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“You didn’t notice the way she looked at you?”
Sub to Dom, maybe. But with affection? That he wasn’t sure of.
“The gift she brought me.” She smiled. “Much as I love you, I’m aware of your shortcomings. It would never have occurred to you to suggest such a thing. Which means Kaylee did that all on her own.”
He didn’t even know a hostess gift existed.
“Shall I go on?”
“Kaylee doesn’t carry a designer purse. Or wear expensive clothes.”
“That’s shallow, Grandmother.”
“You misunderstand.” For the first time, she scowled at him. “Listen with two ears, young man, before I box them for you. I won’t tolerate your disrespect.”
He winced. “My apologies.”
A moment later, she nodded. “Consider the argument you two had about the ring.”
“You got me.” Frost returned to his seat—what was rightly Kaylee’s chair. “What do those things have to do with each other?”
“She’s so unlike anyone you’ve ever been linked with.”
“Greta, you mean?”
“Exactly. Did she want a small diamond? With the way she posted it all over social media…” She shuddered. “So tacky.”
“The story you told Kaylee about your ring, was it true?”
“Absolutely. I wanted something to symbolize the way I felt about your grandfather. I had no interest in impressing anyone in the outside world. Kaylee reminds me of myself. And the gift she brought me? It might have seemed small to you, but it was thoughtful. Caring. And I know damn well it was expensive, so it stretched the budget she no doubt has. And yet she did it.” Ophelia shook her head. “You’re still not fully understanding, are you?”
No doubt she intended to enlighten him.
“Kaylee doesn’t care about who you are or what you can provide for her.”
“And you know that…how?”
“Her reaction to the tiara. Oh, Evan, you should see it. She understood what it meant from an emotional standpoint. There was no way she could accept that gift. Am I wrong?”
“On the contrary. She shoved it back at me.”
“And told you it belongs to the family?” She nodded knowingly. “To your future wife?”
Kaylee’s vehemence still took him aback.
“Did she cry?”
Her raw emotion, and his impotence to do anything to soothe her, still haunted him.
“If she didn’t care for you—love you—would she have reacted that way?”
“What?”Love?“You can’t be serious.”
Ophelia leaned forward to place her cup on the desk. “The question is what do you want, Evan? I’ve watched you. I’m proud of you. What happened with your dad and how it destroyed your mom would turn anyone off to the idea of love. And then there was Greta.” She brushed her hands together. “Good riddance. At least she showed who she was before she got her claws in your bank account.”
“You saw it. Which was why you didn’t give Greta the tiara.”
“Would have been over my dead body. And I mean that. You’d have had to give it to her from my inheritance. When that woman looked at you, she saw dollar signs and the type of lifestyle she wanted. She didn’t see you or your needs. Her parents spoiled her, created an entitled little bitch.”
