Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 87996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“Do you know why they end fairy tales at the wedding?”
“Because that is the end of the story?” I responded, not sure what he meant.
He shifted until he was blocking my escape, standing between me and the party. I tried to tell myself he was trying to catch the ambient light from the tents. I swallowed, my hands anxiously twisting the fabric of my dress. Too bad I didn’t believe it.
He took a few steps forward, and I shifted backward.
“No, it’s because that is when the hero thinks he has won. It’s when he lets his guard down, and the villain rises and snatches back what is his.”
“Is that why you are here, Marksen? Are you trying to steal Amelia back?”
“Back to being so familiar, Ms. Manwarring? Shouldn’t you be running back to catch the bouquet, princess?”
He came up to me again and plucked the champagne flute from my hand, holding it by its delicate stem and setting it in the grass to the side before kneeling to take more shots of me from a different angle. “Tell me. Now that Luc is married, does that mean soon your father will start taking offers for your hand?”
“Answer my question. And don’t call me that,” I demanded.
He was hardly the first man to call me “princess,” but from his lips, it sounded like an insult.
“Answer mine first. Do you think there are things more important than love?”
Hadn’t we been over this?
“No.” I crossed my arms in front of me and stared down my nose into the camera.
“That seems rather entitled and selfish. What about the effect love has on other people? People who are hurt by others falling in love.” He pressed forward, and I stumbled back a few more steps.
“How does this hurt you? You didn’t love her. Luc loves her!” I stomped my foot, then swayed a little, freeing my heel where it sank into the ground.
Marksen continued to snap pictures.
Having my photo taken felt different when he was behind the camera. It wasn’t like professional photoshoots I’d been at where the photographer remained cold and detached.
No, this was something else, something more sinister.
Was I a fly, being lured into a spider’s web?
I brushed off the thought. It was ridiculous. I could still hear the party going on behind me, so I was perfectly safe.
“How I feel about Amelia is completely irrelevant.” He circled me again, still relentlessly capturing multiple images of me.
“What?” I didn’t understand what he was saying.
I was a little dizzy, my thoughts coming slow and fuzzy from the drinks. I had clearly overindulged. That had to be why I was finding it so hard to follow his words.
“I’m not some schoolboy with a crush who had his heart broken.” He kept snapping pictures, and suddenly, I didn’t feel flattered by the lens.
I felt exposed.
I didn’t want him to take my picture.
I didn’t want him to have photos of me.
“Luc is probably looking for me. I should get back,” I said, a cold sweat sending shivers down my back. A nagging feeling in my gut told me this wasn’t a game anymore.
I was in trouble.
“I’m a man who had his reputation tarnished. Do you know what reputation is to a man like me? My family has spent generations building it so that people will trust us with their investments.” His words were spoken in a low growl. “My good name is everything, and your brother took that from me.”
“It will blow over.” I inched a few steps to the side, trying to get around him. I needed to return to the party, but he was blocking me. “I’m sure no one will remember what happened at that church in a few years. Besides, he said you started this feud. You struck first. He and you are alike, so you knew that if you drew blood, he would have to retaliate and sever a limb.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
He advanced a few more steps and I countered them, stepping back, further away from the party guests. “I say your brother started this. He took something that was mine, something I cared about, something that is hurting my business. My reputation. So I intend to settle the score by taking something from him, something he cares about.”
Every instinct in my body screamed that I was in danger, but I couldn’t get my feet to cooperate beyond the few steps I’d already taken.
“So you are going to take away his reputation?”
“No. He doesn’t care what other people think of him. It’s not his reputation I am going to ruin, princess.”
His smile, the same one I used to find charming, turned sinister.
“Amelia’s?” I asked, forcing myself to back up further. “Please don’t, she just started that nonprofit, and a lot of people are counting on her.”
His smile widened as he took a few long steps toward me.