No Matter What (The Billionaires of Sawgrass #4) - Delaney Cameron Page 0,41
show up tomorrow or the next day? Or had his words and actions made it difficult to regret what happened?
Kait was surprised by her early return, but the two women weren’t able to talk about the reason for it until Owen was safely in bed.
“The only thing I’m sorry about,” Kait said, her gray eyes shooting sparks as she paced the floor of the living room looking like an avenging angel, “is that I can’t tell that piece of work exactly what I think about him. Talk about being selfish and arrogant! It’s all about him and his precious career. I wish he had proposed so you could’ve thrown the ring back in his face.”
The image this produced in Robin’s head had her smiling. “As satisfying as that might have been, I can’t forget my part in this.”
“Your part?” Kait asked indignantly. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“That’s not true. Communication goes both ways. Things wouldn’t have reached this point if Wade and I had been more open with each other. I thought my fear of boats would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Turns out, Wade and I had more serious issues than that.”
* * * * *
Reece had just returned from walking Gypsy when his phone rang. A glance at the screen had him chuckling. Aunt Leigh was as reliable as Old Faithful and as good as the fictional Hercule Poirot at following a lead.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” he asked her.
“You know I don’t go to bed ‘til midnight. It wasn’t nice of you to bail on me this afternoon. I invited Demi to lunch specifically to meet you.”
“I hope you’re joking. She can’t be more than twenty.”
“She’ll be twenty-four in a few months.”
“We’re still talking about an eleven-year age difference.”
“Which wouldn’t matter if you were interested. Oh, well, it was worth a try. I’d like to hear about the errand you mentioned. I assume it was the reason you were as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”
Reece chuckled. “Your analogies are terrible.”
“I notice you didn’t say inaccurate.”
“That was implied.”
“Think again. I’ve known you since the day you were born. I can count on one hand the times I’ve seen you keyed-up and fidgety. Save us both time and tell me who caused it.”
“How do you know it was a ‘who’? It could have been a ‘what’.”
“So you’re determined to drag this out. Fine with me. I’ll play along. A ‘what’ wouldn’t have had you staring into space like a moonling.”
“Now you’re just making up stuff,” he accused.
“Using my imagination isn’t necessary. It’s a matter of putting two and two together. You were fine yesterday afternoon when we spoke on the phone. You weren’t fine at lunch today. That tells me something happened at the fundraiser last night. My guess is it has to do with a woman. I await your confirmation with baited breath.”
“It did involve a woman, but not in the way you mean. Wade’s girlfriend Robin recently became the guardian of a little boy. Last night she mentioned needing to find a larger place. I immediately thought of Sylvie’s brother Harvey. He has numerous rental properties in and around Jacksonville. I called him this morning on the way to your house. My errand involved passing on what he told me to Robin. We ended up going to look at a rental house not far from her shop.”
“Where was Wade while you were impersonating a rental agent?”
Her choice of words drew a smile from him. “I have no idea. The subject never came up.”
“That was convenient, wasn’t it?”
Her comment did exactly what it was designed to do. It put him on the defensive. “I’m sure Wade knows about it now. Robin had dinner with him tonight.”
“Then everything’s as right as rain.”
The way she said it implied the opposite. “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be.”
“Neither does Wade apparently.”
“I’m not following you.”
“He hasn’t called you to voice his displeasure, so it’s safe to assume he didn’t mind you spending the afternoon with Robin.”
“It was an hour at most.”
She ignored his interjection. “I must be more suspicious than the average male because I can’t help wondering why you didn’t give Harvey’s contact information to Wade and let him take Robin to look at the house. He’s her boyfriend, after all, whereas you hardly know her.”
Aunt Leigh had neatly backed him into a corner. Reece couldn’t dispute the degree of his acquaintance with Robin without weakening his overall position.