Wainwright wasn’t interested in talking to her and she knew why. His bank handled the accounts for Hickory Hills and he wasn’t going to waste his time with a lowly farm manager when he could schmooze with the owner of one of the premier stables in the entire country.
As the man engaged Jake in a conversation about becoming a member of the local country club, Heather quietly excused herself and started to walk away.
Jake put his hand on her arm to stop her. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Smiling, she pointed toward the buffet table. “I’ll be over there.”
She could tell he wasn’t happy with the way John Wainwright had dismissed her as insignificant. But she really didn’t mind being excluded from their conversation. She was far more comfortable talking to the Wainwrights’ staff than she was mingling with people who thought they were better than everyone else.
“Dear, would you mind helping me?” a small, elderly woman asked politely. With a cane in one hand and a mint julep in the other, the poor woman had no way of carrying her plate of appetizers.
Smiling, Heather shook her head. “I don’t mind at all. Where are you sitting?”
“As far away from these pompous asses as possible,” she replied, her expression so sweet that Heather thought she might have misheard.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard right, dear. I called them pompous asses,” the older woman repeated proudly. “I’ve finally reached the age where I speak my mind and don’t give a fig what people think. Now, come. Let’s find a place to sit and get acquainted.”
When Heather followed the elderly lady to an empty table away from the majority of the crowd, she helped the woman get settled. “Is there anything else you need, Mrs…”
“Wainwright.” The old lady shook her head disgustedly. “My son is the windbag who snubbed you in favor of kissing up to your young man.” She patted the chair beside her. “Sit, dear. I need someone to talk to who doesn’t act like they’re something they’re not.” She gave a disgusted snort. “I just hate when John and Martha throw one of these receptions. They put on such airs, it’s a downright disgrace.”
Heather didn’t know what to say. But she couldn’t help but like the elderly woman and her candid observations.
“It’s all right, dear.” The old woman patted Heather’s hand. “I have no illusions about how important most of these people think they are. And my son and daughter-in-law are the two biggest ducks in the puddle.”
“Well, your son is the president of Southern Oaks Bank and Trust.”
“Pish posh. It doesn’t matter what job somebody ends up with, they should never forget where they came from.” Mrs. Wainwright grinned. “I’ll bet you didn’t know that John grew up the son of a tobacco farmer who was land rich and dirt poor.” She pointed an arthritic finger toward Jake. “But your young man seems to be different. You can tell he’s got money, but he doesn’t appear to act like he’s better than everyone else. I’ll bet he hasn’t forgotten who he really is and where he came from.”
Heather stared at Jake. She still knew very little about him. Busy getting ready for the race, she hadn’t had the opportunity to ask where he grew up, about his childhood or his family.
Were his mother and father still alive? Did he have siblings? Could Mandy have family that Heather knew nothing about?
She didn’t have a clue. But she had every intention of finding out.
As Heather continued to think about it, she had to admit that Mrs. Wainwright was correct in her assessment of him. Jake had never made her or anyone at the farm feel as if they were beneath him. Even Clara had commented that he went out of his way to make everyone feel comfortable.
Heather had watched him with the grooms and stable boys and he never failed to greet them by name or stop and talk to them for a few minutes. And he was probably the only billionaire she’d ever heard of who sat at the kitchen table to eat his meals with his housekeeper, her teenage grandson and his farm manager.
“Are you ready to thank our host and hostess for a nice evening and head home?”
Heather jumped. Lost in thought, she hadn’t realized that Jake had ended his conversation with the bank president and crossed the lawn to join her and the man’s mother.
Introducing him to the elderly Mrs. Wainwright, she smiled. “It was nice chatting with you.”
“It was my pleasure, dear.” Mrs. Wainwright placed a bony hand on Heather’s arm and motioned for her to lean close. “You hang on to your young man,” she said in confidence. “Mark my words, he’s the real deal.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Wainwright.” She smiled. “I’ll try to remember that.”
After bidding the Wainwrights a good evening, Jake waited until he and Heather were seated in his car before he apologized. “I’m sorry, honey.”
“What for?” She looked thoroughly bewildered and so damned beautiful it was all he could do to keep from stopping the car and taking into his arms.
“Wainwright had no right to ignore you the way he did.” When the man dismissed Heather as if she didn’t exist, a protectiveness he’d never known he possessed had consumed him and Jake had wanted to punch the bastard in his big pretentious nose.
They fell silent for some time before he felt Heather staring at him. “What?”
“Tell me more about yourself.”
Glancing her way, he frowned. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything. Where did you grow up? Do you have siblings?” She laid her soft hand on his thigh and he had to concentrate to keep from steering the car into the ditch. “Does Mandy have an extended family?”
“What brought this on?” he asked, covering her hand with his to keep her from moving it. He liked when she touched him.
“Jake, we have a child together and beyond the fact that you’re a successful divorce attorney in Los Angeles, I know very little else about you,” she said quietly.
“There’s no big mystery. My siblings and I were born and raised in San Francisco. I have an identical twin brother named Luke—”
“My God, there are two of you?” She sounded truly shocked.
Grinning he nodded. “But don’t worry. He’s always been the quiet, more serious one of us.”
“In other words, your exact opposite.” She looked thoughtful. “Is he married?”