Diane stared back at her with a twinkle of amusement in her gaze as they waited.
“One of these days, I’m going to buy one of those nifty little hearing aids that amplify conversations around me,” Gypsy remarked, her voice low, though she knew Rule would still hear every word. “I’m simply too nosy.”
Diane gave a low, light laugh. “You learn how to wait patiently while they’re together.”
Gypsy’s brow lifted dubiously. Wait patiently?
“Oh, I rather doubt I’d learn that fine art,” she commented. “Unless I knew my curiosity would be appeased later, that is.”
“There’s always the chance,” Diane assured her as her fiancé winked back at her, then turned back to Gypsy, her expression filled with warm amusement. “So, are you looking forward to actually pushing that particularly growling Lion into society? I think I’d be intimidated.”
“Intimidated, no. Certain it will work?” Gypsy laughed. “I have a feeling he’ll actually own the Navajo Nation once he’s finished. Though, trust me, my parents are looking forward to it as well,” Gypsy assured her. “Dad’s been attempting to gain the notice of the Ruling Cabinet for years with his alternative methods of image and social marketing.”
“It’s something that certainly won’t hurt. And I must say”—Diane stared around the brightly lit extravagance of the ballroom—“being spoiled in such a manner once in a while is rather nice.”
“Then I’m sure you’ll enjoy the social side of the process that Mom and Dad have planned,” Gypsy assured her. “The plan Dad’s putting together for you and your fiancé is one of his best. I think you’ll approve.”
Diane’s brows lifted. “Shouldn’t Lawe be the one to approve it?”
Gypsy tilted her head and regarded the other woman seriously. “In most cases, men leave social organization to either their secretaries, their lovers or their wives. I’ve never seen and rarely heard of a man who enjoyed making certain his own social schedule worked with the image he needed to present. In most cases, they’re neither aware nor do they care which party they attend, as long it’s a business opportunity. It’s their wives who know to cultivate friends among business associates, and to ensure those that are cultivated are a general match to the lifestyle and interests they share as well.”
Diane watched her closely then. “And for Rule, how will you cultivate his image with no wife or lover to help him choose the friends and business associates that match the life he leads outside the office? Or the life he wants to lead?”
“There’s a process,” Gypsy assured her before briefly explaining the observation and evaluation process before a detailed social agenda was proposed.
“Very interesting.” Diane nodded before turning back to her fiancé, as he now stood at her side.
He and Rule had abandoned whatever they were discussing once she and Diane had begun discussing social agendas, interests and some males’ unwillingness to pay close enough attention to the friends they were developing from among their social set. Those were the clients McQuade Image Consulting wanted.
The businessman who had built himself from his toes up and did so with exacting precision and instinctive force would be wasting his money unless he was looking to suddenly change his entire business model.
“It sounds like a wife,” Lawe drawled, his blue eyes twinkling as he looked between her and Rule. “Have you actually worked with many men who needed such help?”
“Normally, the client has a wife or girlfriend with some knowledge of the business associates whose goals match his,” she told him. “It’s a rare opportunity to be able to work with men as successful in your fields as you are, who haven’t yet begun acquiring the footholds you want socially. I believe you and Diane especially will enjoy the program my parents have come up with.”
“And what about Rule?” Lawe nodded to his silent brother. “Matching him with like-minded family men won’t be easy.”
“Matching Rule with men who share his interests as well his vocation will be far easier than you think,” she assured him.
“And women?” Diane asked, her brows lifting. “I know socially, an advantageous marriage is usually important.”
Why did she suddenly ache? She shouldn’t care if he would consider a marriage that would suit his position and the life he wanted to build.
“As I’ve seen, Breeds are generally pretty adept at choosing women who suit them and their lives exactly,” she finally answered, hoping she had managed to hide the hurt that filled her. “I trust Rule can do the same.”
“Finally, someone with at least a little confidence in my ability to choose something,” Rule snorted as his arm went around her waist to draw her to his side. “Now, the band’s starting to play. I want a dance. You can tell me if my dance moves are adequate or if they need some work too.”
She doubted very seriously that anything about Rule Breaker needed any work. But she let him draw her to the dance floor and assured herself that the continued ache in her chest had nothing to do with the earlier conversation or the implications of it.
...
“Well?” Diane demanded as the couple moved far enough away from them that there wasn’t a chance Rule could hear their conversation.
Lawe liked that about her. She understood he wasn’t just hers, that he was Rule’s brother, Jonas’s friend. That he was an enforcer as well as a role model to the newly freed Breeds. There was never any jealousy in her as he’d often scented from the wives of the human males he’d met over the years.
She encouraged his friendships, pushed him to have hobbies and often chided him for not resting enough.
And he was delaying answering her and he knew it.