“I don’t think so.”
“Besides, Will wasn’t interested in me. He was more interested in the ex-convict his dear wife is seeing behind his back.”
Jessa swallowed thickly. Ex-convict?
The satisfaction on Kitty’s face made Jessa’s belly clench in anger. “Oh goodness me, Jessa, didn’t you know?”
“It doesn’t matter what Connor did in the past, Kitty.”
“Will thinks it does.”
“And you think I care what Will thinks?”
“Come on, sweetie.” Kitty applied her mascara with precision. “Men like Connor are fine for a quick fuck. But you can’t possibly think to stay with him. He can’t give you anything. Will has the money and he wants to make amends. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll tell him sorry and beg him to take you back.”
“Never.”
“So you’re going to run back to that murderer at the bar?”
Murderer?
“He did time for attempted murder, honey. I’ll bet a man that big has a hard time controlling his temper. Next time he might go too far and actually kill someone.” Kitty’s gaze narrowed. “Someone like you.”
“You bitch, that’s what you told Will?”
“Of course. Chase has plenty of friends at the courthouse. It was easy for him to get the particulars. Chase and Will have always been close friends, you know. They look out for one another.”
Jessa closed her eyes and breathed deeply. So Connor had gone to jail for attempted murder? The facts fit the profile. That was true enough. Spending time in prison would account for so much of his withdrawal. It also explained why Alex had been hesitant to say anything about what Connor was up to during the six years Alex was overseas.
“You look pale, Jessa, honey. Why don’t you lie down for awhile?” Kitty’s frank inspection of Jessa’s clothes made her skin crawl. “And then maybe you should head to the boutique and find a more appropriate outfit. We don’t allow strippers in here. You know that.”
Jessa couldn’t take anymore. She spun on her heel and bolted from the ladies room. She’d intended to retrieve her car and retreat to Phoenix Rising to get her thoughts together, maybe talk to Alex if Connor didn’t seem inclined to explain. But her plans changed abruptly when she slammed bodily into Will before reaching the front doors.
“Jessa! Darling, you’re here!”’
His pale green eyes brightened before they looked her up and down, several times. Jessa had the insane urge to find a blanket and wrap it around her body. How could one man’s gaze feel so different from another’s? When Connor gave her that lingering stare with his hellfire eyes, she quivered in anticipation. Will’s frank look made her want to projectile vomit.
“Sorry Will, I was just leaving.”
“Jessa honey, wait. We need to talk.”
“No talk. My lawyer will send you papers. Sign on the dotted line, no words necessary.”
“You can’t be serious.”
The drop in his tone signified his rising temper. Jessa couldn’t bring herself to care. “I don’t want to patch things up. I want a divorce.”
She was practically shouting. He glanced around and offered brilliantly fake smiles to a few people lingering in the foyer. Obviously, he was still obsessed with his uber-civilized facade. Jessa couldn’t understand why cheating on his wife didn’t tarnish his image, but her wanting a divorce because of it did. Nothing about their prim, tight-assed society rules made sense to her anymore.
“Do you really think divorce is going to solve your problems, Jessa?”
The blatantly patronizing tone in his voice caused Jessa to bristle with outrage. “Me? You’re asking me if divorce will solve my problems? Are you insane? You’re the one who left.”
He roughly grabbed her elbow and steered her into a deserted corner of the lounge. “There’s no need to be so loud. This is between you and me.”
“No, it was between you and me. Then you made it between you, me, and Ginny. How are Ginny and the darling children, by the way?”
Despite the gravity of the situation, Jessa felt a moment of levity in the expression on Will’s face. His lips thinned to a narrow line and he gnashed his teeth together, making the muscles in his jaw bounce.
“Ginny is fine.”
“Really?”
“Our relationship wasn’t worth losing the nineteen years I’d spent with you.”
Jessa crossed her arms and shot him a cool look of boredom. “Mm-hmm, yeah, right.”
“Don’t act as if it meant nothing.”
“Oh, it wasn’t me that acted as if our marriage meant nothing, Will. It was you.”