Page 80 of The Troublemaker

“We should marry each other because we don’t actually want other people. I don’t want to spend my life with another woman. And you don’t want to sleep with him.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because you’re passionate. That was why I came over here. I figured if I came over here and I kissed you, and you told me to leave...then I would let you marry him. I would back off. I would...”

“You wouldletme marry him?”

“Yes, Charity. I figured if you rejected my kiss I wouldn’t kidnap you, carry you out of whatever church you decided to say your vows in, sling you over my shoulders like a sack of potatoes, and spirit you off to a cabin up in the middle of the mountains where he couldn’t find us. I would’ve done that. I will do that. If, after all this, you still think that he’s the one you want to be with. After being with me, if you still want to marry him...”

“You would really do that?”

“Look at me,” he said, and she did.

“You mean it.”

“I fucking do,” he said, as deep of a vow as any could be. “I will not let him have you. You’re mine. Do you understand me?” The words scraped his throat raw and they were not...

This was what hedidn’twant.

But he had to get her to marry him. Then things would be fine. Byron would go away, and things would feel normal.

They would feel normal.

He’d be able to get a handle on the more untamed feelings inside of him and they would be them again.

Once she said yes.

Once she said she’d be his.

“That is the most unenlightened thing that anyone has ever said to me.”

“Really? Even with all the sexist assholes you have to deal with for your job?”

“Yes. Because they might be dismissive, but they certainly never tried to claim ownership of me.”

“How about this. I’m yours, too. I want the same life that you want. Here. I live in this house with you. If that’s what you want. I don’t need to keep my cabin. I’ll move here with you. I’ll... I’ll work McCloud’s Landing and you’ll keep on doing your veterinary work. We can have kids.” A slow, dawning realization hit him. “You could be pregnant now.”

Her eyes flew wide. “Oh my gosh.”

“I’m sorry. I never forget condoms. I don’t. I’m very careful. But I couldn’t think. I just... I just wanted you.” Awe spread through him. “It doesn’t make me upset. To think about having a baby with you.”

This was everything he’d wanted. And it was all in a much neater package than he had anticipated. One he hadn’t fathomed he could have. As far as he was concerned...this was perfection.

“Lachlan, I don’t...”

“What is there to think about?”

“Byron...”

“Do you want him the way that you want me?”

She shook her head.

“I didn’t think so. Do you love him the way that you love me?”

He hadn’t meant to ask her that; the question was like a knife wound through his own chest. But he made sure to look at her and never look away while he said it.

She did love him. He knew that. There was a difference between the love they felt for each other and the kind of toxic love his parents had. The love they had for each other and the tumultuous romantic love other people had, but it was love all the same.

---