“Don’t get self-righteous, Parr.” His brother’s voice had a thin edge. “Not when you were trying so hard to get my girl. Didn’t you ever consider waiting to see if I died? Nobody would’ve much minded if you’d consoled Mary Beth and then done what you’d wanted to do all along.”

“Shut up. You didn’t die. And she’s not your girl.”

Bobby Joe rattled the box. “Everyone thinks so. Here’s the proof that she’s not. I even know when you bought it.”

Gail must have found the receipt. She did have access to most of his papers and bills.

“But . . .” Bobby Joe put the little box on the desk as if daring Parr to pick it up. “I didn’t know you’d given Mary Beth that little ruby strawberry when I saw it around her neck. She acted like it was nothing.”

“Well, it belongs to her. I’d like her to have it.”

“Sure. When she hands over those two diamond rings to me. I think I can get a refund. So what’s going on with you and my not-so-true love?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Parr said in a low voice.

“Come on,” Bobby Joe sneered. “You don’t expect me to believe that.”

“I’m not going to dignify that with a response. We’re brothers. You know when I’m lying. And vice versa.”

Parr’s contemptuous comments forced Bobby Joe to abandon his position. “That’s so,” he muttered.

And Parr’s reply had been completely truthful. Since leaving Brickell after Mary Beth’s rejection, he’d stayed strictly away from her. He wouldn’t have gotten involved in this current situation if not for the possibility of his mother finding out about what was, for all intents and purposes, a love triangle.

But Alma had survived something like that. In some ways, she couldn’t be shocked anymore.

However, the thought of Howard Caine’s reaction to such a tawdry scenario did concern Parr. Mary Beth’s father was an upright man who’d lost a beloved wife too young and who loved his only daughter more than his own life. When he found out that both Weston brothers had some sort of claim on her, he would be fighting mad.

“Just give the necklace to me and I’ll talk to her. You’ll get the rings back, if that’s what she wants to do, and I suspect she does. She’s not like Gail.”

Without a word, Bobby Joe handed him the box.

“Mother doesn’t need to know about this,” Parr warned him.

“I won’t tell her,” he muttered.

At least his brother still had some sense of filial obligation, Parr thought grimly. That was good. If not, Parr would have to knock it into him.