Her Unexpected Affair. Shea McMaster
A pre-engagement blow-out. Let Jack and his friends find their own table, preferably far, far away from hers.
When the couple at the table next to hers got up to leave, she had a sinking feeling. It was confirmed when a hand landed on her shoulder.
“Cousin! Didn’t expect to see you here.”
Meilin sighed and carefully set down her drink before looking up at Jack. “Jack Ling. Fancy seeing you here. Finals over already?”
“Graduation is a week from tomorrow, which I’m sure you know. Hope you buy me an appropriate gift. Come, Meilin, let me introduce you to some friends of mine.” His hand on her shoulder urged her to turn on her stool until she faced the young couple. “I’ve been teaching Drew here some phrases in Chinese.”
Internally, her muscles tightened. Jack had done this before, taught a white friend a ghastly phrase while saying it was nothing more than a greeting.
“Meilin, may I present to you, Drew Robinson and Courtney Ferguson. Brother and sister raised far apart. Long story but very entertaining.”
She extended her hand to the girl first. “Pleased to meet you, Courtney.”
“Likewise,” the girl replied with a wide-open friendly smile and gentle handshake. Warm and exactly appropriate, she didn’t cling a moment longer than necessary.
Next, Meilin extended her hand to the man called Drew. “Drew, pleased to make your acquaintance. Do you both know my cousin from the university?”
Drew’s large hand enclosed hers, and the flash of heat that surrounded her hand before zipping up her arm stole her breath. Enough so her eyes blinked wide open. In response, his blue eyes dilated in a flash, and his hand flexed a little, almost as if he wanted to pull her closer. Not that she’d mind, she was surprised to realize. The feeling left her disconcerted and breathless. She tugged her hand from his grip.
“Meilin. Did I say that correctly?”
“Yes, yes you did. You both may call me Mei, if you like.” Flustered, she folded her hands in her lap, her gaze politely on his when she wanted to look anywhere but at his too handsome face. That was a lie. She wanted nothing more than to gaze upon his beautiful, perfect features now that she had a clear view, up close and personal. Blue eyes, golden hair, strong chin, chiseled jaw, perfectly shaped lips, hard body. This man was the total package.
His large hand rose and rubbed his perfectly sculpted chin. “Let me see if I have this right… Wo hen gaoxìng dài qiánbao.”
Holding back the smile and chuckle so desperate to break free, she replied, “I am sure, but the contents of my purse will remain where they are. You should slap Jack for playing such a trick on you.”
The flush burning Drew’s cheeks as he dropped his hand was almost disguised by the low lights and the flashing dance spotlights. Almost. The wicked twinkle in Jack’s eyes was merely enhanced while Courtney lifted a hand to muffle her giggles.
“Xièxie, at least I’m pretty sure that means ‘thank you.’ I just may have to cause Jack some harm,” Drew said easily. “I meant to say I was honored to meet you. Guess that’s not even close, and I probably should forget the rest of the phrases he’s been teaching me.”
“No doubt.” Meilin allowed her smile to break free. “Don’t trust a word that trickster says. Especially when it comes to Chinese lessons, either language or culture. However, you did get ‘thank you’ right.”
Jack held up his hands. “No harm intended, just a little fun for me.”
The dark glance Drew directed at her cousin promised some sort of retribution. The twinkle in his blue eyes reduced the severity. He had a sense of humor. That endeared him to her more than she expected. Jack had a sense of humor, but as far as she knew, Shan did not. Much like her own father and brother seemed to be missing funny bones.
“Looks like we found a table,” Drew said.
“Yes, yes,” Jack agreed. “Let’s pull it closer. Have you been abandoned by your giggling friends?”
Resigned and a little thrilled at the prospect of them sharing, she pushed Yuahua’s chair away. “Not abandoned. Someone had to hold down the table.”
Once the table was situated, Meilin couldn’t help but notice Drew sitting next to her, an act that further caught her gaze. The man was that beautiful. At the end of the table Jack sidled up to Courtney. Meilin hoped the girl could see Jack for the restless boy he was. Then again, if Drew knew Jack, he’d probably already warned her Jack was often described as a player.
Jack waved for the waitress, then leaned over the table. “What are you doing here?”
“Girls’ night out.” At Jack’s slow nod, she knew he’d figured it out. “How do you all know each other?” She redirected the conversation before it revealed too many details. She did not want to discuss her pending engagement.
“Drew’s in the law program and we shared a room last fall. He and Courtney share an apartment now. She just started her MBA program while we just finished our law degrees.”
“Congratulations,” she said to Drew. “Are you two twins?”
All three of them laughed, but Drew answered. “Same father, different mothers, born a few months apart. Long story.”
Meilin raised a brow. “As Jack mentioned, it sounds like an interesting tale.”
Drew shrugged his wide shoulders, shoulders that moved with the grace of honed muscle beneath the fine cotton of his shirt. “A broken engagement, a relationship with an exchange student, marriage to the ex-fiancée brought on by pregnancy, departure of the exchange student who kept her pregnancy quiet… We all connected quite by accident last fall. Now her widowed mother is married to our widowed father and we’re one big happy family.” He turned just enough to grin at his sister. “Always wanted a sibling. Just had to wait a couple decades to meet her.”
Meilin almost envied the cheeky grin the younger woman aimed at her brother. “Just trying to keep you on your toes.”
Drew snorted and leaned toward Meilin to mutter, “That she does. And her mother too. Her mission is to drive our father bonkers and he loves it.”
A stab of jealousy knifed Meilin in the heart. Other people found grand passion, and here she was about to commit the rest of her days to a union with a man who failed to inspire the rush of heat she’d experienced by just shaking Drew’s hand. Insane. She didn’t know these people well enough to envy them so fiercely. And yet, that emotion was a thousand times stronger than any emotion she’d ever felt for Shan.
It confused her.
And when confused, she turned to small talk.
“I detect more than a little pluminess in your accent, sir, but none in your sister’s. I’m guessing you were raised in England? Father and mother both British?”
“Good ear, not that it’s hard to decipher. I did the whole boarding school with proper elocution thing while Courtney was raised here in California as wild and free as a bird.”
“How very interesting. Are you to the manor born?” She did her best to say it in a British accent. Not that she’d had much practice, but who didn’t love a good BBC program from time to time?
Drew laughed. “No fancy titles in our branch, but we do have the biggest house in the district. My father likes to pretend he’s a lord of some sort at Christmas.”
The notion wasn’t foreign to Meilin.
Junlei arrived with the second round of drinks for her table and turned to Jack’s party to take their orders.
Her own father, directly descended from minor nobility turned laborer in California, liked to do the same. The reminders of how the family had started high born, fell to the lowest depths of society, then rose to the upper ranks were drummed into them all,