The Billionaire's Temporary Bride (Scandal, Inc #3)(41)

He got out of the car and wrapped his scarf around his neck.

Here goes nothing.

He walked over, wrapped his arm around Charlotte and headed for the door. It was time, for better or for worse, to meet his family. Jack walked her up to the front door, opened it slowly, and stepped inside.





Chapter 15

The inside of the house seemed even larger than the outside, and the relatively normal front hall gave way to a large, two-story living room with cathedral ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the dunes and the wide ocean below.

A man Charlotte assumed to be Jack's brother stood by the window, slowly drinking something and staring out at the water. He looked to be in his late forties with thinning, dirty blond hair and a deep tan. Even though it was freezing outside, he was wearing shorts. His shirt was wrinkled. He barely seemed to notice that anyone else was in the room.

Across the room, a tall brunette in a tight white dress who must have been Jack's sister Caroline swirled a glass of wine and waved to them.

"Little brother," she said, "Whit and I were starting to wonder if you were ever going to show."

Her words broke Whit's trance, and he turned and raised his glass toward Jack and Charlotte. His features were similar to Jack's, but he seemed to lack the spark that made Jack so attractive.

Caroline cleared her throat. "Are you going to introduce us to your fiancée?" She took a sip of wine and faked a smile. She looked Charlotte up and down, evaluating her like she was calculating her next move.

Over the past few months, Charlotte had gotten used to this kind of thing. In fact, she had started to regard it as a normal step in meeting someone for the first time. Of course Jack's sister would sit there and look her over to assess her for apparent strengths and weaknesses before introducing herself. Anything less would have been strange.

Caroline was tall and brunette. Like Jack and Whit, she had blue eyes. She looked much more like Jack than like Whit, but most of it seemed due to the care with which she presented herself. Her hair was perfect. Not a single strand was out of place. It seemed to shimmer with the luster of obscenely expensive conditioner or maybe just the glow of wealth. Her makeup, her heels, her jewelry and everything else seemed completely put together. Charlotte wondered whether Caroline's meticulous look was a good sign or a bad sign. Either way, she was about to find out.

"This is Charlotte Crowley," Jack said as Caroline approached and shook her hand. Whit nodded from the window when Charlotte looked over at him.

"Did you need anything to drink?" Caroline asked.

Charlotte smiled. "I'm good for right now."

"Suit yourself," Caroline said, taking another deep sip of wine.

Charlotte was starting to see why Jack hadn't been looking forward to a family reunion    . There was a strange tension in the room. They hadn't been there for more than a minute, and already Charlotte could feel her blood pressure starting to rise.

"Where's Mom?" Jack asked.

"Oh, you know Angela. She's off running errands. She has a small army at her disposal, and yet she insists on doing almost everything herself. If you ask me, she's just been waiting for you two to arrive before coming back herself. You know how she likes to make an entrance. She'll be back any minute now."

"Will anyone else be joining us?" Jack asked.

"Not this year. Mom wanted a chance to get to know your new paramour."

"She's my fiancée, Caroline." Jack said. He snuck a peek at his watch as if to ask when this would all be over.

"Then she'll want all the dirt on you," Caroline said. "Charlotte, we have some great home videos of Jack-Jack when he was little. You'll love them."

"Sounds great," Charlotte said. "I probably have a few stories of my own that you'll want to hear."

"You sure you don't want some wine?"

"I guess one glass wouldn't hurt," Charlotte replied, looking at Jack for guidance.

"See," Caroline said, "you're becoming part of the family already."


Before Caroline could start embarrassing Jack with old stories, their mother returned. Jack straightened up his posture, and Caroline put her wine glass down out of view, behind a potted plant.

"Where is she?" their mother said. "Where is this mystery woman who has stolen my son's heart?"

"She's right here, Mom," Jack said. "Charlotte, come on and meet my mother."

Jack's mother was older than Charlotte had anticipated, but she nearly ran across the room and gave Charlotte a firm hug.

"You can call me Angela. Welcome to the family," she said. She stepped back, held her hands on Charlotte's shoulders and looked her over. "We never thought our Jack-Jack would settle down, but it's not hard to see how he fell for you."

Charlotte blushed. "He got stuck with me at our friend's wedding," she said. She watched Angela walk across the room and take Caroline's wine glass from its hiding place.

"I spent months trying to convince Charlotte to date me after we first met," Jack said. "I wasn't about to give her any other excuse to slip through my fingers."

"Have you made a romantic out of him?" Angela asked.

"As far as I can tell, he always was one," Charlotte said. She turned and kissed Jack on the cheek.