High-Society Secret Baby - Maxine Sullivan Page 0,43
agreed with a smile.
They discussed it some more, then Nesta collected the soup bowls and left. Cassandra was tempted to mention the money, but knew she couldn’t spoil the rest of her birthday dinner. She would wait until after they’d finished eating.
It seemed to take ages before they’d eaten their way through the roast lamb and were finishing up with a chocolate cake. Thankfully she was spared a happy birthday sing-along, then Nesta brought in the coffee.
“Everything’s tidied up in the kitchen,” the housekeeper said, collecting the dirty plates. “I’ll just pop the dishwasher on, and then I’m going back to my apartment.” She glanced at the few things left on the table. “There’s not much here. I’ll clean it up in the morning, if you don’t mind?”
Dominic nodded. “That’s fine, Nesta.”
Cassandra’s heart had begun to thud now that the moment to talk to Dominic was near, but she managed a smile for the other woman. “It was a delicious meal, Nesta. Thank you so much.”
Nesta looked pleased as punch as she left the room and quietly closed the door behind her.
Dominic glanced at Cassandra, his lips twitching with amusement. “Do you think she’s telling us we won’t be interrupted?”
“She was pretty obvious,” Cassandra said, trying not to hyperventilate. She didn’t want to be interrupted, either, but for a different reason. She had what she was going to say all worked out.
Taking a calming breath, she lifted the coffeepot, trying to extend the moment, allowing time for Nesta to leave. “Coffee?” she said, hoping he didn’t notice her hand shaking a little.
“Thanks. We’ll have a brandy afterward.”
The brandy would have been better right now. A double.
“That would be nice,” was all she said, then poured the coffee, and they leaned back in their chairs and drank it in silence for a few seconds.
She couldn’t wait any longer.
She placed her cup down on the saucer. “Dominic, do you remember I mentioned my sister?”
He looked surprised. “Yes.”
“Well…she needs some money.”
His face hardened in an instant. “Really?”
She winced inwardly at his clear disbelief. “Yes.” She had to push on. “She’ll lose her house unless she pays two thousand dollars by Monday.” She swallowed. “So…um…I was wondering if you could lend it to me and I’ll put it straight into her bank account.” She’d already decided at least that way Penny might accept it as a gift from her, rather than a loan transferred from his account.
“I wondered when you would get down to needing money,” he said curtly.
Her heart thudded over at his tone. She actually thought she saw a glint of disappointment in his eyes. “It’s not for me. It’s for my sister, I swear.”
His lips twisted. “Sure it is. That’s why you want me to give it to straight to you and not put it in her bank account.”
“But—”
“I don’t know what you want it for, Cassandra, but you’re just going to have to wait until Liam’s estate is finalized.”
“Dominic, please. You have to believe me.”
“I do? Tell me. Why should I believe a woman who has proven herself to be an unfaithful wife and a gold digger? A woman who lies for a living?”
At the unfairness of it, anger rose inside her. She hated perpetuating the myth that she was only about wealth, but all this had been thrust upon her in the first place. She needed to remind him of that.
She lifted her chin. “Nicole and I are entitled to our inheritances, Dominic.”
He glared at her. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“I married you because of the money, Dominic. Not for it.”
“There’s a difference?” he scoffed.
“Yes, there is.” Their marriage had been about keeping her daughter, even if it was tied into the money she needed for the nursing home. Yet how to explain all that to Dominic without him learning about Joe? If he learned about Joe, then he might learn about her “blackmailing” Liam, and then she could still lose her daughter.
He pushed to his feet. “The lawyers are already working on it,” he snapped, and walked out of the room.
Cassandra didn’t have time to react, but as she heard Dominic’s footsteps go down the hallway, it was the disgust in his voice that made her heart ache with defeat.
A short time later, his Porsche started up and drove away. Oh, God. She hated that this raised the hostility even higher between them. But what really threw her was a truth hitting her in the face. A truth she could no longer escape.
She’d fallen in love with her husband.
And he