Beautiful Secret

Four pairs of eyes moved from Ruby’s face down her svelte body to her feet and back up before turning to me with renewed brightness.

Bloody hell.

I knew without having to hear one word from his mouth what my wanker of a brother was thinking. I gave him a subtle shake of my head but his grin only expanded.

Everyone stood, greeting me and introducing themselves to Ruby in turn. Hands were grasped, names given, and pleasantries exchanged. A tangle of nerves clutched me. This no longer felt like a business dinner or even a social dinner with my mates. It felt somehow that Ruby was on display, that I was presenting her. That this was an introduction.

“I feel like I’m at a job interview,” she said as she took her seat beside George on a red velvet sofa. “All these suits.”

I swallowed, feeling my face heat in embarrassment and relief as I realized she hadn’t shared my sense about the evening. We hadn’t been flirting after all.

I was rubbish at reading cues.

“The danger of Midtown, I’m afraid,” Bennett said with an easy smile, and waved down the waitress to come take our order.

“A gin and tonic, with as many limes as you can get in there,” Ruby said, and then glanced briefly at the limited bar menu. “And the prosciutto sandwich, please.”

A woman with a fondness for gin and tonics, my favorite evening cocktail? Christ almighty. Even Max caught my eye, brows raised as if to say, Well, well, well.

“I’ll have the same,” I said, handing the waitress the menu. “Though one lime is fine.”

“So how do you all know each other?” Ruby asked Max.

“Well,” he tilted his head toward me, “this one’s my younger brother, of course.”

Ruby smiled. “I heard there’s quite a gaggle of you.”

“That’s right,” Max said with a small laugh. “Ten of us.” He pointed to the men at his side. “Bennett here I met in uni; Will I met when I moved to New York and we made the poor decision to open a business together—”

“Your wallet cries in regret daily,” Will said, dryly.

“George here works with my wife, Sara,” Max finished.

“I’m her Boy Friday,” George clarified. “In charge of schedule, refilling the flasks in her desk, and hiding Page Six from her whenever she and Max get caught out and about.”

With the five of us already acquainted, our attention justifiably fell to Ruby, though I suspect mine may have regardless. In the dim candlelight, and against the backdrop of mirrored walls, heavy velvet curtains, and the dramatic polished wooden décor, she seemed to nearly glow.

“How long have you lived in London?” Bennett asked. “You’re clearly not British.”

“San Diego native,” she said and reached up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Bennett’s eyebrows rose. “My wife and I were married at the Hotel Del on Coronado.”

“Gorgeous!” Ruby’s smile could light this room in the dead of night. “I’ve been to a couple of weddings there and they were stunning.” Ruby thanked the waitress when she set down her drink, and lifted it to take a sip. “I graduated last June and moved to London in September, so about six months,” she said. “I’m in the internship program for one year at Richardson-Corbett, but I’m attending Oxford this fall for graduate school.”

“Ah, another urban planner?” Max asked, glancing over at me.

“No,” Ruby said, shaking her head a little. “Structural engineering.”

My brother sighed in mock relief. “So then you’ll agree with me that urban planning is the most boring profession ever created?”

Laughing, Ruby shook her head again. “I hate to disappoint you, but I was an urban planning—public policy minor.” Max groaned playfully. “I hope to eventually come back to Southern California in a superhero costume and completely revolutionize the mass transit system there, or the lack thereof.”

I found myself leaning closer a little, to hear her better.

“Southern California is clogged with cars,” she said in the continued silence. “Everyone travels between southern cities by car and train, but there isn’t an easy way to navigate cities from within without driving. Los Angeles grew so fast and so wide without an integrated transportation system, so it will be about retrofitting an already complicated urban setting.”

Looking to me, she said as an aside, “It’s why I want to work with Maggie.” Taking a drink then going back to the others, she explained, “Margaret Sheffield, the woman I hope to study under, helped design building infrastructure around established Tube stations and in tight urban spaces. She’s kind of a genius.”