Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
It was an unhinged, ludicrous idea.
And I didn’t give a shit.
This wasn’t just about being cockblocked by her last night, although I was hardly accustomed to such occurrences from a woman.
She had been right to stop me.
What the fuck had I been thinking?
She wasn’t some bar-fly whore to be fucked against a bathroom wall.
Although the green room sofa wasn’t quite that bad, it was far below how a woman of Charlotte’s caliber should be treated.
She wasn’t just any woman.
Not Charlotte. She didn’t just fall at my feet. She demanded my attention, my infatuation. Then she decided how far we went. No other woman had ever had that power over me, and I couldn’t say I liked it, but I did respect it.
And this had nothing to do with blue blood versus blue collar or her being an heiress.
This was about her. And her only.
And the deference I should have shown her sweet demeanor, intelligence, and talent.
At least, that was what I had been contemplating earlier while drinking my morning coffee, waiting for Charlotte to emerge from her bedroom.
Things had changed.
The anger I’d experienced last night was nothing compared to the pure rage coursing through my blood now.
I should have been relieved. I knew that was what I had initially asked for. That I was never cut out to be her babysitter, regardless of whether the threat was real or not.
But I didn’t want to see her marry some privileged prick, either.
I stared at my phone in disbelief.
It didn’t make sense.
Why wouldn’t she tell me? Why would she have kissed me the way she did if she was supposed to marry someone else? Why would she let my hands explore her body if she was meant to belong to someone else?
Was this the real reason she’d stopped me last night? Her dalliance with the help had gone too far for the bride-to-be.
This was the brutal reminder I needed about who exactly Charlotte Manwarring was.
She wasn’t a sweet, simple girl. She wasn’t even just a talented musician. She was a member of an elite class, a born and bred frigid bitch that used the people around her without any regard to who or what they wanted or needed.
My fingers curled into a fist.
As with any man with a military background, I wasn’t suited for introspection, mulling over questions with no answers.
Action brought answers.
I marched upstairs, looking for her.
CHAPTER 16
REID
It didn’t take me long to figure out where she was.
I just had to follow the angelic, sorrowful sounds of her cello.
I burst into a beautiful octagon room in the far north tower of the mansion.
In the middle of the intricate white, black, and grey marble mosaic floor, under the soft light of a massive crystal chandelier, Charlotte sat with her cello.
The longer she played, the more I was transfixed by the music and could feel my anger and my indignation slipping. I needed to hold on to it like a weapon.
“Is it true?” I demanded as I shattered her solitude by marching into the secluded space.
“Yes,” she said as she placed her bow across the nearest side table, put her cello in the upright stand, and then rose. “It’s true.”
“How long have you known?”
“I was informed this morning.” She didn’t look at me when she spoke, just picked a spot on the floor and stared at the fancy patterns.
I stalked toward her. “Look me in the eyes, Charlotte.”
She shifted backwards with my approach as her large, glistening chocolate brown eyes stared up at me. As if she were a woodland creature staring down the barrel of a damn gun. I hated the fear, vulnerability, and sadness I saw reflected in their depths as much as my anger fed on it.
“This morning? Bullshit. Do you love him? Does he know you like fucking the help?” I clenched my teeth together as I spoke to keep myself from shouting at her.
“That’s not fair,” she fired back as she continued to move around the intimate space, hugging the walls. “I’ve never even met him.”
Enough of the cat and mouse game. I snatched her by the arm and pressed her against the wall, pinning my forearm over her head. “Then why are you going through with it?”
“Because I have to!” she screamed, and she shoved against my chest and rushed past me, her voice on the edge of hysteria.
I followed closely behind her. “Why the fuck for?”
She threw her arms wide. “Because that’s my obligation,” she said before closing her fist and pounding it against the center of her chest. “It’s my responsibility.”
I grabbed her upper arms and yanked her to me. “Fuck that, princess. You can lie to yourself, but don’t you dare lie to me,” I bit out as my gaze focused on her lips, the need to shut her beautiful mouth strong.
“It isn’t bullshit.” She struggled in my embrace. “It’s family.”