That had her stomach in a knot. She’d heard a lot of rumors before, but never anything like that. “Does Rene know?”
“There’s not much Rene doesn’t know about our family, and he loves to rub the rest of our noses in it. I know you think he’s kind and upright, but he’s his father’s son to the bone. He married you to secure his place at the head of the family. When he doesn’t need you, he’ll drop you very quickly because while you might give him what he needs now, he’ll want a moneyed wife later on.” Charles looked her up and down. “Although he might keep you as a sidepiece.”
“If you want me to slap you right here, say it again,” she said, her voice as cold as ice. “I will then tell anyone who asks what you said to me. Because if you think I’ll keep quiet to save face, you don’t understand who the bad guy is here.”
He had the good grace to flush. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have put it that way. I know you won’t believe me, but I am trying to help you.”
She managed not to laugh in his face. “You’re right. I don’t believe you. Not for a second.”
“Then let me make it clear to you. I will pay you a hundred thousand dollars to get an annulment before my aunt comes to town. Think about what you could do with that money. You could run a campaign for a better position. A smart girl like you can’t be happy being a small-town mayor. You have to be thinking bigger.”
“Your first mistake is to call me a girl when I am obviously a woman.” She had to choke back her anger because, despite what she’d said before, she didn’t want to cause a scene. Rene might know about his father’s affair, but the rest of the town didn’t, and she wasn’t going to give Charles a chance to make it public knowledge. “Your second is to assume that you know my marriage better than I do.”
“I know he hasn’t told you the truth about his parents,” he said evenly. “You’ve got an excellent poker face, Madam Mayor, but you didn’t know about Ross’s affair. That means Rene’s not truly confiding in you. You should ask him about it. See how he reacts.”
“Is this your plan? You’re going to spread nasty rumors around town?”
“It’s not a rumor. It’s the plain truth, and I expect you to stay silent about it. Rene made you one of us, and my family knows how to keep a secret. That’s the reason you hadn’t heard, but I wonder how close you really are to Rene if he’s not telling you our secrets. Or maybe he knows you won’t be one of us for long.” He stepped back. “I’ve got to go pick up my son. We’re going fishing this weekend. You think about what I said. That check is waiting for you. You should get something out of this besides heartache. I wish someone had offered my mother the same.”
She watched as he walked out.
There were a lot of reasons Rene might not tell her something so personal, the first being Charles was full of it and he was trying to drive a wedge between them. It could all be a lie.
She glanced around to see if anyone had listened in, but it was a sleepy afternoon and city hall looked almost deserted.
So why did she feel like she had eyes on her?
She took a deep breath and forced herself to walk to the stairs and up to her office.
Rene would tell her what she needed to know. It wasn’t like she’d told him every single thing about her family.
She wished he’d told her that Charles would have access to their personal contracts.
“You’re back.” Gertie was walking toward her, her purse over her shoulder.
Gertie would be the perfect person to talk to. If anyone would know what was the truth, it would be Gertie. It was obvious her mother didn’t know about Rene’s dad and Charles’s mom. She would have said something.
But would she be betraying her new family if she even put the rumor out there?
“Yes, anything happen while I was gone?” Sylvie asked. She needed time to think. She wasn’t going to fall into Charles’s trap, and she wasn’t going to rush home to tell Rene what had happened. He would get upset, and there was nothing he could do about it. They had a plan when it came to Charles. They needed to follow it and not allow Rene’s anger to derail them.
“Your husband lost his damn mind,” Gertie said with a shake of her head. “I told him that was a responsibility, not a gift. You should go and deal with that.”
“He’s here?”
“He’s been sitting in your office for the last twenty minutes. I need him to understand I am not cleaning up any accidents.” Gertie continued walking, a hint of a smile coming on her face. “Though I will admit, that is a gorgeous ball of fluff right there. Good luck.”
What had Rene done? She hurried to her office and threw the door open in time to see her husband picking up a little dog and pulling some paper out of its mouth.
“You can’t eat that. You can’t wreck Momma’s office or she’ll kick both of us out,” he said.
“What did you do?” She set down her things and her heart was already melting because that was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in his arms.
“Zep said she needed a sponsor, and I remembered how you always wanted one of these.” He held the puppy, who was trying her hardest to lick him. She was a squirming ball of energy. “She’s got a heart condition. It’s why she was turned in. I can take her back to Zep. I wasn’t thinking. I’ll pay for all her meds . . .”
“You will not take that sweet baby anywhere but home.” He remembered the type of dog she’d always wanted when she was a kid. Charles was wrong. This man was not planning on dumping her. This man was trying his hardest to keep her happy.
She’d told him they should try a dog before they thought about kids. He presented her with one the next day.
She held her hands out. She knew exactly what to name this pretty baby girl. “Come here, Lady.”
Rene handed her the puppy and smiled. His normally under-control hair tumbled over his forehead, making him look younger, like he had when they’d been in high school and she’d had the worst crush on him. “You’re not mad? I didn’t think at the time. I took one look at her and she was ours. Then Gertie pointed out a whole lot of things to me.”
Lady was the cutest puppy ever. “I’m going to need a better handbag, because she is going to be one of those dogs.”
She would get too big to be hauled around in a designer bag, but she was perfect right now.
“I think I can handle that.” He was grinning at them both as she held the puppy against her. “You two are going to be a good team. You like her?”
She was already in love. “Yes. Now tell me everything I need to know. Has she seen a vet?”