‘Exchange? It’s not an exchange, it’s a marriage,’ she couldn’t help but cry, her mind scrambling to process everything, her mind racing as he offered the one thing she needed and then pulled it from her reach. ‘You’re barbaric.’
‘No, it would be barbaric to kidnap you and force you to marry me, but I’m not. I’m offering you a deal—’
‘A deal?’ she demanded, horrified at how quickly Benoit had turned from someone sharing confidences to contracts.
‘You don’t have to take it.’
‘But we need the map,’ she insisted.
‘And I need a wife,’ he said determinedly.
‘Find someone else,’ she begged.
‘I don’t have time.’
‘But you did have,’ she accused.
‘Honestly, marriage is the last thing I ever wanted, and I truly thought I’d find a way to manipulate the board.’
‘And instead you manipulate me?’
‘It’s easier,’ he said as if he really didn’t care.
She’d been about to tell him about her mother. To explain why it was he shouldn’t have wished his father had left, no matter what. To try and share how precious life was, even if that relationship was flawed... And now? There was no way. This was not a man whose mercy you could hope for.
Her heartbeat pulsed in her ears.
Thud, thud, thud.
It felt like the seconds marked by a clock. Time running out. For the jewels, for her mother. And, horrifyingly, she could already feel herself wavering—her mind running over the possibilities, the steps that could be taken.
‘This is crazy.’
‘You want a way to control the situation—well, this is it. I’m offering you a way to take back that control.’
‘By handing it over to you?’
‘I wouldn’t be that kind of husband.’
‘And I refuse to be that kind of wife,’ she said mulishly.
‘Then the helicopter will drop you back at the airport, where you can get a flight home and you can explain to your sisters why you will never have access to the map.’
‘Now that definitely sounds like blackmail,’ she said, pushing back from the table, her half-eaten plate easily discarded now that her stomach was in turmoil. She stood and walked to the edge of the pool, casting a look about the dark shadows of the rainforest but not seeing it. Instead, she imagined her sisters in the library at the Soames estate, poring over Catherine’s journals, trying to find the next clue in the search. She saw her mother in her friend’s back garden looking over the New Forest, counting down sunsets that she had left. All the while Benoit waited. Waited for her to come to the same conclusion he had. That there was no other option.
She shook her head as if trying to deny what she knew she had to do. There must be another way, she thought. ‘Why do you want the company so badly?’ she asked in the hope that his answer might offer one. ‘Surely it can’t be the worst thing for your brother to—’
‘I’ll never let him have it. He’s taken too much from me already.’
Once again Skye registered the darkness behind his words when he spoke of his brother. And for the first time since he’d dropped this shocking proposal like a bomb between them he wouldn’t meet her gaze. This time she felt like the predator, waiting and watching, looking for signs of weakness. He had used hers against her and she was determined to repay the favour.
‘Explain,’ she demanded.
‘No,’ he scoffed.
‘It clearly has something to do with this “deal” of yours and I would like to consider all angles—’
‘There are none,’ he growled.