There was something off about the way he said that. He was certainly fixated on this, but of course he would be, since he was so focused on sex. For whatever reason. He should probably go to therapy. “It was a therapy marriage, so I could use him as a shield from everything I was afraid of facing, and I don’t think he wants me after everything with his sister. I’m not a good person.” A lump crowded my throat like I was going to startreally bawling, but that didn’t matter if Clint was actually going to help me destroy Philippe.
He nodded slowly. “But he makes you want to be better?”
“No. I want to be better for myself. I don’t get to keep him after all of this is over, but I’m keeping myself, and I intend to be something worth keeping.”
He sighed heavily. “It sounds as if your therapy is working. Send me the files about this merger and eat your lunch before your lettuce wilts. You detest wilted lettuce.”
I smiled slightly, sent the files, and started eating. “Actually,” I said, after three bites. “I don’t like lettuce much at all, unless it’s on a hamburger. There’s this place in Vegas called Purple Turtles, and it has the best burgers and malts, but you have to watch out for the waitresses, who objectify all the handsome men.”
“I am very handsome.”
“Much handsomer than Dirk.”
His lips twitched, but he didn’t look up from his phone, where he was scrolling through the papers. “I’m glad that we agree on the important things. I have an uncle who has a large ranch in Wyoming. When I spent summers there, my job was to watch the grill, so the burgers wouldn’t burn. I’m actually somewhat accomplished at burger making. Perhaps I’ll get a job at this Purple Turtles.”
“They’d hire you just to attract customers, but I’m not sure how you’d do on roller skates.”
He looked up at me, one brow raised. “That sounded slightly flirtatious, Mrs. Dagger. I’ve just about made up my mind to let him have you without a struggle, but if you continue to say such things I’ll be tempted to use my newfound knowledge about your true character to seduce you. It would only be fair.”
I stared at him, bewildered by the change in his tone. “You don’t want?—”
“A dog? Actually, I do. In fact, I’m going to get one as soon as I’ve decided on the breed. Perhaps I’ll adopt a mutt at the nearest shelter, one that needs the most affection I can dig out of my poor, deviant chest. You’re shocked. That’s the second time I’ve interrupted you. Eat your salad, Daniela. I need to concentrate to make certain you aren’t taking advantage of my good nature.”
I frowned at him and took a bite. I wouldn’t call his nature good, but I did like his mother.
After I ate my lunch, I stood. “The meeting is at four. You have the address. Thank you, Clint. You don’t know how grateful I am.”
He smiled slightly as he stood. “I’m sorry. I took you against your will. I wanted you, so I told myself that it’s what you wanted, but I knew somewhere down in my conscience, which I try to ignore. I’m glad that I kept you from some of your grandfather’s harm.”
I sniffed and shook my head, for some reason feeling like I was going to cry again. Yep. I hurried out of the restaurant and then stopped abruptly when I saw Dirk’s mother headed right towards me, little dog tucked under her arm like an external vengeful spirit.
“You!” she hissed as she came at me, teeth bared. “You think that you can marry my son and then carry on in public with the most disreputable man in society? How dare you?” She raised her hand as if she might slap me. Would I let her or would I slice her jugular open with the knife I’d automatically palmed from the nearest table? At least the lunch crowd had thinned out so only half a dozen people could witness this debacle.
A woman from a nearby table stood and caught her wrist, then shook her hand, turning the whole thing into a smooth greeting. Clint’s mother, dressed in a navy skirt suit and pearl earrings, was the absolute epitome of taste and gentility. She waswhat every little Bostonian girl should aspire to, the best thing about Clint, and I was tattered and tear-streaked, with a knife clutched in my fist. Maybe I was better-suited to Dirk’s mother after all.
“I have to congratulate you, Michelle,” Karen, Clint’s mother, said in arch tones as she grimly clung to Mrs. Prescott’s hand. The dog yapped twice and kicked its legs, like it wanted to take a bite out of somebody.
“You should have a word with your son about consorting with certain undesirables,” Dirk’s mom sneered, shooting me a contemptuous sneer.
Karen raised her impeccably groomed brows. “You couldn’t possibly be referring to your own dear daughter-in-law, are you?” She released the other woman’s hand and then laughed right in her face. “I beg your pardon,” she said, covering her mouth demurely. “Are you truly not aware of who it is, exactly, that your son married? She’s not only the finest musician I’ve ever met, and as everyone knows, cultivation and breeding come out the most beautifully in the expression of music, but she’s also Haversham’s granddaughter. I know some people don’t like the way he does business, but who would dare cut him, or his granddaughter, particularly after they’ve already married into the family? I personally congratulate you on gaining the most delightful daughter-in-law you could possibly ask for, over any of her other more material qualities. She is modest, loyal, hard-working, generous, and such excellent conversation. I must steal her away this moment. I’ve missed her so.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door, slipping her arm around my waist like it was the most natural thing in the world.
When I looked over my shoulder, Dirk’s mother was staring after me with two spots of color on her otherwise very pale cheeks, shock warring with horror. I slipped the knife onto thenext table we passed, and then we were out in the foyer, heading towards the elevator.
“You know, she’s exactly as bad as she seems,” she said, then laughed. “She’s always been so afraid that her children would run amok, and those fears chased them right into what she was afraid of. That’s one of the things you have to realize about fear, that the fear itself is so much worse than the reality. Thank you for the time you spent with my son, helping him connect with his feelings. When your grandfather accepted Clint’s offer, agreeing to allow him to meet you, we were all so delighted, but of course?—”
“What do you mean? Clint’s offer?”
“It’s old-fashioned, I know, but out of all the eligible women, he chose you before you met, perhaps because you already had a reputation for being so private and austere, so he imagined that you’d reject him and he could go back to being the miserable playboy he was before he’d decided to settle down. It wasn’t ideal for either family, not with our different business interests, but I wanted so much for Clint to open up his heart to someone before he became set in his ways.”
My skin went hot and cold while I frowned at her. “Before we met?”
“I believe he heard you play in a practice room when he went to see a friend of his at your charming school long ago. He mentioned it. The most talented cellist in the country who never smiled except when she was playing. I knew your mother. Not personally, of course, because she was as guarded as you are, but I always thought she had great courage for marrying a musician instead of one of the more appropriate candidates.” Appropriate because they were super serum babies?
“I’m sorry, you’re saying that Clint requested a meeting with me before we met at the gala? He didn’t mention it. Mygrandfather only said that he wanted me to convince him to do business with us.”
She waved an airy hand. “Well, it’s always business, even in marriage. I am sorry that you aren’t going to join our family, but the Prescotts are adequate, although they are rather inflexible on points of law, which can become extremely tedious. Here’s your elevator. Give Michelle some time to get used to the idea, and she’ll be insisting that you come home for holidays. I need to get back to my lunch companion.” She saw me off on the elevator while I stared at her, feeling like the world had dumped me on my head again.
Had I not seduced Clint after all? Had he been willing enough to close the business with me based on nothing more than a hostile attitude and an aptitude for music? Why hadn’t my grandfather told me that I was being sold off to continue the super serum line? Because I would have refused. It had to have an element of challenge or I wouldn’t have done it. He’d played me so perfectly.
