The Tycoon's Temporary Baby(50)

“The last time I saw it, the house I grew up in was a total dump. It isn’t good enough. Certainly not for your family.”

“Let me worry about what’s good enough for my family. Helen may be a fool, but…” She exhaled a long, slow breath. “Well, they’re certainly difficult, but they know when to keep their mouths shut. And don’t forget, Big Hank has been in politics for twenty years now. You don’t get as far as he has without appreciating the hardworking middle class.”

“But—”

Wendy cut him off. “Come on, we don’t have time to debate it. We’ve got an impromptu wedding reception to plan.”

She turned and headed back to the restaurant, but he snagged her arm as she passed. “What exactly is it you think you’re doing here?”

She arched an eyebrow. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Unfortunately, it is. You think you’re going to repair my relationship with my family.”

She shrugged. “Well, somebody has to.”

“No.” He dropped her arm and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. “No one has to do it at all. My relationship with my sisters and brothers is nobody’s business but mine. Stay out of it.”

“I’m not going to.” She said stated it so simply, only a hint of condescension in her voice. “This is your family. I’m not going to stay out. You obviously regret how strained your relationship with them is. Someone has to bridge the gap.”

“And what exactly is it you think you’re going to gain by doing this for me? You want me to be thankful? You want me to drop down onto my knees in gratitude? What do you expect?”

A tiny frown creased her brow, as if she didn’t understand the question. “I expect you to be happy.”

“Mending the rift between me and my family isn’t going to make me happy.”

“Are you sure?” She cupped his jaw with her hand, her blue-violet eyes gazing up into his with such compassion it nearly took his breath away. “Because you want to know what I think? I think you’ve never forgiven yourself for walking away from them. I think, when you left to form FMJ, you never looked back and that you’ve always regretted it.”

“If I did walk away from them and never looked back, maybe it’s because I don’t want them in my life. Did that ever occur to you? Maybe I’m just a selfish enough bastard that I want to enjoy my wealth and success without any reminders around of where I came from.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“You don’t have to believe it for it to be true.”

“You know what I do believe? I believe you don’t have any idea how to bridge the gap between you, so you just let it stand.”

He didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to convince her that she was spinning fantasies about him that just weren’t true. And whatever words he might have used to convince her got choked in his throat anyway. So he said nothing and let her continue talking.

“I’ve seen you with Peyton. I know how good you are with her. How caring. And I know you must have felt that same way about your family. Your real family. I think you haven’t married and had kids of your own because it’s your way of punishing yourself for abandoning them. That’s the real reason you wanted to marry me. By marrying me, you could lie to yourself about your motives, but you’d still have the family you’ve always wanted.”

“That’s bull.” He said it with more conviction than he felt. “I married you because FMJ fell apart without you. But don’t think that the freedom you have in running FMJ’s office extends to meddling in my personal life.”

“What personal life?” she scoffed. “That’s the point, isn’t it? That’s why none of your romantic relationships last longer than a financial quarter and why Matt and Ford are your only friends.”

He wasn’t even going to dignify that with a response. Instead, he stalked toward her until she backed up a step and then another. “I’m going to make this real simple for you. Back off.”

“No.”

“No?” He stopped, flabbergasted by her gall. “What do you mean, no?”

“I mean, no, I’m not going to back off.”

“Why the hell do you even care about this?”

“Because we’re married now. And I care about you.” She crossed her arms over her chest, bumping up her chin as if she was challenging him to argue with her. “There. I said it. I care about you and I want you to be happy. I don’t think this—this thing where you cut yourself off from everyone is going to make you happy. So I’m going to do everything in my power to fix it.” She took a step closer to him and gave his chest a firm poke. “And unless you want to fire me, admit to everyone that our marriage was a ruse and give me an annulment right now, there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”