Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 20266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 101(@200wpm)___ 81(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 101(@200wpm)___ 81(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
“I know he was, because this is just like him. He hated my mother when she left him, so her death made him happy, so much so I wondered if he was involved in her death,” I growl. There was never any proof, but the man was a master manipulator, so it was possible he pulled it off.
He sets his glass down on the table and asks, “So, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t have a woman in mind that I’d prefer to marry and have my kid. Do you believe this invite is legitimate?”
“Yes. I know of a guy who married one of the women he bought from here. He’s actually obsessed with her, so it’s not a bad idea. At least you know if you knock her up, it’s your kid.”
“That’s true, and that’s probably why he set it up that way. If she’s going to have the King family heir, then it’s a safe bet that she’s a virgin, but I don’t need her to be. After all, I just need to be married by the new year. I don’t have to fuck my kid into someone by then.”
“That’s true.”
“Are you going to the auction?”
“I suppose checking out a dozen choices at once is a good idea.”
“I can draft up a prenup for you to protect your assets.”
“Trust me, this woman would be stupid to betray me, but yes, go ahead and get it together.” The idea of getting married twists my guts into knots. My mother left my father because he was a piece of shit, and so am I. I might hate my father because he made my mother flee, but I’m just like the bastard. I am not husband material.
****
The estate is beautiful and secluded; like they say—everything about this place screams exclusive. I’m greeted by the host, who claims everyone is here under their own volition. I don’t know how much that is true, considering how I’d been forced into this decision. Still, all I want to do is meet the women and get the show on the road. I have no time for pleasantries. Either there is a wife for me, or there isn’t. Who the fuck decides on a bride in a matter of days? My parents were an arranged marriage, and they’d had a tumultuous relationship that blew up in everyone’s faces.
I walk over to the bar and get a drink before the auction begins. “A whiskey, neat, please.” I toss a twenty into the tip jar and take my drink, turning around and stopping as I have the glass midway to my lips. I swore this situation with my father was on the verge of turning me into an alcoholic.
“Who the hell is she?” I mutter to myself, hoping she was on the fucking menu because I wanted to eat her up.
“Like what you see?” the host says, lingering by my side. Where the hell did that prick come from? For the first time in my life, I’d been unaware of my surroundings and that set my teeth on edge. Still, it didn’t matter because my goal was a wife and I may have just found her.
“Yes. Who is she?” I question, tipping my glass toward the young little thing in a tight dress standing next to the small snack table near the back of the room. She’s skittish as fuck, like she’s about to make a mad dash out of the room if anyone approaches her. Definitely so out of place and ripe for the picking.
“That’s Magnolia Hill, and she is one of the young ladies to bid on.”
My hand wraps so tightly around the glass that I hear it crack. “No, Magnolia isn’t. I’ll take her right now.”
“That’s not how this works, Mr. King.” Something tells me that’s not the damn case. He’s playing me, but he doesn’t know I’m not a man to fuck with.
I set the glass on the bar top and close the distance between us because I refuse to back down from my goal. If I’m marrying and finding a wife, I’m taking the one that gets me hard, and she most certainly does the trick. There is no other way to say that I’m done for. “I don’t care. I don’t want her on the stage. There’s no damn reason for her to be paraded around when I’ve made up my mind. No one will have her because I’ve claimed her as mine now, and I’m not the kind to take no for an answer,” I inform him. The lights are low in the room, but my expression and tone leave no mistake in my meaning.
“We can work something out, but I can’t lose money on this.”
“Understood. I will pay a fair amount for her.”
“Very well. Let’s discuss numbers.”
“Yes, let’s discuss it now because if she goes up there, I will have to gouge out eyes tonight. Yours included.” He pales and wisely swallows any complaint he had on his tongue. I lean in and say, “Trust me when I say it’s not as fast as people think. The process is slower and messy.”