No Matter What (The Billionaires of Sawgrass #4) - Delaney Cameron Page 0,9
is a great guy. You’ll like him. Everyone does.”
This wasn’t the moment to contradict him. Robin’s opinion of Reece had already been formed and was unlikely to change. What she had to figure out was whether the addition of another person (even if it was someone she disapproved of) would take some pressure off her. If so, then Reece’s undesired presence could be viewed as a possible advantage. She might even have cause to be grateful to him. That was something she’d never expected to happen in a million years.
Chapter Four
Reece and his father had always been close. Although they no longer saw each other on a daily basis, they spoke on the phone several times a week. He’d been as surprised as everyone else when his father walked away from the company he’d built from the ground up. Even after a year, it still felt weird for Reece to sit behind the gun-metal gray desk in his father’s office. It was the same place he’d spent so much time as a little boy, face pressed against the glass window, eyes on the horizon, dreaming of the day he would earn his wings.
He was the first to arrive at the stately Federal-style mansion located along the Vernon River on the outskirts of Savannah. Built in the 1930s, the home had been a testament to the wealth of its merchant owner. Half a century later, an ambitious developer had found it abandoned, a relic of former times and the family who could no longer afford it. He’d restored it to its former glory and then some.
Maxine’s live-in housekeeper showed Reece into the central hall running from the front to the back of the house. From there he passed through a pair of mahogany pocket doors into what the original owners would have called the sitting room. He found his stepmother perched on the edge of a white leather sofa with an air of expectancy that brought to mind his aunt’s earlier comments.
“Reece! I’m glad you got here first. You can tell me about Wade’s girlfriend. Is she nice?”
The full-court press for information had begun. Reece exchanged an amused glance with his father as he sat down in a wingback chair near the fireplace. “I haven’t met Robin, but Wade had nothing but great things to say about her. Uncomplicated was one of the words he used.”
She wiped away an imaginary film of dust from the coffee table. “That can mean anything.”
His father spoke from behind an issue of Golf Digest. “You’ll know exactly what it means soon enough.”
Maxine sat back and folded her hands together in her lap. “I know you think I’m being ridiculous, but this is the first time Wade has brought a girlfriend home since he was in college. That means he’s serious about her. I do hope she’s the right kind of girl. He needs someone who’ll understand how important his work is to him. Wade is well on his way to being one of the top marine biologists in the state.”
“Wade is smart enough to know what kind of person he needs in his life.”
His father’s attempt to insert logic into what was clearly an emotionally-charged situation earned him a frown.
“I can think of many examples where a smart man married the wrong woman, Carlson.”
The magazine was lowered enough to reveal his father’s grinning face. “I know at least one who didn’t. Now stop worrying. You haven’t even met the young lady yet.”
Reece felt it was time to start being a buffer. “Isn’t it great about Addison having a baby?”
As a red herring, it worked to perfection. The anxious look disappeared from Maxine’s face.
“It’s wonderful news!” she said, smiling brightly. “Carlson and I are so excited about being grandparents. I would think this might get you thinking about marriage. A man in your position needs a wife.”
“At least you didn’t say ‘a man my age’,” Reece replied. “According to Addison, I’m wasting the best years of my life.”
Maxine dismissed this with a wave of her hand. “Thirty-five is nothing to a man. You don’t have to worry about ticking biological clocks and the never-ending battle to stay young. I was referring to the companionship angle. Aren’t you tired of living in that big house in Sawgrass all alone? Don’t you long for someone to come home to?”
The sound of voices in the hall saved Reece having to admit he was and he did.
“They’re here,” Maxine hissed, reaching over to push her husband’s feet off the coffee