Finally he found Vanessa in the kitchen corner, hidden from everyone. She had a tray of finger food and cubed cheese.
“Ah ha! So you got all the good stuff,” he said.
“Not really. What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you.” He popped a cheddar block into his mouth. “This is great cheese.”
“I’m glad you approve.” Her voice crackled with fight. “I had nothing to do with it.”
He frowned. “You angry with me for some reason?”
“No.” She didn’t meet his gaze, and immediately started drinking her ginger ale.
He narrowed his eyes. “You know, you’re supposed to be honest with me. Wife.”
“Shh!”
“Tell me, or I’m going to keep using the W-word.”
“Fine. I don’t like your shirt.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my shirt!”
“There is now.”
Her face set in a mutinous line, and he laughed. “Fine, fine. I’ll get out of it. Tonight.” He abruptly stopped laughing. “Now, tell me what’s wrong.”
Sighing, she sagged. “I just don’t feel well.” She looked down at her belly meaningfully. “But I’m going out to mingle. So why don’t you try to do the same?”
Justin watched her leave, but she didn’t fool him. She was upset about something, even if she didn’t want to tell him. Sighing, he rubbed the back of his neck.
“Justin! There you are.”
He pasted on a smile for Ceinlys and gave her a tight hug. “You look good.”
“Always the flatterer. Thank you so much for coming. I wasn’t sure if you could.”
“I can always make time for you,” he said. Even though he couldn’t tell her yet, she was his mother-in-law and Vanessa was fond of her. That meant she was important to him as well.
“The painting arrived today. It’s gorgeous. Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” He didn’t tell her Barron’s new art curator, Catherine Fairchild, had selected the piece. Catherine was engaged to Blaine Davis, who was Salazar’s child by another woman. Justin didn’t think it prudent to mention the fact.
“More than a few guests have been asking to meet you, but if you like, I can arrange things to avoid all the introductions. I know it can be tedious,” Ceinlys said.
“Thanks, but that won’t be necessary.” She could probably maneuver things to ensure he wouldn’t be bothered. She was an exceptional hostess from years of trying to live up to the exacting Pryce standards. But it wasn’t like he could hang out with Vanessa at the party, and he didn’t want to stand around in a corner by himself all evening long.
“Well, then.” Ceinlys looped her arm through his. “Shall we?”
* * *
Peggy Teeter scowled as Stan lit his cigarette in their bedroom. It was technically his bedroom, but she thought of it as “theirs” since she was sleeping there too. “I told you, no smoking in the house.”
“Just one.”
“No.” She glared at him. “I mean it.”
“It’s a stress reliever.”
“We just had sex! If you need more stress relief, go exercise.”
“Why are you so weird about it?”
She pressed her lips together. An associate at a law firm, Stan liked to argue and could negotiate his way out of almost anything. For once she wished she’d never met him, not even to pump him for information. “My mom has lung cancer.”
That shut Stan up. He stubbed out the cigarette. “Sorry.”
“Not your fault. Just don’t smoke again in the house.” She cleared her throat. “What’s got you so upset anyway?”
“It’s one of the associates at the firm. I told you already. Vanessa Pryce.”
Peggy’s heart thumped oddly at the mention of the name. “What about her?”
“She’s been taking too much personal time off. It’s such bullshit. And you know what? There are rumors that she’s going to make partner this July.”
“I thought you were next.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know the right people, not the way she does anyway. The firm only cares about how much business you can pull in, and they think she can do it.”
“Aren’t you a better lawyer than her?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “But she’s not bad. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters—be good enough and bring in the business.”
“Doesn’t she have to buy a stake in the firm?”
“Not an issue for somebody like her. She can just tap her trust fund or something.”
Peggy nodded, only half-listening to Stan’s complaints about Vanessa. The woman seemed loaded, but then her family was rich. Lung cancer treatment was expensive, and Peggy had done everything she could to finance it. But now she was out of options, and Vanessa seemed like a perfect person to help.