One Night With The Wrong Brother novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Orchid Room

Lawrence walked me to the blue room himself, with his hand on the small of my back.

It was on the second floor of the house on East Seventy-Third, with a canopy bed and a window onto the garden.

My suitcase was already open on the rack, and someone had hung my clothes in the wardrobe.

Someone had also put a bottle of prenatal vitamins on the nightstand, with a note in Constance's handwriting.

"I'm next door," Lawrence said. "The door between us doesn't lock."

"Why not?"

"Because we're engaged." He smiled. "I wanted to see what it's like to sleep with you down the hall."

It was the closest he had ever come to saying something true.

He kissed my forehead, the way he had for a year, and I stood perfectly still until his footsteps crossed the hall.

I waited until his light went off.

Then I checked the green light on the little black pen and clipped it to the collar of my shirt.

Eleven o'clock came and went.

Midnight came.

I lay on top of the covers in my clothes, listening to a house that did not creak, because everything in it was too expensive.

A little after one, voices came up through the floor.

I eased the door open and crept to the top of the back stairs in my socks.

The study was directly below.

The door was open a hand's width, and a lamp threw yellow light across the hall.

"She cannot see a doctor before the wedding," Lawrence said. "Not one of ours, and not one of hers."

"She will see the family doctor on Tuesday," Constance said. "He has been with us for thirty years."

"A scan counts weeks, Mother. It will say eight and a half. I have never touched her."

I put my hand over my mouth.

"Then the wedding goes before the scan," Constance said, cool as milk. "The trustee requires a marriage and a physician's letter of pregnancy before your birthday. After the vote, nobody counts weeks."

"And if she bolts?"

"She will not. I have her by the only thing she cares about."

"The brother."

"The brother is a very good lever." I heard ice move in a glass. "Move the date up. A week sooner. Then you need only keep her smiling for fifteen days."

"I can do fifteen days."

"I know you can. You have done a year."

← Chapter 12 · All chapters · Chapter 14 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend