mum.”
“I like having her as my mum. Love that you allow me to share her.”
“She adores you too.”
“I make a pretty awesome son. Any woman would be happy to have me as hers.” He ducked to the side before Birdie’s fist could connect with any sort of strength against his shoulder. “No violence now.”
She laughed and something tense unwound inside him. His