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)
There was still just something else that was off.
Something that made me feel like I shouldn’t be out here with him.
Something that sent red flags waving, and those sirens to go off in my head again.
Suddenly feeling self-conscious, I slid my right foot back to begin a subtle retreat, feeling as if I really shouldn’t be out here with Marksen.
CHAPTER 3
OLIVIA
At least not alone.
It was fine, right?
It wasn’t like I was that far from the party.
The other guests were just on the other side of that copse of trees.
“They are in love,” I answered, sliding my left foot back, trying to focus on anything but him and the champagne which had gone to my head. “Don’t you want a chance to find that for yourself?”
“Why would being married stop me from finding love? It would have stopped her, of course, but I would have still been free to do as I pleased. I still intended to find love with several different partners over the years. That has nothing to do with this. Your brother ruined a very lucrative business deal.”
“Love is more important than money.” I tossed my long auburn hair over my shoulder, glancing behind me as I took another step backward in my silent retreat.
“Princess, I don’t know what fairy tales you’ve been reading, but you have been misinformed. Love is temporary. It fades as quickly as it appears. It’s nothing but carnal desire caught on fire. It, like any other fire, can be extinguished.”
I looked down at the bronze woman on her back with her arms lazily stretched over her head.
Was that what she felt?
Was she on fire still, the embers in her soul still glowing?
“Your brother had never met Amelia when he ruined my wedding. It wasn’t about loving her. It was about hurting me.”
Marksen’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked back up at him.
He must have seen something in my expression because the camera clicked several more times while I stared at this man and wondered if he was right.
Was love so temporary?
He had a point.
What Luc and Amelia had didn’t start as love, quite the opposite, but they were together now.
I had to defend my brother and new sister. “They are in love now.”
“Is that so?” He lowered the camera for a moment, then moved into my personal space again. “And why do you think that should matter?”
The heat from his body radiated through his suit. His blue eyes stared down at me like he could see all my secrets and inappropriate thoughts.
I bit my lip and cast my eyes down as he brushed a lock of my hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear.
Then his fingers curled under my chin and tilted my face up until my eyes met his. The air froze in my lungs.
His thumb brushed over my lower lip. “Tell me, Olivia,” he rasped, “why does that matter?”
“Love is the only thing that matters.” My answer was little more than a whisper.
“Do you think a man should do whatever he thinks is necessary to claim the woman he loves?”
My lungs wouldn’t expand, my ribs seeming to squeeze my insides as fear and adrenaline pounded through my veins, so I just nodded.
“Damn the rules, social expectations, rituals, reputations, and fortunes of others. Damn all of it as long as a man claims to love the woman?”
Mesmerized by his dark gaze, I nodded again.
He leaned in closer to me and, thinking for just a second he was going to kiss me, my lips opened.
“Tell me, princess. Has that ever worked out for the lovers in the end?”
My mind went blank.
The world was full of plays, poems, songs, and novels where a love story was the focal point. Forbidden love that went against societal norms was one of the most popular kinds of love stories.
I frowned.
Realizing the only ones that popped into my mind were fiction … all of which ended in tragedy.
“Well, princess?” He leaned in so close his breath feathered across my lips. He smelled like cool mint and warm brandy.
I wanted him to lean in further and press his lips to mine, but then he was gone, standing a few feet from me, raising the camera to his eye again.
I shook my head, trying to clear the fog from my brain as I answered, “It worked out for Luc and Amelia.” They were here getting married in the wedding of her dreams.
Had he been about to kiss me?
There was no way Marksen DuBois was actually making a pass at me just outside my brother’s wedding reception.
It just wasn’t done in my world.
The rules of decorum must be observed at all times.
“It’s not over yet, princess.” His lip curled beneath the camera as he kept pressing the shutter release.
“It is over,” I answered, a little confused. “They are married now. They get to live happily ever after.”