Page 93 of The Fiancée Farce
Tansy tugged her sleeves down past her wrists and over her hands and sniffed. “I told himno. Obviously.”
“It’s a lot of money,” Gemma whispered. “I wouldn’t blame you if—”
“Well, I didn’t.” Tansy’s chin quivered. Tears clung to her bottom lashes, nearly spilling over, and Gemma’s heart ached. “Ididn’t.” Her chin rose, tears doing nothing to dampen the fierce look in her eyes. “I don’t care about the money. It’s not about that.” She swallowed thickly, stealing a glance at Lucy. “And we both know it.”
Gemma’s sinuses stung. She pinched the bridge of her nose to stanch the burning, to stop her tears in their tracks.Fuck.She sucked in a shaky breath, words escaping her on the next exhale. “Of course it’s not about that. Of course I know it.”
The knot inside Gemma’s chest unfurled, the rest of her unraveling with it, coming completely undone.
Tansy had turned down astaggeringamount of money. For what? Forher? She pressed a hand to her chest, heart thundering against her palm. She had no fucking idea what she had done to deserve Tansy, to have earned her loyalty, her trust.
She’d be damned if she didn’t do everything in her power to offer the same to Tansy in kind.
Whatever Tansy wanted, it was hers.
Gemmawas hers.
From her assets to her heart to everything in between.
Gemma’s fingers trembled, her palms damp, this seismic shift terrifying her, but not in arun for the hillssense. More in the sense that she couldn’t believe it. That she was so lucky that occasionally, at times like now, the realization took her breath away. That not long ago she’d thought that satisfying the terms of her grandfather’s will would be nothing but a headache and a hassle, but now it was the best damn thing to have ever happened to her.
Maybe it was too soon to say the words, too soon even to feel the glimmer of them that she did, but what about their relationship had followed anything approaching a regular timeline? A linear one, at that?
She might not be ready to give Tansy the words now, but she would be. By the time they said their vows. Soon.
Gemma wanted Tansy to know without a shadow of a doubt that she wouldn’t let her down, wouldn’t disappoint her. That she could be the sort of person, the sort ofpartnerTansy deserved.
“What else did Tucker say?”
“Like that wasn’t bad enough?” Max muttered.
“Shut up, Max,” Lucy snapped. “Let Tansy talk.”
Gemma returned to the couch, wedging herself between Yvonne and Tansy, who smelled like rain and violet-scentedshampoo, strands of damp hair beginning to curl wildly around her face. Gemma tucked a strand behind Tansy’s ear and let her fingers linger just beneath her jaw. Her pulse fluttered frantically beneath Gemma’s fingertips. “Tell me.”
“Nothing he hasn’t called me before. Or close.” Tansy rolled her eyes. “He called me a whore.”
Gemma saw red. “What.”
Yvonne gasped. “Tas de merde!”
“Gemma, don’t.” Tansy tugged on her sleeve, dragging her back down to the couch, because apparently she’d stood without realizing it. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal?” Gemma’s jaw ached from clenching.
Teddy looked grim. “It’s a pretty fucking big deal, Tansy.”
“They’re just words,” Tansy muttered. “Words I’ve heard before, okay? Did it suck? Yeah. Did it bring back bad memories? It did. But I’m fine. I kicked him out of the store.”
“Good.” Rochelle scowled. “Should’ve kicked him somewhere else while you were at it.”
Good, yes, but not good enough. “Someone needs to teach that cretin cousin of mine a lesson. He came into your store and he—hehurt you.”
And no one hurt Tansy and got away with it.
He’d hurt Tansy before, and a tiger didn’t change its stripes. Van Dalens sure as shit didn’t.
Tansy, Gemma’s mother, God knew how many other people... how was she supposed to right that? To turn a legacy that—thattarnishedinto something worthy of pride? It seemed too monumental an undertaking for one person. Maybe itwouldbe better to start over from scratch. Let someone else, someone better run Van Dalen Publishing.
