Page 41

Chapter Twelve

“Why is she here, Martha?” Grim asked.

It was Thanksgiving, and when he wanted to wake up and make love to his woman, Betty set her alarm to come down to the kitchen. She was using the main kitchen as well as her studio to cook not one but three turkeys. Yesterday, she even got him to help.

The pecan pie was done. As was the pumpkin pie. There was also a cheesecake, a chocolate pie, and he was pretty sure he spotted an apple pie. There were a lot of desserts, but a lot of people were coming.

“I don’t know,” Martha said.

Bettina had tried to be a bitch, and he’d told her to get out of the fucking kitchen. Actually, he told her in a not-polite way to either get an apron on and start helping, or fuck off. She fucked off, and he didn’t even care. He just didn’t want her around.

“I have a feeling she is getting a divorce or is divorced. I’ve tried to contact her husband, but that is no use.” Martha sighed. “Bettina is always like this.”

“An evil bitch?” he asked.

Martha let out a sigh. “She is not that bad.”

“I watch Betty shrivel up in her company. She flourishes when that woman is nowhere in sight.”

Martha frowned and nodded. “I know. My sister ... she has not exactly been the nicest person. She always believed that because she was beautiful, she didn’t need to try. Every man that has ever had anything to do with her convinced her of the same thing.”

This was not helping, as it was making him hate her that little bit more. There had been a few moments, when he was alone, and he was sure Bettina was flirting with him. He wasn’t interested. She would try to criticize Betty, and he shut her up faster with his words. He knew how to deal with evil bitches like Bettina. The best way was to remove them from your life, as they were only there to suck all the joy and love out of it. That had been his experience, and he didn’t want Betty to have to go through any more of that. It pissed him off.

“Divorce?” he asked.

“Bettina has never stepped foot in Rivermont Ridge since she left. She has to be desperate.”

“Desperate?”

“I’m assuming money.”

“I thought you and your family were rich?”

“I am and we are, but you’ve got to understand, wealth only lasts if you know what to do with it,” Martha said. “I happen to know what to do with it, and I don’t waste it. Sure, I like having Maeve and Charlotte around, and I like my country club, but that is it. Everything else is ... well, essential. They’re my luxuries.”

“Betty doesn’t have any money,” he said. He was aware Betty’s wealth would come from Martha’s estate.

“I know,” Martha said. “But I’m going to take care of her.”

“Do you think Bettina is after your fortune?” he asked.

“I honestly don’t know.”

Grim snorted. They both knew it was exactly that. Betty was kidnapped and held for ransom over a year, and the mother didn’t once make a single phone call. Bettina didn’t care about her daughter, so this was not a social visit.

“I will not have Betty hurt,” he said.

“I won’t either. Is it ... uh, serious between the two of you?” Martha asked.

He looked toward the older woman, and he saw the hope in her eyes.

“I love her,” he said.

Martha brought her hands together as if to clap them. Her eyes seemed to sparkle.

“Don’t you say anything to her, do you hear me?”

“You’ve not told her?”