Briony sighed. “When would we leave?”
“Tomorrow at ten a.m.”
She blinked. “Tomorrow’s Saturday. I work.”
“If you agree to my proposal, you’ll never have to work again.”
A scowl crossed her face. “And you think that sounds appealing? To lounge around and do nothing all day?”
He shrugged. “Given your and your family’s circumstances, yes.”
She surged to her feet. “How dare you!”
He stood, trying to keep a lid on his own temper. He was offering her not only a solution to her every problem, but the chance to finally meet her birth father. Based on what little she’d shared over the last week, she craved knowledge of her lineage, a chance to have blood relatives once more. She didn’t know the weasel was a blight on the face of the earth. So what could possibly be leading to this unexpected and frustrating last-minute display of temper and resistance?
“How dare I what, Briony? Offer you everything you and your family need? Offer you the one thing you want?”
“At the cost of marrying someone I met less than a week ago!” she cried. “Coming in and offering to rearrange my life. I’ve done just fine on my own.”
“Have you?” he asked softly as he stood and towered over her. “Your house is one delinquent payment away from foreclosure. Just yesterday your stepfather ran up over a thousand dollars in online gaming debt.” Briony blanched, but he didn’t let up. Not now, not when she needed to see how much she needed him and what he could do for her. “Between caring for him and your stepsisters, when will you be able to finish your education degree? Five years, ten? Perhaps never?”
“How I manage my life and my family’s life is none of your concern,” Briony bit out before she turned and fled the locker room.
He breathed in deeply, steadying himself. The hunter in him demanded that he chase her, stop her, not let her leave until he had her signature on the contract. But the planner in him knew better. To do so would only push her away. Her fierce reaction betrayed her innermost thoughts; she knew he’d spoken the truth. All he had to do was be patient. She would come around.
And if she doesn’t?
His measured steps led him out into the bar just as Briony was heading for the front door. The sight of the files in her hand and his briefcase standing empty on the counter lessened some of his unease. If she was taking the papers, she was still intrigued, even if she didn’t want to be.
“My plane leaves at ten a.m. tomorrow morning from the airstrip just outside of town,” he said as she jerked the door open. “If you’re not there by a quarter to ten, I’ll assume you have rejected my offer.”
“You can let yourself out the kitchen door,” she retorted. “I set the alarm. If you’re not out in five minutes, you’ll get a personal visit from the Nowhere Police Department.”
“Not very friendly to outsiders, I’m guessing?”
She stood framed in the doorway, snow swirling behind her as a winter wind teased her red curls.
“Good night, Prince Cassius. Have a safe flight.”
With a final glare, she slammed the door behind her. He stared at it for a long minute before grabbing his briefcase off the counter and heading for the kitchen door. While it would be a simple matter to smooth over his presence at the bar with the local police, he’d had enough disagreements for the evening.
He glanced back at the front door of the bar, an unexpected smile lurking about his lips. Based on Alaric’s file, he had anticipated a quick and breathlessly grateful “yes” to his proposal, perhaps even a few appreciative tears. Not the display of furious independence or the grand exit into the cold.
She would be there tomorrow morning, he thought as he turned the lock and let himself out the kitchen door. Without him, her family would plunge into ruin within months, if not weeks.
His mind conjured up the last image of her framed in the doorway, red curls splayed across her shoulders, emerald eyes flashing fire, lush lips set into a firm line as the snow swirled behind her. Even in her worn coat and jeans, she’d exuded a regal fortitude befitting the descendants of royalty and a frustrating yet admirable stubbornness.
She might not show. A possibility he had not accounted for. But the thought didn’t fill him with anger or concern. His smile grew as he walked around the bar toward the snow-covered parking lot.
The possibility of going deeper into battle to make Briony Van Ambrose his wife filled him with a heated excitement. No matter what happened tomorrow morning, she would be his.
CHAPTER FOUR
BRIONYAPPROACHEDNowhere Regional Airport at 9:46 a.m., a scowl on her face and a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. Resigned anger churned in her gut as she walked toward the tiny building and the plane looming behind it. When she’d walked out of the bar last night, it had been with every intention of never seeing Cass again.
But as her rush of adrenaline had abated on her walk home, doubt had crept in as the winter wind pierced her cloak and chilled her skin. What could she do on her own? Trey was still gambling. She wouldn’t be able to work enough shifts to cover both his debts and the bills. A move to a larger city and a better-paying job was out of the question. The twins would fight her tooth and nail, and Trey probably wouldn’t be much better.
She could just leave on her own. She’d dreamed of it more than once. But every time she seriously contemplated it, she knew she could never just leave her stepfather and stepsisters to drown in their own misery. The guilt alone would plague her the rest of her life.