“Yes, I agree with you. Joseph is a force to be reckoned with,” Cooper said, his lips twitching the slightest bit. It was almost a smile.
“Are you enjoying your new job?” Mark asked.
Cooper paused as he thought about the question. He was doing exactly what his father had wanted, even if he was doing it in spite of his dad. He was working for a small airline, using the skill that had been nothing but a hobby for him up until recently.
“I don’t know about enjoying the actual job and the paperwork that comes with it, but yes, flying is what I love. I can’t seem to get enough of it. Who knew that playing with planes my whole life would turn into a career,” Cooper said.
“Even without your inheritance, you’re a very wealthy man, Cooper. It isn’t as if you have to work. But before you say something, I know it isn’t about a paycheck. I don’t have to work myself. But choosing to work despite my fortune is a matter of pride,” Mark told him.
“I didn’t have much pride,” Cooper said with a shrug. “Or at least I didn’t think I did. Not until that reading of my father’s will. I guess he was right in the sense that we have all sort of skated through life. But he raised us that way. I don’t know what he expected.”
“I think when people know their time is coming to a close, they start to get scared,” Mark said. “Not that I would know from personal experience, but now that I’m a father, I get scared. I want my kids to grow into fine men and women. They work on the ranch, and they even go into the Anderson offices and are learning there.”
“Aren’t your kids really young?” Cooper asked.
“Yeah, but I was a bit spoiled myself. I don’t want that for my kids,” Mark told him.
“Well, I don’t know what earning only a couple grand a month proves, but my father seemed to think that would make me a man, so now instead of flying for fun, I fly for an airline. It’s not so bad. It just all pisses me off a little,” Cooper said.
“The anger will eventually drain,” Mark told him.
“I don’t know . . .”
Cooper stopped talking as he scanned the crowd. Coming to the party had been a very bad idea. Maybe it was time for him to take his leave. He wasn’t fit company to be around at the moment.
Just as his scan was almost finished, something caught his eye. He stopped and zeroed in on a woman in the corner, sitting by herself.
Mark continued to speak, but Cooper didn’t hear what his friend was saying. He was too focused on the blonde woman in the tight red dress who was holding her drink close to her like it was a lifeline.
She nervously glanced around the room, not meeting his gaze, before she looked back down again. Cooper was shocked at the stirring he felt.
It had been a long time since he’d felt any emotion other than anger.
“Who is that?” he asked Mark, interrupting his friend mid-sentence.
Mark followed his gaze and looked at the woman for several moments.
“I have no idea. Haven’t seen her before,” Mark said. Then he smiled. “But I have a feeling you’re about to find out.”
“Don’t overanalyze this, Mark. I’m just curious who she is,” Cooper snapped.
“No judgments here,” Mark assured him with a pat on the shoulder.
“I might like to screw the ladies, but I won’t give my father the pleasure of marrying one,” he said with a little growl.
“What does that mean?” Mark asked, looking a little lost.
“My father seemed to think a man’s life isn’t complete without a wife. I think all women search for a man with the deepest pockets,” he said.
Mark gave him a sad look and shook his head. “Not all women are like that. I married a good one.”
“Then you got the last,” Cooper said with conviction. Then he walked away.
He didn’t know why, but he had to meet this woman who was trying to hide away.
It was sex—that was all. And sex was worth throwing down a few dollars for, he thought with a cynical smile.
CHAPTER TWO
Stormy Halifax would have given anything for the ability to fade into the background. She tried in vain to squeeze herself back even farther into the corner as she watched the designer-clad couples swirling around on the dance floor, all of them laughing and completely at home surrounded by the glamour and glitz of the night.
Only American royalty like the Andersons could afford to pull off a wedding like this one. Stormy would bet her entire bank account, which actually wasn’t that much, that she couldn’t have afforded even a single flower among the many placed so elegantly in the hundreds of exquisitely designed centerpieces.
She eyed the door longingly. Just a few more hours . . . How had she ever let Lindsey convince her it was a good idea to crash the society wedding of the century? If Stormy made it through the evening undetected, she swore she would never listen to her best friend again.
Of course, how many times in her life had she had that same thought? Too many times to count.
At least she sort of looked like she fit in with the crowd—or somewhat fit in. That meant she looked nothing like herself on this beautiful summer night in Seattle.
Lindsey had insisted she wear the ridiculously tight red dress she currently felt plastered to her skin, and her friend had layered on so much makeup that Stormy felt like a clown. With the dyed blonde hair taking the place of her naturally brown hair, she barely recognized herself. When she had gotten a look at herself in one of the gilded mirrors hanging on the walls of the banquet hall, Stormy could hardly believe she was staring at her own reflection. The girl in the mirror almost looked like she belonged at the lavish wedding. Almost.