If she let Everett lure her into a false sense of security only to pull the rug out from her under when the novelty wore off and he realized she was an emotional, somewhat crazy, and totally territorial woman with insecurity issues that came out in her work as an artist…
By then it would be too late to protect herself from the heartbreak she could so easily see.
Heartbreak.
Like an anchor settling in an ocean, she knew that was the name of the painting drying in her apartment. The one of Everett.
Heartbreak.
How many girlish fantasies began with a gorgeous prince coming to her rescue? But she wasn't a little girl anymore. Times had changed. Men had changed. And a man like Everett? "It's late. I should get some sleep."
"You didn't answer my question," he murmured. "Do you want me to join you for Thanksgiving?"
She swallowed hard and nodded, not because it was rude to say otherwise but because by then she should have her answer to the pregnancy issue, and it might be her last chance to spend time with him once he knew the truth.
She also didn't want him to be alone on Thanksgiving. Her family might be borderline insane at times, but she knew she was loved. And Everett's response to her question about boarding school had tugged at her heartstrings. She didn't want to be like his father and stepmothers. Didn't want to be the person who sent him away so coldly.
How could a child deal with such things?
Was that why he was so insistent now?
How could it not be? Everett knew what it was like to not be wanted, abandoned by a father who ran after other people but not his own child. Everett did everything in his power to be there for the child she might or might not carry, and she couldn't even dislike him for it because it was so sweet.
Her hands fisted, and in that moment, she wished Everett's father was there so she could give him a piece of her mind.
She'd considered Googling Everett on multiple occasions, but every time she grabbed her phone to do just that, she tossed it away out of guilt. But now that she thought about it...how had he known where she lived?
"Pardon?"
Realizing she'd murmured the question aloud as he'd led her across the street, she focused and tried again. "How did you know where I lived? Did you ask Michael?"
A muscle ticked in his jawline, revealed by the streetlamps and building lights above their heads.
"No. When I got back to New York, I did some investigating," he admitted. "My attorney insisted on it after he discovered our marriage."
His attorney. Okay then.
She supposed it made sense, but now their relationship or whatever one would call it felt one-sided. He knew about her, not that there was anything to know, but she was still in the dark about him. She hadn't even stalked him on social media because there was just something creepy about it when she could get it straight from the source. "I see."
"Isabel, you can ask me anything," he said. "I hope youwillask if you have questions about me."
"I do have questions. Plenty," she said, her unease at being "investigated" coming to the forefront. "Who are you? Why do you have a driver and an assistant and…and an attorney who tells you to investigate me?"
He lifted his hand and ran it gently over her cheek.
"I think you've already deduced that I am a wealthy man. And their jobs are to project me and my interests."
A huff left her. "I don't want your money, Everett. Do you want me to scream it from the rooftops? Sign something?" She sucked in a sharp gasp. "Oh, my— Does your attorney think us getting married in Las Vegas was deliberate? That Itrickedyou or something?"
Everett didn't believe that. Did he? It was a stupid accident!
But what wealthy businessman wouldn't believe that about someone they didn't know but found themselves shackled to? Was that why he waited to see whether she was pregnant? So he'd have more control over the situation as her husband if she was? So then what? Pay her off? Take the baby? Would he try to takeherbaby?
Over my dead body.
"No, Isabel. I don't believe that."
She stared up at him, trying to rein in her rapid thoughts and the shock and sudden anger that flooded with them. Everett seemed sincere but did she believe him? Could she? "I have to go."