“No explanations necessary, my dear.” Nigel reached out and patted my arm. Then he grinned. “I think I wrecked Jack’s mind, telling him I liked you, too.”
I laughed. Oh, he certainly had, the sneaky man.
A knock sounded, and the door opened. The dark-haired maid, Milly, stood aside as a tall, elegant woman with white, jaw-length hair glided inside, her gaze taking in everything with one sweep.
The woman radiated upper-class breeding in the aristocratic lines of her barely wrinkled face and blade-like nose. Her thin lips appeared like a slash of pink in her pale face. I didn’t follow the who’s who of San Francisco, so I had no idea who she was.
“Margo, finally, you deem me worthy of your esteemed presence,” Nigel drawled.
Margo?This haughty ice queen was Jack’s maternal grandmother?
I couldn’t see the resemblance. Jack was earthy. Sensual. Alive.
This woman appeared as if she belonged to a winter world. Thank God, Jack took after the Griffin side.
“And you still breathe,” she retorted, her cool brown eyes flicking my way then dismissing me. “Though I wondered when I heard. I had to come and see for myself.”
Wow. That was callous and cruel.
Nigel didn’t seem to care. He remained as affable as ever. “The devil and I made a bargain, for me to outlast you, then I’ll give him my soul.”
“Girl,” she flicked her fingers at me. “I’ll have Earl Grey,” said the queen of England.
“Margo,” Nigel’s tone turned to ice. “This is Rayen Logan, a friend.”
Her mouth thinned, she stared down at him, ignoring me. Any “hello” died in my throat. “Rather young, isn’t she?”
“Fishing gets you nowhere, you battle-ax. Now, why are you here?” He arched a gray eyebrow, seeming completely unfazed by the cold woman. The sliding door opened, and Jack stepped inside. The smile that started died the moment he laid eyes on his grandmother, his stoic mask back in place.
Nigel wasn’t done. “Ray is my companion.”
“Is that what you’re calling it these days, old man?”
“Grandmother, that’s enough,” Jack said, his tone like a razor, his features hard.
My cue to excuse myself and leave. I didn’t want to get caught up in their family disputes, considering that no one had visited Nigel after his heart attack. Especially given Jack’s cryptic comment the first evening as we left the hospital.
“I’ll come back later,” I told Nigel and rose. I made for the door, not daring to look at Jack. But I felt that cold, brown stare on my back as if I wore a bull’s-eye.
A shudder rippled through me. People like Margo Blackstone, who came from the upper echelons, moved in a whole other orbit. And they liked staying there, even marrying in the same circle. Me? I was just space dust in her eyes.
Thank God Jack and Nigel were nothing like her.
“Since I’m here—” Her cold tone iced up the air in the bedroom. “Jack, we need to talk about your pre-nuptial contracts with Hannah Jaeger. You can’t keep avoiding this.”
Wait—what?My hand froze on the doorknob. I spun around, so sure I’d heard wrong. But the anger in Jack’s eyes had my heart crashing against my ribs.
“Pre-nuptial contracts?” I whispered, the words reverberating inside my skull like a death-knell. “You…you’re getting married?”
18
Ray
I stood there,feeling as if my world had shifted off its axis and shattered. “You’re getting married, and you didn’t tell me?”
“Why would he?” Margo Blackstone cut me a dismissive look. “You’re just the help.”
“Grandmother!” Jack snapped, striding toward me.
