Page 1 of Duncan

Chapter One

The cabin’s overhead lights blanched Nicole Fairburn’s apricot hair, rendering it almost as pale as her fair skin. Combined with the silver beaded gown she wore, she resembled a very tense ghost version of herself. With the soothing movement of the sea all around her, she should have relaxed while she finished dressing. Yet the annual family reunion party on her father’s mega yacht, which was sailing from Martha’s Vineyard to Boston, meant navigating a maze of relatives, all of whom wanted to use her influence over her father. Listening to Brittany Alston complain while they got ready for the banquet was pleasant by comparison.

“Eww. This lipstick makes me look like a sloppy vampire,” her cousin said as she frowned at the cabin’s wall mirror. “Speaking of monsters, Peaches, I wouldn’t eat or drink anything tonight if I were you. Someone probably dropped some bugs or spit in it.”

“The caterers wouldn’t allow it,” Nicole said, shuddering at the thought.

Brittany hmphed. “Anyone can be bribed.”

Being the daughter of one of the richest men in the world made most people envy her, but Nicole had thought at least her father’s relatives would give her a pass. It wasn’t as if they could complain about her conduct; she didn’t waste her generous allowance on partying, shopping or jet-setting around the world. Since graduating college she’d spent most of her time working to help those less fortunate. Despite that, she couldn’t escape being Maxwell Fairburn’s daughter, or the fact that she had been cherished and pampered since the day she’d been born.

A princess doesn’t complain about her advantages, her aunt Merry, who wasn’t at all like the rest of the family, would say. She uses them to help others. Do good with yours, sweetness.

“I’m sure you’re wrong, Ritzie.” Nicole glanced over her shoulder. “Have I done something to upset the family?”

“No, but they all hate you anyway.” The other girl fluffed her bangs. “You’re so clueless, Peaches. You never think about what you’re going to inherit. All of our relatives work for Uncle Max because he owns a huge international corporate empire. Forbes talks about him so often he should have his own dedicated page. God does not have as much money as your old man.”

“You’ll have to check with the Vatican on that,” she countered, finally able to relax a little. “I still don’t see how my father’s wealth justifies spit and bugs in my dinner.”

“You’re living a super cushy life with all the perks in Martha’s Vineyard, plus Aspen, San Francisco, and Washington DC, as well as any place you go on vacation,” her cousin countered. “The staff at every estate adores you and lives to make you happy. You eat gourmet food every day, wear clothes custom-designed for you, and had the best education money could buy. You could do nothing but shop for the rest of your life, and you’d barely make a dent in the Fairburn fortune. You can also have any guy you want, because you’re sweet, pretty and always look fantastic, but you live like a nun.” She made a helpless gesture. “I mean, what’s not to hate?”

Probably another long list of things she’d never asked for or wanted, Nicole thought as she dabbed a little perfume on her wrists. “Should I give up my super cushy life, then, and go live in a cave in the mountains?”

“Uncle Max would never let you leave without a GPS implant,” her cousin assured her. “He’d also hire Jean Louis-Deniot to design the cave interior, Alain Ducasse to cook cave food for you, and a team of ex-Green Berets to guard the entire mountain range. Hey, you never told me what Uncle Max gave you for graduating Stanford with honors. Was it that very fine cherry Lambo I saw parked by the docks?”

“That’s Hudson’s graduation Lamborghini,” she corrected her as she fastened around her neck a silver chain with the red stone leaf pendant that had belonged to her aunt.

Brittany made a snorting sound. “Figures. What about that gorgeous apricot Bentley with the sapphire-blue interior that I saw your dad’s driver parking at the docks?”

“That’s the car Dad tried to give me. I gave it back and instead had him send a donation in my name to Feeding America.” She saw her cousin’s reflection scowl, and chided, “Ritz, who rides around in a car that matches the colors of their hair and eyes?”

The other girl made a scathing sound. “If my pops wasn’t so cheap, I would. A golden Ferrari with green silk interior.”

“Your eyes are hazel, and silk always makes you sweat,” Nicole reminded her.

“Shut up, Peach Head.” She pouted at the mirror. “Daddy wants me to get a part-time job and live in campus housing while I’m doing my post grad at Harvard, can you believe that? Like I’m some grubby scholarship student.”

“I waited tables while I was at Stanford,” Nicole mentioned. “It was fun, plus I got to meet a lot of people.” Her father hadn’t let her use her real name or live on campus, however.

“You love doing things like that. It’s like you were born poor but got switched at the hospital. Not me.” The younger girl went over to the porthole to look out at the ocean. “I love being rich and privileged, but I hate my father. I think I’m starting to hate you, too.”

“I hope you change your mind.” She picked up their wraps and went to drape Brittany’s over her shoulders. “Because I like you a lot.”

That was true, as they had been friends since they were toddlers. When they were little Brittany hadn’t cared about who had the most toys or the prettiest dresses. Only over time had she noticed the differences between them, especially when Maxwell had begun restricting who saw Nicole. By the time they were teenagers her cousin was only allowed to visit on her birthday and Christmas, and they’d drifted apart. It didn’t help that her mother kept pushing her daughter to copy her cousin.

“Why do you always make me hate myself?” Her cousin breathed on the round circle of glass and drew an unhappy face in the patch of mist. “On top of everything else, you’re nice to me and everyone no matter what.”

“I’ve gotten into plenty of fights with you,” she chided. “Remember when you wanted to set fire to your sister’s doll collection?”

“Right, I gave you a black eye for flushing the matches. If not for that I probably would have burned us both alive, too.” She turned around and hugged her. “Sorry, Peach.”

She patted her back. “See? We might as well be sisters.”

“You can say that because you’ve never had one.” Brittany pulled back and rolled her eyes. “Cam is such a waste of oxygen. Did I tell you what she did to me the other day? I went to see if she’d taken my new Chanel bag, and she came storming into the closet like I was a burglar or something…”

As Nicole listened to her latest tale of sibling rivalry, she thought of her brother, Hudson Ellis. After his parents were killed in a house fire, Maxwell had brought the twelve-year-old orphan to live with them. Nicole had been the same age, and had always wanted a sibling, so at first she had been delighted. She’d tried to befriend Hudson, but he’d simply ignored her and fawned on her father. Over the last six months her brother had been hanging around her a lot more, but his smiles never reached his eyes.

Why does he keep hovering and watching me?