Page 78 of A Tempting Seduction
“Tell me,” I said simply.
Ruby pulled her hand free and wrapped her arms around herself. “I grew up in Los Angeles. That part is true. My mom died when I was eleven, just like I said, and my dad Michael remarried when I was thirteen. Diane. Her father was… is Horace Waters. He’s the house majority leader in California.”
She paused, like the words were getting stuck.
I whistled. “So, he’s a big deal.”
“A very big deal,” Ruby agreed.
“Dad was a judge. A state superior court judge. I’m positive that Horace had Diane target him to marry. He was perfect for letting the corporate white-collar criminals off. The kind of men Horace needed to back his campaigns.”
I frowned. “That’s quite the set-up.”
“Dad was different when he and mom were married. He was a homebody. But after he married Diane, he went to all these parties. Horace was constantly having him meet people. Dad hated it, I could tell.”
She looked down at her hands again, then up at me.
“He totally changed. He wasn’t the same man anymore. Do you believe me?”
“If you say it’s true, then I believe you.” I covered her hands with mine.
“As I got older, I wanted to go to college, but Diane had different ideas. She had me starting to go to parties. I was supposed to make nice to people who weren’t nice. Dad said I had to, too. It was part of the family image. I could tell it was Grandpa Horace—that’s what I was forced to call him—I could tell it was his idea.”
“My sisters were already married. One to a lawyer, and one to a creepy politician who was older than dirt. Everybody sucked up to Grandpa Horace and my dad. I heard people talking. That’s when I started hearing things about dad. I heard things about how, for the right amount of money, cases could get dismissed. It was awful.”
I could just imagine a young Ruby hearing this about her father and how it would hurt her.
“I should have figured out something was wrong before all that. We ended up living in a much bigger house after he married Diane. I had to go to a private school that I hated. I only got to keep one old friend.”
“You said you thought your dad was murdered?” I asked, trying to get her back on track.
“That’s where Lance came in. I told you about him. When I was twenty, Diane and Grandpa Horace introduced me to him. He was an assemblyman. He had big plans. He was all California blonde, with big white teeth and a perfect tan. He surfed, played golf and belonged to the same country club as all the bigwigs in California politics.”
I winced. I could just picture the guy, and I couldn’t tell if I was jealous or if I thought the guy was a douche. Maybe it was a bit of both.
“Anyway, it was clear they wanted me to date him, and I felt like I didn’t have a choice. But it felt weird. He was the first man who had ever really shown an interest in me, and he was perfect. It didn’t make any sense. But after a while he told me he loved me, so I just assumed love was blind.”
“Ruby, sweetheart. That man was lucky to have you. You’re gorgeous.”
She gave me a desperate, disbelieving look, and I cupped her face and kissed her. Once again, the world melted away and I couldn’t stop kissing her. She tasted like honey and tears. I took my time, and as she whimpered and clutched my shoulders I came to my senses.
“Beautiful, baby. You’re beautiful.”
I watched a smile transform her face and something inside me relaxed. I’d been needing to see her smile since I’d brought her into my home. “Now tell me more about this douchebag.”
She giggled. “After a year and a half, Grandpa Horace had a lavish party, and he brought Lance and I onto the dias, and that was where Lance got down on one knee and proposed to me.” She looked up at me. “Do you know what the weirdest part is?”
“No, tell me.”
“I really wanted to say, let me think about it. Here I was, the less than beautiful Banks daughter being proposed to by Mr. Wonderful, and I wasn’t thrilled. But he and Horace put me on the spot. I had no choice but to say yes.”
“You had good instincts,” I grinned.
“I did, didn’t I?”
“Yep. And you were how old?”
“Twenty-one.”
