I smiled and remained silent, my gaze piercing him. He shifted uncomfortably on the sofa, and his arm went around Shannon’s waist, pulling her just a little bit closer than she already was, which was basically on his lap. His piercing brown eyes focused on me once more, and I wondered why he kept looking at me like that.
Strange.
Downright creepy.
Cold as ice.
A chill glided down my spine, but I didn’t shift. Didn’t even blink. Nothing to betray just how much he unnerved me. There were shadows under his eyes, I realized. The rhythmical tapping of his fingertips on his thigh suggested that he was nervous. But why?
“So, apart from your recent developments.” He cleared his throat. “There’s another reason why I wanted to see you. Why we wanted to see you, Laurie.”
What now?
I swallowed down the sudden lump in my throat. My eyes went several times back and forth between them, until my glance came to rest on the large diamond ring on Shannon’s finger. Either she had kept it out of my vision until now, or I hadn’t seen it.
My heart lurched in my chest.
As if noticing my lingering gaze, he continued, “Shannon and I want to get married soon. We need to sort out your mother’s last wishes, seeing that you’re engaged, too.”
I stared at him, for a moment struck speechless by my bewilderment. “You’re getting married?” I asked, unable to hide my shock. For some reason, I had always thought he’d stay single—like he had done for so many years. I had expected him to congratulate me on my engagement and my engagement only, not to pop over with Shannon and announce their plans. My stomach twisted as I realized the full implications of what he was about to do.
“We’ve been engaged for a few months now,” Clint said, his gaze searching Shannon’s as though to seek her approval or confirmation. “We didn’t tell you earlier because the right moment never presented itself. Besides, we won’t be making a big deal out of it.”
It was a lie.
As a child, I had been a keen observer of human behavior, and Clint had been a worthy research subject. I could see it in the way his gaze kept darting around that he hadn’t been engaged for long. He probably barely knew her.
I had suspected something like that would happen, but the truth hurt nonetheless. He was moving on, with a woman half his age, in my mother’s mansion. It had been years since her death and I wanted to see him happy, but what I couldn’t cope with was the fact that Shannon would be mistress of the place that had belonged to my mother. The place she had inherited from her rich family. The place where I had grown up and once considered home.
It wasn’t fair.
Nodding, I swallowed hard and kept the air trapped in my lungs until they began to burn. Only then did I exhale and turn back to Clint, fully aware that congratulations were due.
“Fine. What do you want?” My voice was calm and steady, but underneath I was seething.
“Like I said, we need to talk, considering your recent developments,” he repeated.
“You mean my engagement?”
He nodded gravely, his smile gone. “I want you to have what your mother meant for you,” he said slowly. “The fiancé you mentioned”—he glanced at Shannon with a look that said he wasn’t convinced I wasn’t making him up…which I was, but the action angered me nonetheless—“we’d like to finally meet him.”
“Have you set a wedding date yet?” Shannon asked.
“Not yet. He’s very busy, and then there’s my job and the fact that we haven’t found our own place yet.” I trailed off and waved my hand as if it didn’t matter.
Shannon nodded sympathetically, even though judging from the look of her long, manicured nails, she had probably never worked a day in her life, or had to find her own place rather than sponge off some old-timer.
“He’s an actor,” Jude said. I shot her a warning look, but she turned away, ignoring me. “Like so many other actors, he came to LA to make it big and he did it.” She smiled, like a proud mother hen. Like she had anything to do with his success. “He’s very famous and sought-after, even has a nice place outside the city. Laurie’s been staying over a lot of weekends lately.” She laughed. “I hope they use protection, because you’re way too young to be a grandma yet, Sharon.”
“It’s Shannon,” she replied with a hint of arrogance, and I bit my tongue to stop myself from laughing at her venomous expression.
“Well, don’t keep him a stranger. We want to know everything about him,” Clint said.
“That’s great, because Mr. Tall and Beautiful is coming over tonight, isn’t he, Laurie?” Jude grinned at me, urging me to play along. “Like he’s been doing every day.”