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“Where are they?” he asked grimly.
She frowned at him. “What’s going on, James?”
“You’re an adult, Diana, I’m sure you know what just happened.”
“My eyes and my brain don’t seem to be on the same page. Since when were you and Hailey…” She wafted a hand, her cheeks growing pink at the discussion. She managed to find the right words, it seemed, as she settled upon, “...an item?”
“We’re not,” he stated gruffly. “By your daughter’s choice, it would seem.” When her eyes narrowed, he asked again, “Where are they?”
“Hailey took off with him in her car. I don’t know where they’ve gone.”
James jerked his chin down. “I’ll see you in a few weeks, Diana.”
Relief had some of the tension bleeding from her. “You’re still coming to Edward’s birthday party?”
His smile was taut. “Of course I am. You’re my family.”
Diana’s eyes softened, and she reached over to pinch his chin. “If it makes it better, James, I’d like to see you and Hailey together. She’s probably the only one who can see past your money.”
“You really mean that, don’t you?” he asked, surprised. Diana knew about his past record with the opposite sex.
“I rarely say what I don’t mean,” came the wry retort. “And yes, you’re a naughty boy, but Hailey’s always been far too much of a prig. You’ll change that. Ruffle her feathers. She needs them ruffling too. Badly.”
He studied her a second, saw yet again how she was like an older version of her daughter. The blond hair was laced with silver now, and the skin beside those magnificent eyes was striated with smile lines, but Diana and Hailey were so alike it was crazy.
“Why,” he asked softly as he studied her, “have you always treated me like family, Diana?”
She blinked at that. “You were good for Aidan.”
He snorted. “I got him into trouble the first month I knew him.”
“You think I don’t know that?” She laughed a little, her mouth quirking to the side in remembered amusement. “When I got the call that night I didn’t know whether to be angry or to laugh. Aidan was always such a serious boy. Just like his sister. To hear that he’
d gone joyriding in one of the faculty’s cars with the son of one of America’s richest tycoons? It was like a bad joke. Then, when we video called, and I tried to give him a stern talking to, you popped up. With that cheeky grin of yours.” She patted his cheek again. “I knew you’d be good for my boy, and you were. You always were.” Before he could say anything, her eyes grew worried. “It was never the money. If anything, that always concerned me. I knew you had security, and that your guards would always have you as the priority, never Aidan. That caused a lot of sleepless nights, but as you grew together, I realized you levelled each other out. The crazy stories in the press grew fewer and fewer, and instead, other ones started. About your prowess. You and my son, working together, creating this marvelous technology… I saw how good he was for you.”
“He still is, Diana. I’m so grateful for him.”
She cut a glance to the door. “And yet, I can’t imagine him approving of what just happened.”
James pulled a face.
That seemed to be answer enough. “I can’t help but think you would be good for Hailey, and she good for you.” She pulled in a sharp breath. “I haven’t seen eye to eye with my daughter for a long time. Maybe you can put her back on track.”
Silence fell between them as he saw the sorrow in her eyes. “It’s not my place to…”
She stopped him with a waft of her hand. “Don’t worry about it, James. Go on. Go home. It’s late, and knowing you two, you’ll have some wunderkind meeting to hash out tomorrow.”
Confused and wary, he ducked down when she tilted her chin for him to kiss her cheek.
“Goodnight, Diana,” he whispered softly. She nodded, but watched him leave the house in silence.
As he climbed into his car and looked at the cheery red brick house that had been like a second home to him since college, he hoped to God he hadn’t just wrecked the best thing that had ever happened to him.
Had Hailey been worth such a risk?
As he reversed out of the drive, he had to admit that yes, she had been.
And didn’t that just mess with his fool head?
