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“Is he going to stare at her all night? People are starting to notice,” Sylvie whispered her husband’s way.
“Oh, they’ve been noticing.” Rene didn’t bother to keep his voice down. “Did you hear about the big scene Quaid made today at the courthouse? He practically tackled her when he heard she was having an affair with his brother.”
That got Quaid’s attention. Had the gossip gotten that bad? “She is not.”
“Well, of course she isn’t, but you know how the rumor mill goes.” Rene appeared infinitely amused. “I believe it started with the two of you arguing over her working for Paul, but after the story made its way across town, little details changed.”
“Oh, some of the interns told me that Quaid was upset because Jayna is planning on joining Geraldine at her next protest party, and she’s not bringing her swimsuit. I think that was wishful thinking on the interns’ part because they were planning on gassing up their trucks that day.”
He wanted the names of those interns. “Who?”
Sylvie’s head shook. “They’re just kids, and Jayna is gorgeous. Get used to it. You can’t beat them all up.”
He bet he could. He was surprised at how much this fight of theirs was bothering him. Any other woman and he would likely have written her off for being unreasonable. He’d handled things all wrong, but she wouldn’t talk to him about it. She’d shut him down and then walked away. It wasn’t how he dealt with relationships. The logical thing to do was to let it all go.
There was nothing logical about the way he felt about Jayna Cardet. He wanted to walk right over there, throw her over his shoulder, and run away with her.
She was turning him into a caveman.
Or worse. He was becoming one of those people whosaid they hated drama and then turned right around and made a whole lot of it.
“So I take it the fight was about her working for Paul?” Sylvie prompted.
He wasn’t sure what had made him come out tonight. He’d thought seriously about calling Rene and canceling, but then he’d caught sight of Sienna’s open calendar. She’d written inAngie’s party 7 p.m. Angie had to be Angela Jones, and she held her party every year at Guidry’s.
She was turning him into a creepy stalker, too.
“Paul is using her for some reason. I already called and left him a message telling him to stay away from Jayna,” he explained. “Naturally he hasn’t called back. I’m sure he’s out somewhere partying it up.”
“Or he feels bad that he got Jayna in trouble,” Sylvie mused.
“He doesn’t feel bad. He’s thinking up another way to get what he wants,” Quaid explained.
Sylvie started to say something, but Rene put a hand over hers and she went quiet.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Rene asked quietly. “It’s okay if you don’t, but it’s obvious you’re upset about it. How did you screw up?”
“Rene,” Sylvie admonished.
But Rene was right. “I didn’t properly explain why I was concerned about her working for Paul, so I’m afraid she misunderstood my motivations.”
“Why does she think you don’t want her to work for Paul? And what exactly was she going to do for him?” Sylvie asked.
“He gave her a couple of contracts to read, but that was only the start. That’s how Paul works. He starts with something small and drags you in deeper.” He’d thought about it all after Jayna had left. Paul knew unsavory people. Paulowed money to some guy out in California. He could see his brother asking Jayna to help him deal with that.Oh, could you just make one little phone call for me?And then she would be dragged into whatever plots Paul could come up with. It wouldn’t be the first time Paul’s connections had landed someone in a hospital. “And Jayna thinks I don’t want her around my family.”
“You don’t want her around your family,” Rene countered.
It was true, but she was wrong about one thing. “She thinks it’s because I don’t think she’s good enough.”
That got a loud laugh out of Rene.
Sylvie sent him a pointed stare.
Rene held out a hand, trying to stave off his wife’s complaint. “Baby, you have to know how hard Quaid’s mother is on everyone. She’s an awful snob. And we all know how he feels about Paul. If he’s doing anything, he’s trying to keep her from figuring out what a hot mess his family is.”
At least someone knew him. “That is exactly why. But she wouldn’t listen to me. She told me I obviously wasn’t serious about her and that she now understood I was only seeing her for sex, and then she walked into the courtroom and refused to talk to me about anything but work.”
“How did you ask her to not work with Paul? Were you polite about it?” Sylvie’s eyes had narrowed as though she knew the answer to that question.
