Finn marched straight toward Dane and Claire, determined to get to the bottom of this.
"Why are you creeping up on us?" Dane asked, not even bothering to turn around.
Finn had been trailing them, thinking he was being stealthy. He hadn't expected to be outed so quickly.
Dane wouldn't have even bothered calling him out if Finn hadn't been shuffling around so annoyingly behind them.
"I'm just curious where you managed to kidnap such a lovely girl," Finn chuckled, stepping into their line of sight.
Claire observed him quietly. Finn was a completely different breed from Dane. He didn't have Dane's striking, intimidating aura, but he had a playful charm. He carried that relaxed, slightly lazy posture of someone born into immense wealth, though the sharp glint in his eyes betrayed a clever mind. These elite heirs were certainly trained well.
"Cut the nonsense. Didn't your grandfather fill you in?" Dane drawled.
Finn had obviously just come from Kendrick's side, otherwise, he wouldn't be acting so nosy.
"He chewed me out, actually," Finn complained. "Said you finally managed to land a woman, while I'm still riding solo."
"I was coming to pick a fight with you."
"We made a blood pact to be lifelong bachelors, man. Why did you back out on me?"
Finn played the wounded victim to perfection, but Dane looked at him like he was an idiot. He rolled his eyes. "I never agreed to that."
"Introduce us then, man," Finn said, finally dropping the goofy act.
Dane obliged. "Claire, my fiancée. Keep it quiet for now, it's not public yet."
"Claire, this is Finn, a childhood buddy of mine."
Claire wasn't surprised by the childhood connection. Finn, however, looked like he'd been struck by lightning.
He had assumed she was just a casual giftfriend Dane had decided to show off. A late bloomer falling hard, maybe But to hear Dare deadpan the word 'fiancée' was a shock to the system.
"Dane, when the hell did you get engaged? You didn't even tell your own friends!"
"I just told you it's a secret," Dane replied easily, hiding nothing from his close friend. "She's still young, and
her familys still vetting me We won't announce it for another couple of years."
Finn blinked in confusion. "Baldrick is vetting you?"
Dane shot him a flat look. "Her family is vetting me."
Finn burst out laughing. "You? Being vetted? Who do they think you are?"
He looked at Claire, totally devoid of malice, just sheer curiosity. "Are you actual royalty, Claire?"
What kind of crazy family wasn't
immediately satisfied with a billionaire like Dane? No wonder it was a secret-they probably didn't want Dane dragging down thei daughter's reputation Finn's ey darted between them. A guy as elite as Dane needed to prove himself? Who exactly was this girl?
Claire smiled serenely. "It's just about giving both of us the freedom to choose. I'm young, just starting college. I'll meet a lot of people."
"And Dane is gorgeous-I'm sure women throw themselves at him constantly. What
if he can't resist temptation?"
It was the unspoken understanding between their families.
Finn stared at her. "...Hearing you say that makes this engagement sound incredibly fragile."
So they were just allowed to back out whenever?
In Finn's eyes, Dane was the absolute peak of their social circle. He couldn't fathom
this young college girl ever finding someone better.
As for Dane, cheating was a laughable concept. If the man was susceptible to temptation, he'd have a dozen kids by now given the number of women begging for his attention.
Claire let out a soft laugh. "Oh, it's solid. After all, this arrangement was made by our parents' generation."