“Yes,” Ashley continued. “Roberta claims Marcelle is the reason she found her wretchedly wealthy husband. She decided to go to a party at the VFW one night because the cards sent her there. She’d been planning on staying home that night, but Marcelle told her the cards said the path to happiness led through the VFW, and so she went. That was where she met Uncle Tiny. Don’t let that name fool you. He was a big man and fairly easy to deal with since he never killed Roberta the way I would have. Roberta credits your mother for her happy marriage, though don’t think that makes her a happy person. It doesn’t. She’s a prickly old woman and the only reason anyone pays her mind is that she never had children, and we all want a portion of that fortune.”

No wonder Roberta was prickly. “I assure you Rene doesn’t need her money.”

Ashley shrugged. “Some people can never get enough. You should know that. You worked in DC for a while. I’m surprised you’re still naive. I’ll admit when Charles told me you were Rene’s latest ploy, I was nervous. I haven’t seen you in a long time. I thought you would have lost that do-gooder mentality, but I feel better now. You’re the same old Sylvie, and that means you think you’re doing Rene a favor. You might even think you’re going to get a real marriage out of all of this.”

“Why don’t you go find someone else to sharpen your claws on?” Sera stepped beside Sylvie like she was ready to physically protect her.

Ashley ignored her, instead choosing to stare at Sylvie with something akin to sympathy. “God, that’s it, isn’t it? You honestly think Rene is capable of love? I assure you he isn’t. Oh, I know he loves his mother, but he was taught to do that. The only other thing that man can love is his name. He was taught to worship at the altar of the Darois family legacy. His one goal in the world is to keep as much of the family fortune in his control as he can, and if he needed to marry someone to do it, he would. After all, he did precisely that this morning. But I don’t think he realizes how poorly you’ll take it when you get it through that pretty head of yours how he’s used you. Also, where’s your brother? Shouldn’t he be kicking Rene’s ass by now? I wouldn’t hate to see Dre again. He gets better looking every time I lay eyes on him.”

“You keep right on looking, Ashley, because I assure you my brother won’t let you touch. He’s got a thing about dating women and not man-eating tigers,” Sylvie shot back.