Free Another Woman's Man by Shelly Ellis Page B

grayer now, but the cold green eyes were the same.
    â€œDid you have trouble finding the property?” Raquel asked. She glanced at the watch on her thin wrist. “You’re a bit late.”
    â€œNo, I just got held up at the gallery,” Dawn lied. “My apologies.”
    â€œAh, yes!” Raquel rose from her chair and joined everyone on the other side of the dining room. “Herb mentioned that you run a quaint little gallery in D.C.” She laughed. “How sweet!”
    Dawn eyed her stepmother.
    Though Raquel was acting as if she was paying her a compliment, Dawn could tell from her tone that the comment was really a put-down. So it looked like everyone was pulling out the daggers tonight.
    Quaint little gallery, my ass, Dawn thought indignantly. That “quaint little gallery” had pulled in almost two million in sales last year!
    â€œIt’s actually a fairly large gallery, Raquel,” Xavier said, clearing his throat. “And judging from the last time Herb and I were there, they do a lot of business.”
    Dawn turned toward Xavier with surprise. He was lecturing her to not take advantage of Herb only a few minutes ago. Now he was coming to her defense?
    Make up your mind, honey. Either you hate me or you like me.
    â€œOh, I’m sure they do, Xavier!” Raquel cried, her bleached grin faltering slightly. “I’m sure they do! And no doubt, Dawn does a wonderful job!” She waved everyone toward the dinner table. “Well, now that everyone is here, I suppose we can begin dinner.”
    The family dinner was awkward at best. When Dawn wasn’t trying to ignore her stepmother, who seemed hell-bent on making demeaning little comments, she was trying not to stare at the two lovebirds on the other side of the table.
    Xavier and Constance held hands throughout the evening. Constance kept whispering in his ear and giggling. Occasionally, she kissed him on the cheek. At some point after they finished the soup course, Constance even took one of the dinner napkins and dabbed at the corner of Xavier’s mouth.
    Are you going to cut his food too? Dawn thought dryly.
    To Xavier’s credit, he tried to put a little distance between himself and Constance, but his fiancée wouldn’t hear of it. That was her man and she was letting everyone at the table know it.
    â€œSo how is the Spencer situation settling out, Xavier?” Herb asked as one of the servants began clearing the table in preparation for dessert.
    â€œSlowly, unfortunately. Byron and I are working on it, but I don’t think it’s something that’ll be resolved overnight.”
    â€œAt least Byron is working on it too!” Constance piped, patting Xavier’s shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll definitely help you fix it, pumpkin.”
    Pumpkin? Dawn didn’t think she would ever get used to Constance’s nickname for Xavier.
    â€œYeah, Byron is always incredibly helpful,” Xavier said sarcastically.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Constance frowned. “What do you have against Byron?”
    Xavier shook his head. “Nothing . . . nothing at all. I’m sure he’ll . . . lend a hand when he can. There are a few issues at the community center that have to be resolved too that I haven’t been able to pay attention to,” he said, changing the subject. “Once this Spencer thing is settled, I can focus more on that community center stuff.”
    â€œOh, please, not the community center again! ” Constance exclaimed with a loud groan as she glanced around the table. “I am so tired of hearing about Xavier’s street kids! I swear he talks about them constantly .”
    â€œThey aren’t street kids.” Xavier looked and sounded offended. “Some of them don’t come from the best homes, but that doesn’t mean they—”
    â€œBe that as it may,” Raquel said, speaking over him, “you donate so