She huffed out and picked up the phone. “Mr. Connor, I’m so sorry to bother you. I’ve got a gentleman,” she covered the phone, and asked for his name, “a Mr. Drew Reynolds is here to—” She paused going bright red. “Oh, I see. Yes, sir.” She put the phone down. “He said to go straight through.” She pointed toward the door, and he nodded.
“Thanks.”
Making his way toward the door, he entered the office, saying Connor’s name.
William was behind the desk, and the moment he came in, he hung up the phone, and got to his feet.
“I’ll be damned, Drew Reynolds. I knew you worked at the ranch, but I thought you had forgotten who I was. I’ve been back in town six months, and nothing.” William came around the desk, and held his hand out, shaking it.
Drew noticed there was no wedding ring.
“I’m afraid this wasn’t a social visit.”
“I figured as much,” William said, sighing. “What’s going on?”
“Are you married?” Drew asked, staring at the finger with no ring.
William cursed. “Yeah, as per my father’s will, I had to marry that fucking viper, Francine Luderman. Fucking hate her. If I could change it, I would. My heart belongs to another.” William shuddered. “I heard you were fucking Francine all the way up to the wedding.”
Drew stilled. “Okay, this is not going the way I imagined it would. If a man was touching my woman, he wouldn’t be standing before me right now.”
His old friend sighed. “Look, I married Francine because I had to. This is my fucking company. I earned this. However, in my father’s will, he made sure, the fucking bastard, that I had no option but to marry the woman of his choice. Believe me, I don’t have any love for Francine. I couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as her. Marrying her was just business.”
“Well, your ‘just business’ has an issue with the fact that I’ve moved on, and that I’ve found love.”
“Raven Howard?”
“Yeah, you heard?”
“I heard that you’d made a claim. She belongs to you, and no man was to touch. She’s a good woman, a good girl. Kind of reminds me of my own.”
“Huh?” Drew said, confused again.
William pulled out his wallet and opened it up. “Clara, she’s mine. Met her when I was in college. She was a waitress. Fell in love, and we have two kids together.”
“How are you married?”
“My father’s will states I only have to be married to Francine. I have nothing to do with the woman. I don’t touch her, I don’t care about her. She sickens me, Drew. I’m a man, a businessman. Clara is who belongs to me. Now, if you’d been banging my real girl, you’d be dead on the floor.”
“I want you to get Francine and her vipers to stop hurting my woman, William. You know what love is. I can see it in your eyes when you look at that picture. Imagine a woman from your past making her life a living hell.”
“I wouldn’t stand by.”
“I don’t know what you can do—”
William held his hand up. “I may be a businessman, but I’m also her meal ticket as well. The only reason she can hold her head up high is because of me. Don’t worry, I can put Francine in her place. I’ll even make sure her little group knows as well.”
Drew went to speak, but the woman’s voice from the front desk alerted them that Francine was in fact there.
“How would you like to see me strip her down, verbally that is, right here? That way, you’ll know it has been done.”
Drew took a seat as William gave the order to send her in.
Francine stormed into the office and threw down the plastic credit card. “This is used up. I need another.”
“Another?” William asked, taking a seat behind the desk.
“You’re not fucking me, William, the least you can do is pay for stuff I want,” Francine asked.