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She sniffs. “Technically, you should call me Mrs. Whitley. There’s so much casualness with this younger generation. No respect for your elders.”
My lips stretch wide into a genuine grin. I love this crafty old woman. She pretends to be tough as nails but she’s got a soft spot and it’s Valerie. That alone makes her a paragon in my eyes.
“Anyway.” She twists her elegant hands in her lap and that twinge of unease hits my belly again. I’ve never seen Hetty so timid.
“Why don’t you just spit it out, Hetty?”
“I want you to marry Valerie.” The curt, clipped statement has me rearing back and almost knocking my head into the side window.
“What the hell, Hetty?”
“I want you to marry Valerie. She needs someone stable to keep her focused on her life. She also needs someone who is strong enough to help her get over whatever the hell has her so unsure of herself.”
My head cocks. “What do you mean?”
“I expected to teach her about my business when she came home. Instead she refuses to have anything to do with it and makes these silly posts. She gets work here and there writing. It’s like she’s lost her spark. Right about the time you decided to leave her.”
Her shrewd gaze seems to laser right through me.
I look away. My sigh cuts through the quiet and I shove my fingers deep into my hair, massaging my aching head.
“I don’t want to talk about this, Hetty.”
“Fine. I have my suspicions. That’s why I want to help fix this.”
That has my head lifting quickly, hope winging inside me even though I know I shouldn’t think about Valerie anymore. It’s been several years since I got home and she’s done her level best to pretend that I don’t fucking exist. That’s when I knew that it was over. No matter how much I wanted her, she was done with me. Even if she wasn’t married, she was just as out of touch as if she belonged to another man. As if her heart belonged to him.
“How do you think you can do that?” Hope rises up and I push it down.
“I need someone with business sense to take over my company and Valerie isn’t showing any inclination to do it. I also want to make sure that she’s taken care of.” She snorts inelegantly. “Not like I can count on her parents at all. Useless twits.”
I turn to the window to hide the smirk threatening to break free. Until I think about the last time I talked to them and what happened after.
Yeah, they’re not my favorite people either.
“Anyway,” she says. “Since Valerie won’t do anything, I’m inclined to take care of everything. And I think that it would be best if you’re married.” Her eyes dart to me as my mouth drops open. “It should have happened a long time ago, if you ask me.”
“I can’t do that, Hetty! And even if I agreed to it, there’s no possible way that Valerie will agree to it.”
She nods, smirking. “Surely you didn’t think I wouldn’t think of that.”
Shivering, I eye the old crocodile. I’ve seen that deadly look in many a predator’s eyes.
“If there’s one thing that Valerie refuses to listen to me on, it’s how much she loves her damn useless parents.”
I flinch and nod my head.
“That’s right. That’s why I’m going to tell her that I’m going to cut off her parents.”
My head jerks up and I stare at her, my eyes open wide. “No fucking way, Hetty! You can’t do that!”
She nods emphatically. “I can and I will. There’s no way that she’ll let anything happen to them. So she’ll do whatever I want her to and I want her to marry you.”
“Why me?” I ask her, stunned.
“Because I have a feeling you understand just how selfish and useless her parents are. So you’ll make sure that they don’t do anything else to mess up her life. And I can count on you to make sure that my business stays intact.”
“I’m not good with business, Hetty.”
