“Yes, off and on,” he answered. “I don’t keep up.”
“I remember reading an article about you being named most eligible bachelor. They listed women you had been seen with. Is Lena in that article?”
“I don’t know. We’ve attended functions together. Once she moved west and I came north, we’d see one another at different fundraisers and conferences. People may have assumed we were a couple, but as I said, it wasn’t like that.”
Slipping a blue sweater over my head and bra, I had a thought. “Madison wasn’t named in any of those articles. I would remember that.”
“She was down in Texas by then.”
Van’s phone buzzed. After looking at the screen he stood and grinned. “Are you ready? Our guest has just passed the front gate.”
“If I say no, do you mind if I just stay in the suite?”
He gently pinched my chin, lifting it higher until our noses were close. “I mind because I want my fiancée to meet my friend. Honestly, I have few people in my life who deserve that moniker and yes, I want the two of you to get along.”
“The same as you get along with Skylar and the rest of the Butlers?”
Van grinned. “That’s not exactly the same thing. And Baby Butler and I have been cordial.”
“Come up with a new nickname.”
“I just made it up. I thought it was creative.”
My nose scrunched. “Since he has a baby of his own on the way” —I shook my head— “it doesn’t work. You could use his first name.”
“Just be your amazing self, Julia. That’s all.”
Walking down the stairs with my hand in his, I asked, “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
“Not as beautiful as you.”
Michael was at the front door as we made it to the bottom of the steps and the ring of the doorbell chimed through the house. I stood a step back as Van passed through the French doors. With Michael’s and Van’s backs to me, I heard Lena before I saw her.
Within seconds, Michael took her bag and coat and Van ushered Lena inside.
In my opinion, she wasn’t beautiful.
Lena was stunning.
She also wasn’t Madison’s twin. They had little resemblance to one another. Where Madison had light hair and a quiet demeanor—at least at the store before she tried to stop our wedding—Lena was taller and her hair was short and a deep shade of auburn. She was slender, stylish, and in one glance, I could tell she was confident.
Her self-assuredness was evident in her expression and I heard it in her voice. The scent of her perfume took me back to the evening Van returned to our hotel in Chicago. The aroma was rich but not overpowering.
“Julia,” Lena said, stepping into the living room.
“Lena, nice to meet you.”
Coming closer and leaving Van in her wake, she reached for my arm, linked our elbows, and led me farther into our living room. “What has Van told you?” she asked me in a stage whisper.
Peering over my shoulder, I saw Van watching with a grin from the French doors. My focus turned to Lena, my gaze meeting her soft brown eyes. Forcing a grin, I replied, “He’s told me that he wanted me to meet his friend.”
Lena laughed as she released my elbow. “Friendworks.”
“He’s told me more.”
“Oh, good. Let’s get all the awkward out of the way.” Lena stepped toward the windows. Through the waning sunlight, she peered out at the snow-covered bay. “I forget how pretty it is here.” She spun back. “Here’s the rundown. Madison is my younger sister. I had no idea what she had planned and for that I’m sorry. Van and I have known one another for a long time and…we know one another in the biblical sense of the word.” Her chocolate eyes opened wide. “Is that it or are there more uncomfortable matters to discuss?”
With a grin, I let out the breath I’d been holding since the doorbell rang. There was no doubt; I was immediately taken with Lena’s take-the-bull-by-the-horns approach. “I think that about covers it.”