Secret Strangers in Love novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Gala

The Drake ballroom held four hundred people, nine chandeliers and one woman who wanted to be sick in a plant.

I stood at the top of the staircase in wine-red silk with my hand on Mr. Stanhope's arm.

Below us, the room turned its face up.

"Breathe," he murmured.

"I am breathing."

"You're turning blue."

"It's the lighting."

He smiled at me, and I knew he would walk me down those stairs if the building was on fire.

We descended, flashbulbs popping, past a harpist and a champagne tower.

Halfway down, I saw my grandfather.

Grover Gaillard stood near the front in a tuxedo that strained at the shoulders, holding a glass.

He saw me.

His mouth fell open one inch.

His eyebrows went up the way they do when someone lifts the lid off a pot he thought was empty.

Then he closed his mouth and smoothed his mustache with a very steady finger.

I would have known that finger anywhere.

It meant, I will deal with this later.

Table One was at the foot of the stage.

Stanford Ashworth sat at its head peeling an orange.

The heir sat beside Brooke in a white dinner jacket, with her hand on his sleeve.

Brooke wore pale gold, and a necklace that I recognized as my grandmother's.

Her eyes found me, found the red dress, and found Mr. Stanhope's arm.

She went the color of the tablecloth.

"Chairman," said Mr. Stanhope pleasantly. "Mr. Gaillard. May I introduce Lexie Dunne?"

"We've met," said Stanford. "Miss Dunne, how nice."

"Dunne," said my grandfather faintly. "Dunne."

"She is the woman I'm going to marry," said Mr. Stanhope.

My grandfather coughed so hard that the waiter ran for water.

Stanford set down his orange.

"Is that so?" he said gently.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Secret Strangers in Love from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.