A Merger by Marriage (Las Vegas Nights 2)

“They won’t.”

“Isn’t there anyone in your life you share things with?”

His isolation continued to baffle her. Did he choose to keep everyone out of his life or was he such a pain in the ass that no one was interested?

“My staff knows better than to show an interest in my personal life and those I see socially aren’t interested in my business dealings. Since our arrangement falls in neither of those categories, I won’t have to explain our marriage to anyone.”

“That’s great for you,” she retorted sarcastically. “But I have two sisters and a mother, who when they hear I got married, are going to expect me to share every juicy detail of what we’re doing and why.”

At last he gave her his full attention. “There are no juicy details.”

She shoved her hands into the back pocket of her jeans to keep from acting on the desire to jolt him out of his stoic calm. “Can I tell them what we’re really doing?”

“Do you trust them to keep the truth to themselves?”

Given his tendency to play his cards close to the vest, the question shouldn’t have shocked her as much as it did. “I trust them completely.”

She bared her teeth in a spiteful grin. “But if you don’t think I should, I could tell them that you’ve pined over me for years, but were too afraid that Tiberius would ruin you if you made your feelings known.”

Irritation tightened his mouth into a thin line. “They won’t believe something so ridiculous.”

“Scarlett will.” Violet gave free rein to the demon riding her shoulder. Being reasonable hadn’t worked, and she badly wanted a peek at the hand he held. Time to play dirty. Maybe if she antagonized him, he’d let something slip. “She already has it in her head that you show up in Baccarat every night because you want me.”

If he denied it, she wouldn’t be surprised.

“And she bases that on what exactly?” His even tone gave nothing away.

Violet found herself in deeper water than she expected. Nothing for her to do but swim hard for shore and hope she wasn’t eaten by sharks. “The way you look at me.”

“And how exactly do I look at you?”

Violet frowned, trying to remember exactly how her sister had phrased it. “She said you look hungry.”

JT might be a master at hiding his thoughts, but Violet swore she saw a slight widening of his eyes. To her delight, she’d scored if not a direct hit, then one fairly close to the mark. Fascinating. She was pondering the possibility that he wasn’t as disinterested in her as he’d claimed when he spoke up.

“Your sister has a flare for the drama,” he said. “She’s fallen in love and sees nothing but potential love matches all around her.”

“You’re probably right.”

But he hadn’t actually come out and denied it. Violet decided she’d pushed enough for one day. Much more and she’d run the risk that he’d become even more enigmatic. By allowing herself this tiny win, she now had something she could build on. It was like gaining the trust of a wild creature. Better to use short positive sessions to get them to drop their guard than to try and rush things and make it more skittish.

“Have you eaten?” she asked.

“An hour ago.”

She masked her disappointment. “I’ll eat something quick and be ready to go back to town in half an hour if that works for you.”

“I think I’m in a place where I can take a break and I could use another cup of coffee.” He scooped an empty mug off the edge of the pool table and followed her out of his playroom.

Violet’s pulse kicked into high gear. Maybe she’d learned the secret to dealing with JT: she’d pretend she didn’t care if he spent time with her or included her in his plans to take over his family business and wait for him to come to her. It wasn’t the way she was accustomed to dealing with the men she got involved with. Most of the time they liked her to take the lead.

That would never be the case with JT.

“You were right about the view,” she remarked a half hour later. She and JT were sitting in the breakfast nook just off the kitchen. The wall-to-wall windows offered a panoramic view of the desert and the mountains to the north that speared an impossibly blue sky. “Do you miss the ocean? Growing up in Miami, I would think the desert would be hard to get used to.”

“At first I was worried that I’d hate the dust and the heat, but the mountains make it all worthwhile. And if I need to get on the water, I have a boat on Lake Mead.”

Something about the view or sharing a meal—he’d sampled her eggs and stolen half the fruit off her plate—had worked some sort of magic on him. For the last half hour he’d been almost...charming. And Violet was loath to break the spell. So she sipped tea and nibbled on toast, delaying the end of the meal so she could prolong her time with this more accessible version of her new husband.