Chapter 1
I laughed politely, delicately holding my champagne glass as I talked to the governor.
Calvin Vance was not a handsome man, but he was easy to look at. A good thing, because I had been talking to him for the past half hour. His belly shook with laughter at his own joke, and a bit of his drink spilled to the floor.
“Whoops,” he murmured, still smiling. “Hey, you,” he beckoned to a waiter who was restocking a table of sweets. “Clean this up, will you?”
“Um,” he stuttered, cheeks flushed. “Yes, sir. I have my hands full right now, so just give me a moment.”
Calvin narrowed his eyes. “That’s disappointing. I don’t like slow employees,” he whispered into my ear.
The whisper was loud enough for the waiter to hear. I think Calvin meant it to be, because I heard a clatter of platters on the table, then the boy was on his knees, scrubbing away the spill.
“Good, see. That’s all you had to do.”
I glanced at the nametag on his chest. “Thank you, Matteo.”
He glanced at me, nodded, then hurried back to the table he was working at. Poor boy. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with people like Calvin all the time.
Of course, not everyone here was like the governor. I looked around the room, taking in the lavish gold decor and women shimmering gowns. Most of them, like me, were paired next to men in sleek tailcoats. Although I desperately wanted to find a different person to make conversation with. I didn’t want to spend the entire night with Calvin.
But he seemed to like the idea, and he slipped his arm around my waist. “I admire it when people are so kind to the waiters. It’s one of my favorite qualities about you.”
I only had a few more minutes before he would get more graphic about his advances. I had been through this before, and they always did. Part of me was sad it took him so long. If only he had tried 15 minutes ago. Now I could finally do this without a lecture. My favorite part of the evening. I took one last swig of champagne, feeling the liquid burn as it moved down my throat. I held the glass with two fingers, letting it sway back and forth. Then I let it slip, shattering on the marble floor.
Calvin yelped. The bubbly liquid that was once contained slowly eased past the shards of glass, towards Calvin’s shiny black shoes. “Are you alright? What was that about?”
I dragged my attention back to Calvin’s hopeful face. “Whoops.”
He shushed me, his hand tightening on my hip. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” he said, and snapped his fingers at Matteo, who slowly turned toward him, face falling as Calvin gestured to the pieces of glass on the floor.
Calvin leaned closer to me as Matteo hunched over to clean up the mess. I braced myself for more horrible lines, but I was saved by a low voice from behind me.
“Josephine, I need you,” I turned to see his beautiful face. Theo. His blonde hair that was usually swept back fell into his eyes. It wasn’t the same shade as mine, but we liked to say we were matching anyway.
It wasn’t the only thing we had matched on. I wore a soft white dress with furs draped over my shoulders. He wore a white suit, with a white button up and a white tie. He was blinding, like an angel. He stood out against the sharp black of the crowd behind him.
“Alright. I’m so sorry, Calvin. I was nice talking to you,” I said, wrapping my arm around Theo’s.
The older man looked sad. His eyes were drawn to the taller man next to me, as they all were. “Hello, Theodore, isn’t it? I hope you’re doing well. I assume I will continue my conversation with Josephine later?”
“I’m afraid not. Unfortunately, she is required elsewhere,” he answered coldly.
We turned away from Calvin, and I let out a sigh of relief. Theo’s lips touched my ears as he mumbled, “We need a different signal.”
“I like smashing the glass.”
He shook his head. “It draws too much attention.”
“That’s the whole point of a signal. If I were to just tug my ear or tab my nose, you wouldn’t notice,” I pointed out.
“Of course I would. I would just watch for it. I can’t take my eyes off you anyway,” he breathed. I shivered, goosebumps appearing on the back of my neck.
Theo grazed a finger over them. He knew the effect he had on me.
I waved him off. “You can’t stare at me all night, no matter how smitten you are.”
He grinned. “You want to bet on that?” I hated it when he said that. I knew, unlike most, that Theo had a gambling problem. I was almost certain he didn’t actually want to bet on anything with me, but his words were still a reminder. He told me a few years ago he stopped, and I wanted to trust him. But the Cabot family had been running short on money recently, and I couldn’t help but feel like Theo had something to do with it.
“No,” I spat. “Because I’m right. You’ll miss it then I will be carted away to be some fat man’s mistress.”
He frowned. “Perhaps you are right. No reason to risk it.”
Whenever I brought anyone else into the conversation, Theo would give in. He always shut down at the idea of me being with another man.
“If you hate the idea so much, why not just announce that we are a couple?” I grumbled. It was a question I had asked hundreds of times over the years, and he always gave me the same answer.
He shuffled his feet. It was the first sign of his unease all night. He might not be able to stare at me the entire length of the gala, but I certainly try. He had been all smiles and confidence.
He led me through the doorway. “We’ve talked about this. I want to, I really do. But we have to wait. I need to get out of the engagement that my parents set up.”
I believed him. I knew how he felt about Alice. She was pretty, sure, but pretentious. He hated people like that. If I ever suspected anything, I would leave Theo. I would. And I wouldn’t look back.
But if I was wrong about how he felt about Alice, I wouldn’t want to know.
He wrapped his arms around my hips, swaying to the faint string quartet in the other room. If anyone were to look, we would simply be two old friends dancing. But we didn’t risk it, so Theo always took me to the nearest empty room. “I swear to you, I’m trying. It’s been harder than I thought, getting out of it while leaving our connections to their family intact. We should just be grateful I haven’t been married yet.”
I was grateful, more than he would ever know. A two year engagement was a long one.
“Did you enjoy your champagne?” he asked. He hated talking about Alice.
I hummed, a smile poking through my lips. “Yes, that was you, was it? It’s very brave of you to do that. I could–”
“You could never? I know. But the things I would do for you, my love,” he murmured. “There are no limits.”
“I don’t want you to be arrested,” I said. I knew Theo was in charge of the alcohol, though it was dangerous. The prohibition wasn’t something to play with.
He quieted. “I won’t. You need to trust me.”
“I’m sorry. I do.”
“I know,” he pressed his face into my neck. “Josie,” he said in that low, raspy voice. “I’ve missed you.”
“I love you,” I said. I didn’t expect him to say it back.
He kissed my neck, right over my pulse, and I glanced around nervously. But to my surprise, and slight disappointment, nobody was watching us.
So when he murmured, “I love you,” for the first time in five years, I pulled his face down to mine and kissed him.
He kissed me back fervently, mumbling unintelligibly against my lips.
This was strange for us. He had gotten reckless. But as he tore away from me to scan the empty hallway, my stomach dropped. We were still in hiding.
