Page 43 of Mistaken Prejudice

“Ugh.” He grunted silently. “They’re besties. I’ll explain later.” He then cleared his throat. “Andrei, this is my dad, Daniel Williams Dufort,” he said proudly as he introduced me to the man sitting on the leather sofa in front of us.

Daniel was a handsome man, to say the least, with a chiseled jaw coated with neatly trimmed stubble, full lips, and a Greek nose. His eyes were slightly narrowed, and their deep blue color stood out in contrast to his dark eyelashes. While his brows were still very dark, his hair, styled in a neat haircut, had started to go gray on the sides.

Daniel put down his book as he got up from the sofa and straightened his tailored clothes: a pair of navy blue trousers with a white dress shirt he tucked in. He had an imposing figure—six foot four—and was well-built. He clearly spent time at the gym. His posture radiated confidence, and his presence was intimidating.

“Dad, this is Andrei.” Miles introduced me as if I were a future business partner. Not that it was far from the truth. After all, relationships are the toughest sort of deal.

“Sir.” I reached my hand forward with the hope he’d take it. Though, by the way he eyed my hand, it seemed like he’d prefer to cut it off rather than shake it. After what felt like forever, Daniel gripped my hand with such force I almost squeaked. Yeah, the man definitely works out. And without a word, he dropped my hand and turned to look at Elliot.

“Will we be eating soon?”

Elliot, who was busy pouring himself a glass of wine, waved his hand. “Oui. Don’t touch it.” He slapped Shay-Lee’s hand away from the wine while laughing. “You naughty one. Now, whoosh.” He wiggled his finger at him. “Go put on some clothes.”

Shay-Lee shook his head and laughed.

“But my clothes are all dirty, Mr. D.” He almost purred out his words, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

“I think you should take your own advice, love,” Daniel said as he sat back down, his book in his hand.

“Oui, oui.” Elliot laughed as he, once again, took the wine glass out of Shay-Lee’s hold. “Come on, monsieur.” He slapped Shay-Lee’s back with a kitchen towel. “I’ll give you clothes. Even though it is a shame to hide such a beautiful body.”

“Elliot,” Daniel warned over their rolling laughter.

“What?” he uttered dumbfounded. “I am being honest!” His accent broke the sentence into single words. “What wouldn’t I give to be young and beautiful again.” Considering he was breathtakingly beautiful, I had no clue what he was talking about. But I assumed Elliot tended to be overly dramatic.

“You’re forever gorgeous, Mr. D.” Shay-Lee’s flirtation was heard even though they had already left the kitchen and were out of sight.

“Those two need some time apart,” Miles mumbled while Daniel nodded his agreement.

A small ding was heard, and Miles pulled his phone from his pocket. “Oh, I gotta call my riding instructor.” His eyes focused on the screen. “Something about tomorrow’s practice.” I shifted my gaze from him to Daniel, who had just flipped another page in his book.

“I’ll be right back,” he said before he walked toward an open sliding door that led to the pool.

With Miles leaving to call his instructor and Elliot going to change, I was left alone with Daniel. The situation felt so awkward that I would have preferred to spend the time with Shay-Lee. From the way Daniel’s knee kept bouncing, it was clear he wasn’t pleased by the forced hangout himself.

“You may sit down, Mr.…” He raised his head to look at me, expecting me to fill in the missing information.

“Bespalov, sir.” I offered him a smile that was not returned; instead, he eyed me for another minute before returning to his book.

My mouth felt dry, and I tried to swallow my nerves before sitting down. Don’t be an idiot, Andrei. Try to talk to the guy. How bad could it be? I attempted to cheer myself up as I looked around the room and tried to think of something to say.

“I really like the way the light breaks into the room.” Wait, didn’t Miles say something about not mentioning architecture? “It’s a smart building, I mean.” Stop talking, you idiot. “The architecture of the house—”

Daniel raised his eyes from the book and peered at me. I shuddered under his fierce gaze, and my point was long forgotten.

“The weather is nice today, don’t you agree?” I blurted out and watched Daniel’s mouth twist with displeasure before he flipped to the next page. I’m doomed.

***

The lunch table was set on a beautiful porch surrounded by citrus trees that overlooked the house and the pool. There were two pools, one hidden between an olive grove and the other right in front of the main house, with a view of the rose gardens and open lawns. There was also an inground Jacuzzi and what I thought was a tennis court.

The only reason I noticed those things was because of the awkward atmosphere at the dining table, which left me with no choice but to look around to calm my nerves. The food was delicious, no doubt about that, and even though Elliot and Miles tried to lighten up the mood with various conversation attempts, I still felt like a convict on death row.

Daniel didn’t speak, at least not to me. With Shay-Lee, on the other hand? Oh, boy. The two looked like old pals, talking about football and yachts. Two subjects I had no clue about. And while Elliot did try to talk with me, it was still nowhere close to the inner jokes he and Shay-Lee had going on.

The deep, saucy flavor of the coq au vin was replaced by the bitter taste of jealousy. Cold, hard jealousy spread in my chest like poison over this jerk’s relationship with Miles’s parents. The beautiful act he put on was remarkable. Ten out of ten for performance. He smiled, laughed, and joked around as if he were the nicest person on earth. No hint of the cruel, arrogant, and ruthless guy who found pleasure in hurting others. How could they fall for it? How could Miles believe him?

I eyed Miles from the corner of my eye. Was he too blinded by their past not to see the true colors of the guy he called his best friend?