Page 117 of Nothing to Deny
Always bold and proud, he was standing behind his broad desk.
“You did it again,” she said, tossing her purse to the chesterfield.
“Gentlemen, excuse me,” Truman said, though there was no one else in the room. “We’ll reconvene later.” He leaned over his chair to press a button on his phone. Right, the phone. “I didn’t expect to see you today; this is a nice surprise. How was your vacation?”
“If you didn’t expect to be seeing me today, you have no idea the severity of what you’ve done.”
He smiled, resting his hands on the back of his chair. “What did I do?”
“What you always do, you interfered in my life. How many times do I have to tell you that I make my own choices? You can’t get involved. This is my life. Mine.”
“I do what I do to protect you.”
“How does paying off my boyfriend’s debts protect me?”
His mouth opened in a silent “ah.” “The gigolo. With his debts paid off, he has no need to pursue you.”
Well, at least the escort thing was a conversation she didn’t have to instigate. “His name is Baer.”
“His real name?” Truman asked with a smile that became mocking. “Or is that his stage name?”
“Why can’t you let me run my own life?”
“You’re far too old for teenage rebellion, and I can’t, for the life of me, decide if this is fright or insanity.”
“Fright? What are you—”
“The right man will come along when it’s appropriate. If you would allow me to introduce—”
“I am not going to marry a man you choose; I’ll marry a man I choose. You can’t butt in and take over—what was it supposed to achieve? Throwing money at him like that? I suppose I should be grateful you didn’t just wrap it in an envelope and mail it to him.”
“A man in his profession likes money, craves money, and I did consider paying him off direct, but it wouldn’t havebeen wise to give him another avenue to manipulate you. I assume that’s what he did, given his parents’ health issues, he manipulated your sympathies. He has what he wants and no longer needs you. I removed the problem.”
“And you think by doing that, he’ll drop me?”
“He’s made his choice. I don’t see him here, do you?”
That satisfaction was short-lived.
“Look harder,” Baer’s voice rose behind her.
Okay, so that wasn’t a minute… maybe it was a minute, but she didn’t expect him to time it to the second.
Her grandfather immediately hardened in concern. “You brought him to our house?”
Not exactly by choice, but she wouldn’t say that. “We’re together. Regardless of your interference, because we trust each other, we communicate.” She didn’t hear Baer approach but appreciated his hands sliding onto her shoulders. “Baer, this is Truman Dere. Truman, meet Baer Claymore.”
“The man she’s going to marry.”
Okay, so they hadn’t discussed that far, but she wouldn’t object. In fact, the house might make a good venue for—and she was getting ahead of herself. What was with that?
“You’re a tenacious man, but there’s a time to leave the stage,” her grandfather said and turned his chair to sit down and retrieve his checkbook. “Every man has a price.”
“Not this man,” Baer said. “You heard about my job and assumed I was with Freya for the money.”
“You had considerable debt.”
“That didn’t need to be paid by you. Freya and I will make our own way, we don’t need your money.”
