บท 70: Chapter 70

"Son of a bitch." Eli rested his elbows on the desk and let his head fall into his hands. "I heard about it at the fire station too. Unfortunately, I still haven't figured out what to do."

Diana snorted. "That's because you're a man, and therefore an idiot." She gestured around the room and at Eli's law school diploma. "Oh, you're smart, that's not it, but you don't comprehend women and you don't have a clue about gossip. Folks are saying that maybe Nettie is as trashy as her father, only it didn't show up until now. If you want her to have any kind of reputation, brother mine, you're going to have to step up and do the honorable thing."

"And what's that?" Though in his sinking stomach, he thought he knew.

"Put a ring on her finger." Diana's expression was calm and flat, the opposite of her normal, volatile cheerfulness. "You're going to have to marry her - or send her somewhere no one's ever heard of either of you."