That shut Stan up. He stubbed out the cigarette. “Sorry.”
“Not your fault. Just don’t smoke again in the house.” She cleared her throat. “What’s got you so upset anyway?”
“It’s one of the associates at the firm. I told you already. Vanessa Pryce.”
Peggy’s heart thumped oddly at the mention of the name. “What about her?”
“She’s been taking too much personal time off. It’s such bullshit. And you know what? There are rumo
rs that she’s going to make partner this July.”
“I thought you were next.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know the right people, not the way she does anyway. The firm only cares about how much business you can pull in, and they think she can do it.”
“Aren’t you a better lawyer than her?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “But she’s not bad. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters—be good enough and bring in the business.”
“Doesn’t she have to buy a stake in the firm?”
“Not an issue for somebody like her. She can just tap her trust fund or something.”
Peggy nodded, only half-listening to Stan’s complaints about Vanessa. The woman seemed loaded, but then her family was rich. Lung cancer treatment was expensive, and Peggy had done everything she could to finance it. But now she was out of options, and Vanessa seemed like a perfect person to help.
She just needed to find a good approach.
Chapter Ten
Vanessa had stayed behind at her mother’s place to help clean up, and Justin slipped into her condo with the spare key she’d given him on the flight from Canada. The party had gone spectacularly well, with Ceinlys clearly asserting herself as a soon-to-be-single woman.
Vanessa’s condo surprised him. He’d always assumed she’d buy something as swanky as the penthouses her brothers owned. Vanessa’s place was upper-middle class, something a successful law associate might buy, but not what one would expect from an heiress. It didn’t even come with a doorman.
A few pots and pans sat in the kitchen along with a set of plates and bowls. It was obvious she’d barely used any of them. The fridge held a few essentials—cream for her coffee and some fruit and yogurt. Justin shook his head. Vanessa needed to eat better.
Her bedroom was simple, with a king-sized bed and pink sheets with small yellow roses and blue hyacinth patterns. Her walk-in closet was full of shoes and clothes without any room for his stuff. He shrugged. She hadn’t known he’d be living with her when she’d left the day before.
He showered and changed into a Stanford T-shirt and shorts. It was quite warm in L.A. He’d gone straight to Ceinlys’s party after doing some supposedly urgent work. Every time somebody wanted his attention, they threw around the “emergency” label. He made a mental note to shake things up at the office. He wasn’t going to babysit his executives, no matter how nervous they were about his replacing Barron. They needed to understand Barron wasn’t in charge anymore, and their aim should be to make him happy, not his great-uncle.
He sat and reviewed a few items in his inbox. A few minutes later, keys jangled and the door opened and shut. “So you got here okay.” Vanessa kicked off her shoes.
“Yup.”
She scowled at his phone. “Who are you texting?”
“Just some emails.”
Her eyes narrowed. He didn’t buy her complaint about how she hadn’t liked his shirt, and whatever had been bugging her was still there. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Vanessa, it’s going to be difficult to be happily married if we aren’t honest with each other. I’m trying very hard to be a good husband.”
She regarded him. Finally she said, “I don’t like blondes.”
The pieces fell into place, and he gaped at her. “You’re jealous?”
Red flushed her cheeks as her mouth turned flatter than a hyphen. Finally she snapped, “Don’t be ridiculous.”