“Gentlemen, please feel free to play without me.” He mucked his cards. “I’ll let you know if I’m coming back.”
She could be here because she wanted to tell him off for putting her in this position.
Or she might have changed her mind.
“Get her to sign the prenup.” Quaid stood up. “Maybe I should come down there with you.”
He was not making the same mistake twice. “If he tries to come after me, shoot him, Armie.”
It was good to have the sheriff around.
Armie snorted. “Sure thing. But seriously, don’t mention anything legal you don’t have to. Talk to her. Tell her what you need.”
He needed her.
He walked out of the pool house and promised that if she was giving him another chance, he wouldn’t wreck it this time.
chapter three
Sylvie stood in the formal parlor and looked up at the big painting over the mantel. She’d seen it many times. The Darois family held a yearly holiday party for their friends, and she’d gone for as long as she could remember. The painting was of Ross and Cricket and a teenaged Rene, who was in a suit even back then.
It was his armor. The same way she felt powerful in a designer dress.
He’d needed armor when he was a kid. She stared up at him in a way she hadn’t before, looking for clues to who this man was. She thought she’d known him, but their shared experiences didn’t tell the whole tale of the man.
“That is my mother’s favorite picture of us,” a deep voice said. “It’s not mine. I greatly prefer this one.”
She turned and Rene walked up to one of the tables near the antique sofas and picked up a small frame, offering it to her. It wasn’t a professional shot. It was one of Rene and his father and mother on a beach, a half-made sandcastle between them. They were grinning up at the camera. She had to smile because she thought she knew who was on the other end of that camera. “Was this taken when Andre went with you to Destin?”
Rene stared down at the picture, a wistful look on his face. “Yes. That was my favorite spring break. We usually went to my grandmother’s, but that year Dad decided to rebel. My grandmother was a rigid woman. A vacation was more like a royal appointment.”
“Not a lot of fun, huh?”
“I had far more fun going out to your pop-pop’s.” A slow smile slid across his face. “I miss that old man.”
She did, too. “He always said you were a changeling because no rich boy could be as good as you at fishing. He was joking. He loved it when you would come out for the weekend. Andre hated fishing.”
“He didn’t have the patience for it. He liked to talk way too much,” Rene said with a sigh. He stepped back. “I liked the quiet. My father was a wonderful man, but he didn’t have time to take me fishing. Those early mornings with your grandfather were some of the best of my life.”
“I appreciated the fact that you went out to see my grandparents even after Dre left for college.” Her mom-mom still talked about how much she adored Rene.
“Why are you here, Sylvie?”
Her breath caught at the intimate tone in his voice. “I thought we should talk. You walked out before we could earlier.”
She put the picture down and turned to him. The room that had seemed big before now felt small, his strong body taking up so much space.
He took a step back. “I’m sorry if I was rude. I was . . . surprisingly emotional.”
“You weren’t rude at all. We should have sat down and talked.” She hated that she’d sent him running out of her office. “I don’t like how we left things.”
“Is that why you cut your date short?”
She was confused. “Date?”
“You said you had plans.”
“I did. With Hallie and Seraphina. We do girls’ nights once a week. Usually it’s dinner.” Though she’d skipped that part this evening. He’d thought she was dating? Had that been why he’d left so quickly? “I’m not seeing anyone. I don’t have the time to have a relationship right now.”
She hadn’t for three years. Where had the time gone? She’d been sure she would come home and things would slow down, but the time was gone and she wasn’t going to get it back. If she let it, another decade would go by, and she wasn’t sure what she would