Page 54

I felt my cheeks flush at the unexpected praise. Damn him and his smooth talking. Then Dad had to go and ruin it.
“She’s a bleeding heart, that’s what she is. All this stupid stuff about the environment and climate change and…what is it now?” Dad turned on me, full of irritation.
I wanted to shrink into the chair when I answered, “Frogs.”
Dad’s face was getting redder by the second. “Frogs! It’s this kind of nonsensical tree-hugging rubbish that’s holding back progress and economic development in this country!” he ranted, slamming his spoon into his soup, sending it splashing across the tablecloth.
“Gregory—”
Ignoring Mom’s shock, Dad pushed on. “When are you going to wake up and smell the coffee, Scarlett? There are more important things than trying to save every little critter that crosses your path.”
I felt about two inches tall as my father berated me in front of Rhett and the rest of the family. This was exactly why I avoided these kinds of family gatherings whenever possible - I inevitably ended up as the target of Dad’s rants about my environmental work.
“I’m sure Rhett here agrees with me. As a man of business, with your level of success, it’s utterly ridiculous for these…these bleeding hearts to get in the way of progress and?—.”
“On the contrary,” Rhett’s voice cut through, cool and controlled but with an unmistakable edge. “If one or both of these babies are girls, I hope they grow up with their mother’s fierce and courageous heart.”
There was silence for a moment, then Dad tried to rally. Clearing his throat, he said, “Well, I just think she takes it too far sometimes. A little moderation--”
“I disagree. I wouldn’t have her any other way.”
Dad made a strangled sound in the back of his throat and picked up his spoon. I guess that was the end of that conversation.
I leaned toward Rhett and said in a low, teasing voice, “No need to go overboard.”
He didn’t give me the reaction I was expecting, though. Instead, he shot me an unreadable look and reached for his wineglass. The whole vibe made me feel a bit weird, like I didn’t know the man sitting next to me.
“If you’d told me at the start of the night that you’d be the one staunchly defending my honor, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up in that trademark half-smile that never failed to set my pulse racing. “Of course, pookie. I’ll always be in your corner.”
Not gonna lie, the rest of the entrée passed in a strained silence that had me wishing we could just skip the main course and dessert and get the fuck out of there.
Except that the main course gave me the most unexpected gift. Mom had barely finished serving when Misty cleared her throat. “So Rhett, I’m sure you must be familiar with the work of Councilor Smyth? He’s been doing such important things for infrastructure development in this area.”
Rhett gave Misty a blank look. “Can’t say that I am, no. Should I be?”
Woah, what was with that tone? I’d never heard Rhett speak to anyone like that, even the ASS members.
“But your family business is in property development?” And now Tyler had a tone. What the fuck was this all about?
“That’s correct.”
“Well, the municipal councilor Misty works for oversees a lot of projects to do with that sort of thing.”
“Ah, I see. We don’t tend to deal with that level of government.” He may as well have just come straight out and said it was beneath him.
His blunt dismissal made Tyler’s cheeks flush and Mom and Dad looked really uncomfortable. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing. Yep, bringing Rhett to family dinner wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d expected.
CHAPTER 24
Rhett
If you’d asked me what to expect when meeting Scarlett’s family, I would not have said a raging pack of assholes, but here we were. The whole evening just felt like a constant string of slights, all directed at Scarlett. I wasn’t sure she even noticed, but I sure did, and it made me fucking furious.
Until I remembered that it was actually none of my goddamn business. We weren’t a couple and she wasn’t mine to protect. Which was exactly how I wanted it, wasn’t it?
Still, once we were in the car, driving away from the never ending dinner, I couldn’t stop myself from asking. “Sooo, has your family always been a pack of fuckheads, or is this a new development? Tyler is, uh, something else.” That was me doing my best to be diplomatic.