Mal refrained from smiling. “If you feel it necessary, I will accept your apology.” Scarlet must have given him an earful. Mal sat back down.
But Breck didn’t simply take his statement and go. Instead, he crossed his arms and adapted a wide-legged stance that would have looked more natural on Wrench or Graham. “Look, we all know you want the resort. But you should know that you won’t get it without a fight. And we’re all going to take it very poorly if you hurt Scarlet.”
We would never hurt her, his dragon said with a hint of righteous anger. We will protect her. At all costs.
“I have no desire to harm Scarlet,” Mal said. “And I’m sorry for the resort. I can only promise that I am not doing anything vindictively.”
Breck gave a scowl that didn’t suit his laughing features. “This is our home,” he said fiercely. “We’re not just leaving so you can make an easy buck.”
Mal stared. “You think this is about money?” He gave a helpless chuckle. “If this was about money, I would not have offered Scarlet a buyout worth many times the value of the entire island.”
“You offered her a buyout?” Breck looked confused.
“Several now,” Mal said. “Worth millions more than your purchase offer. Didn’t she tell you? She could have left the resort and bought a new place twice the size, with more amenities, or retired you all as millionaires and lived a life of luxury on some beach sipping tequila.”
“Millions more?” Breck’s look of confusion had turned to suspicion.
“All of my offers were very generous,” Mal assured him. “And completely fair. No strings, no hidden agendas.”
“Well you and Beehag have got some kind of agenda,” Breck said, clearly not convinced. “Or you wouldn’t be here, and you wouldn’t have trotted those so-called businessmen through here like a slap in the face.”
Mal winced. He’d begun things by trying to convince Benedict Beehag that a sale was necessary, and finding buyers he wouldn’t mind watching slide into the ocean. He had hoped it would help scare Scarlet off, but she was made of sterner stuff... and once she had Jenny’s help in identifying the protections set out in her contract, he realized that even an unsavory sale of the island wasn’t going to convince her to break the lease.
“I can promise you that Benedict Beehag has no interest in the island whatsoever,” Mal said honestly. He’d been working independently since Benedict had come whining back from one of the purchase attempts about how dangerous everything was and how crazy Scarlet was. He was currently spending his inheritance at breakneck sp
eed through Europe with all the tail and alcohol that money could buy.
“Then why not just accept the purchase?” Breck said. “Why not just leave us in peace?”
For all of the worldliness that Breck pretended to have, he was painfully innocent.
“There are bigger things at stake,” Mal said, carefully vague. He didn’t want to send rumors through the staff before he was able to tell Scarlet the details himself. “Congratulations, by the way.”
Breck was eyeing Mal’s empty beer bottle, clearly just keeping himself from sweeping to collect it out of habit. “Congratulations for what, now?”
“Your recent nuptials,” Mal reminded him. “It made waves in shifter society.”
Breck gave a helpless smile. “Thank you,” he said, and he rubbed his left wrist self-consciously.
“I’m pleased that my gift got to the right people,” Mal couldn’t help adding. “Eventually.”
It didn’t take Breck long to figure out what he was talking about; he was naive, but not stupid. “You gave the engagement bracelets to Darla and Liam?” Breck said in astonishment. “They were from you?”
“More accurately, they were from her father, who commissioned me to make them before his death.”
“Why?” Breck asked avidly.
“Her father wanted her to be happy. He hoped that they would help show her the way to her own heart.” Mal did not have to add that Darla’s father had been desperately unhappy with his own marriage; Breck had met Darla’s mother. “How are you liking the fringe benefits of my gift?”
Breck tried unsuccessfully to smother his grin. “It can be very entertaining.”
Mal couldn’t help but chuckle. “Of all the people on this island, I imagine you would be the one who could get the most enjoyment out of it.”
Breck’s curiosity had clearly overcome his dislike. “Did you know? When you sent these, did you know that Darla and I were mates?”
“No,” Mal said with a brisk shake of his head. “I had no idea. But I knew that Liam wasn’t, and I knew that Darla would somehow get to where she needed to be to meet her destiny.”
“You actually believe in destiny?” Breck sounded dubious.