Dane blinked, stared, and then blinked again as his parents stepped into his office. “Mom? Dad?” He cleared his throat. “We were going to call you with the news later today.”

“So, it’s true?” His mother had breezed into the room and paused in front of him. “Your father and I came in to have a look at some of the new staff hires, but imagine my horror at hearing this news from Katherine Handel. We thought you’d left the country to finally put an end this ridiculous relationship in the Bahamas. Instead you got married.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “How could you shut me out?”

“Shut you out?” he asked, confused. Was she seriously making this about her?

“You deliberately went behind my back to pull this stunt.” His mother’s blue eyes flashed in anger.

His father approached him and gripped his hand in a firm handshake. “Congratulations, son. It’s about time!”

Dane smiled. His mother might disapprove, but he felt immense relief at his father taking the news well.

“Alfred,” his mother said sharply. “Don’t encourage this outrageous behavior.”

His father released Dane’s hand and turned to hug Allison. “Welcome to the family, sweetheart. Dane couldn’t have picked a better wife.” He let her go and sank down into the chair at the large desk. “And back to work already? I don’t blame you. I do miss this place. Can’t wait to get back.”

“Stop this at once,” his wife chided. “You’re ignoring me.”

“Of course, I’m ignoring you, dear,” his father said calmly. “You’re making a spectacle of yourself. The boy has found the right woman for him. And what do you do? You start ranting and raving. Aren’t you going to congratulate your son and his new bride?”

His mother swallowed and started to tap her foot impatiently. “Congratulations on making a mockery of the institution of marriage.”

Dane’s father sighed, and stared up at the ceiling as if he might find solace in something up above. “My wife is going to drive me into an early grave.”

“Don’t speak like that,” his mother snapped. “It’s your son causing all this stress.”

Dane bit his tongue, tempted to suggest where the majority of his father’s anxiety came from, but held back. This wasn’t the time. His mother might be… overbearing, but he was her only child and she was probably more upset that she’d missed the wedding than the fact that he’d actually gotten married.

… or not.

His mother turned to his new wife, a frown on her typically-serene face. “I hope you’re proud of yourself. What tricks and lies did you use to get my son to do something so foolish? Tell me you signed a prenuptial agreement?”

“Yes,” Allyson said softly, and then straightened slightly. “And the prenup was my idea.”

Dane looked at his father, who simply shrugged. This was why he hadn’t wanted to bring Allyson back to New York so soon. On top of Monica driving her from working at Prescott, his mother was already losing it and disrespecting his amazing wife. “One more word against my wife and you will never see your grandchildren,” Dane warned.

His mother froze. “You wouldn’t.”

“If it weren’t for Allyson, I would’ve cut you off already.” His jaw clenched as he struggled to keep his anger in check. “After everything you did to try to drive her away, I wanted nothing to do with you. I was ready to cut you out of my life, but Allyson begged me not to. She wants our children to know you. But, so help me, if you keep disrespecting my wife—”

“Dane, don’t.” Allyson looked at him with pleading eyes.

His mother paused. Then glanced at his father, her shoulders slumping. “First your father threatens to leave me, and now you’re threatening to take my grandchildren from me.”

Allyson rose to her feet and placed her hand on her mother-in-law’s shoulder. “Nobody is making any threats, Mrs. Prescott. I’d never allow Dane to keep your grandchildren from you.”

“Why are you like this?” his mother asked her. “Why are you so nice to people who want to see you fail?”

Allyson tilted her head and watched as Mrs. Prescott took a seat. “Do you really want to see me fail, Mrs. Prescott?”

“It’s not personal. I have to protect my family.”

“Dane’s my family now,” Allyson said softly. “Which means you’re my family now, too. You and Mr. Prescott. We’re all Prescotts now. I’m not here to drive a wedge between you and your son. I’m not here to take the company down. I’m here because I love Dane. With every part of me.” She smiled him adoringly, and he felt his breath hitch. How’d he get so lucky?

Silence filled the room. His mother sat there, her face stricken, as if realizing the truth for the first time. Allyson wasn’t going to be bought off, bribed, or threatened. She was his wife whether his mother liked it or not. The people he cared the most about were all here, and yet, right now, his family was in danger of being torn apart.

He crossed his arms. “Allison’s right. She’s part of this family, whether you agree with it or not. I’m a grown man. It was my decision—our decision—to get married. We want to be happy. Why can’t you be happy for us?”

“You’ve been blinded by this—”

“Mother,” Dane said, cutting her off. “We’ve got enough issues with the business to deal with, so if there’s nothing else, please excuse us.”

His mother blew out a breath, and then straightened up in her chair. She threw her shoulders back and lifted her chin. “What issues?”

“I’m taking a leave of absence from Prescott Global for one,” Allyson said softly.

His mother frowned. “Why on earth would you do a thing like that? Do you have any idea how that looks? First you run off and get married in secret. Now you’re leaving? New York high society is very small, and if you run away they’ll smell blood in the water before you’ve had a chance to find your footing.”

“What do you care?” Dane asked, bitterness lacing every word.

“We have a reputation to uphold,” his mother replied. “Now that we’ve expanded the family we need to show our peers we’re as strong as we’ve ever been. We expanded the family to a strong, capable woman who could run this company with her eyes closed.”

This was probably the closest they were ever going to get to his mother extending any kind of olive branch to Allyson. Yet, there was still danger that his mother and his new wife might never get along. After all, his mother had been desperate enough to try to bribe her to be rid of her. Not to mention, she had a calculated, cutthroat way about her that Allyson would likely object to as time went on.  

“But I can’t run this company with my eyes closed,” Allyson said, interrupting his thoughts. “I don’t have the skills or the experience. I was going to take a senior position and enroll in business school, but after today…” Her voice trailed off and she sighed. She then explained the details about Katherine Handel and her sister Monica.

His mother sniffed. “I never liked that Handel girl.”

“That didn’t stop you from setting me up with her,” Dane muttered.

Ignoring him, his mother focused her attention on his new wife. “Why is your sister suddenly in the picture?”

“Katherine apparently hired Monica.” Allyson bit her lip. “Monica made a good point: Nobody on the Prescott Global staff is on my side. They probably hate me. I ditched work. How can I just come back after that and get a better job that I didn’t earn? I know I promised Dane I’d take a more senior position, but I don’t see how this is going to work. I at least need to take a leave of absence.”

Mother got to her feet. “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?” Dane asked.

His mother turned to face him, her eyes narrowed. “We aren’t going anywhere. You and your father can stay here and drink brandy, or whatever it is you two get up to. Have you given your wife a company expense account?”

“No, I haven’t had a chance… okay, it slipped my mind,” he said gruffly. He had no idea what his mother was up to, but he already didn’t like it.

“Well, get her one.” His mother headed for the door. “Come along, Allyson. We’re going to take a little shopping trip.”

 

*  *  *

 

“Just so you know, I’m not changing my mind,” Allyson said to her mother-in-law.

“Changing your mind about what? My son or your leave of absence?” Dane’s mother pulled a white jacket off the sales rack to admire it.

They were the only customers in Lorenza, the most high-end boutique in New York City. All Dane’s mother had done when she waltzed into the shop was whisper her name and management had cleared the place out, emptying the boutique of customers.

“Both.” Allyson tried hard not to stare at the gorgeous designer handbags on display. She’d passed by Lorenza a several times over the years, staring enviously at the clothes on the mannequins in the display window. There was no way she could have ever afforded the clothes on her assistant’s salary, but now everything was different.

Liliana Prescott gave her a sly smile. “You really aren’t as fragile and delicate as you appear. I’ve seen you work for my son.”

“You once said my work was sloppy,” Allyson reminded her.

“Sloppy and efficient,” Liliana said, conceding nothing. “You were like a bulldog when all those executives tried to trick my son into meetings he had no business going to. Where’s that backbone now?”

She lowered her eyes. “That was business. Dealing with my sister is personal. Dealing with Dane’s ex is personal.”

“You had better get this through that head of yours, dear: the Prescott family is a business. And your sister and Dane’s ex-girlfriend are scheming to threaten it,” Liliana said forcefully.

Now Allyson was starting to understand why Dane’s mother was being nicer to her. Or, at the very least, less hostile. Liliana undoubtedly saw Allyson as just a new part of the family business. Her mother-in-law had failed to get rid of her, so she was now trying to mold her into her own image. Allyson bristled at the thought of being controlled.

“So, why are we shopping for fancy clothes?” Allyson asked. “Is a new power suit supposed to scare off my sister?”

“We’re shopping because your clothes are vulgar and you need something to boost your confidence.” Liliana pulled out a suit that was a drab shade of brown.

Allyson stared down at what she was wearing. A pink blouse, tight pencil skirt, and dangerously high heels. Her typical work attire. Sure, it was sexy, but her clothes were still work-appropriate, and most of all they were her. “My clothes aren’t vulgar. Besides, you chose some very racy evening gowns for me to wear to the gala.” She blushed at the memory of wearing the sexy red gown while she and Dane had sex in his apartment.

“I blame my assistant for choosing some of those gowns.” Liliana held up the brown suit. “Why don’t you consider this?”

“It looks like something the Queen of England would wear,” Allyson muttered.

“Nonsense,” Liliana insisted. “It’s staid and elegant.”

“It’s dowdy and old-fashioned.” To be honest, it was the ugliest suit Allyson had ever seen, but she held her tongue. She pulled out a sinfully-red wrap dress from the rack and held it up. “This is more like it.”

“It’s too flashy,” Liliana said. “We want you to blend in.”

“We?” Allyson gave her mother-in-law an incredulous look. “I don’t want to blend in. I want to wear what I want to wear. I’m not an heiress and I never will be. I don’t care if these blue bloods hate me for it.”

“And yet I sense that you’re smart enough to know that inviting a whole class of people to hate you is no way to live,” Liliana said.

Allyson sighed. “It’s not their approval I want. I just don’t want to embarrass Dane. Or hurt him. It’s fine if the upper-class snobs shut me out. I just don’t want them to punish Dane or our kids.”

“These blue bloods hate everybody,” Liliana said. “That’s the secret. Know that the upper class will hate you for rising above your station. Meanwhile, the lower class will hate you for the same reason.”

“I doubt the upper-class snobs hated you,” Allyson said. “You’re one of them.”

“On the contrary, they loathed me in the beginning,” Liliana said. “They probably still do.”

Allyson’s eyes widened in shock. “You? You’re old money. How could they hate you?”

“I worked,” Liliana replied. “I toured playing the piano. And being an upper-class woman who worked was very much frowned upon in those days.”

“Did you stop playing?”

“Never. I don’t tour anymore because I want to be close to my family,” Liliana said. “But I still play live concerts from time to time. And I might be making another album in the next year.”

“See? You didn’t change yourself for them,” Allyson said.

“No. But I didn’t let them bully me either,” Liliana said. “Taking a leave of absence to regroup and take time to plan a battle strategy against your enemies makes sense. However, taking a leave of absence to retreat or give up is not acceptable.”

“Why are you helping me?” Allyson asked.

“Because you are going to be the mother of my grandchildren,” Liliana said. “Grandchildren you are allowing me to see despite the bad blood between us. So, I refuse to allow my grandchildren or their mother be disrespected. This is their birthright. Perhaps we can’t get New York high society to like you. But we are going to make sure that it respects you.”

Allyson had come back to New York not for approval, but to prove that she had what it took to be by Dane’s side. To be his wife. Dane’s own mother was such a strong, formidable woman. Allyson didn’t like all her methods, but there was no denying that Liliana was worthy of the Prescott name.

Monica and the rest of her own family had made her feel unworthy. After all, she had just been an assistant. Not a cardiologist like Monica, or a lawyer like her brother James, or a professor like her parents. On top of all that, she felt so inadequate in comparison to beautiful, powerful, refined Katherine Handel.

“Besides,” Liliana continued, “the prenuptial agreement was your idea, and that impresses me. You were looking out for my son, this family, and for yourself. That shows me that not only do you love my son, but you respect yourself.”

It was probably one of the few times that Liliana would praise her. Which made Allyson understand just how important her mother-in-law’s words were. If a woman like Liliana saw something in her, maybe that something was worth fighting for. “I’m not changing my mind about the leave of absence,” Allyson said firmly.

“Suit yourself. But the warm-up is over. You’re not hiding, or playing pretend with my son any longer. This is the major leagues, my dear.”

Allyson nodded. “Which is why I’m going to buy this dress. And everything else I like in this store. Because I’m not retreating. I’m only getting started.”