“Find your son and bring him to this table,” her grandmother said in a tone that should have made Lillith fear for Jaxon’s life.
“Of course.” Lillith came back a few moments later, with Jaxon, who looked irritated.
“Sit,” Bryn’s grandmother said in a tone that should have cued Jaxon in to the fact that something was wrong.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Do you wish to dissolve your marriage contract?” Bryn’s grandmother asked in a tone that could have cut to the bone.
“What?” Jaxon paled.
“I can’t think of another reason why you would publicly snub Bryn by dancing with someone else during the first dance at the Christmas Ball,” her grandmother said.
The weight of the situation seemed to register on Jaxon’s face. “I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean to—”
“To humiliate me?” Bryn said. “Because even I, with my mixed background and lack of social skills, know that you were supposed to dance with me to present a united front and show everyone that we’re together.”
Jaxon looked stunned. “I’m sorry. When Rinata asked me to dance I didn’t consider what other people might think.”
“Oh,” Lillith said. “I didn’t realize she was here.” She looked at Bryn. “Rinata is Rhianna’s older sister.”
Son of a bitch.
“I now have an inkling of why you might have made such an egregious social blunder, but, be that as it may, your behavior is unacceptable. You will make this up to Bryn. You will think of some way to make it clear to everyone here at this party that you made a grave error in judgement and it is no way a reflection on my granddaughter. Do you understand?”
“Yes ma’am.” He took a deep breath. “Bryn, do you want to dance?”
“Honestly, I’d rather stab you with this fork”—Bryn picked up the utensil by her now empty cake plate—“but I will dance with you to prove a point.”
Jaxon stood and offered her his hand. She took it and let him lead her to the dance floor. Once they were there, she stared at his shoulder rather than make eye contact with him or with anyone else while they danced.
She waited for him to say something. They danced through two songs before he said, “I am truly sorry.”
“I’d like to believe that.”
“Look at me,” he said.
She sighed and then met his gaze. Sincerity shone from his bright blue eyes. “I didn’t dance with Rinata to slight you.”
“Even if that’s true, at worst, you maliciously abandoned me, and at best you completely forgot about me. Neither of those reasons make me feel any better.”
“What can I do?” he asked, pulling her a little closer.
“I don’t have a clue,” she said. “You better figure something out, because I won’t have the entire Blue Clan smirking behind my back all night.”
“I didn’t think you cared about what other people thought,” he said.
“I don’t.” Although it was becoming alarmingly clear to her that she did care about what he thought and why the hell did being in his arms feel so comfortable? She had to make him understand. “How would you feel if you’d come to ask me to dance like you were supposed to do and discovered I was already dancing with someone else?”
“I’d be furious,” he said, “but in this case there were extenuating circumstances.”
“I know, but no else in this ballroom is aware of that fact.” The song ended. “Honestly, until you make this right, I’m done with you.” And she walked off the dance floor, leaving him to look like the idiot for once.
When she reached her table, both her grandparents sat there. She wasn’t sure which one was angrier. Before they could ask any questions, she said, “I told him to fix it.”
“How does he intend to do that?” her grandfather asked.
“Not my problem,” Bryn said. “I’m through playing nice until he does.” She was afraid they’d tell her to go suck up to him. That was not going to happen.
“I respect your resolve,” her grandfather said, “but you’ll still uphold the contract.”
“Of course I will,” Bryn said. “If for no other reason than to annoy Jaxon and Ferrin.”
Her grandmother smiled. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you. I guess now we wait and see what Jaxon can accomplish before it’s time to exchange gifts. When is that?”
“Twenty minutes,” her grandfather said. “But I can adjust the time frame.”
“Let’s see what he does,” said Bryn.
“He seems to be up to something,” her grandmother said.
Bryn turned to see Jaxon with his mother and Rinata. They were talking to a table of young couples. A few of them glanced over at Bryn. She gave them her best I-am-not-fantasizing-about-incinerating-my-future-husband-with-a-fireball smile and hoped it was convincing.
Jaxon, Rinata, and Lillith approached each table and made small talk with the Blues sitting there. Occasionally, one of the occupants would join them in speaking to other people which caused a ripple effect.
Would whatever he was doing work? For her grandparents’ sake, she hoped so. Finally, Rinata and Jaxon approached their table, while Lillith went back to sit with Ferrin.
“May I join you for a moment?” Rinata asked.
“You may,” Bryn’s grandmother said.
Rinata sat and Jaxon followed suit.
“We’ve spoken to every table, explaining that I asked Jaxon to dance so we could talk about my sister and he was too polite to refuse.” Rinata turned to Bryn. “I meant no disrespect.”
“Thank you for explaining the situation to the other guests,” Bryn said.
The volume of the orchestra surged. “If you’ll excuse us, Rinata,” Bryn’s grandfather said. “I believe the gift exchange is about to begin.”
“Of course.” Rinata stood and headed back to her table.
The doors to the ballroom opened and the waitstaff rolled in carts of presents which they passed out among the guests. Per tradition, her grandmother handed her grandfather his gift first. It wasn’t big enough to be a box of stinky cigars like last year. What could it be?
He ripped off the paper and opened the plain cardboard box, revealing a brass telescope with gears and knobs which appeared to be an antique. He seemed genuinely pleased. “Thank you, Marie.”
“You’re welcome.”
He handed her a gift, which was too big to be a jewelry box. She opened it and laughed. Inside was a hat with netting and flowers that looked like a modern work of art. “I love it.”
The sound of other families opening their gifts drifted through the air. Her grandmother passed Bryn a key ring. “The estate was a bit difficult to wrap, so I thought this would be easier.”
“Thank you,” Bryn said. Am I supposed to exchange gifts with Jaxon now? After the idiot move he’d made, she didn’t want to. “Why don’t you go spend time with your family? We can exchange gifts later.”
“I’m not sure that would be appropriate,” Jaxon said. “Mrs. Sinclair, what do you suggest?”
“Bryn, why don’t you exchange gifts now and then he can leave.”
Crap. “Okay.” Bryn shoved his gift across the table. “Here you go.”
He pulled a black velvet jeweler’s box from his pocket and passed it to her. “Ladies first.”
He’d bought her jewelry? She’d worked hard to find a gift that was personal, something he might truly like. If he bought her a generic, look-how-expensive-this-piece-of-jewelry-is type of gift, she was going to be pissed. She popped the lid and stared inside at the bracelet. A bracelet she thought she’d never see again. The snowflake bracelet her mother had given her which had been stolen and supposedly pawned to fund the rebel attacks.
Bryn ran her fingers over the interconnecting snowflakes the size of quarters and the diamond in the center of each one that was the size of a dime. “Where did you find it?”
“My father discovered it among some of the items recovered from the rebels, minus the diamonds, of course. I had those replaced because I thought you’d want it back.” He sounded like he wasn’t sure if he’d done the right thing.
“Thank you.” She took the bracelet out of the box and tried to put it on.