Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99960 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99960 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Heard u married money. That wont stop me frm takin whats mine.
I’d blocked the bastard, knowing he was just trying to mess with my head. He knew now I could best him in court if he took it that far, but he didn’t have the cash flow. It was a bluff. Didn’t mean it didn’t fuck with me, the reminder that I was the son of a piece of shit.
Locked in my head, I barely said a word to Allegra for the rest of the week.
And she’d finally stopped trying to get to know me. The questions about my life before the farm, about why I loved the farm, what I wanted for the future … I didn’t respond to them, and she stopped asking.
It was a bit twisted, but I hated the cool silence she treated me to now.
I hated the sadness I caught on her face when she thought I wasn’t looking. I just didn’t know how to fix it without complicating things we had no business complicating.
“Ready?” I asked as we approached the house.
“Sure,” she replied tonelessly, refusing to meet my gaze.
She hadn’t looked at me in days, and it made me realize that I liked the way she looked at me. Allegra always gave you her full attention and seemed to find me genuinely interesting. Funny how I’d unconsciously taken that for granted.
A burn flared across my chest, and I ignored the sensation as I knocked on the door. It flew open as if Sloane had been waiting for us. The blond was a few years older than me but looked about the same age as Allegra. As the women embraced, Sloane’s sunny blond prettiness only highlighted Allegra’s dark beauty. My wife took my fucking breath away just standing there. Possessiveness curled in my gut.
Sloane turned to me. “And here’s the husband.”
Allegra allowed her smile to drop while Sloane’s attention was elsewhere. She walked away as I embraced Sloane, and I fought the urge to go after her. To tell her I was sorry for being such a prick. For years, I’d watched my mum let men treat her like shit. Whether they shouted at her constantly, bullied her … or ignored her. I’d vowed never to treat a woman like that. And I never had. Until her. Until my wife.
Covering up my gloomy thoughts of self-reproach, I gave Sloane a tight smile as she led me into the dining room.
Where I discovered Allegra hugging her sister and greeting everyone else.
As in more than just me and her and Walker and Sloane.
Sarah and Theo and North and Aria were also in attendance.
“Regan and Thane are babysitting Harry.” Sloane referred to Regan and Thane Adair. “And Callie’s staying at a friend’s house tonight, so it’s just us adults.”
“If it’s just us adults, why is Jared here?” Theo drawled in his posh English accent.
Walker tried not to smirk at my cousin-in-law’s dig as he greeted me with a hard pat to my back. “Take care of her, eh.” It wasn’t a statement. It was a warning.
I nodded and then grit my teeth as North and Aria came to greet me too.
Soon we settled in the sitting room with drinks with Walker or Sloane or both getting up now and then to check on dinner. Allegra sat beside me on the couch, and I tried not to notice the abject difference between our body language and the other couples in the room.
Walker didn’t sit but hovered at Sloane’s chair, his hand on her shoulder as she conversed. North sat as close to Aria as he could, his hand resting possessively on her knee. And Theo never could seem to keep his hands off my cousin, even five years down the line. He sat on an armchair and had pulled Sarah down onto his lap like they were teenagers.
There was at least five inches of distance between me and Allegra.
“So … no honeymoon, then?” Theo suddenly asked us. There was a gleam of mischief in his eyes I knew well. My cousin-in-law was a total shit-stirrer.
Allegra didn’t look my way or answer, so I shrugged. “Things are busy on the farm right now.”
Theo gasped in mock outrage. “Too busy for a honeymoon? I thought all that animal husbandry would have taught you a little something about … well … animal husbandry.”
Sarah elbowed him, trying not to laugh. North didn’t even bother covering his. Usually, I’d laugh, too, but my sense of humor had withered in the coldness of Allegra’s aloofness.
“We’ll do a honeymoon sometime later,” Allegra said before taking a sip of the soda Sloane had offered. Again, she didn’t look at me. My eyes trailed the curve of her soft profile as she swallowed. There was a tightness in her jaw.
“Oh? Where are you thinking of going?” Sloane asked.
“Maybe a beach somewhere.” I shrugged because there wouldn’t be a honeymoon.