Kipp Llewellyn, the proverbial poor little rich boy, can have whatever he wants, except the one thing he wants most: his father’s love. When the opportunity arises to obtain it, Kipp jumps at the chance, even though it means breaking a date with “Ham,” the man he’s sure he’s falling in love with. However, the opportunity turns out to be an arranged marriage with his father’s biggest competitor. Even worse, Kipp discovers his proposed groom is Hyde Wyndham, the man of his dreams. Having lived in a gilded cage his entire twenty-one years, Kipp refuses to settle for anything less than love and walks away from both his father and his future husband. Hyde didn’t achieve his position in the financial world by taking no for an answer, however, and he’ll do whatever it takes to make Kipp realize he’s wanted for himself, including wooing the young man he intends to marry, prenuptial agreements be damned. He’s certain he’s succeeded, until Kipp learns something that puts an insurmountable barrier between them. Will Hyde be able to overcome Kipp’s doubts, and will Kipp realize that some things are worth the sacrifice?

Two Lips, Indifferent Red

An expansive, well-tended lawn ran from the veranda to a private road that curved around to the parking lot in the rear. The veranda—of course Mr. Stuart wouldn’t have anything as pedestrian as a porch for the hundred and thirty-seven-year-old building—wrapped around three sides of the Trunk. Adirondack chairs were scattered along the length of it, and large windows let in the afternoon sun.


We climbed the steps and crossed to the double doors that led into the main lobby of the hotel. The ceiling here was about thirty feet high, and I stared up at the mural of an English countryside that covered it.


“Yes! My senior prom was held here, and I’m sorry now I missed it.”


“Family matters,” I said, waving it aside with an airy hand. I didn’t want to tell him it had been just a few days after that incident with Daniel, and unlike the AHester Prynne had to wear, I felt as if there was a big Ffor fool etched on my forehead.


Chapter 56