“Who is this?” Nick demanded.
“You must have a lot of enemies if you can’t even identify them. This is the one that’s calling to find out what your game is in marrying Raina.”
Nick gritted his teeth. “What the hell do you want, Silvestre?” He practically hissed the name. “I saw your picture in the paper. I hope you’re not calling to invite me to the wedding.”
“No, I’m definitely not inviting the bastard I had to chase out of my wife’s bed to anything.”
“I told you then that I had no idea Marisol was a married woman. I don’t do that.”
“Funny how whenever I have woman trouble, it seems to circle around to you. First you sleep with my wife, now, according to my sources, you married my fiancée less than twenty-four hours after I last spoke with her.”
“She’s not your fiancée,” Nick managed to say from between clenched teeth. “She’s not your anything.”
Silvestre sniffed. “When I heard the initial reports I was sure it was a hoax. Raina’s way of getting back at me for embarrassing her in the press. Then I figured it must have been one of those drunken mistakes that would be annulled just as quickly.”
“Oh, there won’t be any annulment. Our marriage has been thoroughly consummated.”
“Always so crude. How Raina could have made a mistake of this magnitude I can only imagine. I knew she was desperate to get married, but this is just absurd.”
“Raina ceased to be any of your concern when you decided to play tonsil hockey with your ex-wife in broad daylight.”
“You don’t know anything about what happened with us. Raina and I would have worked things out. I regret hurting her, but I was going to honor the engagement. This thing with Marisol was a misunderstanding.”
Nick shook his head in disbelief. Silvestre seemed to think he’d committed a minor transgression like forgetting to send flowers on Valentine’s Day. It was absolutely amazing that this was the same man who’d lectured him about sleeping with his wife when Nick hadn’t known she was married.
Apparently Marisol hadn’t felt her marriage was worth mentioning.
“Look, Silvestre. It doesn’t matter whether you like me or whether you believe me. This conversation is a waste of both of our time. Raina and I’ve been married six weeks already so the fact that you waited this long makes me wonder. Did Marisol leave you again already? Starting to wonder if you made a mistake, huh?”
“You think you’re so smart. You always know what to say, don’t you? But I’m guessing even you won’t be able to smooth talk your way out of it once I tell Raina what you’re really like. She may have been desperate enough to marry you, but I know she wants a good role model for her future children. Character is important to her.”
Nick seethed with rage. “Listen up. Because I’m done playing nice. You’re not the only one who can carry a tale to the right ears. Your new nightclubs are opening soon and you’re negotiating another deal to acquire even more, right? This is probably not the best time for bad publicity.”
“You can’t touch me. You’re a tiny fish in my pond, Alexander. I could buy and sell your operation with my pocket change.”
“That wasn’t enough to make Raina choose you, was it?” Nick chuckled at the harsh breathing on the other end of the line. “Raina covered for you, but I have no problem telling anyone who’ll listen the truth. I’m sure your Japanese investors will love the story of a man who cheats on his fiancée with his ex-wife. Especially considering the importance they place on honor and the value of a man’s word.”
There was a long pause, then Silvestre said, “Do what you want, Alexander. But for Raina’s sake, I wonder if you’ll have any more respect for your own marriage than you did for mine.”
CHAPTER TEN
RAINA TIPPED THE watering can she held, dousing her flower bed with a spray of droplets. Before she’d left Ridley’s, her sister had asked when she’d last watered her plants. The blank look on her face had probably been all the answer her sister needed. Ridley knew her too well.
“What are you doing out here?”
Raina turned to see Nick standing in the back doorway. “I’m just enjoying the last bit of sunlight and doing a little gardening.”
He’d already pulled his tie off and his hair looked slightly rumpled, as if he’d rubbed his hands over it a few times.
She turned back to her plants. How much water were they supposed to get, anyway? How was it that flowers seemed to do just fine in the wild with only the rain to rely on? She scowled when she noticed the small puddle at the base of the plant.
What kind of mother was she going to be if she couldn’t even keep a stupid tulip alive?
“What are you doing home so early? I thought it was poker night with the guys?”
“Jackson said you were at the house earlier.”
Raina rolled her eyes. “I also told him not to call you. Geez, men are the real gossips.”
“Why didn’t you stick around?”
“I’m not pregnant, Nick.” She kept her back to him and doused the next section of plants with water.
She felt more than heard him come up behind her. He pulled her back against his chest.
“Why do you always do that, sweets?”
She looked up at him, sharply. “Do what?”
He pulled her closer and kissed her gently on the forehead. “Pull away from me when you think you’re getting too emotional. Or cover your eyes if you think you might cry. I don’t want you to hide your emotions from me, no matter what they are. I want the good, the bad, and the ugly. You have the right to be upset, Raina. I know how much you wanted this.”