“How about considering picking up where you left off with Yvette? As for Rachel’s marriage, leave it to us to decide. Her grandfather has already struck an agreement with the Zieglers, and we can’t go back on our word.”

Just then, Howard stood up, looking at Tyler and Rachel like they were a shameless, cheating couple. He rubbed his nose and said slovenly, “So this is the woman you’ve been waiting for all these years of being single?”

As if he hadn’t said enough, he drew close to Tyler and tilted his chin, a wicked sneer on his face. “You must have already slept with her. Was it great? I can understand why you might not bear to leave her after having your fun with her, but are you sure your father won’t break your legs if you let a divorcee marry into your family?”

Tyler shot him a sideways glance, his jawline tensing. “You mean, you’re just fooling around and don’t really want to marry her? You’ll just return her when you get sick of her?”

Howard fell silent in that instant, but his silence was enough of an answer for Tyler.

After a moment’s silence, Howard said cockily, “As long as she is obedient, makes me happy, and doesn’t cause any trouble at home, I’ll marry her.”

Sasha approached Howard. As though worried that he might reject Rachel at his whim, she said with an ingratiating smile, “Mr. Ziegler, don’t you worry. Rachel is very obedient, and you’ll find that marrying her is the best choice you can make. I’m sure you’re aware of how capable she is at work. Not only will marrying her help produce an heir for your family, but she can even assist with the company. You’ll get the best of both worlds!”

Rachel stood expressionlessly at the side, not refuting a single claim. Her gaze swept coldly across everyone in the room, as though they were talking about something that had nothing to do with her. The servants standing around found the entire scene before them strange, and some bolder ones even started gossiping under their breath.

“What’s with Ms. Rachel? Why isn’t she saying a word? This is about her marriage, for goodness’ sake!”

“Yeah. I think marrying Mr. Hunt is certainly a better choice. Although he seems to have a temper, he’s miles better than Mr. Ziegler, who’s always fooling around with other women.”

“I’ve heard much about his promiscuous lifestyle. Ms. Rachel probably is doomed to suffer if she were to marry him.”

“I wonder what Mr. Lloyd is thinking. Why must he give Ms. Rachel’s hand in marriage to Mr. Ziegler? Why not Mr. Hunt?”

“Are you foolish? If he lets Ms. Rachel marry Mr. Hunt, what will happen to Ms. Yvette? She’s never been married, after all.”

At that moment, they suddenly understood what Gerald was doing.

To put it bluntly, Rachel’s greatest shortcoming was that she was divorced and therefore not worthy of Tyler.

If this were just a passing infatuation on Tyler’s end, and when he eventually got sick and tired of Rachel and dumped her, the Lloyds wouldn’t be able to say anything.

Even Howard wouldn’t want Rachel if that were to happen.

Tyler refused to waste his breath arguing with Howard. There was no point trying to talk sense into a fool, anyway. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he shot Howard a look so cold, it sent shivers down the spines of everyone in the room.

“Howard Ziegler, are you going to fight with me over her?”