Teresa Hill - Runaway Vegas Bride / Vegas Two-Step - Runaway Vegas Bride / Vegas Two-Step

He wouldn’t dare say that to Jane.

She sat back in her chair, looking sad and worried. “You have to understand, my grandmother has never been in love before. She’s had men, of course. She’s a beautiful woman.

Been married a number of times, and been genuinely happy for a time with a man, but she’s never claimed to be in love. She doesn’t even believe in love, as far as I know.”

“So what the devil happened between the two of them?”

“I have no idea.”

Jane sat back in her chair, taking a sip of her wine spritzer. What could this man possibly find offensive about a white wine spritzer?

But on the topic of Leo, she had to concede to herself at least, that for a man, Wyatt Gray was being exceedingly reasonable, much as she hated admitting it.

He had acknowledged his uncle’s bad behavior and didn’t really try to make excuses, merely admitting he was incapable of controlling the man. Jane had tried for decades to change Gram and Gladdy’s attitudes toward life in general and men in particular without much success. Except for getting control of their finances. So she had to empathize with Wyatt’s own troubles where his uncle was concerned.

“What about Gladdy?” Wyatt asked finally. “She doesn’t think she’s in love with Leo, does she?”

“I have no idea. I couldn’t believe they were holding hands under the table. It’s like something twelve-year-olds would do.”

Jane felt awful remembering that soft, warm glow on Gladdy’s face. She’d looked delighted with their intimate dinner at first, and Jane had simply thought Gladdy was happy for Gram, silly as that would be, because Gladdy didn’t believe in love any more than Gram did.

“They’ve never fought over a man before,” Jane confided. “And they grew up together, moved into their first apartment together and have lived together off and on ever since. The thought of a man coming between them is unthinkable.”

And yet, Jane had seen with her very own eyes the way Gladdy looked at Leo and Leo looked at her. And Gram!

That little weasel of an eighty-six-year-old man!

“I suppose we could start by talking to Gladdy,” Wyatt offered. “Appeal to her sense of friendship and devotion to your grandmother, and at the same time, tell her the sad, hard truth about Leo. That might, at least, keep him from coming between the two women.”

Jane nodded sadly. “It would be a start.”

“Just tell me what you want, Jane. I’ll do whatever you think would be best. If you want me to talk to Gladdy, I will. I’ll be unmerciful in explaining Leo’s lifelong habits with women.”

“Short of hog-tying your uncle to his bed and locking him in his room—”

“Believe me, I’ve wished I could.”

Which actually had Jane smiling a bit.

Wyatt Gray was a reasonable man, and Jane had found that so few men were. She regretted how things had started out between them.

“I’m sorry if I behaved badly toward you at first,” she said, because a polite, well-bred, empowered woman always acknowledged her own unfair treatment of others and apologized. “Gram and Gladdy…Well, I just adore them both, and looking out for them hasn’t always been easy, but believe me, they need someone to look out for them and I try my best.”

Wyatt gave her a reassuring smile and let one of his hands settle softly over hers on the table between them. “I’m sure you do your absolute best for everyone you care about.”

Which was just so nice of him.

People sometimes thought Jane could be overzealous and maybe even a bit aggressive in her attempts to take care of others, when she truly never wanted to do anything but help. Women could just be so mixed up about some things, have such wrong ideas, and she felt it was her calling to straighten them out, to educate them, to help extricate them from the troubles they found themselves in. It wasn’t a job to Jane. It was her calling, her mission in life.

“That’s incredibly kind and generous of you,” she admitted. “Especially when I yelled at you at first.”

“It’s completely forgotten,” he promised, smiling once again.

She could see a bit of Leo in him when he smiled like that. The dangerous charm, that wicked twinkle in his eye. Not that he was flirting with her or anything like that. He’d been perfectly respectful during their exchange. Some men thought flirting was as natural and expected as breathing in any exchange between the sexes, even the most businesslike. Something of which Jane naturally disapproved.

But Wyatt hadn’t been like that at all.

Still, the dangerous charm was there lurking below the surface in the man, even if he didn’t turn it on every time with all women. But when he did…

Jane shivered just a bit, thinking he really was too good-looking for any woman’s good and likely too used to getting his way with women, just as Leo was. She couldn’t let herself forget that.

Not that Jane ever really forgot herself with a man.

“Well,” she said, feeling a little warm and uneasy suddenly. “I suppose the best thing would be to talk to Gladdy first. I’ll try it myself and see how it goes.”

“And if that isn’t enough, I’ll talk to her. Just give me a call,” Wyatt offered, pulling out a business card and scribbling down a phone number on it. “My office and personal numbers. Feel free to call anytime, Jane.”

She pulled out a card of her own, wrote her private number on it and handed it over to him. Picking up his card, she saw Wyatt Addison Gray IV, attorney at law, with what she knew was a pricey downtown address.

“What kind of law?” she asked.

“Divorce.” His mouth twitched, trying to hold back what she suspected would be a mind-numbingly gorgeous grin. “I have to admit, it seemed to come naturally to me. I saw so many of them in my family as I was growing up.”

Jane nodded. “Me too. What was the longest marriage in your family?”

“Leo’s last one. Eleven years.”

“Wow. Impressive,” Jane declared. “We never managed to do better than six.”

Wyatt shrugged, as if to say, What are you going to do?

“I think we’re going to work together well to handle this little problem,” Jane told him, quite pleased with herself and Mr. Wyatt Addison Gray, Esquire.

“I do, too, Jane.”

Jane felt like a dynamo the next morning, charging through her routine with even more enthusiasm and effectiveness than usual. Powering through her morning kickboxing class, getting to the office early, proofing the copy for her latest ad campaign for her Fabulous Female Financial Boot Camp, even sketching out ideas for a series of advanced classes for women who’d mastered the principles laid out in the first seminar.

She felt like she could do anything.

Her assistant, Lainie, showed up at the usual time, looking puzzled at the way Jane rattled off a list of things she already needed Lainie to take care of.

“You didn’t have one of those energy drinks again, did you?” Lainie asked. “I told you, Jane, your system really can’t handle those. You’re already on overdrive. You don’t need the boost.”

“Of course not.” Jane looked puzzled. “After all, a well-rested, well-nourished woman doesn’t need artificial stimulants.”

She reached for her notepad, always close at hand, and started scribbling.

“Sorry,” she said, quite pleased with herself. “I need to write that down. I’m thinking about working on a book of my philosophies. Financial advice for women is such a nice niche market these days, and it would be a wonderful cross-promotion for my seminars. Don’t you think?”

“Sure,” Lainie said, still frowning.

“What?”

“It’s just that…you seem…happy.”