“And...?” Scarlett leaned forward, her eyes wide and encouraging.
“He handed me a bikini and told me to wear it next time I wanted to take a swim.”
Scarlett sat back and regarded her sister in absolute confusion. Violet had never seen her so utterly baffled.
“I thought your text said you spent the night with JT.”
“I did. Only not the way your naughty mind thinks. I slept at his house.”
Before Scarlett could reply, Harper breezed into the room. She was slightly out of breath as she demanded, “What did I miss?”
“Not a darned thing,” Scarlett muttered in disgust. “Apparently there’s nothing for her to tell.”
“What about that?” Harper settled next to Scarlett and reached across her to point at Violet’s left hand.
Scarlett snatched up the hand and stared at the ring. “You’re engaged?”
“Not exactly,” Violet murmured.
“That looks like an engagement ring.”
“Actually it’s a wedding ring. JT and I got married last night at the Tunnel of Love Chapel.”
“Married?” Scarlett gaped at her sister.
“JT Stone?” Harper shook her head. “Have you told Grandfather? Are you at all worried how he’ll react when he finds out you’re married to the competition?”
“I’m going to call him in a little while.” Violet was all prepared with a rational explanation for her actions. “He’ll understand when I explain what happened.”
“What did happen?” Scarlett asked. “The last time I mentioned him being interested in you, I got the distinct impression you had no intention of letting anything develop.”
“It hasn’t exactly developed the way you think,” Violet said.
“You’re married,” Harper pointed out. “Something had to happen between you.”
“It’s all a little complicated.”
“Did Rick slip something special into one of his signature cocktails?” Scarlett narrowed her eyes. “By that I mean, were you drunk?”
“I was perfectly sober.” Violet rushed to answer the question in Harper’s eyes. “So was he.”
“So, you didn’t just spend the night at JT’s house,” Harper clarified. “You spent the night with JT?”
“No. It’s not that kind of marriage.”
Harper regarded her gravely. “What sort of marriage is it?”
“It’s strictly a business arrangement.”
“But not funny business obviously,” Scarlett groused.
Violet ignored her. “Mom and I went to the lawyer a few days ago and it turns out Tiberius had been purchasing Stone Properties stock from other family members.”
“I thought he didn’t want anything to do with the company after what Preston did to him,” Scarlett said.
“I think it was more a matter of not being able to do anything to get his brother-in-law removed as CEO. Preston controlled the shares he inherited on his wife’s death as well as the ones that were in JT’s trust. Shares that JT took control of on his thirtieth birthday two months ago.”
“How much stock had Tiberius managed to buy?” Harper asked, her keen business mind catching on quickly.
“Eighteen percent.”
“And how much was in JT’s trust?”
“Thirty percent. Preston owns thirty and the other twenty-two percent is split up among the family.”
“So what does this have to do with why you and JT got married?” Scarlett asked, returning the conversation to what she was interested in.
“Obviously Tiberius left her his shares,” Harper said.
Scarlett shot her sister a pained look. “I get that, but why marry JT when she could sell him the shares?”
“Because according to Tiberius’s will, I have to keep the stock until Preston dies.”
“You know you didn’t have to marry JT,” Harper pointed out. “You could have just thrown your support behind him.”
Violet felt her features take on the same injured expression Scarlett had just worn. Once in a while she wished Harper would acknowledge that she wasn’t always the smartest one in the room.
“Only family can vote the shares,” she explained.
Scarlett clapped her hands in delight. “So, now you’re family. That’s brilliant.”
“Thank you.” Violet appreciated having Scarlett’s support because she could see that Harper wasn’t done with her objections.
“But with your eighteen percent and JT’s thirty—”
Violet interrupted. “We still need three percent to control the vote.” She glanced at the clock on her phone and realized JT was probably boarding his flight to Charlotte. “He’s heading out to talk to some of his relatives, hoping he can persuade enough of them to either sell or throw their vote his way so he can take control of Stone Properties and get his father out.”