Page 21 of Tempt Me
She giggles again, which icks me out further. “You are obviously a woman of the world already. We know you can handle this. If it were up to your nana Ellie, you’d have tied the knot on your eighteenth.”
“Seriously?”
“Very seriously. So consider yourself lucky.”
“So lucky.” I roll my eyes, but she hears my tone. “Why Antonio?”
“He is a wealthy landowner in Arachon. Your father would like an alliance between him and us. One that is irrefutable.”
“I see.” It all makes sense now. Dad wants to run him out of his land, take it over and have there be no questions as to the legitimacy of it. It’s part of my…I loathe the word, but I bet I’m accurate…dowry.
“You understand?”
“I do.”
Turning the shower off, I climb and take the towel Mom’s offering. Wrapping it around myself, I spy a black box on the counter. “What’s that?”
“Nana Ellie’s birthday gift. It was delayed.”
“Ooh,” I murmur and take the box. Opening it, I let out a soft gasp. “Wow.” Lifting out the enormous pair of drop ruby earrings, I put them in and turn my head from side to side to see them dazzling in the mirror. “Nice.”
“The rubies are the precious stone of Arachon. One day, when you are Queen, you will have them in your crown. These earrings are from Ellie’s personal collection.”
“Queen…”
I’ve always known one day I would be Queen of Arachon, but it’s so far in the future, there’s no point even thinking about it. Nana Eleanor isn’t going anywhere yet, and Dad is in his prime. I’ll probably be in my seventies before that honor is passed to me through him.
“Your engagement party and announcement are set for Wednesday.”
Mom drops that bombshell casually.
“Okay.” I have nothing else to say.
“Good girl. I’ll leave you to get some rest.”
Nodding, I follow her back into the bedroom, where she leaves me alone, and I slump onto the bed, considering the weight of her words. She got lucky with my dad. Chances are, I won’t fall madly in love with Antonio. He seems like a massive creep, and not just in the icky sense, but an ass kiss. The thought of taking him to bed makes me want to gag, especially so soon after Isaac had his cock in me. Crawling into bed, still in my towel and with my new, priceless earrings on, I close my eyes and hope that I can sleep because I need a fully functioning brain to think about ways in which I can still cancel Antonio, but Dad gets what he wants from this.
It won't be as cut and dried as I first thought. But of course, it wouldn’t be. This is my parents we’re talking about. Complicated is their forte, but usually, I’m not the one caught up in the crossfire.
Chapter12
Isaac
Trudging up the stairs after a grueling debrief from Viktor, I managed to convince him that all was well and that we ended up sheltering from the storm. It’s mostly true, so he couldn’t catch me in a lie with that. After that, I went to disinfect my knife, and now I just want to collapse on the bed and try to get some rest. Running around after Rue is exhausting, and I feel this is only the beginning.
Grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl on the small circular table in the corner of my bedroom, I step out onto the balcony, settling into one of the comfortably cushioned chairs to slice into the apple. Staring out into the dark night, I can see wisps of clouds slowly dissipating as they drift across a blanket of stars. The cool breeze carries with it the sounds of waves crashing to shore over the cliff top, providing a comforting white noise that helps me to relax and allows my thoughts to wander.
Thinking back on all that has happened in such a short amount of time. It seems like only yesterday I was minding my own business when Rue suddenly popped up, and everything changed. Seeing her at that sex club has spun my world upside down and coming here to work for her father and so closely with her is nothing short of torture.
“Hey.”
Rue’s soft voice sends a skitter of pleasure over my skin. Slicing carefully into the apple, I take a bite, ignoring her on her own balcony.
“How did it go with my dad?”
“Fine.”
“You didn’t tell him about Wayne, did you?”
