Chapter 830

And yet, someone else had beaten her to the punch.

That young girl was several years younger than Dane. Could he really be interested in someone that young?

If this was just the elders pulling strings, maybe there was still a chance to turn things around.

His biggest fear was that Dane was genuinely falling for her.

Dane escorted Claire back to the Churchill estate.

The Churchill family had been anxiously waiting for her return.

Padgett was more than a little displeased upon learning that she had spent the night at the Green residence.

“Why didn’t you come straight home? If I had known, I would have sent one of the boys to pick you up at the airport.”

Padgett shot Dane a sideways glare, convinced the young man was a manipulative schemer.

He had probably dragged the poor girl back to his house on purpose.

Claire flashed a sweet smile. “It was getting late, and I didn’t want you all to worry.”

“They need to sleep too, right?”

Dane echoed her explanation almost word for word.

However, with Claire running interference, Padgett’s irritation with him instantly vanished.

Dane ended up staying for lunch.

At the dining table, Padgett grilled him about the West End development project in Apex, but Dane answered every question flawlessly.

Claire, meanwhile, was entirely focused on the food.

Every time she returned to the Churchill estate, her grandfather would have the kitchen prepare a massive feast.

Whatever dish she showed the slightest interest in would magically appear on the menu the next time she visited.

It was a complete 180 from the treatment she had received at the James family.

Latham and Octavia had never cared about her preferences; they only ever ordered the kitchen to cook what their precious family of three liked.

Octavia would constantly belittle her, lecturing her about how true socialites shouldn’t be gluttonous and needed to maintain their figures.

Claire knew it was absolute nonsense, but she hadn’t bothered to argue.

If Octavia didn’t let her eat, she simply wouldn’t eat at the James residence.

But outside those walls, she ate to her heart’s content.

As if intentionally rebelling against Octavia, she completely disregarded all the

dietary restrictions once she was out of the house.

Once she started making her own money, she bought whatever the hell she wanted.

Claire suspected that the Churchills

had looked into her past, discovered how miserable her life at the James house had been, and were now aggressively overcompensating with food.

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They treated her exceptionally well, and her grandfather was beyond wonderful. Claire was more than happy to be a devoted granddaughter.

She couldn’t care less about their corporate talk.

She had brought back a massive haul of premium medicinal herbs for Padgett, as well as gifts for her uncles, Caleb and Bishop and their

wives, Victoria and Eleanor Content.

As for her three brothers, they were still young and resilient, so they didn’t get any medicinal treats.

However, everyone got to enjoy the rare mountain delicacies she had brought.

If the James Village really wanted to strike it rich, they could have easily done so by selling their medicinal herbs.

But the herbs growing on the mountainside had been carefully cultivated and

passed down for generations; the villagers rarely sold them to outsiders.

Most people didn’t know their true worth, but the few pieces that did hit the market sold for an astronomical price.

Like Dane, who had practically begged at her door for an Agarwood pillow.

Cindy and Octavia, blind to its value, had treated it like a worn-out, worthless piece of junk.

Yet Dane had willingly offered millions of dollars for it.

The Churchills, on the other hand, had an exquisite eye for quality.

Knowing that Claire had put so much thought into her gifts, her uncles and aunts were deeply touched, praising their niece for her incredible thoughtfulness.

Later, Caleb pulled Claire aside privately.

“Claire, since you’re such a brilliant medical expert and brought us all these amazing herbs, take a look at me. My temples are already gorg gray. Do you have any remedies for that?”

“Victoria takes such good care of herself, she looks like she’s barely in her early forties. Meanwhile, I…”

He was constantly stressed, which naturally aged him faster.

When his wife dressed up, people easily believed she was in her thirties.

He absolutely refused to be mistaken for her father whenever they went out together.