Charlie tried to say more, eager to talk all about it, only to be cut off by her hostess, “Did I mention we found her bridal gown yesterday, Beau?”
The question didn’t need an answer. Martha was building up to something, ready to strike home while she had her audience in her palm. “Now we just need a venue and a date.” Before Charlie could argue or Matthew could intensify his scowl, Martha preached, “Weddings are important affairs—a social necessity where more than just the vows of husband and wife are made. They’re good for business.”
Matthew sipped his whiskey and said nothing, refusing to be browbeaten by Charlotte’s aunt.
“Fine.” Martha threw her hands up in surrender. “But you can’t deny me throwing her a bridal shower.”
Charlotte didn’t seem at all amused at the prospect. “Bridal shower?”
Martha held her thumb and forefinger fractionally apart. “Just a little party at Lucia’s. Bring your country friends and I’ll invite some of the more intimate women of my acquaintance.”
Beaumont knew his wife would get her way, and the look he threw at Matthew warned arguing was pointless.
But Charlie couldn’t have a party. “There is only one girl I would invite, and I guarantee her daddy would never allow it.”
Martha smiled, stiff. “If you agree, it would make me very happy.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Charlie muttered, rolling her eyes.
“Language!” Martha smacked her arm. “You have always had such a mouth on you.”
Matthew grunted, nodding in agreement.
Throwing him a glare, Charlie cooed, “That’s easy for you to say, you hardly talk at all. Took me months to decipher the difference between your scowls and glares.” Pointing, her lip curled, she added, “That one, for example, means you think I am funny… or not funny. I can never tell.”
A knowing look was the only response Matthew offered Charlotte, choosing to address Martha instead. “She’ll go to your party, Mrs. Radcliffe. And she’ll behave like a lady.”
Victorious, Martha purred, “I am liking you more and more, Matthew Emerson.”
Before Charlie could cook up something smart to say, a maid entered the room announcing, “Mr. Kennedy is in your office, sir. Says it’s important.”
Beaumont made no excuses, just stood and left the room. Not five minutes later Tommy came in, Beau at his back.
Grinning like a Romeo, Tommy greeted the ladies, “Must be my lucky night to see the two prettiest ladies of my acquaintance.”
Martha offered her hand, Charlie only sent a wave. But that had been enough for her sleeve to slip and the scar to show.
Tommy reached for her arm, frowning over the red puckered wound running from wrist to elbow. “I’d heard you’d killed some men. I didn’t realize you had been hurt, Lottie.”
Uncomfortable, Charlie pulled back her arm, turning it to hide the mark. “Oh… I shot him. I shot them all.”
“When you going to wise up and come home? Being embroiled in some redneck squabble is beneath the Blackbird I know.” Tommy’s eyes flew to where Matthew sat comfortable in the guest chair. “And you—”
Radcliffe spoke up, a warning hiding under his honeyed voice, “I don’t think Mr. Emerson appreciates you trying to woo his fiancée back to the city.”
Outright disgust sat on Tommy’s pretty face. “Fiancée? You let that country boy knock you up? Don’t you have any shame?”
She was out of her chair before he’d finished, snarling, “For a man who’s stuck his pecker in more women than Al Capone keeps whores in the city, you got some nerve.”
Matthew hadn’t said a word, he just unrolled from his seat, moving to stand between
his woman and an armed man.
Martha tugged Charlie’s wrist, urging her to take a seat. But it was Beau’s warning glare that buckled Charlie’s unwilling knees and put her ass back on the couch.
Matthew moved, breathed, so slowly it was frightening to see how saturated he was in anger. “Out of respect for the Radcliffes, I am not going to knock your fuckin’ teeth in and get blood on Martha’s fine carpet.” Shoulders hunched lower, a gritty voice turning nasty. “But you listen good, you two-bit sack of shit. If I ever find you disrespected my wife again, you won’t be walking away. You’ll be lucky if you’ll still be breathin’.”
Chapter 12