Page 11 of Brutal Vows
On a woman without the urge to murder me and bury my dismembered body in a shallow grave, they could be mesmerizing.
“I hate you for saying that.”
“Add it to your list.”
My smirk is the thing that finally breaks her.
“Fine. You want the truth? I’ll give it to you. My niece is a good girl. She deserves so much better than to be sold off to the highest bidder without a damn say in the matter. She deserves so much better than a man who’d marry for money, position, or power. She deserves to be loved, cherished, and respected for everything she is. What she doesn’t deserve is to not have a voice. Or a choice. Or a life of her own!”
“What makes you assume she won’t have a life of her own if we’re married?”
Reyna blinks. Once. Slowly. As if what I’ve just said is the stupidest thing she’s ever heard.
“Or that I wouldn’t respect her?”
She quirks her lips. “Now you’re toying with me, Mr. Quinn.”
“Spider.”
After a beat of confusion, she says, “Pardon?”
“Call me Spider.”
“Why on earth would I do that?”
“Because it’s my name.”
She laughs. It’s a lovely sound. It also seems to surprise her, because she stops laughing abruptly, looking as if she has no idea how she allowed something so pleasant to pass her lips.
“Your name is…Spider?”
“Aye.”
“Did your mother hate you?”
“No.”
“But she named you after an insect?”
“It’s a nickname. And spiders aren’t insects.”
She furrows her brows and stares at me.
“Why are you gaping at me like I’ve got a horn growing between my eyes?”
“Because I think I must’ve fallen out of bed this morning and gotten a concussion.”
I chuckle. “That would explain why you’re eatin’ the head off me.”
She opens her mouth to say something but closes it again. It feels like a victory, which pleases me, which then annoys me, because I shouldn’t be feeling anything for this woman at all.
“Oh, look. The wee viper lost her words. Bet that doesn’t happen but once in a donkey’s years.”
Through gritted teeth, she says, “If you’d speak English instead of idiot, we wouldn’t be having this problem.”
“Ooo, the fangs are out.”
Her mermaid eyes glitter with malice. “Stop. Mocking. Me.”
