“No matter,” Derry said, frowning heavily toward her stepdaughter.
“It does matter,” Jennifer said, thwacking her wineglass to the table. “It means—”
“Jennifer,” Alex said, with just a hint of menace, “all it means is that Giana and I found that we cared for each other very quickly. It just took me a while to persuade her to marry me.”
“As persuasive the second time as the first,” Charles Lattimer said into his wineglass, and Alex stiffened.
Derry’s eyes flew to Giana, but Giana’s smile did not falter. “What a lovely dinner. The baby doesn’t at all approve of my tight waistband. Anna, we will excuse you now if you would like to take Leah upstairs. Gentlemen, shall we have coffee in the drawing room?”
There was a moment of stiff silence when Giana rose from the table, like a general, Alex thought.
Giana was the picture of serenity as she distributed cups of coffee. “Sugar, Charles?”
He nodded.
“Do you now own Van Cleve, Alex?” Jennifer asked.
“I fear not,” Giana said quickly, seeing Alex’s eyes narrow. “Indeed, Alex refused my dowry. I fear, Jennifer, that I must earn my keep.”
“A leopard changing his spots?” Charles Lattimer asked.
“You find me unattractive, Charles?” Giana said sweetly.
“No, but neither should you be naive.”
“Ah,” Giana said without pause, “you believe that Alex married me for my money?”
Charles Lattimer started at her bald question.
“You are very rich,” Jennifer said, answering for him.
“She won’t be if she continues borrowing money from bankers who demand extortionate collateral,” Alex said.
“I am a businessman, sir.”
“True,” Giana said. “And with the interest you’re charging me, Charles, you will be a richer businessman very soon.”
“But that isn’t the point,” Derry said, her eyes on her husband’s face, “is it, Charles?”
Charles Lattimer stared at his young wife. “You forget yourself, Derry. I will thank you not to speak of things you don’t understand.”
“No, Charles,” she said gently, “it is time that the past is spoken of. Ten years of blind dislike is enough for anyone.”
Alex rose abruptly and strode to the fireplace, his eyes on Giana’s face. “How stupid of me not to have realized that you planned this, my dear.”
“Derry, Jennifer, we are leaving.”
“Oh no, Charles,” Derry said. “How odd, Giana, I always thought that women carried grudges to absurd lengths. Men, I was given to understand, exercise more logic, more reason.”
“I don’t understand,” Jennifer said, but she was answered only by a blighting stare from her father.
“Ten years is a dreadfully long time,” Giana said quietly. “Charles, Alex wouldn’t have married Laura had she been a pauper, any more than you would have. Is it not true that Derry brought you an impressive dowry?”
“That has nothing to do with anything,” Charles snapped. “Derry knows I love her.”
“Do I, Charles? If you so firmly believe that Alex married Laura, the girl you were courting, for her money, then why shouldn’t I believe the same about you? Why shouldn’t Alex believe the same about you?”
“This is quite enough,” Alex said. “Lattimer and I would both appreciate our wives minding their own damned business.”