Broken River - Ruby Shae Page 0,7
you, but at least make her sign a prenup. I know Gavin was your friend, but you don’t know this woman. Don’t do something stupid now that you’ll regret later.”
Liam glared at his brother, and a wave of rage washed over him. Levi was just trying to protect him—to protect them all—but his warnings hit a little too close to home. Liam fisted his hands, and took a step toward Levi.
“Fuck you.”
“You know I didn’t mean it like that,” Levi said. “I—”
Elle walked back into the kitchen, effectively stopping the rest of whatever argument Levi was going to use to try and placate him, and he immediately relaxed. He was still mad at Levi, but suddenly, his brother’s words didn’t matter as much as they had a couple minutes ago.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but I overheard some of your conversation, and I don’t mind signing a prenup. I know this is a weird situation—believe me, I know—but I don’t want my marriage to Liam to cause any animosity between you guys. All I want is my brother’s money so I can open my bakery.”
“The marriage is for two years,” Levi said. “What will you do until the contract is over? Do you expect Liam—or us—to support you during that time? How is that fair? It seems like you have everything to gain from this contract, and Liam has everything to lose.”
His brother was asking good questions, Liam knew that, but he still didn’t like the way the man was attacking his future bride. He had already made his decision to marry Elle, and though they hadn’t discussed money, he didn’t think she expected him to support her.
“Levi—”
“It’s okay, Liam,” she said, placing her hand on his bicep. He wasn’t even sure if she knew that she was touching him, but he knew…and he liked it.
Way more than he should.
“I don’t expect Liam to support me, nor do I want any of his money—if he even has any—or yours. I admit, we didn’t discuss our finances, yet, but I have my own money. It’s nowhere near enough to open my bakery, but it is enough to support myself for several months, and when I’m ready, I will get another job. I had a good job before my brother was killed, but I quit when I found out about the stipulations of my inheritance so I could pack up my apartment and finalize everything before I came out here.”
Honestly, Elle’s finances had never even crossed his mind. He didn’t care about her money, and he definitely didn’t want her to spend it while being married to him. She didn’t need to, anyway, because he had plenty of money. He was also old school, and even though their wedding wasn’t going to last forever, he felt it was his job to take care of her until their contract ended.
That’s just the kind of man—and bear—he was.
“You’re not signing a prenup,” he said quietly, looking down at her.
“Liam, I…”
Her blue eyes met his brown ones, ready to fight, but whatever she was about to say fizzled out at whatever she saw in his dark orbs.
“Okay,” she nodded.
Silence fell over the room, but luckily, it didn’t last long.
“Well,” Lacey said, “now that we’ve got that all figured out, let’s eat. Lael, add two more plates to the table, and Levi, go into the store and grab two more water bottles. I hope you like sandwiches, Elle, because that’s what we have for dinner most week nights. I order them pre-made for the store from this great sandwich place in town, and then we usually eat whatever the tourists don’t buy so we don’t waste so much. Of course, sometimes we get sick of sandwiches and just order pizza, but I don’t let them do that too often.”
“I love sandwiches,” Elle laughed. “And even if I didn’t, I’m starving right now so I’d eat almost anything.”
Lacey and his brothers laughed, and all of the tension in the room immediately evaporated as his sister led Elle to the table and his brothers grabbed more plates and water bottles. Liam rarely laughed, so he barely cracked a smile, but he felt happy, and that was something that didn’t happen on most days.
He definitely liked having Elle around.
He also owed his sister big-time for being the first one to welcome Elle into their family and getting his brothers to shut up. One by one, they all took a seat at the table, grabbed a sandwich, and started eating.
The conversation