Page 61 of A Montana Fake Marriage

Her words were a slap to the face. He could almost feel the sting in his cheek as the heat shifted from his neck to his face. “What?”

Sammie crossed her arms, and her voice lowered as more footsteps passed them. “I’ve been pretty naïve all my life when it comes to money. You helped me see that.”

His mouth fell open, whether out of shock or because he wanted to stop her from continuing, he couldn’t tell. Unfortunately, she wasn’t willing to let him get in any words. She wanted to control the conversation. He could see it in the way she stared at him—and it reminded him a great deal of her father.

Stomach souring, he clenched his hands and forced himself to listen.

“There are only a few things in this world that people want. And at the top of that list is money.”

Hearts shouldn’t hammer this hard, he knew that. Maybe he would end up having a heart attack or a stroke. He could feel the blood roaring through his body as the implications became clearer by the second. She wasn’t going to stoop so low as to accuse him of trying to get at her inheritance. She couldn’t.

Sammie wrung her hands together and looked away, her flush deepening and her eyes full of angry emotion. “There’s only one reason why you would agree to marry me. The more I think about it, the more I realize what an idiot I was. What kind of person would offer to marry someone for a whole year and not get anything out of it?”

He was going to throw up. There was no way around it. Based on the way his stomach churned from her accusation, he knew it was only a matter of time. He wanted to scream at her, point out that she’d let her father get into her head. But he didn’t. He turned that part of his emotion off and kept his voice calm and collected. “I would think a friend would offer to do something like that.”

To her credit, she flinched. They’d been friends a lot longer than they’d been romantically involved. He’d grown to love her when she had nothing to her name. Why wasn’t she thinking about that right now?

When her eyes shut tight, and she shook her head, he knew without a doubt she’d already made up her mind. Somewhere along the way, she’d thought she found evidence that he wanted to take advantage of her. While he didn’t want her to tell him where those thoughts were coming from, he couldn’t ignore asick and twisted desire to see where she was planning to go with this.

Sammie heaved a sigh, her breath shuddering. “It’s not just the fact that you didn’t bring up a prenup. It’s that you never talk about our finances.”

“Ourfinances?” He couldn’t help it. Incredulity laced each bitter word on his tongue. His brows shot upward, and he took a step toward her. “Ourfinances. You have the gall to stand there in front of me and claim that I’m trying to take over your inheritance while at the same time demanding to have access to mine?”

She flinched, and for a brief moment, he felt guilt. Hadn’t he told her he would take care of her? Hadn’t he assured her that no matter what happened, they had enough to meet their needs? He hadn’t lied. He was more than happy to provide for the both of them with or without her inheritance. The money her mother left her hadn’t been a subject that weighed on his mind whatsoever. Now? Now, he could see the hypocrisy of her accusation.

Had their relationship been built on something so unstable?

That inflamed sense of dread only grew in his stomach. He didn’t know if he had the strength to stick up for himself at this moment. Did he even want to? If one conversation with her father was all it took for her to throw whatever trust she might have had for him out the window, was their relationship even worth saving?

Caleb had never lied to her. He’d never manipulated her. All he’d ever wanted was to help her and keep her safe—from her father and occasionally from herself.

Apparently, she didn’t want the same.

He could tell the very second a sense of cold washed over him. It was like someone had pushed him out into the cold and closed the door. Over the last twenty-four hours, he’d gone through so many emotions, he couldn’t be sure if his heart would survive. He’d been worried for her—so much so that he’d nearly called the police. When he’d seen her, he’d been torn between yelling at her and wanting to pull her into his arms to ensure she was safe.

Maybe theirs wasn’t a relationship that was destined to survive. At this point, he couldn’t rule out that they were simply too different.

There was no telling how much time passed after his outburst. Apparently, Sammie didn’t have any witty comebacks. She must have known that she didn’t have a leg to stand on. Money had aways been something that was important to her. Heck, it was important to him, but he didn’t let it come between them. Not even once.

Caleb blew out a heady breath and took a step back from her. He leaned against the wall of the horse stall and folded his arms, choosing to keep his eyes on the straw at their feet. “Maybe we jumped into this relationship too quickly.”

He sensed more than witnessed her stiffen before him. She didn’t reach out. She didn’t even try to argue with him.

That hurt.

Without looking up at her, he continued. “I really care about you Sammie. I thought…” He shook his head. He wanted to tell her he thought he’d loved her. But he didn’t want to hurt her like he was hurting. The pain was agonizing as it tore through him like a twister ripping everything up in its path. “You will always be mybest friend.” This time he glanced up at her, surprised to see her eyes shining and a tear dragging down her cheek. “What do you want me to do?”

A thousand scenarios ran through his head. What if she said she wanted them to stay together? Was he so far gone that he would believe her?

“I think it would be a good idea to sign a post nuptial agreement.” Her voice was a whisper, but in his head, it thundered, a storm forming. Caleb hadn’t expected that request.

“A post-nup?” he rasped.

She nodded.

“You want to get divorced.” His voice was flat, unfeeling. That was the answer he’d still been praying she wouldn’t give him.

If he had to walk out of that stall in this exact second, he wasn’t sure he could. His legs had lost all feeling. She’d knocked the vitality from his body with her request.

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