“What’s amusing you, Maia?” asks Calista softly.
“That.” Maia gestures toward a heavily pregnant woman making her way across the dining room, probably in search of a bathroom.
“Why do you find Helene funny?” Calista regards her with barely concealed dislike.
“There are so many reasons. She looks ridiculous in that gold tent.” Maia shrugs. “What can you expect from someone who isn’t one of us? She’s devious enough to trap her boss into marriage by getting pregnant, but she’ll never be clever enough to fit into our world.”
“I think she’s lovely,” says the man who has remained nameless. “Quite elegant, in fact.”
Maia snorts, contorting her face into an expression that makes her classical beauty turn into something else. “I think she’s disgusting. I won’t have anything to do with her.”
“There is no reason to be unkind to a pregnant woman,” says Jayson, sounding annoyed.
Either Maia doesn’t catch his tone or doesn’t care. “You can’t expect me to treat her as an equal. It’s clear she doesn’t belong.” Her dark eyes settle meaningfully on me for a moment before her tirade continues. “She might be able to lie and trick her way into Salus’s bed, but she can’t trick her way into being accepted.”
“I doubt she tricked Salus into anything,” says Caesar. “He’s a pretty astute man.”
“You can’t think he deliberately knocked her up?” Maia laughs again, though to me, it’s more of the screech of metal against metal than a sound of amusement. “I’m certain he only married her because of the baby.”
“If that is so, I find it refreshing,” says Calista in a tone laden with ice. “So many men we know keep mistresses. If one falls pregnant, the woman usually takes money and disappears from his life. Regardless of the circumstances of conception, I find it admirable that
Salus has lived up to his responsibility.”
“I agree,” I say, surprising myself by contributing to the discussion. “I know it isn’t healthy for a child to grow up with parents who argue all the time, or who are miserable, but children need both parents—particularly when they are young. In that situation, I think you have to set aside what you want and think of your child, at least during the formative years.”
Jayson is frowning at me, his dark eyes looking even darker than usual. “You disagree?” I ask.
He shakes his head, his voice husky when he says, “No. No, I definitely do not.”
His intense gaze disturbs me and I quickly look away, once more sinking into comforting conversation with Calista. It pleases me to notice Jayson isn’t so eager to speak with Maia now, though whether that’s because of the other woman’s behavior or because he keeps staring at me, a thoughtful look on his face. What ideas are in his head? Should I be worried?
We arrive back at the villa late. Too much champagne and a little too much wine with dinner has left me feeling mellow. The shock and anger at discovering Jayson’s previous engagement in public has mostly faded, and I don’t pull away when he puts a hand on the small of my back as we walk up the marble stairs.
“That’s better,” he says as we climb the steps to the second floor.
I cock my head to look at him. “What’s better?”
“You’re no longer acting like my touch burns you.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I try to hide my blush.
“Liar,” he says with a soft chuckle. “A polar bear would have been warmer to me than you were this evening.”
“That’s silly.” Waving a hand to dismiss the whole idea, my stomach knots.
We step onto the landing, and he surprises me by taking my hand. Jayson stops, pulling me around to face him in a stance that could become intimate in a second. “I don’t know what I did to offend you, but I’m pleased you’re no longer in a snit.”
I gasp. “A snit? It wasn’t a snit, and you know what you did.”
He frowns. “I haven’t a clue, Harper mou.”
I pull away, continuing determinedly toward the master suite. “You can’t be that dense, Jayson. And I’m not your Harper.”
He doesn’t reply until we enter the bedroom. His hands on my shoulders make me freeze, but it’s the softness of his voice that keeps me from moving away. “Please, tell me why you’re upset, Harper.”
I turn slowly to face him. “I was humiliated. You cozying up with your ex-fiancée had all the gossips going, and embarrassed me in front of everyone.”
Jayson scowls. “These women have nothing better to do than talk about people?”