Secrets of a Shy Socialite by Wendy S. Marcus Read Free Book Online Page B

of the car. “My daughter is sleeping.”
    “You promised to stay in the car,” Jena reminded him.
    “I did not,” Justin said. “So how’ve you been, Jerry?” he asked, enraging Jerald further.
    “You and your spawn are not welcome on my property,” Jerald blustered. “Leave now or I’ll call security and have you forcibly removed.” He put his arm around Jena and held her to his side.
    “Stop it.” Jena twisted away. “She’s my daughter, too, and has just as much right to be here as I do. This is the Piermont estate. It’s on Piermont property. And whether you’re happy with me or not, I’m still a Piermont.”
    “Him?” Jerald said, sounding like the remnants of something foul coated his tongue. “That degenerate is the twins’ father? Have you completely lost your mind? He ruined your sister’s reputation.”
    Technically, Jaci had ruined her own reputation back in high school.
    “Here I thought I was the last to know the girls were mine,” Justin said, amused.
    “Be quiet.” Jena glared at him, hoping he got the full effect of her displeasure despite her being in the shadows.
    “It wasn’t enough to corrupt Jaci and destroy her chances for a respectable marriage. You had to go after Jena, too,” Jerald accused. Then he turned to Jena, softened his tone and said, “Honey, I warned you about men like him, men who will do anything to snag themselves a Piermont,” pretending to be a concerned big brother.
    “It’s not like that,” Jena defended Justin, praying he didn’t share the circumstances of their night together. The humiliation of Jerald knowing would be too much.
    “Don’t be a fool, Jena,” Jerald said. “What happened to your insisting you wouldn’t marry without love?”
    That’d been her silly hope, an unrealistic dream.
    “Men like him don’t know how to love,” Jerald went on. “He’ll tell you what you want to hear to get what he wants. He’ll marry you but he won’t be faithful.”
    “Hey, wait a minute,” Justin piped up.
    “He’ll sneak around,” Jerald said. “But the wife always finds out. You have a soft heart, Jena. He’ll hurt you. You’ll be miserable married to a man like him.”
    “You can save your arguments,” she said to Jerald. “He doesn’t want to marry me.”
    “I’m standing right here, you know,” Justin said. “And I’m capable of speaking for myself.”
    “So speak,” Jerald challenged. “Profess your undying love. Make an offer of marriage. Go ahead. We’re waiting.”
    Jerald should consider himself lucky Jena didn’t see anything within reach she could use to clobber him over the head. Justin wanting to marry her, no matter how misguided his reasoning, would only further complicate her already complicated life.
    Thank goodness Justin had the good sense to keep quiet.
    “Just as I thought,” Jerald said and turned to Jena. “I’ve been in contact with Thomas Rosendale’s father. You remember Thomas?”
    Her lab partner in AP Physics. Graduated second in their class. “I thought he was gay.”
    Jerald hopped right over the question of Thomas’s sexual preference and said, “He needs a wife. He’s up for partner in a prominent law firm on Madison Avenue. He owns a three bedroom on the Upper East Side. He’s very successful and polite. He’d make a good husband. His father assured me Thomas would do his best to make you happy, and he’ll adopt the twins and raise them as if they were his own.”
    “Over my dead body,” Justin yelled.
    “That can be arranged,” Jerald taunted. “What do you say?” he asked Jena. “Will you at least think about it? Please?”
    “No she will not think about it,” Justin snapped.
    Only because she had other more pressing matters to deal with first. But, “Please?” She looked Jerald in the eyes. “For years you have been trying to force the most horrible men on me,” she said. “You accepted invitations, on my behalf, for dates I did not want to go on, with men