da. I’ll honor that promise.” He moved closer, bringing his eyes in line with hers. “Perhaps it won’t be the worst thing since now ye know what to expect. But, lassie, I have certain tastes. We can make the best of this.”
“The best of this? Because ye’ll never love me, right?”
He glanced away, thumbing his lips. She’d delivered a blow which meant he had a free pass to deliver one back. “My heart will always belong to Norah. But I’ll love our wee ones.” He touched her lips now with the same hand. “I’ll be expecting many. Now that I know ye’ve been...broken in, I’ll be taking ye at my liberty. It’ll be my right as yer husband.” His words were chilling.
“Aye.” She had no doubt, Gray would feel the same way, but he would never put it in such stark and cold terms.
Everything she’d feared was coming true. Destined to be in a loveless marriage with a sex maniac.
“I need sons, Siobhan. I need an heir. Ye know how our world works. I expect ye to be...compliant.” He brought his mouth down to hers and her breath hitched. He hovered above her lips, a strangled sound in his throat until he sat back. He couldn’t kiss her.
There’d be no kissing.
Grayson couldn’t stop himself from kissing her. He kissed her everywhere and couldn’t get enough. Grayson. Grayson. Grayson. A voice screamed from inside her head. So loud, she had to look away.
Kieran brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.
And we’re back in the nineteenth century.
“I need to go talk to yer ma to make her preparations.” He placed her hand gently back in her lap and stood. He fixed his suit jacket, always wanting to look proper and polished.
She bet he wouldn’t walk around the house naked.
She bet he had no idea how to line dance.
Kieran left without saying another word and she unclenched her stomach. It’d been foolhardy to think he’d walk away from his obligation to marry her because she wasn’t a virgin. Gray had been right about that expectation being questionable.
Sabine wasn’t sure how much time had gone by in the solarium when a thought came to her. Waiting to hear the front door click shut, she pulled out the new phone Kieran gave Ewan for her to use. As his wife, he would control every aspect of her life. Monitor her calls, texts, everything.
Exhaling, she tucked the phone away and ambled into the kitchen.
Her ma was thumbing through a planner. Not looking at Sabine, she said, “Kieran’s waited long enough for ye, lass.”
“I wish ye could understand that I—”
“I need to make these calls and get ye squared away, Siobhan.”
No, her mother wouldn’t be there to talk to her. To listen. That was nothing new. She wouldn’t even call her by the name she wanted.
Now missing Gray hurt her heart more than anything. Every hour without hearing his voice became more and more unbearable.
Did he get the part?
Did he love holding his niece?
Did he miss her?
She felt empty. Lost. Gray, gone. Her business, gone. Her apartment, gone. She also didn’t have Roxy anymore for supportive hugs and Zoe for pug kisses.
Roxy...
Going breathless, she tiptoed past the kitchen where she heard her ma on the phone. From the conversation, it sounded like a caterer.
“Good grief,” she muttered, slipping into her father’s office off the solarium. Ewan had scrubbed all her social media profiles clean too, wiping Sabine Quinlan PI off the map. Only, he missed one.
On her father’s computer, she brought up Facebook and typed in the email and password for the shell account she used for her business to engage skips. Grayson had a Facebook and Instagram profile, but she’d figured out back in L.A. he didn’t manage those accounts.
She found Roxy’s profile and shot her a private message. Biting her nails, Sabine waited.
Sabine? Lass, I hadn’t heard from you in days. You got me sick with worry.
Sabine exhaled, a link to her world restored.
Swallowing, she began typing:
Roxy, I don’t have time to explain. I need a big favor...
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Grayson
Two weeks later, Gray sat in the seating area near the lobby bar just for the family. The Harts were now a brood. They all hung out, him, his brothers, Lexi, Laney with the baby, and Lexi’s brother, Theo, the fireman, who lived in an apartment with other firemen, but camped out at the hotel on his days off.
The last two weeks passed by in a whirlwind blur, meetings at Silvercup, going over