Bryce didn't say a word, just closed the door behind me and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring, his lower lip pooched out in an almost feminine pout.
He looked a lot like my younger siblings, Sterling and Braxton. Spun-gold hair and the Sawyer blue eyes, an athletic build and chiseled cheekbones. If Bryce had had any kind of work ethic he could have made a living as a model or a B-movie star.
As it was, he was a professional mooch. Considering the designer labels on his back and his current circumstances, he was doing a good job at it.
Aunt Ophelia fluttered into the room wrapped in a pink organza dressing gown even though it was close to noon, her frosted blonde hair in an elaborate twist and her makeup perfect. Diamonds winked at her ears and glittered on her fingers and wrists. She always had liked her diamonds.
“Royal, darling,” she gushed, “I'm so glad you're here to straighten out this little mess.”
“What can I do for you, Aunt Ophelia?” I asked, adding a flash of the grin that always seemed to work when I needed to get out of trouble.
“You can tell your staff that we have an open tab. So far, they haven't given us any trouble about ordering in meals, but when I tried to order a bottle of champagne, they told me we hadn’t been approved for alcohol over a hundred dollars a day. And you must fire that girl working in the gift shop. She insisted we provide payment when I tried to pick up a few things. I thought this was a family company. We are family, aren't we?”
“Of course, we’re family,” I assured her. “It didn't occur to me that you wouldn't know the company policy. No freebies. I'm afraid with a family as big as ours, that was the only sensible approach.”
“I don't understand,” Ophelia said, her perfectly manicured hand fluttering to cover her chest.
“I can see how you'd be confused,” I said smoothly, “considering that you're staying here for free. But given my father's invitation for you to reside at Heartstone Manor and the lack of guest rooms there right now, it only seemed fair that we cover your room and board. But retail and the bar…” I gave a helpless shrug and another flash of my most persuasive smile. “It's not as if we have a bar or a gift shop at the Manor.”
Considering some of the vintages available in the restaurant and bar as well as the designer gear we stocked in the gift shop, Ophelia could have run up thousands of dollars in room charges in minutes if we'd let her. I had no doubt that's exactly what she'd been planning to do.
“So, you're just going to starve us out?” Bryce challenged. Ophelia liked to play the ditzy ingénue, but Bryce was more demanding in his entitlement.
“I think I just specified that you wouldn't be starved. Room and board, as guaranteed by Prentice. The rest of your upkeep is on you.”
I didn’t bother with charm for Bryce. I had a small reserve of patience for Aunt Ophelia. I suspected she was far more intelligent than she pretended to be—after all, she’d lived in luxury for decades without a day of work—but she was mostly harmless as long as it wasn’t your bank account she was draining dry. And she’d always been kind to me when I was a kid.
Bryce, on the other hand, had been a little asshole.
Not much had changed.
Chapter Seven
royal
This is bullshit.” Bryce shoved his hands in his pockets and strode to the window, taking in the view of the gardens and the mountains beyond. “I don't see why you all should get everything, and we have to beg for scraps.”
I took a deep breath, reminding myself that losing my temper wouldn't get me anywhere. My goal was to extract myself from the situation until the next time when, hopefully, Tenn would lose the coin toss and he’d have to deal with Bryce and Ophelia.
“I know this has been explained to you,” I said dryly, “but let me try again. Technically, no one has inherited anything yet, except for Griffen. I don't own The Inn. I just work here. That's how I pay my bills. Actually, for the time being, I got the exact same thing from my father that you did. Room and board. If that's not enough I suggest you do what the rest of us have done and get a job.”
Unlike Ophelia, Prentice Sawyer had never believed in lazy children. My sister Sterling aside, all of us had worked since we were kids. Summer jobs in various family businesses, chores around the house—anything that would keep us busy. We'd all been given positions in family companies after we graduated from college, but none of it had come for free.