Free Soliman, Wendy - The Name of the Game (BookStrand Publishing Romance) by Wendy Soliman Page A

getting to that. But first you need to understand a bit more about my relationship with Charlie.”
    Ashley glanced at his features, twisted with bitterness, and realized how much it was costing him to reveal the sordid details of the family’s soft underbelly, even to her.
    “You don’t have to tell me, Matt,” she said softly.
    “Yeah, I do. It’s relevant.” He drained his glass, refilled both, and strode about the room, presumably to assemble his thoughts. “When his parents died, Charlie came to live with us. I was ten at the time, and he was eight. My mother had had several miscarriages after she had me and eventually accepted that she wouldn’t have any more children. And so being “gifted” another son was a dream come true for her. And for me. The strain of being an only child in a family where I was expected by my father to excel at absolutely everything I did was already beginning to tell. I welcomed Charlie with open arms, and at first we got along fine. Charlie joined me at Winchester, where I was already a boarder—”
    “Where your boys are now?”
    “Yes, but that’s when I started to realize just what a competitive streak Charlie possesses. He wanted to beat everyone at everything, both academically and, where he excelled most, on the sports field. The trouble was, although he had a good brain, he was too lazy to use it and resorted to cheating so that his results always trumped mine. I did well academically, through sheer hard work, but Charlie did better by using his wits to beat the system.”
    “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Ashley said, a wry twist to her lips.
    “As the years went on, that’s all that seemed to matter to him. It was a compulsion that I never understood. I’d never been unpleasant to him, helped him to settle at school, and tried to be his friend.” Matt sighed. “It was a long time before I realized it was my father he was trying to impress, and to do that, he felt the need to trump everything I did.”
    Ashley was totally fascinated by what Matt’s account. “What compelled him?” she asked. “Why did it matter to him so much?”
    “I never found that out. I guess it’s just the way he was. And still is.”
    “Go on,” she said when Matt paused for a little too long.
    “When it came to university time, I managed to win a place at Oxbridge to read Law. Charlie was unable to cheat with his A-level exams, the system had been tightened up by then, and his grades weren’t good enough to get him into a decent college. Instead, he went straight into the business, doing what he does best, using his charm to get new business on the books. I was happy for him because it took the pressure off me. I knew my father wanted me to follow in his footsteps, and we’d disagreed about it. I wanted to be a barrister, you see.”
    Ashley, chin propped in her hand, offered him the ghost of a smile. “Then why didn’t you do that?”
    “I was in my final year at Oxford, doing well. My father was delighted about that and kept banging on about it. I subsequently discovered that it drove Charlie demented. I’ve often thought that was the real start of the rift between us.”
    Ashley blew air through her lips. “It’s too ridiculous for words.”
    “Yes, but that was just the start of it. It got a damned sight worse when Peter married Stephanie and Eve burst on the scene.” Matt stared off into the distance. “She was just sixteen and the most beautiful thing either of us had ever seen. Charlie was instantly smitten, I could tell that much because I was, too. Young as she was, Eve knew the power her looks afforded her, even then. She went out with us separately, and together, forcing us to be civil to one another.”
    “Playing you off against each other?”
    “Yes, she enjoyed the power she wielded over us, I can see that now. Anyway, it went on for over a year. Charlie had her to himself whilst I was at college, but as soon as I came home for the holidays she