Page 89 of The House on Blueberry Lane

She wondered why he was telling her that. “I am aware of that.”

“Then would you like to explain to this board why our new banker, Jaye Colfax, who is also your neighbor...in fact the two of you live in the same house on Blueberry Lane, although you maintain separate residences...purchased land for you, in Reid Lacroix’s new development that cost over a million dollars?”

Gasps sounded around the room and Velvet’s mouth nearly dropped open. Jaye had done that? He had purchased land for her in that new development. But why? She recalled mentioning to him once that she planned to buy property there. Had he bought it for her instead? Then she remembered what he had told her more than once... I will give you whatever you want. No matter what it is...

“The board is waiting for your response, Ms. Spencer.”

She drew in a deep shaky breath and finally said, “I wasn’t aware he had done that.”

Mr. Beaks laughed as he threw his pen on the table. “Surely, you can do better than that, Ms. Spencer. A man you barely know buys you property worth over a million dollars, property you let it be known you wanted, and you don’t know he bought it for you?”

Velvet frowned. Now she understood the reason behind Mr. Beaks’s earlier questions. He had deliberately painted a picture of her as some sort of gold digger who was sleeping with the banker to get perks. Namely, a piece of property that cost millions.

“I didn’t say that I don’t know the reason he did it, Mr. Beaks. I said I didn’t know that he had done it. And since I didn’t know he had bought that property for me, there’s no way I could have filed a disclosure.”

There were several chuckles from the audience, which didn’t sit well with Mr. Beaks. He leaned over the table and said in a loud irritated voice, “That’s for this board to decide, Ms. Spencer, as to whether a conflict of interest has occurred. And since you didn’t know he was buying you such an expensive piece of property, but know why he did, will you please advise us of the reason he did it?”

“Did you ask him?” she replied smartly.

Mr. Beaks frowned. “You’re the one claiming the conflict doesn’t exist.”

“It doesn’t, and the reason Jaye bought me that land,” she said, not caring that using his first name indicated a personal closeness between them, and making sure she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, “is because he loves me.”

There, she’d said it and had done so with the confidence she now felt. Jaye did love her, and buying her that land was just another way he’d wanted to prove that he did.

“If she believes that, then she needs her head examined,” a feminine voice in the audience said out loud.

Velvet knew without turning around that Laura Crawford had made the comment. Velvet’s gaze remained on Dwight Beaks. He was grinning like he agreed with Laura.

“Honestly, Ms. Spencer. Do you actually think a man of Jaye Colfax’s caliber would fall in love with a—”

“Teacher?” she finished for him. “I don’t see why not because he certainly fell in love with me,” she said with self-assurance and poise.

“And, I most certainly did.”

Velvet jerked around at the sound of that masculine voice. And she, like everyone else in the auditorium, watched Jaye walk forward. His expression might be unreadable to some, but Velvet knew that look. He was fighting mad.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

JAYE HAD TAKEN note of the number of people at the meeting and that had angered him even more. He switched his gaze to Velvet and kept his focus on her as he approached. For her to state in front of a room full of people that he loved her and with so much conviction in her voice, it meant she truly believed it. He was glad because he did love her with every bone in his body.

He came to a stop beside her and gave her an assuring smile before turning his attention to the seven individuals sitting at the table. “I want to know what right any of you have to question Ms. Spencer about anything I purchased for her? Especially when it was to be my surprise wedding gift to her.”

Loud gasps sounded around the room behind him, but Jaye didn’t care. Granted, he hadn’t asked Velvet to marry him yet, but now that she knew he loved her, the proposal would come when they were alone.

“Wedding gift?” Mr. Beaks exclaimed. “When did the two of you become engaged?”

When the eyes of everyone at the table went to Velvet’s left hand, Jaye said, “Not that it’s anyone’s business, but my proposal was something I’d planned to do in private when I felt the time was right. That’s all you need to know.”

Dwight Beaks looked flustered. “But the two of you were never seen around town together. And you’ve only known her for a few months. If you came here looking for a wife, you could have done better. We have several well-bred women living here from good families that are more on your social scale.”

Hearing the man’s absurd spiel, Jaye and Velvet looked at each other, and unable to help themselves, they laughed. That angered Dwight Beaks. “The two of you find something funny about what I said?”

“They aren’t the only ones,” a loud voice said. “Although I’m not laughing.”

Every head in that room swiveled around to find who had spoken. Reid Lacroix stood in the back. Silence descended as he made his way to the front. Unlike Jaye’s earlier expression that had been unreadable, there was no mistaking the anger on Reid’s face.

“Mr. Lacroix, we didn’t know you had returned from your trip to Hawaii,” one of the board members, who had remained quiet all this time, quickly said. “We hope you had a nice time with your lovely wife and beautiful granddaughters.”

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