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I met her eyes. “I just lost my grandfather,” I said quietly.
“Oh, spare me!” Mary Alice said dramatically. “If you’d cared about him at all, you would have spent more time here. I know as well as anyone that you haven’t been home to Mariposa in five years, and if a fortune wasn’t on the line, then you probably wouldn’t have come now.”
“Well, I’m shit out of luck with the fortune, aren’t I?” I snapped, finally having had enough of Malice.
“Don’t be vulgar. We’ll overturn Granda’s absurd will and we’ll get what’s fair. Even if we can’t, Podge has always been the best of us—she wouldn’t let such an injustice pass.”
No, I wouldn’t. I wasn’t so sure about Bella, however. How long did she mean to continue this crazy masquerade? Was it up to me to put it to rest?
“I wonder where Ian is.” Valerie spoke up suddenly, a rare case of her initiating a conversation. “He took off just after Kitty arrived and we haven’t seen him since.”
“It must have something to do with the will,” Mary Alice said reprovingly. “But if he thinks I’m going to sit around waiting for him to fix this, he’ll be greatly surprised.”
“Nothing you do can surprise me, Mary Alice.” Ian’s smooth voice came from behind me, and I felt my stomach drop.
I turned to look at him, but his eyes were focused on Mary Alice, and I felt the first inkling of anxiety. He hadn’t promised anything, said anything last night. He looked tired, a stubble of beard on his thin face, work clothes on his long, lean body. He didn’t even glance in my direction.
“Don’t be unpleasant, Ian,” Mary Alice said. “Did you discover anything useful today? I presume you went to see Mr. Fergell?”
“I did.” He took a casual step toward her, his back toward me.
“Well?”
“We’ve got the funeral tomorrow, Mary Alice. Can’t you wait till that’s taken care of?” he drawled.
“No, I can’t. This entire thing is absurd, Bella and I were just discussing it, and I think it needs to be set straight immediately. Now that Podge is here, it should be easily settled.”
“Where is she?” He still didn’t look at me.
“She’s gone off someplace with Marcus, and we haven’t the faintest idea when they’re getting back. Do they even know we’re having such a rushed funeral service?”
“They know. For the time being, there’s nothing we can do. We’ll wait till after the funeral to fight over his remains.”
“You always had an unpleasant tongue on you,” Mary Alice said with a shudder. “You could at least tell us whether you’ve found out any good news.”
“I could. Good news for one person can be bad news for another.” For the briefest of moments, his eyes glanced at me, then shifted away, and I wanted to shiver from the coldness in his gaze. It was as if last night had never happened.
And then he dismissed me. “I’m going back to my rooms. I have work to do, and I need some time alone.”
He was gone before I could say anything. Not that there was much I could say. He’d made it very clear that he wanted nothing to do with me, and I wondered what the lawyer had come up with to turn him off so completely. Was I going to jail for what I’d done?
“Are you two fighting?” Valerie spoke up.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Valerie, they’re always fighting,” Mary Alice said. “They hate each other—you can see it in their eyes.”
Not in my eyes. He needed time alone, did he? I was tempted to storm across the courtyard, up the stairs to his apartment and...and...
And leave him alone. He hadn’t made any promises last night—his body had spoken, telling me what I wanted to hear. Maybe there was nothing between us but insane sexual chemistry, and he was already regretting giving in to it.
“We’re not fighting,” I said wearily. “And we don’t hate each other. We simply don’t have anything in common.”
“Apart from Granda, and Mariposa, and your childhood,” Mary Alice pointed out.
I pushed back from the table, my food barely touched. “I’m going to bed,” I announced.
“You’re running after Ian,” Mary Alice said. “Any fool can see that. Make up your mind which one you want—you can’t have both, even if you’re used to getting everything you want.”
“I don’t want either of them. I want my bed,” I said coldly.
