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The need to bolt increased, but running wasn’t an option. He shut the door, then motioned to the corner, where two sofas had been set up.
“Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Tea?”
Elizabeth shook her head. She moved to the sofas but didn’t sit down. David noticed her normally sleek blond hair seemed mussed somehow. Her lipstick had faded, and there was a smudge of mascara under her left eye.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“No, I’m not. Something terrible has happened.”
As he’d just seen his father in the meeting, he knew it wasn’t him. “Rebecca?” he asked, knowing it couldn’t be. Elizabeth would hardly be so… distraught over her daughter.
Elizabeth set her small handbag on the coffee table and laced her fingers together in front of her waist. She stared at him intently.
“Is it true?” she asked. “Are you seeing Jayne? Dating Jayne? Are you together?”
Hot damn. Jayne had finally told the old lady. Good for her, he thought, knowing this meant she was taking them seriously.
“I am.”
“You seem very happy about it.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked. “Jayne’s amazing. Smart and funny. She cares about people, and she’s incredibly self-aware. There aren’t any games with her. I know where I stand.”
“Which all sounds very laudable, but isn’t the point. How is this possible? When did you start going out with her? How could she have betrayed me this way?”
He knew what his mother meant, but it seemed smarter to put her on the defensive. “Gee, thanks, Mom. Betrayed you? Are you saying, Jayne doesn’t have high enough standards?”
Elizabeth’s expression turned cool. “That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it. Jayne seeing you? A totally unacceptable situation. You’re a Worden. You have a family tradition to uphold. I can’t imagine how either of you let this happen.” She relaxed her arms to her sides. “How long has this been going on? Are you sleeping together?”
He would give her full points for recovering quickly, he thought grimly. So much for leading the conversation.
“My sex life isn’t your business.”
“It is when it concerns your future.” She pressed her lips together. “Dammit, David. You should know better. I’ve given you the opportunity to meet appropriate women. Accomplished and beautiful single women who would like nothing better than to fall in love with you. But could you see one of them? Ask one of them out? Of course not. And Jayne, of all people.”
“Why do you say it like that? What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing, if you were a junior accountant from the Valley. You’re a man, so I don’t expect you to understand, but Jayne will do anything to get ahead. I should have realized it before.”
“Now you’re scaring me,” he muttered, thinking his mother was going over to the dark side.
“She’s doing this on purpose. Throwing herself at you. Telling you her sad little story and getting you to feel sorry for her.”
“I feel a lot of things for Jayne, but I don’t feel sorry for her. Mom, have you ever had a conversation with Jayne? Not just handing out a to-do list or instructions, but a real conversation? Do you know what she does with her life?”
“What? Of course I do. She’s some kind of nurse. A job she got after college, which we paid for, I might add. Jayne has been fortunate to have me in her life, and here she is repaying me with this.” Elizabeth moved toward him.
“You have to listen to me, David. You’re not thinking, or if you are, it’s not with your brain. Jayne Scott will do anything to trap you. She’ll lie, deceive, and very possibly trap you by getting pregnant.”
“She’s nothing like you.”
Elizabeth narrowed her gaze. “I see you’re still trying to hurt me. Fine. Go ahead. Be disrespectful. Dig in the knife. But while you’re doing it, know that no one will ever love you as much as I do. No one will ever care about you like I do. Do you think Jayne worries about you and your future? Do you honestly think she wouldn’t love to give up her crappy little apartment for life with you?”
Frustration built inside of him. It shouldn’t have to be like this, he thought grimly. “You’re wrong about her. She’s so determined to get away from this damned family that she’s moving halfway across the country. If she was so enamored with all things Worden, why would she do that?”
“It’s all part of her plan to get your attention and sympathy.”
Weariness tugged at him. He didn’t like drawing a line in the sand—it often made things worse rather than better. But he wasn’t going to let Elizabeth run his life.
