Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92474 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92474 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
He still didn’t look like he agreed. “Fine, no snack. You’re still staying in bed.”
“Victor!”
“But I’ll let you watch some television.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “Wow. That’s so generous of you. Is this what I have to look forward to? Being bossed around the rest of my life?” She still couldn’t believe he’d proposed last night.
They were engaged.
“Yes. I’ll have it written into the vows. By the way, the word obey is going in there.”
“It is not!” She knew she wasn’t pale now. Nope, she likely resembled a tomato.
“Absolutely it is.” He flicked through the channels on the remote until he found the home improvement show she liked. She sighed. Looked like she was staying in bed a bit longer.
At least until he left the room, then all bets were off.
He settled in next to her, his arm wrapped around her shoulders.
“Uh, don’t you have somewhere else to be?” she asked.
“No.”
“Are you sure? You don’t have to work?”
“Trying to get rid of me, little bit?” he asked, giving her a suspicious look.
“Yes. Is it working?”
To her shock, he grinned at her. “No.”
“Drat.” She gazed down at her ring. Damn, it was beautiful. “Did you tell anyone yet?”
“No, I thought we could tell them together.”
“If you’d let me out of bed, we could tell them now.”
“Good try.”
Obviously not good enough since she was still stuck in this bed.
His phone buzzed and he groaned. “Crap.”
“Oh, you’ve got to go?”
“Try not to sound so happy about it, brat.” He bopped her nose with his finger. “I just need to talk to Regent for a moment. I’ll be back soon. Don’t get out of this bed.”
“Aye, aye, bossy tyrant.”
“I mean it. Stay there.”
Almost as soon as he left, she was out of the bed. She stretched with relief and raced into the bathroom to pee and brush her teeth and hair.
Hmm. How long would he be? Long enough for her to sneak out of here and get some coffee?
Victor had refused to give her more than one cup this morning, claiming that it would stop her from resting.
But she was dying for another cup. Her head was still throbbing slightly after all the crying she’d done yesterday. She wanted to avoid taking painkillers and she was hoping a dose of caffeine would help. Not to mention that asking Victor for painkillers would probably send him off on a tailspin. Or have him calling for a doctor.
Quickly throwing some clothes on, she grabbed her phone and tiptoed her way downstairs and into the kitchen.
“Ooh, someone’s going to get her butt spanked,” a voice sang at her from the pantry.
She jumped with a cry, turning to find Maxim standing in the pantry, eating a piece of red velvet cake.
So far, Regent hadn’t liked any of her efforts that much. There had to be something he liked, though.
“Jesus. What are you trying to do? Scare me to death? Do you know how long I’ll have to stay in bed if I have a heart attack?”
“Who had a heart attack?” Regent asked, coming into the room.
She groaned as a scowling Victor followed him. He glared at her, coming over to stand in front of her, his arms folded over his chest.
“I gave Gracen a fright,” Maxim said. “Although, I think it was her guilty conscience that made her jump.”
“I don’t have a guilty conscience.”
“Are you supposed to be out of bed?” Regent asked, giving Victor a look of reproach. He sat at the table, setting his crutches down next to him. “I thought you were going to make sure she rested?”
“I was. Until you called me down.”
“I don’t need to rest, I’m fine.”
It was Maxim’s turn to frown. “I don’t know how you can be with everything that’s happened, doll.”
She stared at all three men, looking back at her with different levels of concern.
“I really do have a family, don’t I?” she whispered.
Victor’s gaze warmed and softened. “I told you that you did, baby.”
She nodded. “I’m just realizing it, I guess.” She turned to Regent. “Victor was making sure I rested. However, he only let me have one cup of coffee this morning, and I’m dying here.” Looking over at Maxim, she gave him a small smile. “And I meant that I’m fine physically. Emotionally, it will take me a lot longer to get over what happened. Thank you both for worrying about me.” She walked over and hugged Maxim. He held onto her until Victor gave a warning growl.
Leaning back from her, he winked. He loved to pick at his brothers.
Moving to Regent, she saw him eye her warily. Was he worried she would hug him? Or that she wouldn’t?
Didn’t matter, he was getting a hug.
Leaning down, she wrapped her arms around him, gratified that he hugged her back. He didn’t strike her as overly demonstrative.