Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“That’s incredibly strange. Seriously, it’s almost criminal.” How could Hugh keep that poor woman from a doctor? She clearly needs to talk to someone, and now I feel dizzy. What if her illness was preventable—or curable?
“When I figured it out, I made some appointments for her, but now she’s saying she doesn’t want to see anyone, almost like somebody tried to convince her not to talk to any doctors.”
“I find that hard to believe. Who would actively keep her from medical care?”
“That’s what I keep asking myself, and there’s only one person that benefits from my mother being sick.”
“Hugh.”
“That’s right. It makes me wonder what else he’s been doing since he took over the family.” He turns his head, studying me in the darkness, and goes quiet for a long moment. “You’re pretty with your hair like that.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Messy. Pulled up. I like it.”
“That’s an insane conversational one-eighty.”
“We’re going to sleep soon and I didn’t want you to start dreaming without hearing it.”
“I don’t understand you at all.” But I’m smiling anyway, smiling at his stupid compliment, at his ability to be a normal person, and at his worry over his mother. Beneath that hard exterior, Kellen’s a man like any other. It makes me feel at least somewhat safe, like he’s not going to ravish me in my sleep.
“Good night, wife.” He rolls onto his side, turning his back to me.
I wonder about Hugh. I wonder about what’ll happen when Kellen finally gets his mother to see an actual doctor. I worry things are only going to get more violent from here—and I’m surprised they haven’t yet already.
I want to reach out and touch him. I want to trace a finger down his spine. Instead, I say, “Good night,” and keep my hands to myself.
Chapter 13
Tara
Kellen gets up early the next day and does his best not to wake me, but he fails miserably. I watch him dress from beneath a tangle of sheets and marvel at the mess of scars crisscrossing his back.
“Don’t stare too much, you’ll find you like it.” He glances at me and grins.
I close my eyes and pretend to be asleep.
He laughs and leaves the room. I wait until he’s definitely gone before I get up and do my best to follow my usual routine. I dress, make coffee, eat a light breakfast, and head out into the early morning sun to get started on my chores.
The cottage is quiet and strangely lonely as I rummage through the shed and gather up my tools, and I’m tempted to go in there just to have some space to myself, but I hold back as if stepping over the threshold for any reason beyond grabbing a few things I need is like a betrayal.
I don’t owe Kellen that level of loyalty. We’re not really married and he wouldn’t care if I wanted to sit on my own couch and watch the news while I sip from my usual mugs for a half-hour. And yet for some reason, I feel like it would break my promise to him.
I’m his wife now. Not for real, and not forever, but right now that’s what I need to try to be. What he told me last night about his mother and Hugh is still bothering me like a fly that won’t leave the room. I have incentive to help him win this game—I get the gardens, the house, the cottage, everything, but more than that, any person that wouldn’t actively try to take care of an old, sick woman deserves to be destroyed. Which I guess means I’m on Kellen’s side even more than I realized.
If I go in that cottage right now, it’s like I’m admitting defeat already and refusing to fully commit.
I grab my stuff and carry it over to the bed I’ve been working on. I lose myself for a half-hour until I stand up straight and notice Rory sitting nearby in the shade, watching me. He waves, grinning.
I walk over to him with a sour feeling in my stomach. I take off my gloves and brush my hands on my jean shorts. “What are you doing out here?”
“Just hanging around and keeping an eye on you.”
I arch my eyebrows. “You’re watching me?”
“Let’s call it guard duty. Angus will switch with me in a couple hours.”
“I’m sorry, hold on, guard duty? Nobody told me I’d have guards.”
He shrugs, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Not my call. Kellen’s orders.”
“You tell Kellen I don’t need a babysitter. I’ve been working out here for years.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”
“Seriously, you don’t have to watch me. I really don’t need an audience and I’m perfectly safe. Believe it or not, there aren’t any monsters hiding in the bushes.”
He hesitates, mulling over his reply, before he tilts his head to the side. “You’re Kellen Hayles’s wife now. You know what that means, right?”