Page 10 of Vows in Name Only
He stared at her with pure, unadulterated loathing.
Cain Farrell hated her.
And she couldn’t blame him.
Not one bit.
Five
Her.
Betrayal, razor sharp, bit into him. Ridiculous and inexplicable how deep the hurt and bitterness pierced. He’d spoken with her for all of ten minutes, didn’t even know her last name. And yet...
Yet, he’d dreamed about her. Built her up in his mind to be this paragon of kindness, innocence and...decency. A paragon of all the things he’d believed were gone from this world.
God, he was such a fool.
He’d thought it would be impossible to be as enraged as he’d been in his office with Gregory. Wrong.
He’d been so wrong.
Before, he’d been enraged.
Now, he wasfurious.
She’d played him. Had probably arranged that little meeting in his mother’s garden. Well, she deserved a goddamn award for the performance. He’d fallen for it. Had she and her father laughed about him afterward? Congratulated themselves on a job well done?
Anger, fueled by disillusionment and humiliation, poured through him like gasoline. And the phony shock and hint of sadness in her emerald eyes was the match that had his control on the verge of detonating. No wonder Gregory Cole’s gaze had seemed familiar to him. He’d stared into those same green, deceptive depths before.
Never again. Never again would he believe what shone from those beautiful, treacherous eyes or those sensual, lying lips.
“Cain, this is a surprise. We were expecting you for dinner,” Gregory greeted, smiling as he crossed the room, his arm outstretched to shake Cain’s hand.
Was he fucking kidding?
Cain stared down at Gregory’s palm until the other man lowered his arm back to his side. Crimson stained Gregory’s cheekbones and twin lines bracketed his mouth.
“You may be blackmailing me into marrying your daughter, but don’t for one second believe that makes us friends. Or even friendly. I warned you what you would get from me. My name. That’s it. Not small talk. Not pleasantries. And not dinners. I came by to meet the person so desperate for a man and a foothold in society that she would allow her father to take criminal measures on her behalf.” He swung his regard back to Devon, gratified to see she’d wiped that attempt at genuine emotion from her face. It didn’t fit her. “And now that I have met her, I want a moment alone with my fiancée. Since you’ve gone to so much trouble, you don’t mind, do you, Devon?”
Gregory glanced sharply at his daughter, who did an applause-worthy job of appearing guilty. Her thick eyelashes lowered, and she didn’t meet her father’s gaze. Nice try, but keeping up pretenses of innocence was unnecessary. That ship had sailed. Just being here in the same room with her father solidified that she was a willing accomplice.
“Devon?” Gregory barked, and though Cain harbored no sympathy for her, he clenched his jaw against the impulsive need to order Cole to watch his tone.
“I have no problem speaking with you,” she murmured, ignoring her father and addressing Cain.
The dense fringe of lashes lifted, and he glimpsed determination in her stare. She would need that determination dealing with him. Because he intended to grant her and her father the same amount of mercy they’d offered him.
None.
“Well, I have a problem,” Gregory snapped.
“And I don’t care,” Cain said, not bothering to hide his impatience and disgust for the man. “Either we talk now, or I leave.”
Gregory’s expression tightened, his facial bones stark under his skin. Cain read the fury in his glare, the taut pull of his mouth and the tense set of his shoulders.
And he relished it.
“Fine,” Gregory eventually growled. “Twenty minutes.”
