“No, indeed. I believe Ms. Langford has my check already in her possession and I’m bidding on her behalf. Ms. Langford?” Worth was looking directly at me.
I thought I would melt into the floor I was so embarrassed. I looked toward the emcee and saw the plea on Brandon’s face. He did not want to become a scandal. I had no choice. “Yes, Dr. LaViere arranged to donate the sizeable amount of one hundred thousand and asked that it be a surrogate bid for me on Mr. Knotts. There was a general groan from the remaining ladies as none of them could come close to that amount. The rumble of disappointment followed them as they left the auction. The emcee struck the gavel and the auction was over. My fiancé had just bought me a date with his arch nemesis and I wasn’t entirely certain whether I was in favor of it or not.
I turned to catch up to Worth and only caught the back of his head just going down the stairway to leave the building. I trotted quickly in his direction and finally caught up to him just outdoors. “Worth!” I shouted.
He stopped and turned, a sardonic look on his face. “Well, if it isn’t Ms. Langford. Hello, Auggie… ruin anyone’s future lately?”
“You’re coming with me,” I said, running up to him and tugging on his sleeve.
“Oh, and just where are we going?” he asked. “Don’t you have a date to set up inside?”
“Forget that and come have a glass of wine or something with me.”
“Well, now, I don’t know. I was just headed to Joe’s,” he put in, kicking the sidewalk with the toe of his shoe.
“Joe’s? I can’t go in there, you know that.”
“Exactly.”
“Not funny, Worth. Come into the bar here and let’s talk.”
“That’s odd, Ms. Langford. You’ve been gone several days, a couple of weeks, in fact, without speaking to me at all. Not only that, I seem to have lost an architect and that’s left me in quite a lurch. Wonder how that happened?” His scowl darkened. “I’m residing with a Mr. McLean who expects me to vacate in less than three months and I have no idea how I will do that. Would you like to talk about that, Ms. Langford?”
I dragged him by the sleeve in the direction of the bar. “Stop your bullshit and let’s talk this out,” I told him, feeling the anger rising in my throat again. He was mad? Well, so was I. And he needed to learn early in our relationship what I would and wouldn’t tolerate.
He said no more. I suppose he had tortured me enough by that point. We got drinks and settled at a quiet table in the furthest corner. Brandon walked into the bar and looked in my direction. I shook my head at him and he looked disappointed. I can’t say I blamed him as he was the prize steer at the auction and wanted to celebrate a bit — even if it was under odd circumstances.
“Well, what have you to say for yourself, Auggie?” Worth wanted to know. He obviously hadn’t caught my exchange with Brandon.
“Why did you give me the song and dance about needing my expertise and sense of responsibility and then undermine me to that woman… telling her I was responsible only for the… the ‘fripperies’ did you call it?”
He rolled his eyes to the heavens. “Auggie, you don’t understand.”
“Then why not explain it to me, Worth? Tell me why I thought you had my back and then you flushed me down the toilet.” I was fuming again and aware that my voice had risen and people were beginning to look at us. Coupled with the fact that Worth had just spent a hundred grand renting me a date for the night was bound to be the topic of gossip over many a breakfast table the next morning.
“Look, Auggie, the woman is brilliant at what she does. Not only that, she has the connections and the crews to get our house done on schedule. We needed her. So, I had to charm her into accomplishing the impossible. She was flirting with me and rather than flirt back, which I knew you’d have a fit over, I decided to throw a challenge her way. If she thought you and I were an item, I couldn’t get her to pander to my needs if she thought it was a lost cause. You see now?” He seemed quite satisfied with his own explanation, not seeing the ethical downside of what he’d done.
“Worth, first of all, the only person you are to be pandering to, is me. I’m to be your wife, damn it! That is, if we’re still on.”
“Of course,” he said tersely, as if there had never been a question about that fact.
I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. “Secondly, you have to stop manipulating people. It doesn’t work like that. I told you to stop it before, that it would come back to bite you because you’re not as good at it as you think you are. I believe I proved that little fact to you over this whole mess. Third, I’d like to know why a project that was to be decided by you and me, together, has suddenly turned into Worth’s project that Auggie is supposed to take second seat to. What else am I to be left out of? Do you think I have nothing to contribute?”
“Auggie, that’s not true. There are just certain situations that call for techniques, shall we call them, that may not be all out on the table. It’s business and that’s something I learned well from my father. The point is, we’re hoping for the impossible, and she’s the only woman capable of delivering it.” He sat back, convinced that his rationale was the only one that made sense and that I should see the sense in his words immediately. He was wrong… so, so wrong.
“Worth, we’re going to start over. You’re going to tell me, right here and now, which of the oars in this boat are to be my responsibility. Now and for the next eighty years. If you’re lucky enough to have me agree to them, which means that we’re still going to get married, then you cannot deviate from them… ever… at all. I’m a team player but I have equal say. Do we understand one another?”
There really was nothing he could find fault with in what I was saying. He had to admit that I had a point and my requests were only fair. Just because it didn’t fall in line with his power-hungry play on the world didn’t mean he couldn’t concede, at least to me. He decided, wisely enough for him, to let me make my point.
“Okay, Auggie, in this case, you’re right. I should not have overlooked your contributions or undermined your responsibilities. I should not have approached the architect without you at my side, but we had agreed to keep things quiet for now so that was hardly possible.”
“Agreed,” I contributed.
“I will not do it again, but you have to stop this high-handed willfulness of yours. I can’t always be wondering whether you’re pissed at something I’ve said or done and are taking it out on me with a dagger in my back.” He was a bit out of breath and I could hear his thoughts were very complete, if not even a bit rehearsed.
“Very well,” I nodded. “Let’s agree from now on that we keep nothing back from one another. We are stronger together than if pitted against one another. God knows, we’re going to need to be strong when Mother finds out about this.”