The Lawson Boys: Marty by Angela Verdenius Page A

drawled.
    “I already won
round one.”
    “In your
dreams.”
    It was a little
hard to believe that the two men bantering were a respected
veterinarian and an equally respected businessman. It was harder to
believe that they weren’t brothers.
    “Don’t mind
them.” Cindy obviously read her thoughts. “Inside every man is a
little boy just waiting to bust out and create havoc. You’ve just
got to go with the flow.”
    “You like the
flow.” Tim smirked.
    Cindy smiled
widely.
    “Oh, please.”
Marty picked up his glass. “Ugh.”
    “Speaking of
disgust.” Cindy turned her attention to him. “Are you still dating
Marcia?”
    Marty glanced
at Belle before returning his gaze to his sister. “Maybe.”
    “Maybe? Last I
heard, you were shagging her pretty regularly.”
    “Cindy. Dear.”
Mrs Lawson looked pained.
    Mr Lawson just
continued eating without a flicker of an eyelid. The man was truly
a zen master. Or he just knew his son.
    Most definitely
the last one.
    Belle couldn’t
help but feel a little pang. Okay, so Martin Lawson was dating
another woman. He was a man who loved women, she’d heard it from
her own mother. So what? It didn’t affect her.
    But she
couldn’t help but listen closely.
    “I’ve taken
Marcia out a few times,” Marty replied. “I wouldn’t say it’s
serious.”
    “Really?” Tim
gestured with his sandwich. “I saw her and one of her friends at a
jewellers the other day. They were both trying on engagement
rings.”
    Maybe it was
more serious than anyone thought.
    Marty’s face
was a classic. He actually paled a little under his tan. Okay,
maybe it was more serious than even he’d thought!
    “Oops.” Tim
smirked. “Did I let a clanger drop?”
    “You’re going
to cut her loose,” Cindy predicted. “Unless you want it to be
serious?”
    “I can’t
believe we’re discussing my love life in front of a guest.” Marty
cleared his throat and reached for the jug.
    “Okay, we’ll
get off engagement rings and onto weddings.” Cindy beamed. “Marcia
went to Trevor’s wedding with you, didn’t she? Maybe that’s where
she’s getting ring ideas.”
    Belle glanced
at Marty, but he kept his gaze on the jug as he poured the juice
into his glass.
    “She went with
me, but she was just as quick to dump me to meet with her friends,”
he said calmly.
    “I bet she was.
That little scandal of Trevor’s was hot-wiring all over the city
within minutes.”
    Marty caught
Belle’s gaze. She stared helplessly at him for several seconds
before looking down at the glass she was rotating slowly between
her fingers.
    Oh please,
don’t let anything come out now! She silently prayed. One more
night and she’d be gone. Just one more night.
    “Trevor is an
idiot,” Marty replied levelly. “He got what he deserved.”
    “It was only a
matter of time,” Tim pointed out. “I’m surprised that you didn’t
know about it earlier, Marty.”
    There was
something in that sentence that had Belle’s gaze flying across the
table to Marty. Was it her imagination or was there a slight
tension about him?
    “I don’t know
everything Trevor does,” Marty answered.
    “Being a friend
of your’s, I just bet he was on the phone to you right after the
wedding, wanting a sympathetic ear.” Tim laughed.
    The words hit
Belle and she almost dropped the glass as she stared at Marty. So
he was a friend of the groom’s, and undoubtedly had the inside
story to boot. No wonder he’d been able to guess exactly what had
occurred when Trevor had visited her.
    Mortified, she
looked down at her plate, playing with the sandwich for which she’d
just lost all appetite.
    “He was,” Marty
admitted. “He didn’t get much sympathy, though.”
    “I hear the
woman who slapped his lights out - God bless her, by the way -
wasn’t his usual sort,” Cindy said, completely oblivious to Belle’s
silence. “He’s not into BBWs.”
    “BBWs,” Tim
mused. “Big Beautiful Women. I like that.”
    “You’re