No doubt. “I have someone who can help you with that.”
“Maddie was going to use her trust’s lawyers.”
“The school’s financial picture will look better with a lawyer that doesn’t charge fifteen hundred an hour.” The old-money lawyers in San Francisco didn’t do pro bono and they charged three times as much as decent corporate lawyers with less prestigious clientele and addresses.
“True.”
“I’ll text you the firm’s name and contact information. I’ll let them know to expect your call.”
“I’ll talk to Maddie about it when she gets back from her honeymoon.”
“Palm Springs? What kind of honeymoon is that?” He liked the city himself, but it was hardly the exotic locale most would consider for a wealthy businessman and his heiress wife’s honeymoon.
“One tailored to the woman who loves that city above all others.”
“Really?”
“It holds good memories for her.”
“What about you?”
Romi shrugged. “I like it. She and I have been there together many times.”
Was his soon-to-be fiancée being deliberately obtuse? “Is it your ideal honeymoon spot?”
“Not really.” One of Romi’s charming blushes pinkened her cheeks.
Intriguing. “Where would you want to go?”
“Europe would be nice.”
“But not where you were thinking of. Come on, milaya, spill.”
She bit her lip and then sighed. “Building a house with one of the organizations that provide homes for people and families in need. You know, something like that. Something we could look back on and say we started our lives together giving a family a home.”
Okay. That was unexpected.
“We could not simply buy a house for some deserving family?” he asked faintly, excitement not his first reaction to the idea.
“It’s not the same, is it?” Romi asked. She shrugged dismissively. “It doesn’t matter. Just a dream. We wouldn’t have a honeymoon anyway.
“Why not?” He really didn’t understand the way her mind worked.
Didn’t Romi want a honeymoon?
She shrugged again and then looked down at her dinner, cutting a precise bite of the lasagna. “I mean, it’s not like we’re a romantic couple.”
They were something and it wasn’t a couple who was going to skip their honeymoon.
“Madison and Viktor are?” he asked with sarcasm.
Romi’s head snapped up and her eyes were filled with fervor. “They are. I mean, they both act like it’s all about the deal and protecting Maddie’s reputation and our dream for the charter school while Viktor gets to take over AIH, but they’re so in love it’s sickening.”
“Are you sure you aren’t seeing things that aren’t there?” Maxwell’s old friend had looked besotted at the wedding and reception, though.
“No. They’ll both figure it out eventually. Until then, things are going to be a little tense. You know with the whole, ‘you married me to get my dad’s company’ thing between them.”
“Maybe Archer was just playing matchmaker.”
“I don’t think so.” Romi grimaced. “He offered the contract to you, too.”
Romi really didn’t like Jeremy Archer.
“Madison was never going to consider anyone but Viktor.”
“Her dad didn’t know that.”
“Maybe he did.” Archer wasn’t an idiot after all.
“Yeah, you go on believing that.”
“You hold a grudge, don’t you?”
Romi looked surprised. “Actually, it takes a lot to make me mad, but then…yes, I suppose it takes a lot more to change that. And I’m really protective of the people I love.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“Yes, well…”
“It’s an admirable trait. I, too, am protective of the people important to me.” His list was just much, much shorter.
Up to the point he’d met Romi, it had had one name on it. Natalya Black.
He thought Romi probably had quite a few friends that had tasted her fierce loyalty, even if they weren’t as close to her as Harry Grayson or Madison Beck.
Romi dropped all pretense of eating and met his gaze, her own beautiful blue eyes filled with serious lights. “Would your wife be important to you?”
Relieved that he could admit to the uncommon protectiveness without acknowledging whatever nebulous feelings might drive it, he nodded. “Naturally.”
“At least as long as we’re married.”
He considered her words and how wrong they felt. “I think that once we have been married, you will always be on my short list of those who can claim my protection.”