Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“Amelia!” I called out.
A few random people milling about looked at me, but none were her.
I removed the map from my pocket and searched for other sculptures she might head toward. The muses on the lake seemed like something an artist would want to see, so I went in that direction.
With every step, I scanned the groups of sweaty tourists in their cheap shirts and denim shorts until I spotted my goddess standing in the middle of the field. She looked amazing in her red dress, as she just stopped and stared at a sculpture. She was so absorbed in her thoughts, she hadn’t even noticed the group of men gawking at her.
One of them took a few steps toward her, like he was going to start up a conversation. I signaled for the security team, who stepped in and handled it before she even had any idea that they were there.
Her lack of awareness of her surroundings was somewhat concerning, but that was a problem for later. What was important now was that I had found her.
She was staring up at a massive bronze statue of two people sitting next to each other, embracing.
My heart stopped as I observed her, taking in the way she studied the art with pain in her eyes—pain I’d put there, pain I would spend the rest of my life trying to erase.
I called out to her, and she looked up at me, the expressionless mask sliding over her features. I hated that mask. The few times I had seen her without it had been the most real. With it, I couldn’t tell what she was thinking or how she was feeling.
“Amelia, come home.”
I reached for her hand, and she took a step back.
“Amelia, let’s go home. We will take the weekend to talk everything over and make a plan for the wedding. Just come home.”
“No. I can’t.”
“You can. Every night can be like last night. We can get married, and everything will settle down. Just come home with me.”
That wasn’t living. “Leave me alone.”
“Amelia, you have to listen to me,” I pleaded as I grabbed her hands in both of mine. I had never begged anyone for anything, but for her, I would fall to my knees.
“I really don’t, Luc. I heard everything.” She tried to pull her hands from mine. I tightened my grip. I wasn’t ready to let her go.
“Tell me what you think you heard?”
“I heard why you want to marry me. Look, I’m not stupid. I knew from the beginning this was about business, but then you pretended to care for me, and I fell for it. And you know what? That’s fine. I’m not mad at you. I’m not even mad at myself anymore. You just made me realize a few things.”
“What’s that?” I pulled her into my body. I needed to feel her. I needed to know she was back in my arms, safe where she belonged.
“It made me realize I’m not okay with a loveless marriage. I don’t want my life to be part of some merger. I’m not the cherry on top of a bottom line, or a signing bonus.”
The honesty in her eyes said her mind was made up, but I couldn’t accept that.
“That’s not—”
“Stop. You said you would never lie to me.” She pulled away from my embrace. “I know why and how you stopped my wedding to Dubois, and frankly, I’m grateful. You saved me from a tedious existence that would no doubt eventually turn me into my mother. But blackmail isn’t—”
“The blackmail is over. Harrison knows,” I interrupted.
How was I fucking this up so badly?
“He had always known, and so had your father. Harrison is planning on going public with it, but even if he doesn’t, I wouldn’t use that information against your family.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She stepped back.
“It does. I…”
Fuck, I had never done this before, and I didn’t know what the right thing was to say.
How did I prove to this woman that I wanted her, not her family connections, not to screw over Dubois, but I just wanted her?
“What you overheard with my father, that was me letting him talk. I don’t know what exactly you heard, but I don’t agree with a thing he said. I just wanted him out of my house so I could climb back into my bed with you.”
She merely looked at me, her emerald eyes big, bright, and filling with tears. Tears had to be a good sign. I prayed that it had to mean that she felt something for me. If she was indifferent, then she wouldn’t have been about to cry. She was so beautiful, standing in the middle of the field, the lake behind her and the breeze blowing through her dark hair.
Even on the verge of tears, she was breathtakingly beautiful, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt she was the future I wanted. Whatever she wanted that to look like, I was in.