Heaven And Hell novel Chapter 91

"You are," Michael clipped, his chiseled jaw tightening; he was growing impatient himself at his cousin's blunt perception of his own problems. He just didn't like them being tossed at him in situations like these, and he was young and would like to push away those thoughts that could be a potential blow to his ego.

"So, is there a reason I should?" Cole repeated, infuriatingly calm this time.

"No," Michael sighed, shook his head, and then shrugged. "But you know the tradition in our family. You'll have to marry soon. Dad has already pressed me regarding it."

Cole's lips quirked slightly. "Luckily, I still have four more years, whereas you have to be leg-shackled by the time you're eighteen."

"You're a lucky bugger, you know that? I'm being threatened of disinheritance and public humiliation because I'm this bloody marquess who still has to get married off and become a duke." As if sudden inspiration struck, he added, his eyes sparkling, "I'll go to America and hide, mark my words."

Cole's own eyes glittered wryly in amusement, and he leaned back against the window frame, crossing his arms over his chest. "Sorry to disappoint you, cous. And, marry? Really? All this bloody time, I thought the way to produce an heir is to --"

Michael only grumbled in response. "You're a Cutting, and a firstborn like me. You'll have to marry too."

"When my time comes," he replied with mild cynicism, "I'll choose some leggy ditsy girl who'll leap to do my merest bidding like a lapdog."

"And when she seeks other diversions because of boredom, what will you even do?"

"D'you really think she'll become bored?" he queried in a steely voice that could freeze someone in place.

Michael didn't have to answer him. The two boys held a certain aura that thrilled girls and women alike with just one look and devastating smile. They had the same tall frame, broad, muscular shoulders, deep-set eyes, and narrow waists.

"I'm fitter than you, y'know," Michael quipped, standing up and brushing off imaginary lints off his jacket. Cole chuckled grimly. "And since you clearly have no plans on playing FIFA with me, I'm going to look for Frederick and bug him instead. I think Grandmama has him by the ear, favourite and all."

Thank God, he wasn't the favourite of Lady Cutting.

He started striding toward the door when he suddenly stopped and looked over his shoulder, one hand clutching the edge of the door. "Hey, Cole?"

The boy in question looked up, raising one sardonic eyebrow.

"We're all here, if you need us. Just know that." Then he left without another word. The boys weren't exactly sentimental toward anyone, but Michael did rather love his cousin like a brother.

Cole turned back to the window and looked on dispassionately at the elegant party guests who had gathered on the vast lawns at Cynster Hall to celebrate Davina Cutting's forty-second birthday. To an outsider, the estate was doubtlessly populated by beautiful, carefree flamingos fashioning all their extravagant finery to the fullest. To Cole Cutting, the scene below him held minuscule interest and no admiration whatsoever. He knew too well what went on within the walls of this house when these people left.

It was summer.

I glared at my mother's guilty eyes in accusation. I wanted to send telepathic messages like: you don't just whisk your daughter away to your birthplace while planning on doing some Baywatch moments with your husband!

"Oh!" Mom suddenly whined, drawing me into a tight hug that caught me off guard and nearly suffocated me. "Marcus, d'you think leaving Olivia is right?"

Dad turned around from overseeing our respective baggage, and raised his eyebrows at the sight of us. I was trying to wedge my head away from Mom's neck, gasping. His lips tilted at the corners. "It is, Milly. You coddle her too much." I squinted at him through the hollow of Mom's neck. "How will she survive college if you plan on breastfeeding her again?" he teased. His cornflower blue eyes, the same as mine, glinted in amusement at us as I tried to escape Mom's clutches.

Sure I thought it was crazy they'd go to Bali without me, but I was beginning to believe going to the boring countryside of England would be preferable to my mother's loving bosom nearing my face, even if she wasn't aware she was doing it.

People were starting to stare!

Honestly I love Mom, but this was getting a little too embarrassing.

Thankfully, Dad pried her hands away from me (even though he was laughing, the fiend), and called my brother, Oliver, who came around the front of the car, carrying his suitcase.