“It’s so important to make sure the bitch has been shown and has at least gotten her best of show once,” Tansy informed Devon. “Most people don’t fully understand the genetics involved in breeding dogs. It’s super complicated. You know? Those larger breeds just have so many health problems! That’s why they barely live like ten years. I mean, can you imagine? I have dogs that are like fourteen years old and still have all their teeth.”
Devon was pretty sure he was supposed to insert a comment right here, but he could not begin to imagine what the appropriate option might be. So he cleared his throat and sipped his wine while he attempted to come up with the right response. “Uh, how many dogs do you have?”
“Oh, like forty.” She gave an airy wave of her hand. “I think I would like to have a farm somewhere that I could use to set up a real kennel. My father’s property here in University Park is nice, but there are so many laws regarding how many dogs you can have! Can you imagine? I mean, if you’re taking care of them properly and keeping them in kennels and making certain that they are well cared for, why should the city care how many dogs you have?”
Right. Because everyone in the Dunlop’s neighborhood probably just loved the forty yapping toy dogs running around their property. If Tansy’s father hadn’t been Randall Dunlop and hadn’t had his finger in every civic pie in Dallas, there was no way in hell they’d ever manage to have forty dogs like that.
Devon had no doubt that his mother wanted her foot in the Dunlop’s door for some reason he had yet to understand. That was a certainty. But the other piece of that was the possibility that the Dunlops wanted their foot in the King’s door for more than just business reasons. Such as the Kings had a ranch right outside the city that sat on a hundred acres of prime real estate where forty dachshunds would not be quite such a problem.
Devon almost could not contain his laughter as he thought about his elder half brother Gemini King coming upon a gaggle of dachshunds while out for a run in the guise of a two-hundred-plus pound red wolf. Talk about cocktail sausages. The tiny dogs would become one meal, and not even a great one.
“You know,” Tansy said slyly. “Your property outside Dallas would be so perfect for breeding my dogs. It’s just so roomy! And there is plenty of space for kennels.”
“When were you out there?” Devon did not even bother to keep his tone congenial. He wanted to know who the hell had been taking people on tours of the King property. It wasn’t safe for average civilians to be running around out there with Gemini and Jason hanging about in their wolf forms. “It’s private property, Ms. Dunlop. And it isn’t available for sale or for development as a dog kennel.”
Tansy looked taken aback. She had dark curls that bobbed around her face and shoulders and huge dark eyes that reflected something in the firelight that made Devon feel very, very uncomfortable. “You and your brother Orion inherited everything,” Tansy informed Devon. “So you should get the land. If you want to build kennels on it that should be your decision.”
“For starters,” Devon growled. “I have zero interest in building kennels on my family’s land. It was a working cattle ranch back in the day. Now we use it to hunt. That’s it. And right now it’s pretty hotly contested since my brother Jason has the probate courts claiming that he should get the land since he didn’t get any part of the company.”
“Well, that’s preposterous,” Tansy muttered.
She was pouting. Holy cow, she was pouting! What on earth was going on with her? Was there a third hidden agenda that Devon was completely unaware of? It was like the Dunlops had a plan, Tisha Olivares-King had a plan, and now what? Tansy had her own plan?
Devon had hardly had a chance to process this possibility when his arm was grabbed by Landry Fisher. Landry leaned in and offered Tansy a very brilliant and totally fake smile. “If you could excuse us for just a moment, Tansy? I have to ask my brother-in-law one tiny little thing.”
“Sure.” Tansy wiggled her fingers as though she were still puzzling over Devon’s comments about the King family land.
Not that Devon wasn’t appreciative for the interruption, but something in Landry’s manner was absolutely concerning. He leaned down and waited for her to go on. Her lips were pursed and her expression suggested that something dire had gone down.
“Is Mother dead of some kind of food poisoning?” Devon teased. “Because I have to tell you that I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”
“I wish,” Landry growled. She spun Devon around and made a somewhat surreptitious effort to gesture to the kitchen. “Your wife is back there.”
“Excuse me?” Those words did not compute. Devon could not imagine what Landry was talking about. “Kami is at home.”
“No. Kami is at work.” Landry bit her lip. “And right now she is working for the caterer who is handling this party.”
“What the hell?” Devon snarled. He started to turn around. He had every intention of stomping into the kitchen in order to tell his wife that she was not going to work for some caterer who took orders from Devon’s psychotic mother. Fortunately, Landry grabbed his arm before he could act on that particular impulse.
“What are you doing?” Landry demanded. “You can’t just waltz in there and talk to her! You can’t out each other like that. I already spoke with her briefly. I’ve talked to your brothers and to Skye. I didn’t bother with Orion. That’s pointless. I don’t even think he knows who Kami is.”
“Why would you do that?” Devon was aghast. “You’re just going to let her work the party like this? It-It’s... It’s demeaning!”
“Why? Because your wife works for a living?” Landry narrowed her gaze. “Careful, Devon. Kami is a wonderful woman. But she’s a hard worker. She’s doing a favor for a friend. That’s the only reason she’s here. But the second you start thinking less of her because of her jobs is the second that you don’t deserve her. You get me?”
“Right. Right.” Devon put his hands over his face and rubbed his eyes until he felt as though they were filled with sand. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Try to keep your date away from your wife,” Landry suggested.
Oh, holy shit! Devon suddenly realized why Landry was acting like she was. For just a moment he had totally forgotten about Tansy. He had forgotten that his mother believed that he was falling into line and romancing Tansy as he’d been ordered to. He had forgotten that he was basically cheating on his poor Kami without even meaning to all because he needed to keep his mother from poking around too much into the business.
“How am I supposed to do that?” Devon moaned.
He felt as though he were perched on the edge of an emotional cliff and about to take a tumble off the other side. Nothing was going right. Not when it involved this party and his mother and the possible intentions of a bunch of idiot people who all seemed to want him to go back on his word in some way, shape, or form.
Landry was already craning her neck toward the kitchen, presumably to see if she could find Kami. “You need to find your wife. You need to explain yourself at least a little. And then you need to beg her to forgive you because you’ve been an ass.”
“What?”
“Why do men never think about the consequences of a possible lie?” Landry sighed and shook her head. “Zane does the same crap! I swear. It’s like you boys never think about the fact that even if it seems like a lie it’s just as damaging to a relationship as it would be if you were actually lying. The only answer is total transparency. That is how you build trust. That way when you do something stupid or your idiot mother gets you into some kind of ridiculous situation you can’t get out of, you can just know that Kami will know you’re not a liar and she’ll be patient enough to wait for the explanation.” Landry smacked Devon on the shoulder. “I really don’t think you’re there yet.”
Devon fended off another blow. “What is it with you and Skye that you’re always hitting me? I swear it’s like the two of you are just completely driven by a desire to commit violent
acts against your brothers-in-law!”
“I don’t know.” Landry made a face at him. “Maybe it’s because you’re all such idiots!”
Devon suddenly spotted Kami in the kitchen. She was looking at them, watching them, while trying to pretend that she wasn’t. It was awkward and very disconcerting. Devon nodded to Landry. “Thanks for the heads up. I have to go.”
“What about Tansy?” Landry whispered through her teeth.
Devon did not even pretend not to beg when he looked at Landry. “Please, could you?”
“Oh, for shit’s sake!” Landry whispered. “Fine. But you owe me!”
Devon did not look back as he strode toward the kitchen. Kami had ducked back inside. Devon didn’t care. He was determined to have a few words with his wife. He did need to remind himself that she wasn’t doing anything wrong. That was a big deal. Landry was right. He could not poke at her because of her jobs.
The kitchen was in absolute chaos. Devon almost didn’t recognize the space. There were too many people and too much stuff and it was almost as though the caterer’s van had exploded right into the house and just sprayed food everywhere.
Devon spotted Kami just reaching for a fresh tray of canapes. He did not even try to enter the kitchen. He just leaned in and called her name. “Kami. Kami, can I have a word?”
The whole kitchen paused, but only for the briefest of seconds. At least Kami did not seem to need much convincing. Something in his manner must have told her that he wasn’t going to give up. Without a single word of argument, Kami came to the kitchen door and stood in front of Devon wringing her hands as though she expected him to be upset.
“I didn’t know the party was at your house until I got here,” she told him tersely.
Strange. But her words were far more clipped and almost angry than he would have expected. He hadn’t done anything wrong. At least not that he knew of. Devon gently took her hand in his. “It’s not your fault. Landry mentioned that you were helping a friend. You can do whatever you’d like to do, sweetheart. It’s your choice. Not mine.”
“No?” Her tone got a little angrier and he realized that she was actually ticked off at him. Why? “But you can lie to me?”
“Lie.” He had to think about that. In a rush it all came back and he remembered hastily writing a note and leaving it for her about a meeting. “Right. I told you I was going to a meeting. I know it probably seems bad, but I didn’t want you to think that I didn’t want you to come to this party or something. I didn’t want you to think I was doing something fun and purposefully excluding you. To me this is a meeting. I’m here because my mother required it. She threatened to—let’s just say she made threats and leave it at that.” Devon really didn’t want to try and explain Tisha Olivares-King’s strange half-knowledge about Devon’s relationship with Kami. It was too complicated.
“So you’re going to what? Lie to me every single time you’ve got some family event that you don’t think I’ll be welcome at? So I’ll just keep doing this job so I can keep an eye on you and make sure there’s not something else going on?”
“What?” Devon’s gut cramped and his heart sped up. He felt his stress levels rising to dangerous levels. Was this going to be the moment where he actually lost control and shifted to his wolf form on accident? He had never done that before, but Jason had. It was a thing. Devon just really didn’t want it to be his thing.
“Don’t you dare think that I didn’t see you with that little bimbo in the red dress.” Kami curled her lip in obvious distaste. Then she shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to do my job and go home. And I think you should just stay here with your little red dress date tonight. Okay? Stay here and do what you’re going to do and call it business so you don’t feel like a cheating liar!”
“Kami, don’t.” Dammit. This was bad. Devon could see the other people in the kitchen glancing over in obvious curiosity. He didn’t want this to get out of hand, but he mostly did not want Kami to misunderstand what was going on. “That’s the woman my mother wants me to marry. You know? Kind of like your father wants you to marry Roberto the gangbanger?”
“Yeah, but you don’t see me hanging out with Roberto!” Kami shoved him toward the exit. “Just go. I don’t want to talk about this right now. Go back to your stupid date. I can see she’s so awful. She looks like a freaking porn star!”
“Yeah, and you know that’s exactly what I like,” Devon snapped sarcastically. “I’m just totally into porn stars and all of the drama that they bring with them. I wish you would let me explain.”
“So explain!”
“It’s complicated. I don’t even think I could get through the whole explanation in the next ten minutes.” Damn that sounded bad even to Devon’s ears. “I’ll explain at home. All right. And I’m coming home tonight. That’s where I belong. Remember?”
“Not when you’re planning to walk through our door smelling like some other Ho!” Kami muttered something in Spanish and turned on her heel to walk back to the canapes. “Get out of here before I smack you with this damn tray!”
Well, there was certainly not a single thing that Devon could do right now to fix this. And it seemed like any additional trying only made it worse for now. That meant his only option was to avoid Tansy Dunlop like the plague and hope that his mother didn’t make too much of a problem over the whole thing.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kami was so angry that she could hardly keep herself together. It was good that the party was a busy one because it left her with tons to do and no time to think about anything else. The trays were heavy as hell and the party guests were rude. They seemed to enjoy getting in the way of the staff and making it as difficult as possible to circulate trays.
Of course, none of that could possibly compare to the sheer levels of rudeness exhibited by the woman that Kami now had to call mother-in-law. Tisha Olivares-King was a real piece of work. The woman was wearing an outfit meant for a much younger woman and seemed oblivious to the fact that it only managed to make her look like a high paid hooker. She laughed too loud. She flirted too much. And she acted as though everyone liked her even though it was obvious to anyone with eyes that even her guests thought of her as a running joke.
“You know she’s trying to marry one of her sons off to the Dunlop heiress.” A woman whispered the words to her friend without even seeming to realize that Kami’s ear was pretty much right there. Both women were trying to choose a canape from Kami’s tray. “It’s pathetic really. Everyone knows that she’s robbing her sons blind.”
“The probate judge will get done with her and all of a sudden she won’t be quite so full of holiday cheer,” the second woman snorted. “I just hope her poor sons can last that long. I know three of them have managed to marry behind her back. Can you imagine? I would absolutely kill my Donovan if he tried that! But good gracious, what else are they supposed to do? Tisha Olivares-King is like the matchmaker from hell.”
Kami tried to clear her throat, an attempt to remind the women that they weren’t exactly having a private conversation. But they didn’t even flinch. It was actually as if Kami did not exist. How revolting! Was it always like this for Devon and his family? How did Landry and Skye stand it?
Stealing a surreptitious glance over at her sisters-in-law, Kami realized that they were standing together with smiles on their faces as they whispered and probably made fun of the other guests. Okay. So that would have been a far better and more enjoyable evening. Maybe there was a way to survive this sort of event should she ever be invited to attend one.
That thought made Kami mad all over again, but not so angry that she did not hear the next comment from the two ladies who still could not manage to just choose a canape and get on with it. “You heard the rumor that Devon King is actually married, right? There was some accident the other night. Someone told me, that a member of the nursing staff at the hospital told them, that the policeman told her, that Devon King referred to the other p
erson in the car as his wife!”
“No. Way!” The second woman gasped and finally grabbed a canape. She spent almost no time savoring the food. She just shoved it into her mouth and then hurriedly chewed it down so she could get on with her gossip fest. “If Tisha finds out that boy’s goose is cooked!”
Kami could not stand it anymore. Without waiting for the women to indicate that they were through, she walked off. It was that simple. Kami realized that when you did not care whether or not you ever got asked to work one of these parties again, you were much more able to react honestly to the rudeness of others.
“Hey!” the first woman exclaimed. “I didn’t get to choose my canape!”
“I’m sorry,” Kami said in what she hoped was an at least neutral tone of voice. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I was just wanting to give the two of you some privacy for your obviously private conversation.”
“Private conversation…” The second woman was frowning at Kami. “Were you eavesdropping?”
“Eavesdropping?” Kami was absolutely dumbfounded. “How can I eavesdrop when you were practically shouting in my ear? It’s eavesdropping if I stand across the room and listen in. The two of you were actually closer to me than you were to each other while you were prattling on.”
The first woman put her hands on her hips. “Prattling? Excuse me? I’m going to have to report you to the owner of this company.”
“Go ahead.” Kami snorted and shook her head. How many times had she wanted to do this sort of thing? How many times had she listened to the gossip of the town and tried to ignore it while they talked over her head or around her. She glared at both women. “If only the two of you could take your heads out of your backsides for long enough to realize that we hear all of your gossip. I can tell you that there’s a couple of women and a young man on the other side of the room that were talking about the two of you earlier. And then there was a woman over there”—Kami jerked her chin toward the front room—“who was saying something very uncomplimentary about dear, dear Donovan. I guess you didn’t know that your son wouldn’t be marrying a woman behind your back anyway.” Kami did not need to be told that she shouldn’t be saying these things. It was pretty much common sense. But she was so sick of their attitudes!
Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5 Page 87