Page 1 of To Steal a Heart
1
“Is it real?”
Arden couldn’t help but giggle at her boyfriend’s bug-eyed expression. “You bet your buttered buns it’s real. All three hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars’ worth.” It was interesting to see the Founder’s Day banquet and ball through an outsider’s eyes. Hector was enthralled with the glitz and pomp and circumstance of the occasion, whereas Arden was bored stiff. To add insult to injury, she felt like a stuffed sausage in her evening gown.
Earlier, Grandmother had made a snarky comment about Arden putting on several pounds.“You’re getting a little hefty,” Grandmother smirked. Arden told Grandmother that was absurd and claimed that she’d been the same size since high school. Sadly, Grandmother was right. The last time Arden wore this gown, it fit like a glove. Now it was choking off her breath. Arden was becoming too sedentary due to her writing.
It was official. Time to incorporate exercise into her daily routine. And she needed to back off of the brownies.
“It’s incredible,” Hector murmured. “What’s it called?”
For an instant, the question threw Arden off. Then she followed Hector’s line of vision and realized that he was still gawking over Grandmother’s necklace.
“Starry dream,” Arden whispered. “Grandmother acquired the diamond necklace on her thirtieth wedding anniversary.” It was exquisite, but Arden had seen it so often throughout her life that for her, it was old hat.
“Was it a gift from Oliver?”
The awe in Hector’s voice tromped on Arden’s last nerve. Ever since Hector stepped foot in The Oliver Hotel, he seemed to have developed a raging fascination with the Chasing family, Oliver in particular. Maybe Hector had spent too much time in the lobby reading the plaques about how Oliver settled Honeysuckle Island and built the hotel. Yes, her grandfather had done great things, but he was a man with plenty of faults, not some saint to be worshipped. “Not exactly. Grandmother bought the necklace for herself. She said it was her payment for putting up with Oliver all of those years.”
“Seriously?” Wide-eyed, Hector turned to Arden.
“Yep.” A low chuckle rumbled in her throat. “If you ask me, instead of getting herself a gift, Grandmother should have given my poor grandfather some sort of token for putting up with her all of those years.”
“I’m surprised that your grandmother would wear the necklace out in public,” Hector observed in a hushed tone. “Isn’t she worried that someone might try to steal it?”
That was a lame-o question. What good was a necklace if it couldn’t be worn? Then again, in Hector’s defense, he was an insurance agent. It was only natural that he’d think of the risk. Arden flashed a cheeky grin. “Now, Hector,” she drawled in a spot-on rendition of Scarlett O’Hara. “You’re not getting any ideas, are you?” She even fluttered her eyelashes to give the full effect.
It was cute how color blotched up Hector’s neck before filling his handsome face. He certainly was nice to look at. Hector’s uncommonly good looks were what first caught Arden’s attention. And then she realized he was a nice, normal guy. Arden was sick, sick, sick of dating entitled hotshots in her same social circle who flaunted their wealth … or rather their family’s wealth. She liked that Hector was from a middle-class family.
“You shouldn’t joke about stuff like that,” Hector rebuked in a low tone. “Someone might get the wrong idea.” He glanced around the table as if he were afraid someone might overhear them.
A wicked thought germinated in Arden’s brain. She’d been stewing over Grandmother’s weight insult. Time to get payback. She looked across the table at Grandmother, who was wearing a dreadful black dress that was so solemn it could bring a gravedigger to tears. Her stone-gray hair was swept up in a mountainous beehive, and her perceptive dark eyes watched everything from behind the confines of her diamond-studded, cat-eyed glasses. She’d been beautiful once. Now, she was imposing and intimidating, her disposition as sour as a carton of expired milk. Did Arden have it in her to go nose-to-nose with the crone? The answer came in a flash. Absolutely!
“Someone did try once.” A bubble of laughter filled her throat, and it was all Arden could do to keep it from escaping her lips. She really cracked herself up sometimes. This was gonna be good. “Grandmother was kidnapped.”
Arden’s words caught the attention of the rest of the table as all eyes turned to her.
“I beg your pardon,” Grandmother snipped indignantly. “I was never kidnapped.”
Arden kept a straight face as she turned to Hector. “Oh, yes, she was. The kidnappers snatched Grandmother under the assumption that they could torture her into telling them the combination to her safe.”
Josette’s face shriveled into itself. With her long skinny neck, she reminded Arden of a prune on a popsicle stick.
“What nonsense is your bat-brained daughter babbling about this time?” She glared at Madeline and Banks. “I told you it was a mistake to let her go into writing.”
It was all Arden could do to keep from laughing at the absurdity of Grandmother’s tirade. As if her parents or anyone else could’ve stopped her from pursuing her passion. Grandmother really was too much.
Arden’s parents eyed her with puzzled expressions. Effie’s eyes were as wide as saucers, and Talon threw Arden a warning look that said,Put a sock in it.
Ignoring them all, Arden continued in a chipper tone. “After two days of putting up with Grandmother’s incessant badgering, they turned her loose and ran for the hills.”
Josette drew herself up, her eyes sparking with the fire of a dragon about to torch an unsuspecting village. “This is what happens when you spend all of your time writing those insipid romance books. You lose your grasp on reality.”
Ouch! That stung. Arden looked Grandmother in the eyes. “The rest of the world doesn’t find my novels insipid. It’s not every day that a girl becomes a New York Times Bestselling author, after all.”
Grandmother didn’t skip a beat. “Don’t fool yourself, girl. The only reason why you became a New York Times Bestselling Author is thanks to the Chasing name.”
There might’ve been a sliver of truth to that comment. “That and my superb talent for writing good stories,” Arden quipped as she flashed Grandmother a sugary smile.