The Favor

“Fine. But don’t think I didn’t notice that you avoided my question.”

Dane shot me a look of impatience and then turned back to our visitors. Kent had sucked in his lips to hide a smile. Jen was gazing out of the kitchen window, pointedly ignoring our back and forth.

“What brings you both here?” Dane asked them.

Kent hesitated. “I didn’t want to do this, it feels too much like tattling, but …” He exchanged a distressed look with his wife. “I wanted to warn you that I think Travis might try to cause trouble for you and Vienna, Dane. He came to our home drunk last night. He’s really not happy that you married Vienna. He kept bouncing from insisting the marriage was fake to snickering about how she’s tricked you into a whirlwind wedding, like he didn’t know what to believe.”

“Hmm.” Dane twisted his mouth. “I appreciate the warning, but it’s redundant. He’s already tried to cause trouble. He told Vienna twice that he thinks she should leave me. He and Hope even tried to convince her that I only married her to access my trust fund.”

Kent softly swore under his breath.

“According to them, Jen was in on it.”

Jen’s eyes widened. “What? That’s a load of crap.”

“Is it?” Dane asked airily.

She gaped at him. “You really think I’d do that?”

“You made it clear to me once before that you thought it was all about my trust fund, didn’t you?”

Wincing, the woman dropped her gaze to the hands she’d rested on the island.

Kent’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Jen, what is he talking about?”

She slouched and looked up at Dane, her expression pained. “I owe you an apology, I know. You just went so fast from being against marriage to being determined to bind her to you. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. But it wasn’t my right to question it or you. And although you might be utterly ruthless, I don’t think you’d manipulate a woman into believing you wanted to marry her unless it was true. Especially a woman you respect enough to have hired as your PA.” She looked at me, then. “I’m sorry for the things I said, Vienna.”

I wasn’t so sure I believed her. Or maybe I just wasn’t feeling particularly charitable toward her after she’d spoken of DID like it was a virus.

Kent twisted in his seat to face her. “Wait, you accused him of using Vienna that way? You said the same things Travis has been saying? When?”

She closed her eyes and ducked her head. “I came to see Dane the day he got back from Vegas. And yes, I said those things. I was just … there’s no excuse.”

Kent’s face twisted in anguish. “Jen.”

She raked a hand through her hair. “I know, I feel terrible about it now.” She looked from me to Dane. “I’m determined to put it right by supporting you both from here on out. So if there’s any help you need with the reception preparations or anything else, please let me know.”

Um, yeah, I’d pass on that until I was satisfied that she’d meant what she said here today. I didn’t trust her not to try and fuck the plans up.

Kent stared at her, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you went behind my back like that. You didn’t think I at least deserved to know about it after the fact?”

“I didn’t tell you because I was ashamed of myself,” she began, “and I knew how disappointed you’d be that I’d let you down this way. It won’t happen again.”

“No, it won’t,” said Dane—it was a warning, pure and simple.

She blanched and nodded.

Kent stiffly stood. “Dane, Vienna—I’m sorry to you both for what Jen did. As you can imagine, she and I need to talk, so we’ll be on our way.”

Jen slowly stood to leave and, avoiding anyone’s eyes, followed her husband to the front door.

Before leaving, Kent turned to Dane. “Hugh would be thrilled for you.”

I inwardly winced. If the comment made Dane feel in any way bad, there was no sign of it on his face.

Once the couple was gone, I blew out a breath. “Hopefully we won’t have any more surprise visitors.” I wasn’t feeling in a particularly social mood.

“Yes, hopefully.” Dane drained his coffee mug. “Let me know when you’re ready to have lunch. I’ve got calls to make.”

“And I’ve got books to read so, yeah, see you in a few hours.”

Chapter Nineteen

Returning to my desk after a quick trip to the restroom, I saw that a pile of mail had been delivered. I suspected that, as per usual, most would be addressed to Dane. He was currently out of the building, but he’d been clear that he would pick me up from o-Verve at the end of the workday.

In the week that had gone by since the incident with Jeff at the bar, Dane had … well, I couldn’t say he spent time with me, but he avoided me less than usual. He hadn’t attended so many late external meetings, so we’d eaten dinner together on his free evenings—sometimes at the office, sometimes at home. He’d also accompanied me on my visits to Simon, Melinda and Wyatt, and even to Ashley and Tucker.