"What is the holdup?" Aiden called up the stairs.

"What's your rush?" Gwen yelled back as she tried to pull the strap of the red pump up over the lump of her heel.

Normally she didn't have this much trouble dressing herself. But there was nothing normal about her life at that moment.

Her eyes kept straying over to the broad bay window. Or, rather, what she could see through said window. Mountains. White-capped mountains with the bluest pool of water Gwen had ever seen at their base. She didn't think anything could be that blue.

"They can't start the party until we get there, for one," Aiden said.

"Then that means they can wait!"

Aiden's chuckle reached her up the stairs and she couldn't help smiling.

She wondered what her parents would think of her chosen attire for the night. The red dress hugged her body, showing off the curve of her hips. She wouldn't have minded if it had been a little sexier, actually. The bodice displayed the barest hint of cleavage, and the hem ended exactly over her knees.

"You look amazing!"

Gwen turned and saw Aiden at the top of the stairs. He looked dashing in his coal black tux, his shoes polished to a mirror shine that even the most meticulous of drill sergeants couldn't take issue with.

Despite having been together with Aiden for close to a year now, Gwen still blushed when he complimented her, and the feel of his eyes on her body stirred at the embers of a heat locked deep within.

She threw her arms up around his broad shoulders. The pumps she had on diminished the height advantage that he had over her.

"Really?" she said. "You think so? Because I could think of something more comfortable to wear right now..." Her eyes tracked over to the king-size bed with its sumptuous covers and piles of plush pillows. She'd been wanting to jump onto that mattress with him ever since arriving at the hotel, but so far he'd been able to resist her womanly charms.

Aiden's hands swept around her and locked at the small of her back. He pulled her closer so that she could smell the musk of his aftershave and the hint of his cologne. Her mouth went dry.

"I wish we could... But your parents are getting here any time now. And then she'll be here, too," Aiden said.

He groaned when Gwen let her lips graze along his jaw line and then down his throat. She plucked at the buttons holding his jacket on. "Are you sure about that?" Gwen said, letting the heat of her breath caress his neck.

She liked how he was still so attracted to her, so turned on by her, after all these months.

"Gwen..." he said, trying to stop her efforts, his resistance fading with each passing moment.

"They can wait. They can all wait. My parents, your grandmother. All the others. They can wait," Gwen said, getting ready to lead him back to that beckoning bed. Those embers within her flared up into flames of desire, her legs getting rubbery and her inner thighs heating.

As soon as Gwen mentioned Aiden's grandmother, his playful resistance turned real. Gently, he moved her hands away and then popped his jacket buttons back into place. And then he took a pointed step back from her, leaving a protective cushion of air between them.

"I want to, I really do. But not now. Everything needs to follow the schedule."

Gwen crossed her arms beneath her breasts and gave him her best pout. "Okay, fine. I don't see why you're so worked up about this. It's just a party. Relax."

"Right," Aiden said, his eyes dropping. He smoothed down his jacket, his hands running over the expensive fabric, and blew out his cheeks. "You're right. Just a party."

Gwen closed the gap between them and then tugged at his bow tie, straightening it. "After all the stuff we've been through together, with... with Henry, I can't believe anyone could still make you this nervous," she said.

Time hadn't softened the memory of Aiden's father for either of them. Sometimes Gwen woke up from nightmares about being chased by the paparazzi, or of standing in Henry's high-ceilinged office. And it had taken Aiden a long time to come to grips as well, what with Henry's deathbed reconciliation.

"You'll see why when you meet her," Aiden said. He rolled his shoulders like an athlete limbering up for a bout, then offered Gwen the crook of his elbow. "Shall we?"

***

JUDITH MANNING HAD never liked Switzerland. It wasn't the breathtaking mountain vistas she could see through her limousine's windows as the long vehicle wended its way through the cramped European streets. It wasn't the fresh, crisp air she breathed with every breath.

"How much longer?" she asked the driver, her voice still more than powerful enough to make the capped man start.

"A few minutes, ma'am," he replied.

Normally Judith wouldn't have bothered coming to such an occasion as this. But she'd puzzled out the true nature of the gathering. The true motive behind it all. And she couldn't stay out of things any longer. Not where her family was concerned.

No, it wasn't the beautiful stylings of the place she hated, or the languages, or anything like that. It was the neutrality. Protected by its ring of mountains, Switzerland always did its best to stay out of things. It stood for nothing. You could never trust anything that stood for nothing. Conviction got you places in life, choosing a side or a path or a course of action.

That's what Judith had always done, at least.

Her hand slipped from her lap and fell on the pile of papers and documents that took up the seat beside her. Some of them were business papers detailing the death of her son, Henry, and the impact that would have on the economy. Others dealt with the passing of the crown to young Aiden, and whether he was suited to the task.

Still others were gossip pieces, talking at length about his courtship of this nothing girl, Gwendolyn Browning.

Gwendolyn. Such an old name for such a young face, Judith thought, picking up one of the glossy gossip rags with a title she couldn't bother remembering. They were all the same, in any case.

Inside was a picture of this Gwen with Aiden at her side. Aiden had so much of his father in him. In the shape of his face, his stature. There were hints of his mother there, too, softening the often harsh Manning lines.

And then there was Gwendolyn. This little mouse of a girl whose nose looked about ready to twitch off her face.

Below all those glossy magazines were manila folders and envelopes. Most of them from private detectives or government agencies. All of them talking in great depth about this Gwen and her family. Some of them were from lawyers, discussing that obscene contract that Aiden had submitted to Gwen.

Just thinking about that left Judith queasy. How could Aiden have stooped to such a level? And for a girl so ordinary and plain as this one?

And all of them led Judith Manning to one inescapable conclusion: Gwen Browning was an opportunistic gold digger from a broken family out to get Aiden's money.

"We've arrived at the hotel, ma'am," the driver said, glancing at her in the rear view mirror and then quickly fixing his eyes back on the curved drive that led to the front doors of the opulent building as though looking at Judith for any length of time would incur her wrath.

"Excellent," Judith said, a small smile curving her thin, bloodless lips. Well, Gwen, and Aiden, too, were both in for quite the surprise.

***

GWEN AND AIDEN STOOD at the base of a grand, curving staircase. Paintings and portraits of stuffy aristocrats lined the white walls. Massive chandeliers hanging from the ceilings lent the warmth of their light to the foyer. Butlers and valets in their black suits moved about, helping guests with their luggage. It wasn't like an American hotel at all.

For one, it was much quieter. It was as though the age and grandeur of the old building held a sort of sanctity that few were loathe to break. People spoke in whispers.

Despite all that, Gwen couldn't help fidgeting, plucking at her dress. When Aiden noticed, he took her hands in his and caught her eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they're both fine. And stop that! You're going to start pulling threads out, and you know where that leads," he said.

Gwen could remember that moment at Astor's party back in New York as though it happened yesterday. Aiden pulling the loose string from her dress. He'd unraveled her whole life with that little motion. But she as glad of it, because now they were together.

"Maybe. Oh, I wish you'd arranged separate cars for them!"

"Oh, I'm sure they can sit with each other for the fifteen minutes or so it takes to get here from the airport," Aiden said.

Gwen gave him a sigh for that. He never understood the rift between her parents, and she never seemed able to explain it to him. He'd never known his mother, and the concept of bickering parents was alien to him.

"The last time their lawyers arranged a sit down," Gwen said, "Mom launched herself across the table at dad within five minutes. It took me and both the lawyers to unwrap her fingers from his throat."

She caught Aiden's small smile before he could hide it. And in retrospect, it was a rather comical scene: a grown man being choked on the floor of the solicitor's office by a small woman, three people trying to pry her hands away.

"And do you want to know why she did it? What made her come this close to murdering my dad in front of so many witnesses?"

Aiden shrugged.

"It took him too long to uncap the pen his lawyer gave him," she said. She remembered her mom screaming about how useless her father was, how he couldn't do anything right.

"So is it done with yet? Are they divorced?" Aiden said, watching the flow of people coming into the hotel.

"I don't know, actually. That meeting was just before we left for Europe. They were supposed to get everything signed there, but obviously they didn't."

They'd both made a point of disconnecting from their everyday lives while overseas. Aiden had delegated a great deal of the responsibility of running Carbide Solutions to various corporate minions and Gwen had made sure to tell her parents not to draw her into their bickering while away. This was supposed to be a time where Gwen and Aiden could be together, just the two of them enjoying the other's company.

"I'm sure they'll behave," Aiden said, "After all..." he started, but caught himself.

"After all what?" Gwen said. Why was Aiden being so weird and nervous all of a sudden?

Before she could continue that line of questioning, he nodded at the doors. When Gwen looked, she saw her parents come inside. Her father, David, his high forehead glinting in the light, stopped just within the foyer and squinted around, unintentionally blocking a pair of women behind him.

"I hate when you do that!" her mother, Barb, said, her voice easily audible across the foyer. David jumped at the sound of it and made a hasty apology to the women he'd blocked.

Gwen's heart somehow simultaneously dropped down into her stomach and rose up into her throat. Clearly, it hadn't been a pleasant ride over from the airport. David had pulled his tie loose and undone his top button, a permanent flinch fixed to his face that scrunched tighter every time Barb berated him about something.

Barb had apparently put her hair up in a bun, but all the shaking of her head from said beratings had undermined the hairdo, letting strands poke out at odd angles.

Both of them looked about ready to burst from hypertensive rage.

"Should we do something...?" Aiden said, seeing the way the valets and butlers kept eying the couple like the pair of crazy Americans they were.

"Definitely," Gwen replied. She towed Aiden along beside her, fixing a smile to her face.

David and Barb had launched into their millionth argument over who had forced whom to sell the house when Gwen cut in between them. "Mom! Dad! Isn't Switzerland beautiful?"

As usual, David and Barb both tucked their anger and frustration away in a futile effort to hide from their daughter how much they hated each other.

"Not as beautiful as you, baby!" David said, "Let me get a look at you." He hugged her close, then held her at arm's length so he could take her in. "Stunning, just stunning!"

Gwen laid it on thick, bubbling and gushing and blushing beneath her parents' praise. It wasn't all that hard to do.

Barb grabbed her by the arm and tugged her over out of David's grasp, going through the same motions. "Gwenny! Oh, my sweet baby! Look at you!" She squeezed Gwen so tight around the waist that spots swam across her eyes.

With a bit of Aiden's help, she extricated herself from the repeated bear hugs and took a step back. "How was the ride over?" Gwen said.

Barb and David glanced at each other, their eyes meeting and then deflecting. "Great," David said. "Comfortable," Barb inserted.

Gwen felt great pity for the driver of that car.

"I hope it was a pleasant flight?" Aiden said, offering his hand to David.

"Yes... Very nice, thank you..." David replied eying that proffered hand as though it were a snake in the grass. Apparently, he still hadn't forgotten Aiden trapping his hand in one of those prolonged Manning handshakes the first time they'd met, back in Gwen's old apartment in New York.

Aiden recalled it then, too, and let his arm drop. But before he could do anything else, Barb swept in. She'd seen David's discomfort and decided to capitalize on it in an attempt to ingratiate herself with Aiden.

"Still so strapping!" Barb said, holding both Aiden's hands and shooting a pointed, smug look over her shoulder at David. "It's so hard to find a good man these days. You're both so lucky," Barb said, looking first at Aiden and then at Gwen.

"Maybe you just don't know where to look," David said.

Gwen could sense another fight encroaching like a pressure change before a big storm. The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood.

Aiden sensed the same thing and swooped in to defuse the tension. "Why don't we get you both checked in? I'm sure after the flight and ride you're both ready to relax a little before the party starts."

"Good idea," David said, searching across the lobby for the auditor's desk.

Gwen watched Aiden lead them over while she massaged a knot of tension that had formed in her shoulder in the last few moments. The child in her hated that her parents were divorcing, but the rest of her knew it was the right choice for them. They couldn't stand to be near each other, and she wanted them to be happy. If only they could have been happy together.

More and more people began arriving, then. Aunts and uncles from both sides. Old Harvard friends from Aiden's college days (though thankfully not that Liam fellow, Gwen hated him quite a bit).

Gwen kept wondering when Beatrice would show up. Her friend had promised to make it. Though there was still no sign of her.

***

AIDEN COULDN'T HIDE the nervous energy any longer. He kept pulling his sleeve up to glance at the gold face of his watch. He knew that her plane had landed, and that the car had picked her up. So why wasn't she here? What was taking so long?

One polished shoe began tapping out a nervous beat on the equally polished floor. His bow tie felt too tight and he tugged it loose, only to retighten it a moment later. She would notice if it was loose. She would notice the tiniest scuff on his shoes, or an improper fold in his handkerchief. And God forbid if he left a button on his jacket undone...

"It's okay," Gwen said, squeezing his elbow. She smiled at him, and that helped calm him down. Her smiles always made him feel better. He knew it was a cliché, but when she smiled, it really did light up the whole room for him. The whole world, even.

Except then he ruined it by examining Gwen. Double checking that dress to make sure it didn't show too much cleavage, too much leg. Would she think Gwen modest enough? The anxiety started building again, bubbling in his stomach.

"She can't be that bad," Gwen said.

That earned her a small, pitying smile. "You've never met her," he said, "But let me give you an idea. Maybe it will help when she finally decides to show up. If you thought Henry was difficult, overbearing, manipulative..."

"And mean," Gwen interjected.

His smile grew a little. He loved Gwen's little quirks so much. "And mean, yes. Well, all those things and more, in any case. If you thought those about Henry, Judith is worse..."

"Impossible!" Gwen broke in again, that smile of hers making Aiden's heart jump.

"Gwen, darling, Henry learned everything he knew about all that from Judith. Where do you think he got it from?"

That got through to her. "Oh," she said.

Before they could continue, they both felt the burst of outside air from the lobby doors opening. Aiden knew before looking that it was her. He could feel her eyes seeking him out, finding him, latching on. He reached up to straighten his bow tie before remembering he'd already done so a moment earlier.

Everyone else sensed her presence, too. The valets and butlers and auditors and guests all quieted and looked in her direction.

No one had a sense of presence like Judith Manning. Not even Henry could so command a room just by walking into it. She swept towards them, the hem of her dark dress whisking just above the floor. She kept her hair dyed black, and despite her advanced age only a few wrinkles crossed her sharp, severe face.

When he was little, Aiden used to have nightmares about Grandmother Judith. He thought she was a witch, and that she'd swoop in through the window one night to take him away and throw him into an oven like in an old fairy tale.

An inkling of that primal, childish fear ran its cold fingers down his spine as she drew closer, and he had to steel himself against the sensation. He pulled himself up straight and fixed his eyes on hers. He also noticed a manila envelope pinned between her arm and side.

"Grandmother!" he said, "I was beginning to get worried! I'd like you to meet Gwen..."

Judith broke in, her sharp eyes narrowing as she examined Gwen. "Gwendolyn Gladys Browning, of Albany, New York. Daughter of David and Barbara Browning. Yes, I know all about her."

Reflexively, Gwen glanced around to see if anyone had heard Judith utter that middle name she hated so much.

Aiden's chest tightened. He knew right away that Judith hated Gwen. He could hear it in the tone of her voice, in the hardness of her eyes. And clearly Grandmother Judith had been doing more than a little detective work. It reminded him of the first time Henry had met Gwen. Of the suspicion and tension and ill promises.

But that was no matter, he told himself. Judith could hate Gwen all she liked, because Judith had no say in any of this. Not anymore, at least.

"It's so nice to meet you," Gwen said, trying to break some of the tension, offering her hand to Judith.

Judith eyed the appendage without accepting it. "I'm not so sure it is, at that."

"Oh... Okay, then... Well..." Gwen said.

Aiden began desperately searching for some way to end the interaction. It felt like all the heat had seeped out of the room. And his stupid bow tie was too tight, making it uncomfortable to breathe.

"We have matters to discuss, Aiden," Judith said. "Urgent matters that need tending to right away."

Aiden pulled up his cuff to take another glance at his watch. Pretty much everyone seemed to be here, now. It was almost time. They'd have the ballroom prepared by now.

"I'm afraid it will have to wait," Aiden said.

"And I'm afraid it can't!" Judith replied, leaning in close, "I will not let you disgrace yourself and this family..."

"Whoa! This place is snazzy! Hey, girl!"

"Beatrice!" Gwen said, rushing to meet her friend.

Aiden could have kissed Beatrice at that moment. Her arrival broke the tension, and he felt his shoulders relaxing. "Excuse me, but I have to go. We can discuss your issue after the party," Aiden said, silently adding: or never at all, with any luck. Especially since he had certain other plans for how to spend the time after the party with Gwen involving champagne and a lack of clothes.

It felt oh so satisfying to leave Judith gawping and wagging her jaw, unable to say anything.

"Hi, Beatrice," Aiden said, approaching the two hugging women. Beatrice had a couple large suitcases on wheels behind her.

"Hello, handsome!" Beatrice said, somehow enfolding Aiden in a huge hug despite her rather petite frame. It had been a few months since Aiden had last seen her, and he'd almost forgotten just how exuberant and forceful Gwen's best friend's personality could be. For a moment there, he wanted to introduce Beatrice to Judith and then just stand back and observe the outcome. He didn't know which of them he'd pity more.

Beatrice finally released him. "This place is so swanky," she said, not bothering to control the volume of her voice. Aiden could practically feel the valets and butlers getting miffed at the noisy American who so brazenly violated the code of quiet.

"I'm sure that's what they were going for," Aiden said. He could also feel Judith's eyes drilling twin holes into the back of his tuxedo jacket.

"Gwenny! Why didn't you tell me Beatrice had arrived?" Barb said.

"Hello, Beatrice," David added.

They'd both checked into their separate rooms (and Aiden had double checked with the auditor that they were in separate rooms) and come down right away it seemed, neither wanting to give any advantage to the other.

"Gwenny was a little busy," Beatrice said, giving Gwen an evil look. She hugged Barb and David while Gwen shook her head and muttered something about not being five years old anymore.

"I hope your car ride over was better than mine," Barb said, tilting her head back to David in a pointed motion.

"Well it couldn't have been any worse!" David broke in.

A valet at the other side of the room caught Aiden's attention and motioned toward a set of opulent doors leading into the ballroom. The party was ready. Aiden waved back, his fingers shaking and a lump forming in his throat. Now that the moment was here, it was all happening so fast!

Like a well-oiled machine, the valets and butlers went into immediate action. Some approached guests still loitering in the foyer, directing them towards the ballroom. Others went to the stairs or the elevator to alert people who'd gone to their rooms.

"Aiden, we must speak at once!" Judith said, appearing at his side and plucking at his elbow. She waved that manila folder in his face.

With everything happening around him, Aiden's irritation replaced his normal apprehension at being in his grandmother's presence. Before she could say any more, Aiden took her by the arm and led her over to Barb and David, who'd just begun another bout regarding who was going to sue whom for lawyer fees.

Aiden smiled at them. "David? Barb? I'd like to introduce you to my grandmother, Judith. Don't worry, she probably already knows everything about you."

As Aiden walked away, he again didn't know who to pity more. And there was also a twinge of guilt over pushing them together like that. He just needed Judith out of the way for a little while longer.

Gwen and Beatrice were talking excitedly, catching up about affairs back in New York. Aiden watched for a moment, taking in every detail of Gwen's face as she smiled and laughed. He loved the way the corners of her eyes crinkled when she was happy. He loved the way she held herself, the way her body moved. And there was something just so incredibly arousing about that modest dress he'd made her wear that made him frustrated about having to wait until after the party to tear it off her.

Thinking about the party, he ran his hands up and down his jacket again. His left palm found what he wanted: the small bump of the object hidden within his inside pocket.

More nervous energy burst inside him, leaving him trembling. "Gwen? Beatrice? The party's about to start," he said.