Page 103 of Between Now and Forever

I flush.

“I’m sorry. Things have changed.” I try to soften my rejection.

He relaxes and smiles knowingly. “Okay. We can revisit that when you’re thinking clearly. And in the meantime, we can just pretend.”

This feels like a disaster in the making.

“But, what if we hate each other?”

“Then we do it in the privacy of our own home, out from underneath our parents’ thumbs. And then, after whatever time frame, we can go our separate ways. Each of us free and wealthy.”

Free to live anywhere I want.

All of my dreams and my ambitions scream out to me to say yes. But my mouth can’t form the word.

In the face of my silence, his patience snaps, and he slaps his palms onto the table and leans across the table, putting his face inches from mine.

His eyes are blazing and I shrink back, startled by the sudden shift in his demeanor.

“Duke, back off.”

His expression cools, and he squeezes his eyes shut. When he opens them, they’re full of apology.

He sits back down and looks at me earnestly.

“You’re fucked. Your father will find another way to win my father’s favor. I’ll find another heiress with a politically ambitious father. But this is your only way out of here.”

I force myself to meet his stare. My heart is pounding and blood is rushing in my ears as I try to decide what to do.

The decision should be an easy one.

Staying in here will destroy me. And I know my father would do it. My heart aches at the thought of Carter. Why did he turn out to be such a disappointment?

Maybe, this is for the best. I list my reasons in my head.

I need that money for my sister.

I have to get married to access the money.

I will never put my heart in another man’s hands so marriage for love is out of the question.

Therefore, marrying someone willing to collude with me in return for a chance to walk away with half of a whole lot of money?

I look at him with a firm expression.

“I have conditions.”

He nods as if he expected me to say that. “I’m listening,” he says, his voice grave, but he looks like he’s trying to bite back a smile. He’s won and he knows it.

“I want to go to art school,” I say.

He shakes his head vigorously.

“Out of the question. Your father won’t let you. Maybe once you’re home for a while and you show him that you’re truly reformed, I can talk him into letting you take online courses.”

I let my bewilderment and skepticism show in the furrows of my forehead and the depth of my frown. “You think that suddenly, you’re going to be able to command my father? Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“Your father needs my father’s support. He’ll do almost anything I say, as long as it doesn’t involve you living somewhere else.”

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